We’ve seen sufficient price range 4K TVs to know shopping for one often includes compromise. However there’s all the time a part of us intrigued to seek out the one set that breaks that mildew.
On paper, the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum seems to be promising. It prices £659.99 ($928, $AU1207), has a 50-inch display, comes full with built-in soundbar and has an Android good TV system. So the place’s the catch?
The shortage of HDR is without doubt one of the huge ones, and there are different holes apart from that specify its worth. However strategy this set along with your expectations lowered and you might discover it scratches your 4K itch with out upsetting your financial institution supervisor.
Design
The Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum will not win any awards for design. It’s not notably slim, it’s made nearly solely from plastic and has toes that sit in direction of the outer fringe of the display, which might make it a ache to suit on common TV stands.
That stated, the bezels across the edges are pleasantly slim and as soon as arrange, its plastic design received’t be too apparent out of your viewing place. It’s about what we’d anticipate for this type of cash.
The built-in soundbar makes fairly the design assertion too, sitting beneath the TV with six drivers simply seen by way of the grille. It’s fairly industrial wanting so it received’t be for everybody, however we don’t thoughts it.
We do have a couple of niggles about construct high quality, although.
The screw holes for securing the toes are far too small for the screws included. We managed to safe one aspect with a little bit of power, however the different aspect was inconceivable to suit tightly with out utilizing a drill.
This might be a one-off manufacturing problem, nevertheless it’s disappointing.
The Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum’s again panel has three HDMI ports for plugging your package into, alongside some legacy connections for older packing containers, a microSD card slot on your personal content material and three USB ports.
Three HDMIs will probably be sufficient for humbler setups, however these with extra gear may discover themselves swapping HDMI leads usually. It’s value interested by your setup before you purchase.
The Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum’s distant is huge and plasticky, however is straightforward sufficient to make use of. All Platinum vary TVs include the usually-optional Air Distant management as normal, which has mouse-like navigation.
You plug the included Bluetooth dongle into one of many USB ports and press the ‘mouse’ button to modify to it.
This has advantages when making an attempt to navigate the pretty fiddly good TV system, however isn’t as clean as Samsung’s or LG’s use of the know-how. It makes coming into passwords faster, however received’t scroll when utilizing Netflix for instance.
You’ll end up switching backwards and forwards between Air Distant and the usual D-pad usually, which might be fairly a faff.
Fast hits part:
Display screen sizes accessible: 32in (HD solely), 43in (HD solely), 50in, 55in, 65in | Tuner: Freeview HD | 4K: Sure | HDR: No | Panel know-how: Edge-lit LCD | Good TV: Sure, Android TV | Curved: No | Dimensions: H 731 x D 196mm x W 548mm | 3D: No | Inputs: three x HDMI, three x USB, 2 x composite, 1 x element, 1 x ethernet
Design TL;DR: A useful, largely plastic design, with a built-in soundbar and sufficient connectivity to swimsuit a humble arrange. Construct high quality leaves a little bit to be desired, although.
Good TV
Cello claims to supply an Android good TV system throughout its Platinum vary of TVs. That’s technically true, however you aren’t getting the one designed for TV use (as utilized by Sony and Philips).
As an alternative, the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum has a reasonably fundamental cell model of the Android. This isn’t designed to be used on TVs and due to this fact is fairly fiddly to make use of.
Click on into the good TV interface (which is a separate supply, somewhat than the middle of the TV expertise like most), and also you’ll be greeted with a gray display with a scroll bar of greyed-out icons.
The choice isn’t dangerous, however you’ll first have to obtain whichever ones you need to use from the Play Retailer. Storage is pretty restricted too, so you might want to think about a microSD card for those who’re app pleased, although we put in Netflix and BBC iPlayer with no problem.
Transferring round an interface made for a touchscreen with a distant will get fairly irritating somewhat rapidly. The Air Distant does assist (making an attempt to get the cursor to land the place you need with out it’s nearly inconceivable), nevertheless it’s not with out issues.
The Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum’s Air Distant can solely choose gadgets within the present view – you’ll have to modify again to the D-pad controls to scroll down by way of an interface as you possibly can’t use each concurrently.
Even when you’ve got the persistence of a saint, the good TV system is additional let down by a scarcity of 4K variations of Netflix and Amazon Video. For a 4K TV, this appears an enormous oversight.
Our recommendation? Put money into a 4K streaming dongle, such because the Amazon Fire TV 4K, Chromecast Ultra or the Roku Streaming Stick+ and ignore the Cello’s good TV system solely. It’s simply not definitely worth the problem.
Good TV TL;DR: Purchase a streaming stick and keep away from the good TV system altogether – its clunky, troublesome to make use of and doesn’t supply the 4K variations of key apps.
Efficiency
One of many first stuff you’ll need to do after getting the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum out of the field is dive into the image settings. The TV will stroll you thru a extra basic set as much as get it onto your community and program any Freeview channels, however the usual image settings do want a bit of labor to assist it look its greatest.
The collection of choices just isn’t large, however you do get fundamentals akin to distinction, brightness, color, sharpness and color mode. To have any management over them you’ll want to pick out Private mode – there are three different presets however they aren’t that good.
