OnePlus TV 50 Y1S Pro ABP Uncut Review

OnePlus is a fairly young brand in the television industry but its products are packed with the latest features and robust configuration, giving tough competition to the well-established names in the Smart TV space. Riding on the success spree of its premium U series of television, the Shenzhen-based firm launched a 43 TV in the Y1S Pro series earlier this year and now the brand comes up with its successor in the form of the TV50 Y1S Pro. While the majority of specs remain the same, there are some tweaks and improvements that make their way to the big-screen variant. In this review, let’s find out where TV50 Y1S Pro ranks among the competition.

Design and Build: Much like modern-day Smart TVs, the TV50 Y1S Pro features a slim profile and neat design that blend seamlessly into your living space. It flaunts extremely thin bezels on three sides that stretch from edge to edge to offer a more premium look. The bottom of the panel houses a slightly thicker chin which makes space for an IR receiver, a power LED and OnePlus branding. The more subtle finish on the edges enhances the overall look of the TV. It appears more expensive than it really is, particularly from the front. OnePlus opted for a metal-coated body, something that you commonly see in this range. It’s a high-grade panel which feels more sturdy and durable. The back panel is made of up hard plastic with a minimalistic design. There’s not much to talk about except for the connectivity ports that are placed on the left side. In terms of design and build quality, I would say the OnePlus TV is at par with other popular products in this range.

Display: As the model name suggests, this OnePlus TV flaunts a 50-inch screen. It’s an Ultra-HD (4K) panel with a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels. While it supports popular HDR formats like HDR10/10+ and HLG for a superior viewing experience, the model misses out on Dolby Vision tech. However, the TV50 Y1S Pro does get 10-bit colour depth to offer more details in the bright and dark parts of the images with up to a billion colour shades in every frame. I played several 4K videos from YouTube to validate its UHD performance and it passed the test every time. I also watched some fast-paced action movies, and the motion compensation on this 60Hz screen ensured smooth frames. As for the basic viewing experience, the colour reproduction of this TV is pretty accurate and vivid. The panel renders vibrant images with good contrast and brightness with blacks looking properly dark, and not grey or patchy.

You also get an Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) feature which, as per OnePlus, ensures a seamless gaming experience with decreased latency. I connected my Xbox to play some high-end titles like Elden ring and eFootball PES 2022, and the TV didn’t disappoint. To add, there’s a dedicated Game Mode that allows users to connect their gaming console to the TV via HDMI.

Features and Specifications: The OnePlus TV50 Y1S Pro is powered by a 64-bit quad-core processor with Cortex A55 cores and Mali G52 GPU, clubbed with 2GB of RAM. This combination offers you a near-fluid experience while switching between apps and streaming content on this TV. The internal storage, however, is reduced to 8GB from 16GB on the US1, a sizable chunk of which is consumed by the OS and the preinstalled apps. 

The OnePlus TV runs on the Android 10 OS, giving you access to thousands of Google Play Store apps, including popular streaming platforms such as YouTube, Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. You can also watch multimedia content or view photos from your phone, laptop or tablet on the big screen, thanks to the built-in Chromecast feature. On the UI part, you get arguably the most well-organised user interface in OxygenPlay 2.0. It curates and recommends content that you prefer to watch from major streaming platforms including, Zee5, Voot, Lionsgate Play, Sony LIV, and Spotify in one place. The UI was mostly fast and remained seamless but I noticed some lags in sub-menus at times.

Remote and Connectivity: You get a traditional OnePlus remote with the TV set which has all the necessary buttons and dedicated keys for Google Assistant, Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar. There’s no dedicated key to power Off the TV. You will have to long-press the OnePlus button on the remote until the power off screen appears. For connectivity, the rear panel houses 2 USB 2.0 ports, an optical port, 3 HDMI 2.1 ports including 1 eARC and a LAN port. 

Sound: The OnePlus TV50 Y1S Pro features two full-range stereo speakers that deliver a total output of 24W. The Dolby-tuned speakers are just at par with the rival models, where the audio is crisp and loud but let down by low bass. While the sound output is good enough for even a large-sized room, I would still recommend investing in a good soundbar if you are more into music.

Verdict: The model covers all the basics, flaunts a premium design, delivers great visuals and offers a seamless experience. However, it falls short in terms of audio performance, but not to hamper the overall experience. Priced at Rs. 32,999, the OnePlus TV Y1S Pro, I feel, can be a good choice for those looking for their first 4K Smart TV. As far as the competition is concerned, Redmi's X50 4K TV is currently selling at 29,000 in the festive season sale. It comes with almost a similar set of specs, plus the Dolby Vision advantage, but might have to deal with a laggy PatchWall UI and some contrast issues there.