TCL AI-TV P30 review: Elevates the smart-television experience at a budget price tag

Specifications

• Size: 49-inch
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Refresh rate: 60Hz
• OS: Android TV certified OS based on Android 8 Oreo
• Processor: Dual Core MALI 470
• Audio: 20 W output
• Viewing Angle: 178° H/178° V
• Contrast Ratio: 4000:1
• Dolby Audio
• HDMI x 2
• USB 2.0 x 1
• A/V IN
• Headphone Output
• WiFi Enabled
• Ethernet port
• Dimensions (cm): 110.5 x 21.6 x 70.7
• Weight with Stand (kg): 10

Design

The TCL AI-TV P30 is a basic looking smart-television with a plastic unibody design across the television. Considering the television size, the TCL AI-TV is very light, and one can easily move the television in and around the room without any issue.

The retail package also comes with a pair of stands, which are made using high-quality polythene material. The TCL AI-TV P30 is not good looking or a unique looking smart-tv, but the television does look similar to the other affordable FHD smart televisions.

If you are looking for television and does not care about the actual design or the overall form factor, then the TCL AI-TV P30 could be a great choice.

Sound

The TCL AI-TV P30 comes with a dual speaker setup (10W x 2) with Dolby Audio certification. The dual speaker setup on the TCL AI-TV might not impress you, but they are not bad either.

The dual Dolby Audio speakers do get adequately loud, and with less distortion even at the highest volume levels. However, the speaker lacks bass and audio separation and does not offer a surround sound feel that we expect from a 49-inch television.

This issue can be easily fixed with an external speaker or a sound bar, as the smart-tv also has a SPDIF port for lossless audio output, and one of the HDMI port which supports ARC (Audio Return channel).

If you are looking for a television with immersive sound experience, the TCL AI-TV P30 might not impress you. However, this issue can be easily resolved with an external speaker or soundbar.

Display

The TCL AI-TV P30 has a 49-inch (diagonal) IPS LED screen with 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels), which supports HDR 10 content. The television offers an impressive brightness level, which will again improve the cinematic experience that the tv offers.

The TCL AI-TV has an impressive (best-in-class) LED panel, which offers reproduces accurate colors and impressive image details. A user can tweak different picture present to improve the overall image reproduction, depending on the type of content.

Users can toggle between Movie, Sport, Smart HDR, or Standard Picture Present to improve the quality of video/picture that is being played on the television.

The television does offer an option to control the amount of backlight, and users can feature sharpness, color, and contrast to change the overall image representation depending on the requirement.

I/O

The TCL AI-TV P30 comes with a dual HDMI Port, AV/out port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, SPDIF port, Analogue Antenna port, USB 2.0 port and a LAN port.

Though the television supports dual-channel Wi-Fi, users can always connect a LAN cable for un-interrupted and high-speed internet access. The two HMDI ports on the television support up to 1080p output @60fps, and we had no issues with respect to the content, especially, when we connected our gaming computer with the tv.

We played a lot of games on the TCL AI-TV P30, and we were impressed with the response that we received from the television, as the television comes with a 60Hz refresh rate.

OS

The USP of the TCL AI-TV P30 is the software experience that the television offers. The TCL AI-TV P30 runs on Google Certified Android TV OS based on Android 8 Oreo, which is finetuned by Google for big-screen devices.

As mentioned earlier, the TCL AI-TV P30 is an HDR 10 complaint television so that it can reproduce native HDR content on different platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime videos.

The overall UI experience is very intuitive, and we did not face any lag or unresponsiveness at the time of reviewing the television. In fact, we also receive a software update, which explains the commitment towards and product.

Users can install different (Google certified) tailor-made apps for Android TV OS. Some of the apps like YouTube and Netflix are built on the operating system, and users can also install third-party apps. However, one has to note that the Amazon Prime Videos is not available on the Play Store and Sideloading an APK will work like a charm.

The minimal Android TV UI is not only simple to use but, it also consumes fewer resources compared to the other smart television with AOSP based OS.

If you are looking for a smart-television with great user experience, then the TCL AI-TV P30 will impress you for sure.

Verdict

The TCL AI-TV P30 is not just a big television: it is a smart-television running on the latest Google certified Android TV OS. However, the television does have some compromises.

At this price range, we will not complain about the plastic build quality or the non-slim design. However, we expected a lot from the speakers on the TCL AI-TV P30, though it has a Dolby Audio certification, the sound output is muted and does lack bass.

The tv does offer a fair set of advantages as well. The IPS LED panel on the TCL AI-TV P30 reproduces good colors with great dynamic range, and the Android TV OS is like icing on the cake.

If you are looking for an FHD television under Rs 35,000 price range, then the TCL AI-TV P30 might be the one you can consider without any hesitation. Finally, the Android TV OS is the rock star here.