Review of 55-inch 4K TV Red 55AUS/A on Android TV OS

The power cable is detachable and is 1.6 m long.

The specifications table outlined at the beginning of the article provides an overview of the TV's communication capabilities. The main ports are placed in fairly convenient places and are full-size. However, there are a few exceptions worth noting. For example, dual USB ports have a chubby design, which can create problems when inserting two large USB devices without the use of an extension cord. In addition, there is a connector for input of composite video signal and stereo sound in analog format, represented by a four-pin minijack. The manufacturer has provided the TV with a corresponding adapter for three RCAs.

HDMI Control (HDMI CEC) function is supported. For example, it interacts with the Sony UBP-X700 Ultra HD Blu-ray player, transmitting clicks on the cursor buttons, select, cancel, as well as pause, play and rewind commands. In addition, when you turn off the TV, the player also turns off, and vice versa — when you turn on the TV or select the appropriate input, the player is activated.

The TV also supports connecting external speakers or headphones via Bluetooth. In addition, it is possible to connect a mouse and keyboard via Bluetooth. Bluetooth can also send audio to your TV, and you can turn off the TV screen.

The remote control body is made of black matte plastic or a semi-matte surface with a thin relief having a leather texture. It also contains silver coated plastic parts. The buttons are made of rubber-like material. The symbols on the buttons are quite large and contrasting. The remote has a large number of buttons, which usually makes for faster navigation, eliminating the need to call up an on-screen virtual remote and the like.

However, the remote is equipped with buttons to quickly launch certain applications, which can be problematic in some cases, as they can accidentally launch programs or cause attempts to launch them, especially in the case of the Netflix application. The remote control is hybrid: it can operate via infrared (IR) and Bluetooth. The indicator on the front of the remote blinks red when using IR and green when connected to Bluetooth.

There is a microphone hole at the front of the remote control, next to the indicator. Google's voice assistant is activated by pressing the button with colored circles (you don't need to hold the button to enter voice commands; when the microphone on the remote is active, the green indicator lights up). This assistant helps you find content provided by some programs, and also answers questions, such as the current weather outside, by providing information in audio and visual form.

Some apps support voice input for typing. There is also basic integration with the TV itself, which allows you to change the volume, control the sound and turn the TV on/off with your voice. Other functions include opening the settings menu, selecting an input, and launching a program by its name. You can also display the program guide and switch to a channel by entering its number. If words or phrases are not recognized as commands, a search is performed and content is suggested in the results, including content from YouTube. Sometimes the page for an application in the Google Play store that matches the request opens.

The remote control does not support coordinate input functions, such as a gyroscopic mouse. However, by connecting a keyboard and mouse to the TV, you can compensate for the limited capabilities of the remote control. These devices work over USB even through a USB hub, freeing up other ports for use. Mouse wheel scrolling is supported, and the right mouse button has an undo/redo function, which is convenient. The delay in moving the mouse cursor is minimal. The connected keyboard does not switch layouts by default, but you can install a third-party application for this function. In addition, shortcut keys from the main and additional set are supported, making navigation and control easier.

The TV is optimized for use with the included remote control, so connecting a keyboard and mouse is not necessary. However, this may be required for a comfortable experience in the browser and other applications.

You can also control this TV through your mobile device using one of the Android TV remote control emulator apps.

The software platform for this TV is the Android TV operating system, based on Android version 10. The hardware configuration is explained by the CPU-Z program:

The TV goes into light sleep mode when you briefly press the power button (this function is configured in the menu). In this mode, TV can be turned on from the remote control via IR or through the application, if this is allowed in the settings. The TV turns on quickly — in just about 7 seconds. Deep sleep mode is activated by long pressing the power button with confirmation or during a power outage. Exiting this mode is only possible using a button on the remote control (via IR) or on the TV itself. Powering up after deep sleep mode takes longer, approximately 45 seconds, as the system restarts again.

The Android TV home screen features horizontal ribbons with tiles of your favorite apps and recommended content. Circles with captions explain the contents of the feeds and allow you to launch the corresponding application or view a list of installed programs. At the top of the page there are button icons for voice and text search, displaying system messages, selecting inputs, indicating network connection, accessing settings and displaying the time.

Home page settings allow the user to change something on it.

There are a lot of settings, and in particular image settings. Basic settings are available, for example, from the settings menu called up from the home page. Picture and sound settings are available only through the context menu, called up by the [Menu] button on the remote control.

