In my last post I had expressed frustration at the seeming impossibility of getting hold of a 55 inch MI TV and the company's policy of stimulating demand through flash sales that got sold out within seconds. I had already planned on going in for a budget Panasonic LED TV, but decided to sit in for one last sale without any hope of actually snagging this elusive item. And what do you know, I got lucky!!
No, I did not install any auto-buy software. I just got lucky, perhaps because the sense of urgency was gone.
The reason why I am writing this review is to help fellow FMs who may be undecided if they should get this TV (assuming they CAN get their hands on this TV in the first place). In the other thread on MI TVs I had requested owners of this TV to provide feedback regarding things like picture quality and no one even bothered to reply. Perhaps they were too busy playing with the new gadget. So hopefully this will prove helpful to other FMs. There are already many user reviews of this particular TV on Flipkart, but most of them are of the "I was recently buyed these TV" variety and so do not inspire any confidence. Not that this review claims to be any better, but you can at least be assured that it is not coming from one who writes a glowing review simply because he is overawed by the 55 inch screen size. (I like to play around with projectors. I had even started a thread comparing 2 popular LED projectors and an equally popular LCD projector, which was going along quite well before an overexcited member with a quarrelsome Arnab Goswami-like disposition jumped in and derailed the discussion by commenting without reading the actual post).
Regarding the actual TV, I am not going to post any pictures because you have no doubt seen hundreds of pics posted on the web. The TV does score with regard to aesthetics because of its very thin, nearly border-less frame which thickens towards the bottom. To me, this "thinnest LED TV in the world" nonsense is a minor consideration. After all, the thinness of the frame is not something we notice when watching TV. In fact I would have preferred a slightly thicker frame if only because a thicker frame looks more sturdy. As it stands, the thin frame supported on two spindly legs does not inspire any confidence. The extremely thin frame also puts it at greater risk of damage during shipping. If it does get damaged, then getting it replaced will be a big issue. MI does have a replacement policy - according to this policy they will replace the TV if it is found to be defective by the service technician who comes to install the TV. However I wouldn't want to be the one who has to find out if they will follow this replacement policy to the letter. They MAY, in fact, replace it - but I can guarantee you that it will not be a hassle-free experience.
Which brings me to one negative aspect - negative aspect not so much to do with the TV as with the MI customer care. They will be very helpful if all you want is to book an installation. But let anything go wrong and you will be pounding the walls in frustration when dealing with the MI customer care. If there is a problem, then they will read out to you the standard apology text without any hint of remorse in their tone whatsoever. An apology rendered by Amazon's Alexa sounds more sincere than that of the MI customer care agents. Then they will play for time - 24 hours being the standard amount of time they ask for. They will promise that someone from the MI customer care team will call you within 24 hours. Nobody calls. You call them up and then they issue another apology and ask for another 24 hours, and on and on and on it will go. It even gets quite hilarious if you force them to go off script - I reminded one agent that I had given them not just 24 hours but 48 hours in which to respond. Her reply was that only working hours are counted when calculating those 24 hours!!
The bottom line is that they do not care at all about customer satisfaction. Their attitude seems to be that since their products are in such demand they can afford to disregard customer satisfaction. In short, they think that they are doing us a favour by allowing us to buy their TVs. Given the attitude of the MI customer care, I hope that the TV can give hassle-free service for at least 2 years. Even if it fails during the warranty period I am not too sure that the issue will be resolved to the customer's satisfaction. (BTW, if any MI higher-ups are reading this then feel free to PM me. I will give you the full details about my case including the complaint number beginning "WOIN"..........)
The picture quality is the most important aspect of any TV and I must say that this TV does not disappoint in this regard. I find the contrast to be very good (I own a Panasonic plasma) with very deep blacks without sacrificing shadow details. The use of a Samsung-manufactured SVA panel definitely shows here. However, the colour reproduction out-of-the-box needs to be tweaked. I watched a Premier League match featuring Manchester United and the red shirts were looking pink!! (Fellaini was looking like a pimp)! However, this can be easily corrected and there are ample onboard controls which can help you adjust the colours to your liking. Just be warned that the default settings may not look spot-on to you.
Viewing angles, as others have pointed out, are not impressive.
This particular TV is an edge-lit LED model - the edge lighting is what makes the TV's extreme thinness possible. The trade-off is that edge lit models are particularly prone to backlight bleed and unevenness issues. I have seen a few pics (I think it was in this forum) of a MI TV 55 inch which had severe backlight issues. To be honest, I was prepared to accept a similar issue in my TV since this is a drawback inherent to the technology. So I was extremely pleased to see that my particular TV did not suffer from this issue - at least not to a noticeable extent.
Another issue some reviewers have pointed out is that the screen is very reflective. I did not find this to be so - it is reflective but not any more reflective than many other models by other well-known brands. The reflections, such as there are, should not bother you when the TV is switched on. But if there is a direct light source right behind you (like an open window in the daytime) then you will definitely need to do something about either the light source or the TV placement.
Regarding sound - many Flipkart reviewers have complained about sound. You will be disappointed if you expected this TVs speakers to give you boomy bass. But then you are always advised to go in for external speakers like a soundbar when considering flat screen TVs. Some Panasonic models like the Shinobi series of LED TVs do boast good sound, but this should not be a determining criteria when selecting a flat screen TV.
All in all, I would say that you can't go wrong with this TV at a price of INR 39990. They seem to have increased the price to INR 45000 recently. This would put it in direct competition with TCL's iFFalcon. I don't know if TCL is also going to adopt the flash sales strategy, but they should put a big dent in MI's armour. In any case, MI will hopefully stop playing the game of stimulating demand and popularity through these flash sales in which they do not even inform buyers of how many units are put up for sale. With the entry of TCL's lineup of TVs, I think that supply of MI TVs should not be an issue for much longer since the competition has arrived - but then I could be wrong!
