during roku's rise I was using Windows Media Center Edition like some kind of
modern caveman so I was shocked to find out just how popular their Smart TV
operating system is then more recently I
was shocked again to find out that their first party Roku TVs have moved out of
the super budget segment and are now available at more premium prices
how could Roku compete with giants like LG or Samsung
how about like this the 55 r6a5r is 4K
it supports every HDR format which is apparently illegal in Korea it hits 500
in its peak brightness with full array local dimming has a quantum dot layer
for improved color performance and it runs the Linux based Roku OS which I've
got to say has become pretty attractive given the Alternatives I mean even if
there are some downsides here that ain't half bad especially at that kind of
price it's not the cheapest that award still goes to single backlight
conventional LCD TVs which can be had for as little as 250 to 300 bucks at
this size and it's not going to have the best picture quality on the market
especially if you compare to an OLED or even a mini LED backlit TV that could
have upwards of thousands of local dimming zones but those options start at
around six hundred dollars for this size and resolution and go well beyond that
which leaves a nice little gap for qled one that Roku has absolutely nailed at
500 bucks or rather 400 since it's already on sale that's the Roku plus
Series in a nutshell qled is basically a
Juiced up LED backlit screen that gets super colorful but without sacrificing
color accuracy it does this by putting a layer of quantum dots between the
backlight and the LCD panel quantum dot
layers aren't limited to just LED backlit displays but in fact we've seen
the technology used in mini LED displays and more recently even in OLED displays
but this is the most affordable way to access it if you want to learn more
we've got a whole video explaining Quantum dots and touring the factory
that makes them but suffice to say the results are really impressive now let's
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purchase and get free shipping in movie mode with local dimming disabled more on
that later we measured an average Delta e of just 1.5
wow that is way below the three to six
that is generally accepted as being accurate to the average person like
really wow guys it took some time but
you officially no longer have to pay a ton of money to get a TV that is color
accurate right out of the box and it's not just accurate the Roku covers 96 of
the rec 709 color space that's the standard for high definition content and
eighty percent of Rec 2020 which is the standard for HDR or high dynamic range
again that is really good
I know 80 sounds like a b but for
context here are some of the high-end TVs that we've tested over the last
couple of years can we add prices to the overlay here
okay now you can see why my mind is so blown right now and it gets even better
support for HDR is one thing but displaying color accurate HDR that is
entirely another and not only does Roku support every relevant HDR standard HDR
10 10 plus Dolby vision and hlg it
manages to hang with the big dogs in a way that I couldn't possibly have
anticipated in dark mode the most color accurate mode we measured an average
Delta e of 14 if you include luminance headers that number again doesn't sound
all that great Until you realize that TVs that cost at least three times as
much are again not that much better
thanks to its VA panel the 55r6a5r also
manages a pretty solid contrast ratio of nearly seven thousand to one don't get
me wrong we're nowhere close to OLED territory but it was still a pleasing
surprise during our testing considering that most VA panels reach anywhere from
three to six thousand to one and especially considering how bright this
TV gets if you've been buying TVs in this price range or lower for the past
10 even 20 years you've basically been stuck at around 300 nits that is not
great for sunlit rooms where glare can completely ruin that day off that you
planned to spend in Goblin mode 500 nits those days are over I mean
don't get me wrong they can be more over if you want to blow even more money but
this is over the threshold where we feel comfortable saying go ahead pull back
those curtains let the sunlight in
or don't at least you can say you have the option now but there is an elephant
in the room full array local dimming or fald is an incredible technology that
allows portions of your screen to dim or brighten to enhance contrast in the
scene but not all full arrays are
created equal with OLED every pixel is
its own dimming Zone giving you effectively millions of them a high-end
mini LED will typically have at least a thousand zones but regular LED even if
it has Quantum dots caps out in the low hundreds with most doing even fewer and
this is one of those most with a total of just 48 zones it isn't the end of the
world and it's not too noticeable watching most kinds of content but the
fewer the zones the more likely you are to see haloing or glowing around certain
bright elements so white subtitles or a
news logo can end up looking pretty distracting and fald also requires
decent processing in order to make sure that those lights are dimming and
brightening on time unfortunately we noticed a weird delay
on this model where once it was enabled it seemed like it was lagging behind the
actual image it does enhance contrast but we lean toward recommending that you
just leave it off for a more color accurate less distracting experience
you're not giving up that much though I can't say the same about the
gaming experience keeping with kind of the theme today it's not bad
for a 60hz display we're talking pixel response times under seven milliseconds
on average an input lag at around 12 milliseconds with game mode enabled but
with current gen consoles supporting 120 hertz you simply won't be experiencing
the best that they have to offer even variable refresh rate which can help
smooth out performance during choppy sections is not supported here in terms
of i o it's all right though featuring four HDMI ports one with ERC and auto
low latency mode and we opened up the back to see what's inside and found that
one it was a lot of screws but hey no
plastic Clips at least and two the fald
board is also used in ONN devices which
kind of makes sense considering that roku's lower end TVs are sold under that
brand at Walmart and the local dimming
performance of our TV was weak kind of
like a lower end tv you know what's not sold at Walmart the LTD backpack from
lttstore.com it won't fit your TV but hey it'll fit a whole lot of other stuff
by the way Walmart if you do want to carry it my phone's right here
now it's time to go back to strengths though and the interface is probably
roku's greatest strength it's responsive enough easy to navigate with their
simple remote and surprisingly it doesn't throw too many ads in your face
I hate that that's something that is a standout feature these days but it is I
mean one minor issue is that streaming apps or platforms are called channels
but does that matter no is it weird yeah but if that's what
I'm complaining about I think that says a lot about how good it is the only
major issue we found is the requirement to make a Roku account we tried to see
if we could just skip this and change the input to HDMI whatever and start
using our devices but no dice the TV is
a brick until you make an account and I can see that being a major turn off for
some people and okay I guess I do have some stuff
the basic processor can be felt when you're loading content but come on guys
compared to the frustration of dealing with you know responsive navigation
through a bad interface advertising um using the Roku was a breath of fresh air
and I guess it makes sense considering that they've been working on it for over
a decade at this point and it can be found in everything from their streaming
boxes to even third-party TVs notably TCL we actually have a couple of Roku
Ultras here at the office that we love just because of their ability to handle
every HDR format now if you can afford
to spend a little bit extra and snag a mini LED TV instead you are going to get
improvements pretty much across the board brightness starts skyrocketing
into the thousand plus nips and you'll get more dimming zones for a more
pleasing HDR experience but depending on what you buy you might also need to
spend more on a Roku box to fix the crap interface and at the time of filming
that's looking like a pretty big price jump I can genuinely say then that I
don't think you'll be disappointed here and I like roku's strategy if they
succeed in this new higher price band maybe we'll see them participate in the
premium segment as well where honestly they're No Nonsense approach to both
hardware and software would be very much appreciated just like I appreciate this
no-nonsense segue to our sponsor thanks to mine for sponsoring this video mine
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make sure to check out the nanosis factory tour where they make Quantum
dots it is pretty technical but very
cool