A menu with picture and sound settings is available in any program, but to access other settings you must return to the main screen. The settings menu takes up a large portion of the screen, which sometimes makes it difficult to judge changes made to the image. However, when adjusting settings with sliders, the settings page disappears, leaving only a slider at the bottom of the screen, which is convenient. You can move through the settings with sliders using the up and down arrows, but you cannot go back to the settings page. Changes to picture settings are saved for all applications and separately for external sources, including the TV tuner. The interface has been translated into Russian, and the translation quality is good. There were no observations regarding the stability of operation or the responsiveness of the interface.

Formally, the Google Play store for Android TV has a limited selection of applications.

However, in most cases, you can install programs from APK files (but you will need to install a third-party program from Google Play first), and once installed, you can use them comfortably. Built-in applications do not offer much functionality or ease of use, so it is preferable to install and use the user's preferred third-party programs. For example, to play video files we installed MX Player and VLC for Android, and to access the file system, network resources, etc. — ES Explorer. The list of applications can always be displayed on the screen by long pressing the Home button, which is convenient.

When using the built-in Wi-Fi adapter, you can stream image and sound to the projector using Chromecast technology (Miracast failed to connect). We tested Chromecast (or Google Cast) through the Google Chrome browser (on Microsoft Windows 10). It is also possible to use the CastPlay program to display a copy of the screen of a mobile device on TV or to play audio, video and graphic files located on the mobile device.

When testing the playback of multimedia content, we limited ourselves to some files played mainly from external USB drives. Multimedia content sources can also be UPnP (DLNA) servers and SMB servers. We tested hard drives, external SSDs and regular flash drives. The two tested hard drives worked without problems from either of the two USB ports without additional power. Note that during deep sleep mode or when there is no access to them, hard drives automatically turn off and turn on again when accessed.

The TV supports reading USB drives with FAT32 file systems (and writing in this case) and NTFS. However, exFAT is not supported. The TV player detects all files in folders, even if there are many files on the disk (more than 100 thousand), and Cyrillic names of files and folders do not cause problems. However, this player does not have access to the built-in flash memory.

The built-in player is not of particular interest for playing audio files, since there are many third-party programs that do this task better and more convenient for users.

Note that even in the case of raster graphics, the standard player does not reproduce them in the true resolution of 3840x2160; the actual resolution is 1920x1080. However, you can use third-party applications to view images.

All third-party programs and the operating system display a static image in a resolution of 1920x1080. However, both the built-in player and third-party apps can play videos in true 3840x2160 resolution using hardware decoding. Some video streaming programs, such as YouTube, can also output 4K video (including HDR).

We used MX Player to test video playback. It supports hardware decoding of audio tracks in AAC, AC3, DTS, MP2, MP3, OGG, WMA and PCM formats. Most modern high-definition files played back without problems in hardware decoding mode, including H.265 variants with 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. It can play HDR video files (HDR10 and HLG) and 10-bit-per-color files, which produce deeper tones than 8-bit files.

However, there have been rare cases where the TV cannot handle certain video formats, such as VCD MPEG1, DivX 3 in AVI container, DivX 5 (MPEG4 ASP) in AVI, DIVX, MKV and OGM containers, as well as WMV files. These files were not playable in hardware decoding mode, but they could be played in software decoding mode or Hardware+ mode.

When playing video files, the TV automatically adjusts the screen refresh rate to match the frame rate of the video file, but only at 50 or 60 Hz. This means that 24 frames per second files were played back in 2:3 frame sequence. In the standard range for video (16-235) all shade gradations are displayed (with Brightness = 50 and Contrast = 50).

The maximum bitrate of video files, at which no artifacts occurred during playback from USB media, was 200 Mbit/s, over a wired Ethernet network — 90 Mbit/s, and over Wi-Fi — 180 Mbit/s. When using the media server of the Asus RT-AC68U router.

The volume of the built-in speaker system for a living room corresponding to the size of a given screen diagonal is sufficient. The stereo effect is well expressed. There are high and medium frequencies, but few lows. There are clearly parasitic cabinet resonances, but even at maximum volume there is no significant distortion of high-level signals. In general, for the class of acoustics built into a TV, its quality is not bad. Let's compare the frequency response of this TV with the frequency response of two high-class TVs (obtained using a sound level meter when playing an audio file with pink noise, SPL interval in 1/3 octaves):

It can be seen that this TV does not have very many low frequencies, very few high ones, and in the middle of the range there are resonant peaks and dips, but in general the range of reproduced frequencies is quite wide. The volume is average (76 dBA for pink noise at a distance of 2 m).

There is no headphone output, so the user will have to use a Bluetooth connection.