No, I did not install any auto-buy software. I just got lucky, perhaps because the sense of urgency was gone.
The reason why I am writing this review is to help fellow FMs who may be undecided if they should get this TV (assuming they CAN get their hands on this TV in the first place
). In the other thread on MI TVs I had requested owners of this TV to provide feedback regarding things like picture quality and no one even bothered to reply. Perhaps they were too busy playing with the new gadget. So hopefully this will prove helpful to other FMs. There are already many user reviews of this particular TV on Flipkart, but most of them are of the "I was recently buyed these TV" variety and so do not inspire any confidence. Not that this review claims to be any better, but you can at least be assured that it is not coming from one who writes a glowing review simply because he is overawed by the 55 inch screen size. (I like to play around with projectors. I had even started a thread comparing 2 popular LED projectors and an equally popular LCD projector, which was going along quite well before an overexcited member with a quarrelsome Arnab Goswami-like disposition jumped in and derailed the discussion by commenting without reading the actual post). Regarding the actual TV, I am not going to post any pictures because you have no doubt seen hundreds of pics posted on the web. The TV does score with regard to aesthetics because of its very thin, nearly border-less frame which thickens towards the bottom. To me, this "thinnest LED TV in the world" nonsense is a minor consideration. After all, the thinness of the frame is not something we notice when watching TV. In fact I would have preferred a slightly thicker frame if only because a thicker frame looks more sturdy. As it stands, the thin frame supported on two spindly legs does not inspire any confidence. The extremely thin frame also puts it at greater risk of damage during shipping. If it does get damaged, then getting it replaced will be a big issue. MI does have a replacement policy - according to this policy they will replace the TV if it is found to be defective by the service technician who comes to install the TV. However I wouldn't want to be the one who has to find out if they will follow this replacement policy to the letter. They MAY, in fact, replace it - but I can guarantee you that it will not be a hassle-free experience.
Which brings me to one negative aspect - negative aspect not so much to do with the TV as with the MI customer care. They will be very helpful if all you want is to book an installation. But let anything go wrong and you will be pounding the walls in frustration when dealing with the MI customer care. If there is a problem, then they will read out to you the standard apology text without any hint of remorse in their tone whatsoever. An apology rendered by Amazon's Alexa sounds more sincere than that of the MI customer care agents. Then they will play for time - 24 hours being the standard amount of time they ask for. They will promise that someone from the MI customer care team will call you within 24 hours. Nobody calls. You call them up and then they issue another apology and ask for another 24 hours, and on and on and on it will go. It even gets quite hilarious if you force them to go off script - I reminded one agent that I had given them not just 24 hours but 48 hours in which to respond. Her reply was that only working hours are counted when calculating those 24 hours!!
The bottom line is that they do not care at all about customer satisfaction. Their attitude seems to be that since their products are in such demand they can afford to disregard customer satisfaction. In short, they think that they are doing us a favour by allowing us to buy their TVs. Given the attitude of the MI customer care, I hope that the TV can give hassle-free service for at least 2 years. Even if it fails during the warranty period I am not too sure that the issue will be resolved to the customer's satisfaction. (BTW, if any MI higher-ups are reading this then feel free to PM me. I will give you the full details about my case including the complaint number beginning "WOIN"..........)
The picture quality is the most important aspect of any TV and I must say that this TV does not disappoint in this regard. I find the contrast to be very good (I own a Panasonic plasma) with very deep blacks without sacrificing shadow details. The use of a Samsung-manufactured SVA panel definitely shows here. However, the colour reproduction out-of-the-box needs to be tweaked. I watched a Premier League match featuring Manchester United and the red shirts were looking pink!! (Fellaini was looking like a pimp
)! However, this can be easily corrected and there are ample onboard controls which can help you adjust the colours to your liking. Just be warned that the default settings may not look spot-on to you.Viewing angles, as others have pointed out, are not impressive.
This particular TV is an edge-lit LED model - the edge lighting is what makes the TV's extreme thinness possible. The trade-off is that edge lit models are particularly prone to backlight bleed and unevenness issues. I have seen a few pics (I think it was in this forum) of a MI TV 55 inch which had severe backlight issues. To be honest, I was prepared to accept a similar issue in my TV since this is a drawback inherent to the technology. So I was extremely pleased to see that my particular TV did not suffer from this issue - at least not to a noticeable extent.
Another issue some reviewers have pointed out is that the screen is very reflective. I did not find this to be so - it is reflective but not any more reflective than many other models by other well-known brands. The reflections, such as there are, should not bother you when the TV is switched on. But if there is a direct light source right behind you (like an open window in the daytime) then you will definitely need to do something about either the light source or the TV placement.
Regarding sound - many Flipkart reviewers have complained about sound. You will be disappointed if you expected this TVs speakers to give you boomy bass. But then you are always advised to go in for external speakers like a soundbar when considering flat screen TVs. Some Panasonic models like the Shinobi series of LED TVs do boast good sound, but this should not be a determining criteria when selecting a flat screen TV.
All in all, I would say that you can't go wrong with this TV at a price of INR 39990. They seem to have increased the price to INR 45000 recently. This would put it in direct competition with TCL's iFFalcon. I don't know if TCL is also going to adopt the flash sales strategy, but they should put a big dent in MI's armour. In any case, MI will hopefully stop playing the game of stimulating demand and popularity through these flash sales in which they do not even inform buyers of how many units are put up for sale. With the entry of TCL's lineup of TVs, I think that supply of MI TVs should not be an issue for much longer since the competition has arrived - but then I could be wrong!
