Today we have a 50-inch TV KIVI 50U750NB from the brand’s latest line-up for review. This is an interesting and modern 4K model (which for 2023 is already the norm rather than the exception) with Smart-TV and a rather pleasant price tag. The manufacturer talks about high image quality, excellent sound, convenient and fast Android TV 11 with a lot of features, which we will be checking out in this review.
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KIVI 50U750NB Specifications
- Screen: 50″, Super MVA, 4K (3840×2160), HDR 10, 16:9, 4K Upscaling support, Direct LED backlight, MEMC, Super Contrast Control, Max Vivid, Ultra Clear
- OS: Android TV 11
- Audio: 2×12W, Dolby Digital support, JVC customisation, SRC audio processor
- Permanent memory: 8GB
- Ports: 4×HDMI, 2×USB 2.0, optical audio output, antenna jack, 3.5mm, SI port, LAN
- Tuners: DVB-T2, DVB-C, DVB-T, HbbTV
- Wireless interfaces: Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 5
- Dimensions: with stand 1116×240×706 mm, without stand – 1116×62×642 mm
- Weight: 10.5kg
- Wall mount: VESA 200×200
- Extras: frameless design, Bluetooth remote with pointing function and voice control support, 3-year warranty on the screen
KIVI 50U750NB price
With a price tag of $474, the KIVI 50U750NB belongs to the low-cost smart 4K TVs with a diagonal of 50″. Apart from it, the model is available in three more sizes – 43″, 55″ and 65″, which will cost $395, $525 and $765 respectively. Looks pretty affordable, doesn’t it? I suggest you take a look at what you can get for that money.
Design
All of KIVI’s latest range of televisions have an identical design, with modernity and minimalism as the main focus. The KIVI 50U750NB looks stylish, with slim frames and graceful legs that don’t weigh down the overall look. As well as being placed on the included stand, the TV can be hung on the wall – using the VESA 200×200 bracket, which can be purchased separately. Whichever installation format you choose, the device blends in perfectly with the interior.
With stand, the 50U750NB measures 1116×240×706mm and weighs 10.5kg. The case is made of dense black plastic. Due to the grooved texture at the back, you might get the impression that the case is metal, but no – plastic everywhere.
The only thing that is metal here is the stand. To avoid scratching the surface, rubber pads are provided on the legs. In the box, the stand is placed separately, but it is not difficult to install the TV on it with the help of four complete bolts. The key for them is also included in the set, for which a separate plus.
Also in the box, besides the accompanying literature, you can find an adapter for “tulip” – if you want to connect something from old consoles or other devices.
The ports are hidden at the back of the niche to make them easy to reach when the TV is hanging on or against the wall. So, when you look at the device from behind, they are not noticeable, but we will talk about their presence and quantity separately. There is also a convenient loop for the cable, so it won’t get in the way during transport, and you can also hide an extra wire here if the socket is located close to the TV.
From the front, everything is laconic. Huge screen, thin frames, brand logo at the bottom centre and “Sound by JVC” in the bottom right corner.
Initial acquaintance makes a very favourable impression. In front of you is a modern and well-designed TV set in an attractive design with excellent build quality and materials. But let’s see what’s inside.
Matrix and image quality
The KIVI 50U750NB uses a 50-inch Super MVA matrix with Ultra HD resolution. What I particularly like KIVI TVs for is the quality of the backlighting. While many devices on the market (and not always cheap ones) mostly have backlighting around the perimeter, the brand’s models use Direct LED backlighting, which covers the entire screen area. And for such a large panel it is very good – when viewing there are no backlights or backlit stripes noticeable, the image is almost perfect.
The screen has excellent viewing angles close to IPS, as well as support for HDR 10, MEMC for smoother and more dynamic viewing, and proprietary image enhancement features. These include Super Contrast Control, Max Vivid and Ultra Clear. All these features, although software, but coolly transform the picture just in real time. They have not forgotten about 4K Upscaling, which today is found in most UHD-models and will help to adapt (read – to draw) content of lower resolution. By the way, the TV copes with it perfectly. In any case, 4K content looks very convincing, vivid and juicy.
In the settings in the Picture menu there are many tools for customising the picture. You can manually set backlight brightness, contrast, saturation, hue and sharpness, choose the colour gamut (dark, light or medium), play with temperature, select colour reproduction modes and adjust white balance in 11 parameters. However, there are more narrow-profile chips in the advanced settings. There are modes for dynamic noise reduction, automatic clarity enhancement, local contrast control, MEMS, blue reduction, as well as switching to gaming and PC modes.
In general, the picture is as pleasant as possible – it has good contrast and excellent colour reproduction, which can be “tweaked” to suit any taste. But even by default, the image is juicy and saturated, and I didn’t want to change anything in it. And one more thing worth noting – KIVI gives a three-year warranty on its screens, an option not every TV manufacturer offers.
The only nuance for me was the glossy surface of the screen, which creates glare from the window or light sources, which is especially noticeable against a dark background. Matte surface would have been more practical, but it could “eat up” the image quality a bit and make it less impressive. I can’t call it a disadvantage, because every solution has its pros and cons, so it’s just worth taking it as a given.