The TV was tested in cinema modes when connected to the Sony UBP-X700 Ultra HD Blu-ray player via an HDMI connection. It supports various modes such as 480i/p, 576i/p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p at 50/60 Hz, as well as 1080p and 4K at 24 Hz (additional modes when connected to a PC are described below). When playing videos with different frame rates, the TV automatically adjusts the screen refresh rate, but only to 50 or 60 Hz. For example, at 24 frames per second, frames are output in a 2:3 sequence.

Color display is correct, with high brightness clarity and slightly reduced color clarity. In the standard video range (16-235) all shades are displayed (with Brightness = 50 and Contrast = 50). There is no overscan observed in HD and 4K modes.

The TV does a good job of converting interlaced video signals to progressive images and upscaling images from low resolutions. In the case of dynamic images and interlaced signals, partial smoothing of object boundaries is performed. The video noise reduction function works without significant artifacts.

Connecting to a computer via HDMI allows you to display images in a resolution of 3840 by 2160 pixels up to 60 Hz. However, the TV still only adjusts the screen refresh rate to 50 or 60 Hz, which results in frame-staggering with a 24 frames per second signal. Scaling to screen resolution occurs with good quality, maintaining the contrast of fine lines.

Under Windows 10, output in HDR mode is possible by selecting the appropriate option in the display settings. At a resolution of 4K and 60 Hz, the output is in 8 bits per color mode, with dynamic color mixing, and at 4K and 30 Hz and below — up to 12 bits per color. The test gradient (in the DisplayHDR test tool) showed the presence of 10-bit output with high brightness and a wide color gamut in HDR mode.

This TV model is equipped with a tuner that is capable of receiving both analog and digital signals from broadcast and cable broadcasts. Reception of digital channels on a decimeter antenna installed on the wall of a building (with almost direct visibility to the TV tower in Butovo, at a distance of 14 km) was at a high level. The tuner successfully found TV channels in all three multiplexes (30 in total and 3 radio channels).

This TV provides a list of favorite programs for easy access to your favorite channels. It also has good Electronic Program Guide (EPG) support, allowing you to view the current TV listings and program schedules on various channels. The user can program to watch or record a program, series and other TV shows through this function.

Teletext and subtitle output in particular are supported.

There is also a function for recording digital TV channels according to a schedule, by command and in Time shift mode.

It is noteworthy that for recording functions you can use a USB drive with the FAT32 file system without the need for special preparation or formatting.

The identified screen characteristics confirm that this TV has an IPS matrix. Microphotographs do not contradict this — the subpixel structure characteristic of IPS is visible (black dots are dust on the camera matrix):

Note that there is no visible “crystalline effect” (microscopic variation in brightness and hue) in this case.

Brightness measurements were taken at 25 screen points located in increments of 1/6 of the screen width and height (screen borders not included). Contrast was calculated as the ratio of the brightness of the white and black fields at the measured points.

Hardware measurements showed that the contrast for this type of matrix (IPS) is higher than typical. If you step back from the edges, the uniformity of all three parameters is good. On a black field, you can notice some variation in illumination over the screen area — a slight highlight mainly closer to the edges:

The table below shows the brightness of the white field in the entire screen when measured in the center of the screen and the power consumption (no USB devices connected, sound off, Wi-Fi active, settings values ​​​​provide maximum brightness):

In standby mode (shallow sleep) and in deep sleep mode (wireless interfaces are active), TV consumption is about 0.5 W. In both cases, the power indicator glows red.

At maximum brightness, the image will not appear faded even in a brightly lit room. But for conditions of complete darkness, the minimum brightness may be too high.

At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker. For those who are accustomed to recognizing the familiar abbreviation, let us clarify: there is no PWM. As proof, here are graphs of brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for different Backlight settings:

The heating of the TV can be assessed from the following image from an IR camera, obtained after long-term operation at maximum brightness in a room with a temperature of approximately 24 °C:

Isıtma alanlarının dağılımına bakılırsa, bu TV doğrudan arkadan aydınlatma kullanıyor.

The screen of this TV has a response time of 19 ms for the black-white-black transition (on-display-off) — 10 ms on and 9 ms off. The average transition time between semitones is 20 ms. The matrix has high speed without significant overclocking, which does not cause noticeable artifacts. This matrix speed is usually sufficient for games with not very high dynamics.

When using Game Mode and connected via HDMI, the total output latency (from switching video buffer pages to starting display on the screen) for a 3840x2160 and 60 Hz signal is about 14 ms. This is a very low latency that is practically unnoticeable when working on a PC and does not affect gaming performance.

