There was a time when OLED cost an arm and a leg. But with the advancement of technology, an OLED can cost you around Rs.1,00,000, if you know where to look. Another thing to keep in mind is that OLED TVs are available in India from LG, Sony and Panasonic. In 2019, we saw German TV maker Metz enter the Indian market. The company has brought a portfolio of its TVs with an OLED TV The OLED has a starting price of Rs 99,999, making it the first OLED TV in India to cost less than Rs 100,000, though one rupee. After the starting price, the Metz OLED TV is priced at Rs 1,19,999. Is it worth the investment?

Key specification

Panel size: 55-inch
Panel type: OLED
Panel resolution: 3840 x 2160 – 4K
HDR 10 support: Yes
Dolby Vision Support: No.
Weight: 20.7 kg
HDMI port: 3
USB port: 3
Bluetooth: Yes
Wi-Fi: Yes
Ethernet: Yes
Speaker: 20W
Price: Rs. 1,19,999 (Initial Price was Rs. 99,999)

Construction and design

The Metz LED TV has a design that reminds me a lot of the Sony Bravia A1. The Bravia A1 had a photo frame design where the TV leaned on the table just like the photo frame. Metz OLED has a similar design. It has a kickstand behind it and when you place the TV on the table, you may feel that it tilts away for a comfortable viewing experience. Be aware that this is not the case because viewing angles are not a problem for OLED TVs However, be aware that the base of the TV is flush with the table, so you may need to reconsider installing your set-top box or soundbar when placing the TV on a tabletop.

The TV speakers are at the bottom of the panel, on the front, and covered with fabric. The panel is extremely thin and the TV gets some fat on the bottom, but that’s because all the interiors are kept there. When it comes to the display, there is almost no bezel around it, which gives you an immersive experience. There is a white light that glows under the Metz logo when the TV is on but it is not confusing. You can control the brightness of the logo from the TV settings if you want.

Overall, the construction of the TV is premium, the panel is thin and the design of the photo frame is excellent.

Ports and connections

For connectivity options, the TV has an HDMI port and two USB ports on the side. These ports are hidden behind a flap, which is nice, as it protects the aesthetic appeal of the TV. The rest of the connection options are behind. On the back, we have AV input, LAN port, two HDMI ports, optical audio port, service port and antenna port. Overall, the three HDMI ports are fine but we want to have a headphone port or a stereo audio (white and red) port to connect to an external device as well. At least HDMI port 1 has ARC for your home theater connection needs.

Display panel and image quality

Since the TV has an OLED panel, we can expect some of the best photo performance. Metz OLED TV supports 4K, HDR 10 but does not support Dolby Vision. Be aware that when you use an OLED panel, you get some of the best image quality. Before we get into the details of how the content looked on this display, let’s take a look at the worst. We noticed a burn-in like holding pictures on the display. However, it was only visible when the screen had a uniform gray color and it only happened in this particular color. This comes at first glance when we open the Play Store and open the search option which turns the whole display gray. After that, we launched the Display Tester app on our Android smartphones and cast the screen on the TV. Look, the uniform is gray, we see the logo again. It was the Netflix logo and the “x” logo that popped up in the updates section of the Google Play Store. It’s one of those things that if you don’t know where it is, you’ll miss it, but once you know where it is, it will really get stuck.

Having said that, we want to repeat that we only saw it on a gray background. For the rest of our experience with TV, it was not visible. So let’s break this TV picture performance through our standard multiple tests.

4K HDR

The TV has access to the Play Store, so you have access to apps like Hotstar and other streaming services. The TV also supports Netflix, but sadly there is no native app for prime videos. You can of course “cast” prime video content from your smartphone to TV because prime videos now support Chromecast and TV has Chromecast built-in.

The beauty of OLED TVs is the infinite contrast ratio, the ability to create true black and deep colors. This holds true and works well on Metz OLED TVs. Watching Netflix through the built-in apps gave us access to HDR content and it looked breathtaking. The Fight Sequence of Modified Carbon Season 1 Episode 7 is rich in details, with beautiful highlights and original details clearly visible in the dark corners. Here the face flash is completely immersed in the slow-motion sequence. Grand Tour Season 1 Episode 1, where you see a lot of cars driving through the desert. Even the incredibly dark Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3, was visible on this TV.

