Xiaomi Mi 55 inches 4k HDR LED TV 4 Full Review | Vu 55 inch 4k TV vs Mi 55 inch 4k TV 4 | Should you buy Xiaomi’s Mi 55 inch 4k TV 4?

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Mi 55-inch 4k TV 4: An In-depth  Review

After displacing Samsung from the number 1 position in the Indian market of smartphones, Xiaomi is all set to disrupt the Indian television market by its cheap, but high-end TVs. It has kicked off this revolution by, recently, launching in India, its very first 55 inches 4k HDR TV.

With the launch of this TV, the lower brands that were selling high-end TVs in a budget are likely  to be the ones who will be affected the most, especially brands like Vu and TCL.

No doubt Vu gives us good picture quality on a budget, but Xiaomi has kept the price of its TV even much below than Vu. Not only is its TV beautiful in looks, but it has promised regular software updates to enhance the viewing experience of its TVs.

In the long run, the foray of Xiaomi in the Indian market is likely to cast a negative spell on the sales of bigger brands too, like Sony, Samsung and LG, who sell their TVs at 5 times the cost of Mi TV.

Even if we accept that TVs of bigger brands are more durable than the budget ones, then too, buying Mi TVs would be a more prudent decision as one can buy this TV 4 to 5 times in the price that one needs to invest in buying Sony or Samsung TV in one go.

Let’s find out what makes Xiaomi TV a threat to  its competitors. In this detailed review of the 55 inches 4k Mi TV 4, we’ll find out what makes it so special.

Looks & Designs

At 4.9 mm, this 55 inches 4k Mi TV 4 is the world slimmest TV, which is 37% slimmer than MI Mix phone and 30% slimmer than iPhone 7. Even iPhone X measures 7.7 mm. This TV is lightweight at only around 17 kg.

The rear of this TV has a brushed metal finish that not only imparts a premium feel to this TV but also gives support to its delicate design. At its thickest, towards the bottom, this TV is 38.9 mm, where it houses dual speakers, power supply and other connectivity ports. The almost bezel-less display and space saving design is exemplary and imparts this TV a classy look that is owner’s pride and others’ envy.

This Mi TV 4 employs Samsung’s 4k Superior vertical alignment 60 Hz ELED panel that supports intelligent adjustment and dynamic backlight and has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels (4K). It has a viewing angle of 178 degrees, however, we found the panel reflective. The contrast ratio of the TV is 6000:1 (static) and its response rate is 8ms. This TV has a standard refresh rate of 60 Hz, which is a downside as fast moving objects tend to get a little blurred, but then, this is the case with almost all TVs that have a refresh rate of less than 100Hz. It is the cheapest 55 inches 4k TV that comes with HDR 10.

Connectivity Options

This 55-inch Mi TV 4 comes with 2 HDMI 2.0 ports, 1 HDMI (Audio Return Channel or ARC) port, 2 USB ports (1 USB 2.0 port & 1 USB 3.0 port) and 1 Ethernet port along with the standard AV, analogue and audio out ports. 

Ports 

It has multiple connectivity options like dual-band (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz) Wi-Fi (802.11) and Bluetooth 4.0. This means you can attach keyboard, mouse and speakers to this TV through Bluetooth, which is a feature missing in Vu TVs.

Hardware

The Mi TV 4 is powered by a 1.8 GHz Quad-core Amlogic T968 Cortex A53 chipset coupled with Mali-T830 MP2 GPU. It sports 2GB DDR4 RAM and has a flash storage of 8GB.

Amlogic T968 Cortex A53 chipset 

Sound

This TV comes with two 8W down-firing speakers that support Dolby audio and follows DTS standards. Despite the TV being thin, the sound quality is good enough for an average sized living room. Though the sound is not too loud it is clear and crisp. However, if you like a bass in the audio, you would need to go for a set of external speakers. But, if you want to attach a 3.5 mm speaker to this TV, you would require a coaxial digital adapter for it.

Remote

The 11-button remote of this TV is minimalistic, it resembles the remote of Amazon Fire TV Stick. It is simple yet has all the basic functionality and it can control the contents of your set-top box too. As of now, Xiaomi has not given voice function in its remote, but in the near future, it will bring one, which you will be able to buy separately from the market. However, seeing to its price tag, it would be too demanding on our part to ask for so much right now.

You can also control this TV from your smartphone by installing an app on your smartphone.

Software & Functionalities

This Mi 55 inches TV runs Xiaomi’s own PatchWall UI that is based on an Android operating system with an integrated AI system that predicts content based on usage patterns. The OS of this TV has been specially tuned for the Indian users. The UI is pretty suave and the navigation experience is buttery smooth.