To assess the nature of the increase in brightness on the gray scale, we measured the brightness of 17 shades of gray at different values of the Gamma parameter. The graph below shows the obtained gamma curves (the values of the approximating function indicators are given in parentheses in the captions, and the coefficient of determination is also there):

Next, we measured the brightness of 256 shades of gray (from 0, 0, 0 to 255, 255, 255) at the Medium value. The graph below shows the increase (not absolute value!) in brightness between adjacent halftones:

The increase in brightness is more or less uniform, and each subsequent shade is significantly brighter than the previous one, even in the darkest area:

The approximation of the resulting gamma curve (already using 256 points) gave a value of 2.30, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the approximating power function:

To assess the quality of color rendering, we used the i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer and the Argyll CMS software package (1.5.0).

The original color gamut is wider than sRGB:

And getting closer to DCI-P3:

Below is the spectrum for the white field (white line), superimposed on the spectra of the red, green and blue fields (lines of the corresponding colors):

It is possible that this TV's backlight LEDs include blue and green phosphors, as well as red, possibly using quantum dots. This variety of components allows for a wide color gamut.

The TV does not automatically correct the color gamut; it always displays images in the original color range. This may cause problems when viewing content created for devices with sRGB gamut, which is the standard for most images. As a result, colors may appear overly saturated. To fix this, you can reduce the Saturation setting. For example, when reduced to a value of 30, we achieved more acceptable output quality for sRGB images. Thus, the color gamut in this case will be as follows:

At least the coverage is much closer to sRGB than it was before the correction.

Without correction, simply by selecting the built-in profiles to adjust the color tone, the color balance is average, since the color temperature is either significantly higher than the standard 6500 K or lower. So we tried to correct the color balance. The graphs below show the color temperature at various parts of the gray scale and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE parameter) after manual correction (gain settings for red, green and blue — 0/−10/−41):

Information about the color characteristics in the darkest area of the image is not so important, because in this area the accuracy of color reproduction is less significant, and the measurement error can be significant. After manual correction, the color temperature approached the standard value of 6500 K, and the ΔE indicator dropped to less than 3 units, which is a good result even for professional devices. Both parameters change moderately in a significant part of the grayscale, which has a beneficial effect on the visual assessment of color balance. However, from a practical point of view, color correction can lead to a decrease in maximum brightness (and therefore contrast), so using the default settings is quite justified.

To find out how screen brightness changes when deviated from perpendicular to the screen, we took a series of measurements of black, white and grayscale brightness at the center of the screen over a wide range of angles, deflecting the sensor axis in the vertical, horizontal and diagonal directions.

Reducing brightness by 50% of maximum value:

In terms of brightness reduction rate, viewing angles are not very wide. When deviating in the diagonal direction, the brightness of the black field begins to increase sharply already at 20°-30° deviation from the perpendicular to the screen. If you sit close to the screen, the black field in the corners will be noticeably lighter than in the center, but at the same time remaining relatively neutral gray. The contrast in the angle range of ±82° in the case of diagonal deviation approaches 10:1 and drops lower along one diagonal at 65°.

To quantify the change in color rendering, we performed colorimetric measurements for white, gray (127, 127, 127), red, green and blue, as well as light red, light green and light blue fields in full screen using a setup similar to that, which was used in the previous test. Measurements were carried out in the angle range from 0° (the sensor is directed perpendicular to the screen) to 80° in steps of 5°. The obtained intensity values ​​were recalculated into deviation ΔE relative to the measurement of each field at a perpendicular position of the sensor relative to the screen. The results are presented below:

You can choose a deviation of 45° as a reference point. A criterion for maintaining correct colors can be considered a ΔE value of less than 3. Color stability is good, this is one of the main advantages of an IPS matrix.

The Red 55AUS/A TV has a strict, neat design with a visually frameless screen. It runs under the Android TV system, so the user can install almost any third-party software that best suits his needs and personal preferences. The TV can be recommended for watching television programs, movies and series, as well as for not very dynamic games.

Advantages:

• Good support for HDR signal and HDR content
• Good color balance (after simple correction)
• No visible flicker
• Good quality built-in speaker system
• Low output latency (14ms)
• Chromecast support
• Good quality of reception of digital terrestrial TV programs
• Ability to record digital TV programs and pause mode
• The remote control works via Bluetooth and IR
• Voice assistant: search and limited TV control

Flaws:

• Variation of frame duration in case of signal or files with 24 fps
• No built-in sRGB profile
• Output of graphic files in resolution reduced to Full HD
• Minimum brightness is a bit high (143 cd/m²)
• No headphone output