In the middle of enjoying content from the built-in streaming apps, a pressing problem came to my attention. You won’t be able to access any photo settings when you’re on an app like Netflix or Hotstar. So, if you want to change the picture mode or audio mode, pressing the menu button does absolutely nothing. This is a big problem for those who want to tinker with the image and audio settings when using content from the native app. On Sony or LG’s OLED TVs, this is not a problem because there is a button away from accessing settings when using content from the local app. Metz TV makes good looking content from the start but the lack of control over settings is a shock.

1080p content

India has a large catalog of 1080p content on Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar and more. From Game of Thrones to John Wick, Mission: Impossible and even Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and much more, 1080p content looks great. Of course, if you run 4K HDR content at its full capacity and instantly switch to 1080p and sit just 4-5 feet away from the TV, you’ll be able to tell the difference. But from a viewing distance of 6 to 8 feet, the TV can reproduce the full HD and 720p content quite nicely. We’ve played lots of HD and FHD content from YouTube, and it’s been well-received on TV.

Gaming

Moving on to gaming, we used our Xbox One X to play games on TV. When supported we were able to play games in 4K and HDR and the experience was very good overall. From a game like Forza Horizon that has a juicy environment from HDR to Gears 5 which is our new benchmark for 4K HDR console gaming, the experience was great. It was in the dark sequences that we realized that the TV’s maximum brightness is not as high as the LG C9 (read our review here), but this is by no means disappointing. If you play games on this TV, know that you will have an enjoyable experience. TV game mode setting is not in the photo preset. So be sure to turn on game mode from settings to get the best experience.

Gaming on TV is fun but considering the price of Rs 1,19,999, one thing to consider. The LG B9 is available at around Rs 1,15,000. The LG B9 supports HDMI 2.1 on all four HDMI ports. The B9 also supports NVIDIA G-Sync, which is another feature to consider.

Myth

Audio from TV is usually frustrating but it doesn’t happen here. Speakers are front-firing which always helps and especially when there is a clear channel disconnection when a plane flies across the screen or two people talking to each other at the end of the screen watching action content. This helps to add immersion to the content view on the display. Even at 30 percent volume, the TV is decently loud, making the audio great for daily viewing. To immerse yourself in the heat of battle or to feel the real scream in a movie like A Quiet Place, you’ll want to invest in a sound system. But considering what the offer here, it’s pretty good.

Remote control

Coming to the remote control, its traditional and functional in design. You have standard layout of buttons with number pads at the top, D-pad with menu control in the middle, volume, playback and channel controls at the bottom. The strangest position is the mute button. It is just above the remote control and difficult to reach with one hand. It should have been at the bottom, close to the volume control.

With functionality, the buttons are clicked but the downside is that you have to point the remote towards the TV for the controls to work. Also, when the Google Assistant button is pressed on the remote control, the TV is sent to pairing mode and nothing happens after that. Without saying what to do with the remote control, the TV says, “Searching for Bluetooth device”.

These small swallows cause the product to lack refinement and make it difficult to call it value for money.

Software and UI

The Metz OLED TV runs on Android TV 8 and the overall UI is smooth and responsive. The grid layout is nice, making it easy to present content first and navigate the stock UI TV. Overall, if you’ve used an Android TV-powered smart TV in the past, you’ll feel at home here. Unlike Sony, which has customized the UI on their flagship Android TV, Metz has stockpiled it and we’re fine with that. Overall, we’re happy with the UI, since you can’t control the image presets when receiving content from the streaming services installed on the TV.

The last row

If only …. if only the TV were cheaper or we didn’t have the small holes we faced in it, it would be easy to recommend. But with TVs like the LG B9 adding more features at a cheaper street price, the Metz OLED TV becomes a little harder to recommend. The Metz TV has a nice display, sleek UI attractive design and a suitable audio output for a TV. What works against this is the lack of image control when receiving content from native apps and we’ve encountered small bugs with the UI. TVs like the LG B9 come with HDMI 2.1 which means you have access to eARC, VRR and more.