Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED TV review: Good image, great experience

Best Prices Today: Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED TV

The Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED 4K TV is the top dog in Amazon’s television line-up. Quantum dots deliver better color accuracy in LED-backlit TVs–and arguably with OLED TVs as well. A list price of $600 for the 55-inch model reviewed here puts Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED series squarely in the “I want something a step up from entry-level, but I’m not crazy about spending two grand on a TV” category. It’s a hotly contested space that typically delivers the most bang for your buck, and this TV packs plenty of that.

For those looking for a bigger or smaller TV, the Fire TV Omni QLED is also available in a 43-inch configuration for $450, there’s a 50-inch model for $530, a $65-incher for $650, and $900 nets you a 75-inch display. Each of those models consists of a 10-bit panel with a 60Hz refresh rate; HDR support in the forms of Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+; Amazon’s own Fire TV smart TV operating system; and full-array local dimming (that last feature is not included on the 43-inch model).

Move over Roku and WebOS, Fire TV is my new favorite TV operating system. 

The 55-inch Fire TV Omni QLED sports two widely spaced feet, which is great for stability, but you’ll need a rather broad surface to set it on. Hanging it on the wall with its 300 x 300mm VESA mount, on the other hand, should be cinch as it weighs just 30 pounds. Either way, you’ll want to be aware that its bezel, which is thin on the top and sides, but rather thick on the bottom, has a shiny pewter surface that reflects quite a bit of light, as you can see in the image below.

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart TVs.

In the image above, you’ll see the module on the bottom of the TV that houses the sensors that detect user presence and ambient lighting conditions. These are used to control the various automatic features, such as adjusting brightness.

Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED-series specifications

The Fire TV Omni QLED features four HDMI ports, one of which supports eARC (we explain the enhanced Audio Return Channel at the preceding link). According to Amazon, all four of those interfaces are HDMI 2.1 and support both variable refresh rate and auto low-latency modes. The image on the product page, however, says three of them are only HDMI 2.0. Amazon tells us that since those ports don’t support a 120Hz refresh rate, they intentionally mislabeled them to avoid heightened expectations from gamers.

There’s a single USB 2.0 port with support for mass media playback, keyboards, and mice; an RJ-45 port for 10/100 ethernet; coax for cable/satellite connections or an over-the-air antenna (the onboard tuner is ATSC 1.0); a 3.5mm headphone jack, a S/PDIF optical digital audio output; and an IR emitter port. That last port lets you control external devices with the TV’s remote (assuming they don’t support HDMI-CEC). There’s also a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) adapter onboard, as well as a Bluetooth 5.0 radio that supports Bluetooth headphones. You can adjust audio/video sync as needed, and the TV surprised me with support for the aptX and aptX HD codecs. That’s a welcome feature if you have headphones that support the same.

The Fire TV Omni QLED supports both the Dolby Vision and HDR10+ high dynamic range formats that deliver metadata scene-by-scene, frame-by-frame. HLG HDR is also supported. On the surround-sound audio front, Dolby codecs up to Dolby Atmos are supported in pass-through mode, but Amazon didn’t mention DTS.

The Fire TV Omni QLED implements all of Amazon’s technologies, including its Alexa voice assistant. Both the TV and its remote control have built-in mics (with a mute switch for privacy). Amazon has also created an “ambient” mode–à la Samsung–that lets you use your TV to display art, moving art, and the like rather than it being a black void impinging on your space.

Omni QLED setup, interface, and remote

I don’t typically go into detail about the experience of setting the TVs I review, but the Fire TV Omni QLED has one noteworthy trick I feel compelled to mention: It automatically detects your zip code when setting up the channel guide. It then took an unusually long time to populate said channel guide; but hey, no one’s perfect.

This TV also took a long time to generate thumbnails for the test videos on our USB drive, perhaps indicating that the Omni QLED is just a shade light in terms of of multi-tasking power. That aside, it played all the files perfectly.