PatchWall UI

But the UI is different from other TVs. Here when you switch on your TV, you don’t get to see apps like Hotstar, SonyLiv etc, instead the videos nicely formatted and well categorised are placed on the home screen for your convenience. Though, this might be irritating for some who are used to app surfing.

This TV predicts your videos based on the category of shows, movies or videos that you mostly watch. Like, if you are interested in horror videos and have watched them on this TV, from next time, the UI will suggest you more videos related to this category and reflect them on the home screen. The more you watch the TV, the contents will get personalized based on your interest.

The UI of this TV integrates with your set-top box and starts reflecting its programmes with time on the TV screen. So, you can operate your Set-top box with your TV remote too.

When you click on a particular video, it will start playing irrespective of its source, whether it is from the contents available on the partnered media platforms or it is being telecast through the set-top Box.
Right now, Xiaomi has gone in for a content partnership with 12 media partners like Hotstar, SonyLiv, Voot, Hungama Play etc and these apps come inbuilt too. The initial purchase comes integrated with free 500,000 hours of video contents from these partnered sites. However, these platforms lack 4k contents. In this TV, you also get support for 15 regional languages.

A small disappointment with this TV is that as of now, Xiaomi has not tied up with two major video streaming platforms, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video that stream videos in 4k.

It is ironical that despite launching a 4k TV Xiaomi has tied up with platforms that stream contents only in full HD resolution and has kept away from platforms that support 4k.

This TV is not fully Android so you will also not be able to download applications from Google Play Store as officially it has not connected with it. Which means you will not get YouTube app on this TV.

The solution to the absence of these apps in this TV is side-loading them, which means you can download their APK file from outside and install it on this TV through USB. However, when we tried doing this we failed miserably in playing Netflix or Amazon Prime videos on this TV. Maybe, in the near future when Xiaomi updates this TV, we will be able to do this.

Xiaomi is also working on providing these apps through its smartphones. If you have any Mi phone you will be able to use the apps available on your smartphone on this Mi TV. But, this project is very much in its nascent stage so an immediate solution to this problem is connecting this TV to a good 4k Android TV Box. My suggestion in this regard is for MX10 RK3328 as it is not only cheap but it has a true 4k HDR capability that gives you excellent viewing experience.

MX10 RK3328 connects seamlessly with this TV and not only it enhances the video quality, but also boost its audio. Through it, you can play 4k HDR videos at 60 fps. Connecting this box to your TV gives you full access to Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime videos and others that are not part of this TV.

                                     MX10 RK3328 

As the Amazon Fire TV stick and Google Chromecast that are being sold in India do not support 4k contents, it is advisable to buy this Android TV box from Gearbest for around Rs 4000 and make this Mi 4k TV 4 a complete package in very cheap rates. You will need a PayPal account for shopping on Gearbest.

We tested the HDR 10 capability of this TV by connecting it to an MX10 Android TV Box and it played videos beautifully in 60 fps without any glitch. The Xbox One X performance also was excellent on this TV and we were able to play 4k videos from Netflix quite smoothly and the picture quality too was great, with true colours and brightness that made our viewing experience enjoyable. If you want to watch the performance of this Android Box, given below is a link to my video on YouTube.
Purchase Link:- 

MX10 TV Box Android 7.1.2 4GB DDR3 + 32GB ( Rs3912/- )

Miracast

The Miracast feature, as of now, did not appeal to us as the videos that we cast on the TV through our smartphone did not play smoothly. We expect Xiaomi to improve this feature through an update soon.

This TV is feature-laden that matches up with top-class TVs from big brands in features and specifications, but is available at one-fifth of their cost. The fluid performance of this TV integrated with natural colours and good contrast makes it a very lucrative deal. In my opinion, it is better than the 55 inches Vu TV as it comes at a much lesser price than the Vu TV. Apart from the difference in price, Vu has also shown slackness in improvising upon its products, whereas Xiaomi has always been active in bringing software updates for its products to make them better.

Xiaomi Mi LED Smart TV 4 Specifications

Thickness: 4.9mm ultra thin

Screen: 55 inches 4K HDR resolution

Sound: Dolby+ DTS

Hardware: Amlogic 64 Bit Quad Core with Mali T830 GPU

Memory: 2GB RAM, 8GB ROM

Ports: 3 HDMI and 2x USB (3 and 2.0)

Connectivity: dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 

Mount: You can use stand / Wall Mount

Remote: 18 buttons simple Bluetooth

Contrast Ratio:  6000:01:00 (Static)

Viewing Angle: 178 Degree

LED Display Type: ELED

Refresh Rate: 60 Hz

Supported Video Formats: H.265, H.264, MPEG1/2/4, REAL

Video Features: HDR 10

Weight with stand: 17.8 kg

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Detailed video on Xiaomi Mi TV4-https://youtu.be/2LtZCzpjUTI

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