Vu Pixelight TV (65-QDV) review

Vu Pixelight 4K TV is an affordable range of televisions by the California headquartered company. Vu has created a name for itself in the Indian television market and generated a revenue of Rs 1000 crore last year (FY 2018-19). The company claims to have installed over 1.5 million television sets across India and joins the ranks with some of the most popular brands plying in the television space such as Sony, Samsung, Xiaomi, LG and Panasonic.

The Pixelight 4K TV series is targeted at users who want a premium viewing experience at an affordable price. And in a price-sensitive market like India, it’s only a reasonable way for brands to exist. Look at how Xiaomi has dominated the budget television space with its affordable Mi Android TVs.

With the Pixelight series, Vu offers an ultra-high-definition viewing experience and comes licensed for OTT (Over-The-Top) services like Amazon Prime and Netflix. Vu Televisions sent us their biggest, 65-inch Pixelight 4K TV and here’s what we think about it.

Price and availability

Vu Pixelight 4K TV series comes in four screen sizes-- 43-inch, 50-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch and is priced at Rs. 30,000, Rs. 39,000, Rs. 42,000 and Rs. 66,000 respectively.

The televisions are available online on Flipkart and Amazon India.

Design

Taking the Vu Pixelight 4K 65-inch TV out of the box, we noticed that it has fairly narrow bezels surrounding the screen. The TV casing is made out of engineered plastic which has some amount of glass fiber to make it more sturdy and protect the edges of the panel. The rear panel used is coated in black colour while the rest of the body including bezels and table stands are grey.

The 65-inch TV is encased in a polycarbonate shell casing that measures 57.4 x 36 x 12.2 inches and weighs close to 20 Kg with the stand. Speaking of which, the tabletop stand that is provided with the Vu TV feels solid and seems to be made from metal with rubber feet to provide additional surface balance.

Vu provides an IR remote controller with 2 AAA batteries, a detachable power cord in addition to a wall mount bracket and tabletop stand in-the-box

The 65-inch Vu TV is coated with a metallic grey finish that adds to its slim outline and doesn’t feel cheap. The TV unit doesn’t look thick and the minimal bezels make sure that your eyes are glued to the large screen. 

Vu’s logo is positioned at the center on the bottom bezel followed by the Dolby Atmos logo which means that the TV is certified by Dolby. All the ports are situated on the rear end of the television and there’s a power button on the bottom left corner.

Depending on the space available and the model you go with, make sure that there’s ample gap to access the rear input panel. There’s a second slot with AV In and LAN ports, but it would largely remain inaccessible if you decide to mount the TV on the wall. Even the side panel doesn’t have a decent space that lets you access it to plug in a USB drive which is kind of a bummer.

If you’re not going to mount it on the wall, ensure that the console table is at least 5 feet long for the TV to be placed comfortably using its tabletop stand.

Overall, the TV looks every bit modern with minimal bezels and feels sturdy. Having said that we noticed gaps between the screen and the bezels at different regions around the TV panel which is only noticeable at close distances.

Connectivity and Ports

Vu Pixelight TV features multiple ports for connectivity to other supports devices. It has two panels for ports, one situated at the left side and the other one at the rear bottom. The one at the bottom gives access to AV input, USB, Ethernet RJ45 and HDMI ports and can’t be easily accessed if the TV is mounted on a wall.

The left side panel gives users access to RF ports, two HDMI ports, single USB port and a digital audio output port. It would have been great to see an additional USB port on the side panel but one would have to make do with the secondary USB port on the bottom panel which wouldn't be readily accessible in case you choose to mount it on the wall. 

Out of the three HDMI ports, HDMI 2 supports ARC (Audio Return Channel) and CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) which means that it is the designated port for channeling audio via HDMI. This comes in handy if you’re planning to pair the TV with a stereo sound system or Amazon Fire Stick.

The TV supports Vu Anywhere Cast and DLNA which allows users to cast anything from their phones onto the TV screen. Vu TV also supports Remote Now app by HiSense that enables a remote interface on the phone to control the TV. 

Besides, the Vu Pixelight TV only supports Wi-Fi 2.4GHz band and doesn’t come fitted with a Bluetooth module which is a wired thing. Given that a lot of good soundbars don’t require any physical connection and can playback audio via Bluetooth, stripping the TV off of it doesn’t really make any sense. It is in these little things that we believe the company has applied cost-cutting measures.