Setup was generally painless with none of the networking hassles we’ve experienced with Vizio TVs. You’re of course given a chance to log into your Amazon account, but you’re not forced to. You’ll have more features available if you do, but I appreciate the option and that it’s in plain view, unlike with some of the competition.

As to the Fire TV operating system’s user interface: Move over Roku and WebOS, I have a new favorite. I absolutely love that the essential home, input, and settings buttons are all discretely available from the home row. I also like how the settings menu slides elegantly out from the right-hand side of the screen as a semi-transparent gradient while content continues to play. It’s very slick.

All functions are grouped logically, although I would have preferred to have all forms of devices (Bluetooth, etc.) under one button.

The voice remote is very much like Roku’s in terms of functionality, apart from being significantly thinner and a bit longer. Rewind, Play/Pause, and Fast-Forward buttons are in a row beneath a circular rocker switch with a Select button in the middle. The similarities to Roku’s user interface are likely why I became accustomed to Fire TV so readily. That said, my preference would be to have the transport controls beneath the TV controls, as I use them quite a bit. That’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, because the Fire TV user interface and Amazon’s Alexa Voice remote synergize more thoroughly and efficiently than any combo I’ve tried.

Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED picture quality

The Fire TV Omni QLED’s image is roughly on par with other LED-backlit LCDs in this price range, with its primary strength being accurate, saturated quantum dot color. Weaknesses, such as they are, occur in video processing; albeit very rarely in real-world viewing.

Contrast is good for a mid-range TV, with blacks tending towards a darker gray than they do on many competing sets. The TV rendered the moving star-field test well. The background wasn’t dead black, as you’d see with OLED TVs, but it didn’t exhibit the cloudiness you’ll see with TVs that have more granular backlighting; e.g., Samsung TVs.

The Fire TV Omni QLED also did well in the Sony contrast demo, which features the Las Vegas skyline at night. I saw minimal blooming at the junction of the inky black firmament and bright neon lights. While this TV supports HDR, it doesn’t display it in particularly dramatic fashion due to its having only 400-to 500 nits of peak brightness.

I observed some extremely minor backlighting artifacts here and there when small bright objects were displayed on a full black screen. And as I’ve seen with Roku’s new TVs, the entire screen never completely lit up during full display sync strobing. But that’s not something that affects any mundane material I’m aware of.

As for the weaknesses I mentioned earlier: I encountered quite a few processing artifacts in our stress tests. Shimmer and moiré, depending the material, ran the gamut from less-than to more-than usual. There were also some color shifts in large areas during the Dolby Vision “little space gal fights monster to get home” demo video.

Static was noticeable in some small areas of fine lines during the Spear & Munsil tests. You’ll see these defects in most TVs, but they were a little more pronounced on the Fire TV Omni QLED.

Screen uniformity was good for a $600 TV. Viewing angles, while not OLED-like, are better than some in the price range; moving 15 to 20 degrees off-center with this TV isn’t an issue.

It’s my job to point out a TV’s frailties, but in the end, as with nearly all TVs these days, the Fire TV Omni QLED produces a worthy viewing experience with real-world material.

Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED audio performance

This TV has dual speakers powered by an 8-watt amplifier. I used its equalizer function to crank up the 5kHz band for more clarity; otherwise, it was easy to listen to out of the box. There was even a very modest amount of bass.

If you’re picky about audio–or just enjoy home theater sound–you could override the internal speakers with an affordable soundbar (be sure to read up on our favorite soundbars), but I’d encourage you to live with it for a week or so before spending more money.

This is a good TV with a great user experience

The Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED delivers excellent color, but that’s to be expected from a QLED TV in this price range. Amazon’s Fire TV operating system and its Alexa Voice Remote–and the easy setup, ambient mode, and overall experience they make possible–are what make this TV a notch or two above the competition. I like it.

Best Prices Today: Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED TV