A good budget 4K HDR TV

The 43-inch screen size is the only one in India where you have the option to choose between a 4K TV and a FHD TV. More than resolution, it is more important to present the content in HDR vs. SDR. While a 4K image will look more glamorous than 1080p, it does take HDR on a budget TV which is uncomfortable and at times, SDR images look better than HDR.
Today we have Redmi Smart TV X43 with us. It is a 43-inch extension of the Redmi Smart TV X series now available in 43, 50, 55 and 65-inch screen sizes. We reviewed the 65-inch Redmi Smart TV X65 and found it quite valuable to offer money. In the 43-inch space, we reviewed the Redmi FHD which is currently priced at Rs 24,999. We also reviewed offers from Realme. At the time of writing this review, the Redmi Smart TV X43 is priced at Rs 28,999 and it comes with all the features of its older siblings including support for Dolby Vision and HDR. Is this a worthy consideration over the FHD Redmi Smart TV 43?
Redmi Smart TV X43 specification at a glance
Panel size: 43-inch (also available in 50, 55 and 65-inch screen sizes)
Panel resolution: 3840 x 2160p – 4K
Panel refresh rate: 60Hz
HDR 10 support: Yes
HDR 10+ support: Yes
Dolby Vision Support: Yes
Weight: 6.5 kg
HDMI port: 3
USB port: 2
Bluetooth: Yes, 5.0
Wi-Fi: Yes, dual-band
Ethernet: Yes
Speaker: 30W
Built-in storage: 16GB
RAM: 2GB
Price: MRP: 28,999
Redmi Smart TV X43 display panel and picture quality
The Redmi Smart TV X43 has D-LED backlighting. As far as peak brightness is concerned, at Vivid Preset, we recorded a maximum brightness of 372 nits, but at Movie and Standard Presets, you can expect a maximum brightness of 250 to 300 nits, which is low for HDR content. However, we will comment below on whether this interferes with your viewing experience. Where the device has impressed with Colorchecker Analysis, gives an average delta error of 2.9 which is quite good. Even at Grayscale 2pt, the error was below 2 which indicates good overall performance. In Saturation Sweeps, we have an average delta error of 2.5 which indicates a very good, overall good representation of color. Thus, the brightness of the TV may be less for using HDR content, it has a fairly good color reproduction.
Above: Maximum brightness
Above: Grayscale 2 points.
Above: Saturation sweep of Redmi Smart TV x43
Above: Color gamut coverage
Above: Colorchecker analysis
HDR
As we said above, the maximum brightness of the TV is nothing like writing at home. But this is not the biggest problem with budget HDR TVs. This means that darker sequences will not look too dark and colors should look good That’s exactly what we found here. On a show like Hour Planet (available on Dolby Vision on Netflix), we didn’t find special highlights like other TVs with high peak brightness, but the dark areas of the show were still quite enjoyable. Same on shows like Grand Tour (available on HDR 10+ in Prime Video). Another HDR 10+ show in Prime Video, the dark sequence we use in Jack Ryan should be a great standout. The sequence we use to test the budget HDR TV has a little darker tone but that’s not the case here. It was crisp and easily enjoyable.
There are some instances where the on-screen content looks a bit darker than expected, but these moments were very rare. A good example of The Dark Knight Rises is that most of the action in the first two-thirds of the movie takes place at night. While many of these dark sequences were easy to watch, there was some loss of detail due to the low peak brightness of the TV. But it was an example such that with other materials including dark sequence it was easily carbonated, the content was easily enjoyable.
The TV has many setting options that give you a decent amount of control. There is Dolby Vision Bright and Dolby Vision Dark for Dolby Vision content and keep Dolby Vision Bright on the TV regardless of the room light as always. HDR 10+ has only one option while HDR 10 content includes HDR Standard, HDR Vivid and HDR Movie. Here I saw that the HDR 10 movie worked best for almost all HDR content.
