Xiaomi started the affordable smart TV trend in India, but it's not the only one in the market right now. Add to this the company's attempts to improve the value chain, as well as the recently launched QLED panels, and it only made sense to bring even cheaper televisions to market. This time, however, it is under the Redmi branding. The look remains the same, except for an even larger panel size. Good image quality at an unbearable price. Can't you beat that? By doing Android Authority When testing the Redmi Smart TV X65, we will see whether this is the affordable large-screen TV or whether Xiaomi makes too many compromises to bring the price down.
About this Redmi Smart TV X65 review: I wrote this review after spending a week watching TV. Xiaomi India supplied the device that ran Android TV with Patchwall.
What you need to know about the Redmi Smart TV 65X
The Redmi Smart TV 65X represents Xiaomi's entry into the affordable TV segment under the budget-oriented Redmi branding. The TV is available in different sizes, but we tested the 65-inch variant with the longest range.
The TV is focused on bringing the patchwall experience and a large screen size to a whole new price. Unfortunately for Xiaomi, the company is not the first to launch an affordable large screen. However, the well-known brand identity and high-quality after-sales support should help to gain a foothold in the segment.
What is the design of the Redmi Smart TV X65?
The Redmi TV takes a minimal design approach. You know what? I don't mind at all. As an affordable television, I'd rather the company focus on what matters most: picture quality.
The TV looks nice, although the bezels are thicker. This is noticeable in comparison to Xiaomi's previous offering, the Mi Q1 QLED TV.
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In designing an affordable product, certain concessions have to be made with the materials used. With the Redmi television, these are all-round shiny plastics.
The only real differentiator is the clear plastic dome that protrudes from under the bezel. A soft white light appears when the TV is switched on.
Elsewhere, the stands are made of plastic. While I didn't actually see any wobble, Xiaomi could have done better here, given the size and weight of the 65-inch TV.
What has improved is the layout of the ports. A dinky-looking plastic loop on the back supports cable management. It's not the best-designed solution, but it does the trick. As a stickler for cable management, I appreciate these little additions.
Xiaomi has been generous in choosing the ports for its affordable televisions.
Xiaomi continues to be generous with its port selection. The Redmi Smart TV 65x has three HDMI 2.1 and two USB 2.0 ports on the back. Only one of them supports eARC but we are ready to make this concession given the price. While a higher spec port would have been great, most users shouldn't have any problem playing personal files from an external hard drive. The port also provides enough power to run an external streaming stick like a Fire Stick, in case you prefer that to Android TV.
The rest of the port choices are standard: ethernet, optical out, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The TV also supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. The former is good enough for streaming services, but I had to play around with the nodes on my mesh router while streaming high bitrate content from my Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive. Your mileage may vary, but I would recommend keeping the TV in close proximity to your router.
The Bluetooth connectivity is absolutely solid. I didn't have any problems with streaming TV audio through headphones. This is very useful when you are watching movies or playing games late at night.
How is it to be used?
The Redmi Smart TV X runs Android TV, but Xiaomi doesn't want you to spend too much time there. Instead, Patchwall is the real draw here. Similar to MIUI on its cell phones, Xiaomi has a completely new software interface based on vanilla Android TV.
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You know what? It's surprisingly good. Patchwall does a great job integrating satellite television with streaming services. It even offers universal search and recommendations, which makes it a lot better than Google's lackluster attempts to aggregate content using Android TV. Nice job there, Xiaomi.
Image quality and features
On paper, the Redmi TV has all the specs you can hope for. With Dolby Vision's support for HDR 10, you get a relatively bright panel with a focus on accuracy.
Let's be honest This is a budget TV with a focus on size while maintaining quality. The video output is very good for the price, but pales in comparison to Xiaomi's own QLED panels. Once calibrated, the colors are pretty much accurate, although the output is not as vivid as I would have liked. I noticed the peak brightness and had no problem viewing the screen in a bright, sunlit room.
There's a bit of backlighting around the edges, but it wasn't serious enough to cause a disadvantage in all but the darkest scenes.
I noticed a bit of backlighting and the black levels aren't particularly good.
It's worth noting that despite the support for dynamic lighting, the black levels are nothing to write home about. However, this can be a problem with most budget TVs, and Xiaomi is hardly the exception.
The TV supports motion smoothing. This adds to the sporty viewing experience, but I recommend that you turn this off for everything else.
With that in mind, you can quickly access picture profiles by long pressing the Mi button. This makes it easy to switch between content profiles depending on what you are watching. After all, you forego high-end features like a high refresh rate and support for variable refresh rates. But you didn't expect that on budget TV, did you?
Audio
The Redmi TV has two speakers with a total power of 30W. I wish the company had brought the six speaker array from the Mi Q1 QLED TV. Instead, the two speakers sound a bit muddy here.
Sure they go loud enough, but there isn't much separation here. While watching Zack Snyder's Justice League it got a bit tedious to follow the dialogue in more hectic scenes.
How is the remote control?
Much good. It's the same remote control that Xiaomi has used across its product portfolio and includes all the buttons it needs.
You will find shortcuts for direct access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, the Android TV interface and Patchwall.
As with the Mi Q1 QLED TV, there are a number of shortcuts here, e.g. For example, you can double-tap the volume button to mute audio. Long press the Mi button shows quick settings. Finally, there are options to turn off the display in case you're listening to music. You can also put the TV into a power saving mode during a full shutdown.
Value and competition
The smart television market has become quite competitive in recent years as some players are offering budget-oriented panels. Nevertheless, the Redmi Smart TV 65x offers an excellent price-performance ratio.
The value you get with the Redmi Smart TV 65X is hard to beat.
Major competitors include options from TCL and Kodak. The former offers slightly better image quality, but a premium has to be paid there. In the meantime, you can save some money on the Kodak CA series. However, the company does not have the support network that Xiaomi set up.
What I like
- Patchwall. Xiaomi's custom UI is one of the few instances of third-party skins that enhance the original UI. It neatly fills in the void created by Google's inadequacy.
- Codec support. Look, you won't see many of the benefits of Dolby Vision on a budget panel, but it does make a difference, and the support for the codec is definitely nice to have.
- The price. Xiaomi made its way into the smartphone segment with affordable phones that offered more than the others. The Redmi TV does exactly the same thing, but in the television segment.
What I do not like
- The audio. I'm getting compromised on build quality, but the Redmi 65-inch TV could have benefited from better speakers. As it stands, audio simply lacks the expected impact.
Redmi Smart TV X65 review: the verdict
The Redmi Smart TV 65X is neither the most feature-packed TV nor a statement. Instead, Xiaomi has focused on offering a decent panel at a reasonable price. The quality of the materials used isn't the last word in consumer electronics, but neither is it cheap. Price at just Rs. At 57,999 (~ $ 784), the Redmi Smart TV X65 combines an affordable price tag with picture quality that doesn't disappoint.
The Redmi Smart TV X65 combines an affordable price with picture quality that does not disappoint.
Nor should it be emphasized enough that Xiaomi goes way above the competition in providing an after-sales network for a product. This is an important criterion for a product that is expected to last a few years.
The Redmi Smart TV 65X deserves a worthy recommendation for its value proposition.
