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Amazon is taking its interest in TV hardware more seriously. The firm has long provided excellent streaming sticks at affordable prices for individuals who are a part of its ecosystem. However, last year, it unveiled the new Omni series, which is aimed at consumers who want a full TV experience with Alexa and all of their favorited Amazon services. With the new Fire TV Omni QLED, which incorporates quantum dot technology into its reasonably priced TVs, it is iterating on that idea this year.
The Fire TV Omni QLED may succeed thanks to its inexpensive pricing and, at least on paper, respectably high-tech features. The greatest TVs of the year from brands like Hisense and TCL, which are also available in this price range, are among its fiercest rivals. Can Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED compete well enough? To discover out, we have been testing it.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Design
The way that the Fire TV OS is built to contain all of your content, including paid and free streaming TV, cable or satellite TV, and broadcast TV, is another key aspect of the experience. Amazon strives to make it as simple as possible to access the content you want to watch by putting everything you want on its home screen. Consider Amazon’s ecosystem now, excluding home entertainment. For instance, your Ring security cameras are immediately viewable on a Fire TV device.
(Amazon, of course, owns Ring.) Want to change the thermostat in your smart home? (Amazon also possesses one of those.) Just reach for the remote. Alternatively, if you like, you can set the TV to wait for your commands all the time. But if you’re not, a switch on the TV turns off the in-built microphone. Additionally, you may make video calls using the TV if you connect a webcam. You see what I mean. Instead of just being an entertainment hub, it is intended to be a potent smart home hub. You can buy this Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED from its official website.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Brightness
In SDR and HDR, the Fire TV Omni QLED generally produced a brilliant image, outperforming several of the more expensive OLED rivals as well as some of the similarly priced LED rivals, like the Vizio M-Series Quantum. Nevertheless, the Hisense U7H outperformed the Amazon TV in every brightness test, including when viewing in SDR and HDR.
For instance, the Vizio M-Series Quantum reached 322.8 nits, the Fire TV Omni QLED just 165.5 nits, and the LG C2 only 425.9 nits in HDR Filmmaker mode at 100% of the display. With 617.3 nits, the Hisense U7H outperformed them all for a comparable cost. There are some redeeming features of the Fire TV Omni QLED. In many of our testing, it was able to cover more of the colour spectrum than the U7H, but, to be fair, it typically didn’t cover that much more. Personally, I think that the significantly improved brightness and backlight control are more significant than the somewhat increased colour coverage.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Color
There are some redeeming features of the Fire TV Omni QLED. In many of our testing, it was able to cover more of the colour spectrum than the U7H, but, to be fair, it typically didn’t cover that much more. Personally, I think that the significantly improved brightness and backlight control are more significant than the somewhat increased colour coverage.
None of this implies that the Fire TV Omni QLED has a poor appearance. Instead, it appears to be quite attractive. Just not good enough to compete with the finest alternatives at this pricing. Not everyone will priorities image quality when choosing a TV, and even if you priorities the operating system and smart features more, you’ll still get a gorgeous TV.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Smart Features
All of the smart features are linked to an Amazon account, which comes as no surprise, and multiple profiles are available to personalize the usage. The Omni QLED is prepared to serve as your main command centre if you have a large number of Alexa-enabled devices. The app store has all the services you’ll need, even if the main interface of the TV displays Amazon content at the top of the screen. Apps can be manually arranged, similar to other interfaces, and when highlighted, they allow you to preview some of the content.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Sound Quality
Given Amazon’s expertise in creating smart speakers, the fact that the Fire TV Omni QLED produces respectable sound for a TV shouldn’t be a surprise. Despite having only two channels, the speech was audible, and it even created a small amount of bass. It sounded about as well as an Echo when playing music. However, the TV lacks virtual surround sound capabilities and does not support Dolby Atmos. Your setup would benefit from having a nice soundbar.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Performance
80 zones of full array local dimming are available on the Fire TV Omni QLED. Additionally, quantum dots are applied to produce a more vibrant image. It also supports HDR10, HLG, and all other popular HDR formats in addition to Dolby Vision IQ. In my perspective, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED performed satisfactorily in everyday use. The photos were clear and exact, and the colours were vibrant. Consider a Hisense alternative if you’re looking for a TV with the best picture quality in this price range.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Gaming Support
The Omni QLED offers some gaming functions, such as VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM, for supported PCs and consoles including the PS5 and Xbox Series X, above other TVs in its class (Auto Low Latency Mode). VRR enables the TV to match the frame rate of your game. You won’t likely notice a significant difference in fluidity because the Omni QLED’s refresh rate can only switch between 48fps (Frames Per Second) and 60fps due to its 60Hz panel limitation. Even while it can’t keep up with games with high frame rates, gaming should still be rather fluid. To reduce latency to about 11ms, ALLM enables the TV to automatically recognize a signal from more recent game consoles (according to Rtings). When playing video games, you should make sure that you are in Game Mode because that is a significant increase from the typical latency of 130ms.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Pricing and Configurations
Unfortunately, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED is only available in two sizes: 65 inches and 75 inches. Although Amazon hasn’t yet released smaller sizes, they may do so shortly. Remember that prices frequently go down, and they might even go down during the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. These are fair pricing, especially for TVs of this size. It does, however, hint that the TVs’ rivals include models like the Hisense U7H and TCL 5-Series, among others.
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review: Conclusion
The overall quality of the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series is good. Thanks to its great black uniformity and superb contrast ratio, it’s best for watching movies or television programmed in a dark environment. Low input lag and a decent array of gaming features make it a fantastic gaming TVs. Because of its respectable peak brightness and reflection management, which means it can tolerate some glare, it’s also suitable for watching television during the day. Unfortunately, it has poor viewing angles, which limits its usefulness for watching sports, and it can’t be used as a desktop monitor because text appears blurry and chroma 4:4:4 is improperly shown.