The 43-inch TV market is a very interesting one. Not only is it one of the most popular screen sizes for consumers in India, it is also one where consumers have a choice between a full HD TV and 4K HDR offers that make purchasing decisions even more confusing. Today we have the Redmi 43-inch TV for review. It has a full HD display and comes with Xiaomi’s own PatchWall UI, which we saw in the recently launched Mi TV 5X (Review) and Redmi Smart TV X Series (Review). So, should you consider Redmi 43-inch FHD TV? Does it offer better than a 4K TV near the same price range? Find out!

Redmi Smart TV 43 specs at a glance

Panel size: 43-inch
Panel resolution: 1920 x 1080p – FHD
Panel refresh rate: 60Hz
HDR 10 support: no
HDR 10+ support: no
Dolby Vision Support: No.
Weight: 6.5 kg
HDMI port: 2
USB port: 2
Bluetooth: Yes, 5.0
Wi-Fi: Yes, dual-band
Ethernet: Yes
Speaker: 20W
Built-in storage: 8GB
RAM: 1GB
Price: MRP: 25,999

Redmi Smart TV 43 display panel and picture quality

The Redmi Smart TV 43 has D-LED backlighting and we recorded a maximum brightness just below 250 nits which is sufficient for SDR content. In our Calman analysis, we found that the movie preset gave us an average delta error of 2.2 which is quite good. To put it bluntly, the Mi TV 5X used our movie presets to give the SDR an average delta error of 3.5. Lower delta error means better performance for SDR content, but we will talk more about this in our image analysis. Even on grayscale tracking, we found low delta error in 2-point grayscale tracking which is good with somewhat quiet bias.

Above: Colorchecker analysis for movie presets

Below: Colorchecker analysis for standard presets

SDR playback

Since the TV does not support HDR, all the content we use in HDR was run on SDR. This includes shows like Our Planet, Modified Carbon and Netflix and Jack Ryan, Grand Tour on Prime Video and much more. We’ve played some of the standard SDR content, like Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Spider-Man Homecoming, and Young Sheldon. All the content on the TV looks quite enjoyable and although there is no dimming zone on the TV, a little biased lighting in the room assures you that you are getting the best TV offer.

The movie preset presents the best color for most of the content we use. By default, the backlighting in the movie preset is set to 80 and I recommend bumping it up to 100 to get the best experience from the TV. For some content like Young Sheldon, the standard preset came with a slight punch color but for the rest of the content, we stuck with the movie preset which presents a slightly warmer tone (as it should be) while maintaining good color. You can use the standard preset and warm the color temperature if you like, however, in my experience, this solution did not work well for all materials. If you want to keep the TV in one setting, I recommend putting it in a movie with a backlighting bump up.

What we would otherwise use in HDR was SDR on this TV and that’s not a bad thing. Many budget HDR TVs today offer a decent overall experience but none of them offer the true HDR experience that is available on many more expensive TVs. If you are looking for a good overall TV viewing experience, then the Redmi 43-inch FHD TV will give you a good overall experience.

Redmi Smart TV 43 PS5 Gaming

We’ve added a PS5 (review) to the TV, and the output we’ve got is 1920x1080p HDCP with 1.4 RGB of color and, naturally, no support for HDR. Again, the experience we got from the console was pretty good. There is a toggle to turn on ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), but there was no visible difference in our gaming experience when this toggle was turned on or off.

We’ve played games like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (Review), Ghost of Sushima (Review), Dart 5 (Review) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Review) and many more. One good thing is that we got punchy colors with enough brightness for all the games. So, rocking towards the sun has given us a good experience in Spider-Man, but at the expense of detail in the dark regions of the screen. On an HDR TV, you’ll be able to create details in the Spider-Man suite, but the details aren’t well highlighted on this TV. The same is true of Ratchet and Clank. But in the big plan of things, it’s a little whimsical because you only know what you’ve lost if you know where you want to look. Otherwise, you are presented with some very punchy colors and the overall gaming experience on this TV is good.

Ghost of Tsushima and Dirt 5 are great examples of how this TV works well. From the ghost watercolor art style to the summer filled Dart 5 tracks, this is a great TV for those looking for a budget gaming TV. I still recommend turning on the ALLM setting even though I didn’t notice any significant difference with turning off this setting.

Redmi Smart TV 43 Audio Performance

This is where most of the budget TVs fall short but the output is not unacceptable for the price. Although the TV has only 20W sound output, it is clear which one is more important. During this review we received an update that has “improved audio performance”. The dialogues were clear when watching movies and TV shows, and even during mixed audio, you could figure out what the characters were saying on the screen. Although an orchestral background score suffers from high volume and there is no channel separation between speakers for an immersive experience, the overall output is acceptable for everyday TV use. I sat about 6 feet away from the TV and was well immersed in the use of everyday stuff.

Redmi Smart TV 43 UI

If you’ve used an Xiaomi TV in the past, you should feel at home with the UI. It offers the best of both Android TV and the company’s own patchwall UI. Patchwall has evolved to give you IMDB rating of content as part of the UI. There’s also the IMDB Top 100 list, and more lists such as HDR 10+ content, Dolby Vision content, and more. Although it is considered an FHD SDR TV, you will use this HDR content in the SDR, so you know.

While Patchwall has cemented itself as a good alternative to Android TV, the experience on the Redmi 43-inch TV lags behind. While navigating the UI we noticed some random stuttering and while sometimes it may be due to app updates in the background, this often happened which is not the case here. While lags aren’t so bad that they detract from the overall TV experience, they are noticeable in everyday use.

Redmi Smart TV 43 Remote Control

You will get the same remote control that we have seen on Xiaomi TV for a long time. It’s slim, smooth, and minimalistic. It includes directional buttons, Power, Google Assistant, Netflix and OTT hotkey for prime video, and a volume rocker. You still need to double-tap the volume down button to mute the TV and I hope we can get a dedicated mute button remotely with the next refresh.

Made and designed Redmi Smart TV 43

Considering it a budget TV, we did not expect any outstanding features with build and design and you can expect from a budget TV what is offered here. The TVT has 2 plastic feet in place and has a glossy plastic bezel that is not too thick.

To connect we have an antenna port with 2 HDMI ports, 2 USB ports, AV in and an Ethernet port. There’s also Bluetooth and dual-band Wi-Fi which is nice. Overall, this is a normal looking TV and it is OK that you will spend more time with the display with decent performance.

Redmi Smart TV 43 Bottom Line

The Redmi 43-inch FHD Smart TV is a good TV overall. Not supporting 4K and HDR is not a mistake in this case as its image performance is very good on SDR and better than some 4K HDR TVs we have tested in this price range. It has good color reproduction and the panel works well for movies, TV shows and games. Audio output is fine for everyday use, especially considering the price of the TV. The only downside to TV is that the UI can be reversed. The Redmi 43-inch FHD SDR TV is a great option for those who understand the flaws of a budget 4K HDR TV and who want a TV that can reproduce content well. The only downside to TV is the stuttering I’ve encountered in the UI and hopefully this is something that Xiaomi can fix with an update.