Sound of the KIVI 50U750NB
The inscription “Sound by JVC” – pardon the tautology, this is not an empty sound. The sound of the KIVI 50U750NB, provided by two Dolby Digital speakers of 12W each, is simply superb – spacious, balanced, clear and clean. You won’t want to buy extra speakers or a soundbar. Watching a film, listening to music or playing a game – everything “goes” on the TV perfectly, which, for example, pleasantly surprises me.
And of course, there’s a bunch of interesting stuff to be found in the settings too. My favourite is dialogue enhancement. Everyone probably faces the problem when background music or sound special effects in films are very loud, and you have to listen to the characters’ lines. This feature improves the volume of dialogues and comes in handy when watching movies in the evening. And here you can choose between stereo and surround sound, switch between playback modes for different types of content in the “Dolby Audio processing” item and manually adjust the intensity of high and low frequencies. Beauty.
Ports and wireless technology
The KIVI 50U750NB is equipped with Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1. The latter connects not only the remote control, but also other peripherals such as headsets, keyboards or mice. And there’s also Chromecast for fast content transfer from other devices wirelessly.
As for the ports, we have the following set. As mentioned above, they were placed in a separate niche at the bottom and side. From the bottom you can see LAN port, optical audio output, USB-A, a trio of HDMI, a 3.5 mm jack and a socket for a standard antenna. On the side there is a rather exotic for our market CI-port for CAM-cards, as well as another USB-A and HDMI.
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Performance
The “stuffing” of KIVI 50U750NB is quite simple, like a budget smartphone or tablet. In principle, this is not a gimmick, because in affordable devices (and sometimes even in more expensive models) often use basic “hardware”. The AIDA64 application showed that here we have a 4-core processor with ARM Cortex-A55 cores of 1.5 GHz each, Mali-G52 graphics accelerator, as well as 2 GB of RAM.
These characteristics give certain limitations in the speed of work with the TV. Sometimes freezes and sluggishness are noticeable when switching between applications and using the settings menu, for example, while watching a video. I didn’t notice any global failures during testing, but some loss of reaction speed – yes. As to me, this is quite expected for a budget device. Of course, we are used to the lightning speed of our smartphones and PCs, but TV is a bit different. In general, interaction with the KIVI 50U750NB is easy and not stressful, especially when following the usual “route” from the applications. But you should be prepared that it will take a little longer to work through (especially parallel) more resource-intensive tasks.
Software and services
The KIVI smart TV is powered by Android TV 11. This is a fairly simple, clear and up-to-date version of the OS, and after switching it on, the system almost immediately offered to install the update. The initial settings of the TV will take some time, but thanks to the accompanying instructions, it’s not difficult to sort out. By the way, KIVI signed a contract with Google three years ago, so there are all the goodies from the tech giant that can be used in the TV, including Chromecast and Google Assistant.
In general, the appearance of Android TV 11 has a lot in common with the operating system on smartphones. The home screen can be customised to your liking, some installed applications can be removed (but the “embedded” services are not removed) and the necessary ones can be installed via Google Play Store.
The special feature, as far as I am concerned, is the KIVI Media 2.0 service. It provides access to TV and entertainment content: streaming services, workouts and, the cherry on the cake – cloud gaming from Boosteroid. It is said that more interesting things will appear here in the near future, so let’s wait for the update. In general, thanks to KIVI Media 2.0, the TV is no longer just a means of watching TV, series or movies, but becomes a multimedia centre for entertainment. Although if you connect a PC or console, it can be a very good gaming monitor.
Anyway, it is quite pleasant to work with the OS. As mentioned above, we have been spoilt with “flying” smartphones and other devices, so at some loads we would like the interface to keep up with the power of thought. But you should realise that this is normal for affordable TVs.
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Control panel
In the 2022 range, KIVI TVs use an updated remote control that the company developed together with experts from South Korea. The housing is made of matt white plastic that does not leave marks from use, it is powered by two batteries and uses a Bluetooth module to control the TV.
The remote control itself is light and compact. There are few buttons, as there is no digital block, but everything you need is at your fingertips: calling the voice assistant, navigation buttons, quick access to popular services (YouTube, MEGOGO, Netflix, KIVI Media), settings and switching to pointer mode.
The key stroke is soft and clear, with a pleasant click, but not loud. In operation, the remote control is very convenient – in most cases it works as it should, although sometimes (when moving between services), you have to repeat the action, but this is more a matter of “hardware”. In general, you get used to the interaction with the remote control quickly. I especially liked the pointer mode, thanks to which it becomes more convenient and, what can be said, more interesting to control the cursor. Driving the remote control in the air makes you feel a bit like a Hogwarts graduate.
Conclusions
In my opinion, for its price, the KIVI 50U750NB is a very successful and competitive solution. And here’s why. The TV boasts a minimalistic modern design with thin frames, a really great picture with wide viewing angles that can be customised to suit any request, and simply incredible sound that you wouldn’t expect to hear from a TV. And also a fresh Android TV 11, which is updated and quite pleasant to work with, a good set of ports for connecting a variety of devices, an interesting multimedia remote control with a pointer function, a three-year warranty on the screen and, of course, a pleasant price tag. The TV can become not only a viewing tool, but also a multimedia centre for games. And not only because it can act as a gaming monitor, but also because it supports cloud gaming.
The only disadvantages I can point out are the simple hardware, which, although it does a good job in most cases, can freeze in multitasking mode. However, in my opinion, this cannot negate all the advantages of the KIVI 50U750NB and the fact that it is probably the best 50-inch TV for $475.
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