SDR
A recent addition to Netflix is Spider-Man from Home. This title is available in 4K but in SDR. The details of the Spider-Man suit are quite detailed with red and blues. The battle with Mysterio that begins at the 1 hour 15 minute mark and ends when Spider-Man is hit by a train is a good example of SDR playback with a healthy mix of color and bright and dark sequences. The TV does a good job of reproducing these sequences, and with a slight bias light in the room, there is almost no halo or flickering effect on the screen. Overall performance is very good for SDR.
Regular SDR content, whether from a set-top box or even a streaming service, looks good on this TV. For watching movies and most TV shows, I recommend using movie presets. However, as we have seen on other TVs, we have seen that some shows like Young Sheldon, for example, look best using standard presets despite having some cool color bias. What I’m recommending is to go to settings and turn off motion smoothing because I’m the one who doesn’t like the artificial smoothing effect in movies. It’s a personal choice as you can like it.
Redmi Smart TV X43 Gaming Performance
Gaming on this TV is good overall, although we’ve had the same problem with other budget HDR TVs. When you first connect a PS5 (review) to the TV, you are asked to calibrate the brightness. After calibrating Firing Dart 5 (review) and you immediately realize that the TV is trying to punch above its weight. Since Dart 5 is an HGiG (HDR gaming interest group) game, it depends on the brightness calibration between the TV and the console. You need to go to the game settings and adjust the brightness so that the content does not look burnt. Other games like Ghost of Sushima (review) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales (review) and much more like they saw on Redmi Smart TV X65 – overall good with some details lost which is acceptable for this price point.
Redmi Smart TV X43 Audio Performance
The first thing that comes to mind when listening to audio from this TV is loud. It can get quite loud and can easily fill a small room. Although there are a bunch of audio presets to choose from, I’ve found that leaving the TV on the standard or movie based on the content gave the best results. The audio loses clarity at high volume and I found that going beyond 20-25 was too sharp especially for movies. Below 25, the volume is clear and audible with clear conversations on TV shows. But to enjoy a good movie, you need to invest in a soundbar.
Redmi Smart TV X43: UI
Xiaomi still offers the best of both worlds – Patchwall and Android TV. The Android TV UI has seen some minor changes that make it compatible with the Google TV UI. It has a Discover tab that shows a curation of content from the OTT app. Home screen offers a mix of OTT and content from your app library. This is an evolution of the Android TV UI to make it compatible with the new Google TV UI. You’ll also find patchwalls that have a good content-first method and are similar to what we saw on the Redmi 43-inch FHD TV, Mi QLED TV 75 (Review) and even the 65-inch Redmi TV. It has the same content curation for lists like the IMDB Top 100 list and for more lists like HDR 10+ content, Dolby Vision content, and more.
Redmi Smart TV X43 Remote Control
The remote control that came with the Redmi Smart TV X43 has changed for the better. While it still lacks a dedicated mute button, you’ll find a new dedicated button for Disney + Hotstar and a dedicated button to pull up the app drawer. The rest of the design and ergonomics of the remote control remain the same, with a dedicated button, D-pad, back button and dedicated buttons for the voice assistant to bring the patchwall and Android TV UI.
Redmi Smart TV X43: Create and design
The build and design of the Redmi Smart TV X43 is almost identical to the Redmi 43-inch FHD TV that we reviewed earlier, except for a few points here and there that you won’t notice if you don’t know what you’re looking for. . Considering the price aspect, the TV has a relatively thin bezel around it and the TV is held by 2 plain plastic feet.
For connection, we have 3 HDMI ports with an antenna port, 2 USB ports, an optical port, a 3.5mm port, AV in and an Ethernet port. There’s also Bluetooth 5.0 and dual-band Wi-Fi which is nice. Overall, this is a normal looking TV and that’s right, considering you will spend more time with the display with better performance.
The last row
All that is left for the Redmi Smart TV X43 is the same feature that its big siblings have a tempting offer. The TV is full of features, including support for almost all HDR formats, a host of connectivity options, and a simple design. Its construction is similar to other budget TVs that we have tested The TV panel has very good color reproduction for HDR and SDR but for a submerged HDR experience the maximum brightness is lower than what we want. Audio output average. This is a good option for those looking for a budget 4K 43-inch TV considering the 29K price point.