JVC Fire TV Edition review
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a cheap TV mixes with one of Amazon’s Fire TV streaming boxes, your wait is over: JVC’s smart TV Fire Edition is ready to make your fantasies come true. An intriguing cheap TV bundle with a price that pushes it deep into the budget territory and amenities like Dolby Vision on the spec sheet. The question, as always, is whether it can deliver. The JVC smart TV Fire Edition is the same as what it sounds like: a JVC Smart TV, which runs Amazon’s Fire TV operating system. You get the familiar Fire TV interface, a super-easy setup process, and the ability to communicate with Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, by pressing a button on the remote. All for the price of approximately £300.
What Do You Need to Know?
The TV is available in three sizes: 40in, 49in, and 55in, and all three support the HLG, HDR10, and Dolby Vision codecs. That means you should be able to watch HDR material from any significant sources, with the extra benefit of getting the best results on any streaming service that supports Dolby Vision, which presently includes Disney+ and Netflix.
The availability of Dolby Vision is very beneficial for a low-cost model. ‘Dynamic’ HDR formats like Dolby Vision can adjust to the limits of low-end 4K TVs, whereas static HDR formats like HLG and HDR10 rely more largely on a TV’s inherent abilities. At this price, specific skills are frequently in short supply making this JVC 32-inch smart tv a great choice.
Price and Competition
The JVC smart TV Fire Edition is reasonably priced by 4K HDR TV standards, starting at around £300 for the 40-inch model and peaking at about £480 for the 55-inch variant. Hisense is the only other brand name 4K TV we’ve tested in this ultra-low price range. We haven’t seen the brand’s most recent models, but it’s worth highlighting the £329 Hisense H43AE6100UK we evaluated in November 2018. This 43-inch model struggled to get bright enough to be watchable in more promising areas, and HDR content was unwatchably dull due to a lack of support for dynamic HDR codecs and a defective backlight. However, as a low-cost, basic TV for 4K SDR material, it was a reasonable buy at the time.
Fast forward to the present, and the JVC Fire TV Edition is much more capable. It outperforms the LG UM7400 in terms of performance (which we reviewed in August 2019). The LG presently sells for roughly £329 for the 43-inch model, so it’s in the same price range. The JVC smart tv performs comparably to the LG in terms of overall brightness but falls short in HDR performance and has poor motion handling. If you want a reasonably priced HDR, the LG UM7400 is a far better bet, but if you can get the JVC smart tv on sale, it may be worth considering as a bedroom or second-room TV. For your bedroom or living room, you can get a JVC smart tv 55 inch.
Ease of Use
When you turn on the JVC, you meet with a straightforward, user-friendly interface similar to that of Amazon’s Fire TV devices. After selecting your Wi-Fi network and entering your Amazon account information, the setup procedure walks you through the basics. Basics include scanning for terrestrial TV channels (if you intend to connect a TV aerial to the JVC) and pre-selecting the streaming services for which you want to install apps. The remote is a little, simple plasticky device that resembles one of Amazon’s Fire TV remotes with a few extra buttons slapped on. Indeed, the lack of controls may be a welcome change for many users or kids who want to watch Paw Patrol. Four white shortcut buttons along the bottom provide rapid access to Prime Video, Netflix, Live TV, and the Apps screen, making it simple to switch between them. The directional pad and central button make navigating the numerous menus and apps a breeze.
Performance
It’s hardly surprising that the JVC smart tv uses typical edge-lit LCD illumination at this pricing. It provides adequate brightness, enough to be watchable even in brightly lit settings, although the backlighting is uneven. Blooming can be seen around the borders of darker pictures when the lighting bleeds through too quickly, and there’s also some filthy screen effect noticeable with striping and blotchiness visible on dark grey backgrounds. The JVC’s main flaws are its struggles with motion and upscaling, two critical performance features of any self-respecting 4K TV. Given the 60Hz refresh rate, I didn’t anticipate much, but the panel’s poor response time is uncomfortably visible. In brighter images, it’s barely perceptible, but in darker scenes, awful blur smudges detail and colors.
Similarly, while images in 4K look sharp when the camera moves slowly, quick action and sports highlight the panel’s limits, with information becoming flattened and indistinct. The JVC’s upscaling abilities are also severely insufficient. When you switch to terrestrial TV or regular Full HD material, the JVC smart tv struggles to upscale to the native 4K resolution. Images appear soft, smeary, and lack detail, which, combined with poor motion handling, leads to highly disappointing results. Games suffer the most, and while fast-paced games in 4K seem OK, reducing the resolution to 1080p results in a smeary-looking mess. Avoid if you’re searching for an inexpensive TV for console gaming.
Final Verdict
Despite its limitations, the JVC smart tv isn’t hopelessly flawed. Despite its flaws, the JVC innovative TV interface is incredibly appealing, and being able to tell Alexa what you want to watch is a huge benefit. It’s all quite simple to use, and the one-box simplicity may be a key selling point for some purchasers. Many people may be disappointed by the inadequate motion handling and upscaling, but it’s adequate for watching regular TV and streaming services. If you discover it at a reasonable price, you might be ready to overlook its drawbacks – and you could even be pleasantly surprised at what you receive for the money. Log on to the official website of Findwyse for more information.
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Read HP ENVY 5640 review here.
