For those looking for a 55-inch TV, there are a number of good TVs available under 60K that come with a decent display panel, feature-rich UI and a multifunctional remote control. Crossing the 60K price point would mean you are diving into the premium category of TVs. There are a lot of expectations from this price range TV. Performance requires impressive picture performance and the UI must be impressive enough that the user doesn’t need to resort to a device like the Fire TV Stick.
Today we have the Lloyd 55 Inch ULED TV. The TV sports a 55-inch 4K panel with HDR support, multiple connectivity options, and a custom UI. Is it worth the asking price of Rs 95,000?
Specifications at a glance
Panel Size: 55-inch (also available in 65-inch)
Panel Type: VA
Panel Resolution: 3840 x 2160 – 4K
Panel Refresh Rate: 60Hz
HDR 10 Support: Yes
Dolby Vision Support: No
HDMI Port: 4
USB Port: 3
bluetooth: no
Wi-Fi: Yes
Ethernet: yes
Speakers: 2 x 12W
CPU: Quad-core processor
GPU: Dual Core Mali450-540MHz
RAM: 2 GB
Built-in Storage: 4GB
OS: Linux based Custom UI
Price: Rs 95,000
construction and design
Starting things off with the design of the Lloyd 55-inch 4K TV, it features a gunmetal bezel around the TV which has a matte finish. The legs are silver and have a shiny finish. In a day and age where TVs have a minimal black design, the gunmetal and silver color stands out in a good way when the TV is placed on a tabletop. The TV’s legs are quite reflective and can be a bit distracting when placed in a brightly lit room, but I’m just nitpicking here. The gunmetal border around the TV may be distracting to some, but I appreciate the style. The TV feels premium with its build as well. The legs are made of metal, and the bezels don’t exhibit any kind of flex.
At the back, the TV sports the same setup that we have seen many times before. You have all the connectivity options neatly placed on one side. On the side we have the antenna port, 3 USB ports, 2 HDMI ports (one of which is ARC enabled), a service port, and headphones. Around back we have an Ethernet port, Optical Out port, 2 HDMI ports, and 2 AV ports. Overall, the connectivity ports on the TV are plenty and should meet the needs of most users.
One thing to note is that there are two bulges at the back of the TV. These are used to mount the TV on the wall and have enough space for one to easily access the ports on the side. For wall-facing ports (when mounted on a wall), I recommend that you install those cables when you install the TV.
Overall, the build of the TV feels sturdy, the design is elegant and the connectivity options are sufficient to meet your needs.
Display and Picture Quality
The Lloyd 55-inch 4K TV features a 10-bit VA panel. Thanks to the 10-bit panel, the TV boasts of 4K capabilities with HDR support. The company claims that the TV has a brightness of 420 nits, which is much higher than the 350 nits seen in some low-cost TVs. This is good because it helps the TV produce a brighter image. A little more detail on this. Below we’ll highlight the TV’s performance using three types of content – 4K, HDR, 1080p, and gaming content.
4K and HDR playback
We used the built-in Netflix app to play some 4K and HDR content. There is a scene in Altered Carbon Season 1 Episode 7 where there is a fight scene in a warehouse. Let’s use our 2019 benchmark TV, the Sony X95G (read our review) Here, It’s a Rs 2.5 lakh TV, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but this should give you an idea of the Lloyd TV’s performance. On the Sony TV, the dark parts of this fight sequence were very well visible even in a relatively bright room. The muzzle flash of the gun diffuses light very well in its vicinity. Lloyd, this experience was a bit lacking on TV. The bright sequences in this fight sequence were quite enjoyable but when it shifts to darkness, it loses its charm.
Ditto for the Daredevil Season 2 Episode 3 stair fight sequence. It’s deeper than we expected. We tried tweaking the available HDR settings and found that the “Dynamic” HDR setting was best for consuming content. Backlighting is 100 percent by default in the HDR setting. You can experiment with other settings like hue and saturation to get the settings you like.
1080p content
1080p content looks bright and vivid on the TV. Movies like Mission Impossible and shows like Young Sheldon look bright and alive. They look pretty good on the standard presets, but if you like popping colors, you can use the dynamic presets. I prefer the Standard preset for 1080p content.
Gambling
This is where things get interesting. A game like Doom, which is in 4K and SDR, looks a bit strange on a TV. The surface of Mars is orange but the orange is slightly less saturated. On the Lloyd TV, using the Standard preset, it looked too saturated and on the Game mode setting it looked a bit too gray. The TV’s HDMI 2.0 Standards setting has to be turned down to make SDR colors appear a bit better, but it still doesn’t look as good as it should. Amazingly, the indoor environments look as they should – industrial metallurgy meets laboratory.
A game like Gears of War 4, on the other hand, looked great. The game’s HDR settings work unlike most budget HDR TVs we’ve tested and overall the game looks impressive. From the dark shadows of the corridors to the bright open environments and even the character models, everything looks impressive. You may want to change the picture setting between HDR Game and HDR Dynamic to get the best visual output.
Audio
The TV’s audio is fairly flat, lacking bass. The audio works for everyday viewing especially the news and even shows like Young Sheldon or any soap opera where vocals are important. For movie and gaming experience, I suggest you invest in a soundbar.
UI
This is where things get a bit disappointing. As we mentioned above, the TV runs on a custom Linux UI and the library of apps seems limited. There’s no access to Hotstar or Prime Video, but the TV has a TV version of the Netflix app, which can represent content in 4K and HDR which is nice. The UI, though simple, lacks the complexities and depth of functionalities found on Android, Tizen or WebOS. Sure, you can cast from your smartphone, and tweak your display settings but the library of apps isn’t as polished as those found on Android TV-powered smart TVs. The lack of apps like Hotstar and Prime Videos is a sore point.
There is a bit of a learning curve in the UI. For example, pressing the Home button brings up a horizontal bar with options like Notifications, Apps, Live TV, Media, etc. Clicking on Apps brings up the library of installed apps and the App Store. There’s a button on the bottom left of the remote control that brings up the app view. One would think that pressing the home button brings up the apps menu and this can be a bit confusing when using the TV for the first time. There are dedicated buttons for YouTube and Netflix on the remote control, which is nice.
Overall the UI is functional, smooth and gets the job done. Weak Apps Library leaves us wanting more.
remote controlled
One cool thing about the remote control is that you don’t need to point it directly at the TV for it to work. The remote has a plastic construction and a candybar form factor. The remote has the same shiny silver border all around, similar to the TV’s tabletop legs and it adds a nice touch to the remote control. We’ve seen matte-finished simple remotes so far and I love the little silver bling on this one. Button placement is fairly standard, with the number pad on top, directional buttons with channel and volume controls below, and media streaming and apps buttons below.
ground level
It’s hard to recommend the Lloyd ULD TV, not because it’s bad, but because we haven’t tested quite a few TVs in the 60 to 90k price range. There are offerings from Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and LG in this price range and most of them flaunt better UIs but we cannot comment on the performance of their panels. The Lloyd TV brings with it good 4K and FHD performance and, unlike some TVs, a TV version of the Netflix app. It also has deep settings customization options and nice design. Where it lacks is in HDR performance and UI.