Remote

Vu Pixelight TV comes with a versatile remote that is full of input buttons that are comfortable to press. The remote has broadcast TV controls in the upper half followed by a directional pad in the center and home, live TV, volume controls and playback controls in the bottom half.

The highlight of this remote is that it features dedicated buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube. So, a user can just press either of the buttons from any screen and the corresponding app would be launched instantly. 

The remote is based on Infrared and not Bluetooth, which means that a user will have to point it towards the television to control it. The remote feels sturdy in hand and isn’t very lightweight. It is powered by two AAA batteries that are provided in-the-box.

Display

Vu Pixelight TV (65-QDV) features a 65-inch 4K panel with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. The panel supports HDR10 playback in addition to the HLG standard. Vu hasn’t revealed the manufacturer of its screens that are used in televisions and just says that Pixelight TVs use “A+ grade high bright 4K HDR10 panel”.

Vu states that they’ve used a high bright 4K panel for their Pixelight televisions with features like adaptive contrasts and digital noise reduction. Users can also tweak the backlight brightness and the TV offers four modes of viewing-- Standard, Cinema Day, Cinema Night and Cricket.

Vu Pixelight TV features the company’s proprietary upscaling solution that works to ensure a smoother audio-video experience on OTT platforms like Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video. The upscaling works in tandem with a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for a slick viewing experience. The TV is also licensed to work with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube.

Overall, the screen on Pixelight TV is pretty decent as far as affordable televisions go. It comes with its fair share of drawbacks like noticeable banding, over-saturation at times, loss of details and washed out colours while upscaling HD content to 4K. Having said that, if you’re going for a smaller sized variant like 43-inches or 50-inches, these issues are negligible due to a great price to value ratio.

User experience

By now, you’d have guessed it right that the Vu Pixelight TV doesn’t run on Android TV. Instead, the company has loaded it with their own Vu Smart OS which comes with Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Zee5, ErosNow, Hungama Play, YuppTV, Dailymotion, AccuWeather, icflix, TED, Toon Goggles and Plex apps.

Additionally, the TV has VEWD app store which lets users download more apps from VEWD catalog. However, there aren’t many apps worth downloading onto the TV from that particular store. Also, none of the Android apps are compatible with Vu Pixelight TV so sideloading doesn’t work either.

In case you want to watch a show or movie that’s only available on Hotstar, you’ll have to get an Amazon Fire Stick as there is absolutely no way for the TV to get the Hostar app.

Our experience with Pixelight TV wasn’t a very pleasant one, to say the least. The interface isn’t very smooth to operate via remote control and often lags in registering input from the remote.

On one of the days, the TV just stopped responding and hung up on the home screen before we had to pull the plug. Yes, it wasn’t getting switched off even after pressing the Power on/off button repeatedly.

While the Vu Pixelight TV comes loaded with features, the overall usability experience is a letdown if you’re thinking of going for its 55 or 65-inch model.

Audio quality

The 65-inch Vu Pixelight TV comes fitted with two 15W stereo speakers and supports Dolby Digital Plus audio. Some of the additional features include DTS bass boost, dialogue clarity and DTS TruSurround sound.

Users have an option to pair the TV with an external speaker system via ARC or SPDIF connection. The default audio performance of the TV is average as one would come to expect of a TV in this price range. It isn’t mind-blowing and you won’t feel a cinema-grade aural experience. For that, you will need to invest in a compatible stereo system.

Verdict

Vu Pixelight 4K TV (65-QDV) is a very affordable television which is one of its biggest highlights. At Rs 66,000, it offers 4K playback with VOD upscaling and comes pre-loaded with Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube along with a bunch of other apps. It is well-built but don’t expect very premium quality from the TV.

The missing Bluetooth support,  inefficient upscaling and bogged down interface doesn’t make it one of the best televisions in this price range, especially if you’re considering to get the 65-inch model.

Then again, if you’re looking for an affordable, big display for occasional binge-watching sessions and are willing to look past some of the drawbacks, the 65-inch Pixelight TV is a decent offering by Vu.