Xiaomi Mi TV 5X 55-inch review: Another quality budget 4K TV

To say that Xiaomi’s game was quite successful in India’s affordable TV room would be an understatement. The Mi TV 5X builds on that success with incremental upgrades that add up. However, the competition isn’t holding back either, and several emerging brands are now offering affordable TVs. In the meantime, existing companies like Samsung and Sony have lowered prices to be more competitive. By doing Android authority Mi TV 5X test we see whether Xiaomi’s latest package packs enough to maintain its lead over the competition.

• Xiaomi Mi 5x 55-inch 4K TV: Rs. 47,999 (~ $ 654)

The Xiaomi Mi 5X is an iterative update to its range of affordable TVs. The latest in the X-series TV is available in three different sizes: 43-inch, 50-inch and 55-inch. It takes design elements from the company’s QLED range with a minimal bezel design and introduces aluminum cladding all around.

The television joins Xiaomi’s rather limited selection of 55-inch televisions, which include the even more affordable 55-inch Redmi television in addition to the high-end QLED models. The TVs are available through Mi.com, Flipkart, as well as offline retail stores in India. However, there is still no word on international availability.

The Xiaomi Mi TV 5X 55-inch uses an IPS panel. Once calibrated and switched to the film profile, the Mi TV 5X shines with excellent color accuracy for an affordable panel. Fans of live shows or animated content will particularly enjoy the way media looks on the Mi TV 5X. In addition, all important HDR formats such as HDR 10, HDR 10+ and Dolby Vision are supported.

While I’m not the biggest fan of software skins, Xiaomi’s patchwall is an outlier in how it navigates the minefield of dozens of streaming services as well as satellite television. All the standard features like TV guides are here as well as curated lists for popular content.

Patchwall 4’s new features include IMDb integration for ratings, curated movie collections, and an updated content page that now shows more detailed information about movies and shows. The performance is not bad, apart from occasional stuttering when changing panels.

Xiaomi also delivers the goods when it comes to port selection. You will find three HDMI 2.1 ports, two USB ports and an Ethernet socket, as well as an optical 3.5 mm output for audio. The addition of Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) might be appealing to gamers, especially those on the Xbox Series X or Series S (which support ALLM), but I suspect those gamers will want to upgrade to a better TV too.

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There’s no such thing as a variable refresh rate, but the addition of the low-latency mode is a good step towards standardization. In the meantime, the eARC support is great as it allows you to output high resolution audio signals and codecs like Dolby Atmos to an external soundbar or audio receiver over a single HDMI cable.

As far as the speakers are concerned, the TV is designed for a power of 40 W and dialogues in particular sound clear and precise. There’s not much bass here, but the speakers emit room-filling sound and are perfect for watching TV.

What’s not so good?

While the Mi TV 5X offers great picture quality, there are two areas that it suffers and only one of them can be fixed. The default settings may look good on a showroom, but MEMC combined with increased saturation and brightness is far from ideal for the cinematic experience. MEMC can be useful in some media, such as sports, where the television can fill in additional frames to smooth out the frame rate. While it adds an extra dimension of fluidity and realism to sport, it takes away the cinematic experience of movies and TV shows completely.

Reducing the brightness and saturation definitely helps. Reducing the backlight also helps improve the black levels, as the TV has no dimming zones and black looks like a dull gray when the backlight is turned on.

This also applies to HDR content and black levels are never completely black enough. In the meantime, the limited peak brightness levels just won’t have the effect you’d expect from high dynamic range content. The Mi TV Q1 handles darker content and HDR content much better for not much more money.

I recommended turning the backlight down for better color accuracy, but not everyone sees movies in a darkened room. The Xiaomi Mi 5X 55-inch reaches a brightness of around 350 nits, which when combined with a high-gloss finish means that reflections can be a pretty big problem.

Elsewhere, the remote that came with the Mi 5X is the exact same remote that we saw on several different models of Xiaomi TVs. It’s usable at best, but the lack of a dedicated mute button is still annoying. Xiaomi’s fix for double tapping the volume button is a barely-there solution. Plus, all the essentials are included, although my favorite criticism of not being able to customize the hardcoded Netflix and Amazon Prime buttons remains.

While the remote control can be used to call up the Google Assistant, the TV has far-field microphones to call the intelligent assistant hands-free. Unfortunately, the feature was a bit of a hit or miss with my use and the entire activation process took a little too long to make it useful.

Xiaomi Mi 5X 55-inch 4K TV tested: should I buy it?

Priced at Rs. 47,999 (~ $ 654), the Xiaomi Mi 5X 55-inch 4K TV is a solid offering from Xiaomi. Despite my quibbles, some of my TV issues are issues that plague cheaper 4K TVs in general. If you are on a budget, the panel can be easily tweaked to provide great image quality, and the user interface is very functional, if a little flawed. My previous experience with Xiaomi TVs suggests that the company will iron this out pretty quickly with software updates.

Even so, I would encourage users to switch to the Mi Q1 55-inch TV (Rs. 54,999), which offers one of the best panels in the segment for not much more. Other alternatives include Realme’s 55-inch smart TV (Rs 46,999), which is roughly the same price as Xiaomi’s offering, and the Samsung Crystal Series 4K (Rs 55,990) for a slight additional charge.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 5X is another quality TV from the company, especially for those on a budget. The software additions make sense and the image quality does not disappoint once it has been optimized. It’s not the last word on televisions, but it beats above its weight, which makes it a worthy recommendation.