We switched color tone straight to heat for probably the most correct tones, after which used the THX app to fantastic tune the remainder, which principally includes knocking the presets down a little bit.
As soon as in place, the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum’s color stability is significantly better. Pores and skin tones have extra heat and blown highlights, noticeable in the usual mode, are diminished.
That stated, colors may nonetheless be punchier – they’re a little bit muted in contrast with extra proficient units, and lack subtlety too. The Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum isn’t overly vibrant both (there’s no HDR right here), which suggests distinction isn’t as spectacular as you’ll discover elsewhere. Don’t be tempted to push the brightness to assist – the backlight tis not notably sturdy, which might’t be solved by processing.
What does assist on this regard is that blacks are literally very deep for the worth, with no blooming of observe and no uneven backlighting on our pattern both. You received’t get probably the most info from darker scenes, because the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum goals for depth over element. But it surely does assist to counter weaker highlights that may battle to make an affect.
After all, one of many huge attracts of the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum is 4K decision. The extra 4K content material you possibly can feed it, the higher.
We used a Chromecast Extremely to look at Higher Caul Saul in 4K on Netflix, and the image was clear, detailed and insightful. Nonetheless, this good efficiency reveals simply how so-so the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum’s upscaler is.
For almost all of the time when watching normal TV, you’re going to look at full HD high quality programming or worse. And whereas watchable, the HD content material lacks the quantity of element we’re used to seeing on a full HD channel from a 4K TV.
There’s an ever so slight grain to HD pictures that forestalls them from wanting as detailed as we’d like – notably these with a variety of element to painting. We discover shut up pictures of faces, for instance, fare a little bit higher than large panorama photographs on this regard.
Not less than outlines stay sharp, although.
Swap to an SD channel and also you’ll discover them wanting very smooth certainly. You’ll need to keep on with HD content material and above to maintain this TV wanting its greatest.
One factor to notice is there are subsequent to no additional processing modes exterior the usual color controls, which suggests you don’t get issues akin to movement processing to assist preserve transferring scenes wanting clean.
Generally these controls can do extra hurt than good although, and largely movement on the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum appears comparatively secure. Nonetheless, we did choose up some slight jerkiness throughout a movie’s panning scenes that higher movement processing would assist counteract.
Additionally, for anybody used to tech doing what they need, when they need it, the processor contained in the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum isn’t probably the most highly effective we’ve come throughout. Simply turning on or off is topic to a slight delay. It’s removed from a deal breaker, however one thing for these brief on persistence to remember.
Efficiency TL;DR: A pointy, watchable image, however that requires HD content material or above to benefit from it. Colors might be punchier and whites a little bit brighter, nevertheless it’s a balanced pleasant image for the worth.
Sound
The built-in soundbar on the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum is significantly better than that of the smaller P32ANSMT.
The six-driver array does an incredible job at projecting dialogue into the room, giving it extra element and physique within the course of.
It proves most profitable with dialogue, although. The speaker nonetheless doesn’t have the burden to essentially create the affect we’d like in huge motion scenes, however there’s, at the least, far more energy there than a typical TV speaker setup presents.
It’ll actually assist enhance your TV sound expertise then – making it louder, clearer and extra expressive – simply don’t anticipate something too cinematic. For that, you’re nonetheless going to need to spend money on a standalone sound answer.
Different TVs to think about
We see only a few 50-inch TVs in our testing rooms nowadays. 55-inch is the extra standard display measurement now.
In case your front room can handle the additional inches, you’ll discover a variety of competitors from the big-name producers, with many not far off this worth too.
Whereas we’re nonetheless ready on a variety of 2018 units to reach, one thing like Sony’s 2017 KD55XE850 is an excellent budget-conscious set. It presents HDR assist too.
Just like the Cello, it not the brightest or most vibrant TV on the market, however there are few TVs we’ve seen in current instances which have balanced worth, distinction, brightness and coloration fairly so successfully.
It could’t rival the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum’s sub £700 worth, nor its built-in soundbar, however image high quality is arguably higher for those who can stretch to its £880 worth.
Verdict
As is so typically the case at this finish of the market, the Cello P50ANSMT-4K requires these with excessive hopes of premium high quality at a price range worth to handle their expectations.
There are some inevitable disappointments right here. Construct high quality on our pattern just isn’t good, the good TV system is greatest averted solely and film high quality has its points too.
It’s additionally value considering laborious about whether or not a 4K TV with out HDR is de facto value investing in, as the 2 applied sciences are inclined to go hand-in-hand.
Nonetheless, in case your price range actually received’t stretch any additional than this, the 4K efficiency right here is definitely fairly first rate, with sharp outlines, loads of element and plenty of perception.
We’d nonetheless like colors to be a bit punchier, upscaling to be tighter and brightness to be higher, however these are all stuff you’d get by spending more cash.
At this worth, the Cello P50ANSMT-4K Platinum ticks a variety of packing containers for these wanting 4K on a price range. Should you’re ready to simply accept its shortcomings, this might be worthy of consideration.