Westinghouse 50-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition - Review 2022

Nosotros've seen Roku TVs earlier, simply Amazon Fire TVs are new. Rather, televisions with the Amazon Fire TV platform integrated are new. Amazon's Fire Tv media streamer has been around for a few years, and now Element Electronics has incorporated that technology directly into its latest TV. At $649.99 for the 55-inch model nosotros tested, information technology's certainly a wallet-friendly fashion to get a connected 4K boob tube. But it lacks HDR, and its performance simply doesn't compare with our Editors' Choice, the Roku Tv-based TCL P-serial, whose 55-inch model is the same toll.

Editors' Annotation: This review is based on testing performed on the Element 55-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition, a $649.99, 55-inch Element-branded model. Westinghouse Amazon Burn down TV Editions are identical to Element Fire TV Editions in all characteristics bated from branding. Exterior of the screen size difference we expect the $549.99 Westinghouse 50-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition to have similar operation.

Design

The Element favors dark gray over the typical black blueprint of most TVs, with a flat, gunmetal-colored plastic bezel that measures just a quarter of an inch on the sides and top, and half an inch on the bottom of the screen. A notable crash-land in the middle of the bottom bezel holds the Element logo. The Idiot box sits securely on a pair of thin, V-shaped metal legs.

A small iv-management joystick sits on the lower right corner of the back of the Television, letting you navigate the Amazon Burn down Goggle box menu system (though the included remote is of class much easier to use). A few inches farther in from the edge of the Television set, four HDMI ports, a USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port, and an SD card slot face correct. An Ethernet port, antenna/cable connector, component and composite video inputs, optical audio output, and 3.5mm headphone jack face down, from the same department of panel as the other ports.

Voice Remote and Alexa

The included remote holds an Element logo, but will otherwise exist familiar to Amazon Burn down TV device users. Information technology's a slim, 6.3-inch wand with a prominent, circular navigation pad flanked by menu and playback controls. The ability push button and microphone button sit to a higher place the pad, along with a hole for the born microphone. Pressing the microphone button lets yous apply voice search or the TV's Alexa features. A volume rocker and three dedicated service buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Amazon Music sit below the management pad. The remote connects wirelessly to the TV, letting you command everything without pointing at the screen.

Equally an Amazon Burn down Television receiver device, the Chemical element likewise features Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, which you lot can apply past pressing the microphone push button on the Vocalisation Remote and speaking into it. You tin can ask Alexa to tell you about upcoming appointments, the weather, and even social club items from Amazon. Alexa'southward voice search feature also lets you bring up content from Amazon Video and Prime Music using your voice. If you accept smart home devices that are compatible with Alexa, you tin besides control them using the remote. Boob tube controls are bachelor through Alexa as well, letting you change inputs or adjust the volume using your vocalization.

Element 55-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition

Amazon Burn TV

We've seen the Fire TV interface in a variety of Amazon-made media streamers like the Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick, but this is the beginning time we've seen it congenital right into a television. It'due south a similar execution to the Roku Telly platform, taking a familiar carte du jour system and installing information technology directly, with a handful of boosted menus and connection options for accessing TV-specific features not used in media streamers.

If you lot've used an Amazon Fire Tv set device earlier, the Chemical element's interface volition be easy to pick up. Apps, services, and connections are displayed as large tiles arranged in a serial of rows including Recent, Your Apps & Games, Inputs, and On Now.

Contempo and Your Apps & Games are standard lists for Burn Television receiver streamers, providing easy access to your favorite apps and content. All the large streaming names you lot can use on a Burn Telly device are available here, including Hulu, Netflix, Sling Boob tube, YouTube, and of course all Amazon content. The Burn down Tv set platform is almost equally robust every bit Roku'southward, with hundreds of apps and services. Considering the system is based on Android, you can sideload your ain APKs if you lot can't observe what you want in the Burn TV App Store. Don't count on sideloaded apps to work reliably, though; nearly Android APKs are designed for bear on-screen use, and won't function properly on a TV.

Element 55-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition

On Now and Inputs are TV-specific. On Now shows you what live Idiot box is currently available over the air or through your ClearQAM Cable connectedness. We plugged in an OTA antenna and picked up a few dozen channels, some in high-definition. We tested in Manhattan, and the channels available in your surface area might greatly differ. The Inputs row simply lets you admission the HDMI, component, or composite video inputs, forth with any OTA/cable programming available.

Pressing the Home button on the remote takes yous to the Element's Burn down Television principal menu, letting yous access connected features and media. Belongings the Home button for a moment pops upwards a more Goggle box-specific side carte du jour. This lets you access a conventional program guide for live boob tube and change display settings; the Settings tab in the main menu is merely for Burn down TV settings similar network information and firmware updates. It lets you access display settings quickly, but like Roku TVs, the bodily picture settings you tin piece of work with on the Chemical element experience a fleck thin. You can make basic adjustments like brightness, contrast, and choose from one of three color temperature presets, only across that in that location are no deep calibration options.

Performance

We exam TVs using a DVDO AVLab 4K examination pattern generator, a Klein Chiliad-10A colorimeter, and Portrait Displays' CalMAN v software on a Razer Blade Pro notebook. Later a basic dark room scale adjusting effulgence and dissimilarity using PLUGE charts, the Element showed a good 344.03cd/m² elevation brightness and a middling 0.07cd/thousand^two blackness level for a four,915:i contrast ratio. This is solid performance for a upkeep telly, but the TCL 55P607 blows information technology out of the h2o with a 507.85cd/yard² peak brightness and 0.02cd/thouⁱⁱ black level for a dissimilarity ratio over 5 times greater. And dissimilar the TCL, the Chemical element doesn't support HDR.

Element 55-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition

The chart above shows Rec. 709 colour values as boxes and measured colour levels equally dots using the warmest color temperature preset. The TV can reach a fleck farther past standard color levels with greens, just its whites skew slightly light-green and reds are a bit undersaturated and yellowed. The TCL 55P607 reaches well past the standard colour gamut while keeping colors much more authentic than the Element. The LeEco Super4 X55 also shows a far wider range of colour while remaining accurate, with contrast levels similar to the Chemical element'southward.

Planet Earth Two on Ultra HD Blu-ray looks very good on the Element despite its lack of HDR. Autonomously from panning sky shots that catch the sun, the scenes don't await particularly bright, merely shadow details remain intact in the shade and you can catch fine textures of dark fur and feathers. The Telly's slightly greater accomplish into greens makes the lush jungle pop out, and the browns and grays of the ground and dejection of the sky wait balanced and brilliant.

The slightly undersaturated reds of the Element are credible on Deadpool on Ultra Hard disk Blu-ray. Deadpool'south red costume looks natural but non especially vivid, and the cherry plaid of Wade's sherpa jacket at the beginning of the picture show appears slightly drab. Pare tones also wait just slightly xanthous-red under warm lights in indoor scenes, though they generally announced natural in most other lighting weather condition.

The Smashing Gatsby on Ultra Hard disk Blu-ray farther highlights the Chemical element's pocket-size color accuracy issues and shows off the Television'southward mediocre black level. Peel tones occasionally skew slightly pink or yellowish depending on the scene, appearing natural only nearly half the time. In high-contrast scenes with lots of shadow, the full general contours of the black suits tin can be seen, simply the texture of the fabric and the private cuts and creases are sometimes lost in muddied blackness. The tinting isn't overwhelming, and the shadows aren't overly muddy, but it isn't quite as squeamish a picture as it could exist.

Input Lag and Ability Consumption

Input lag is the amount of fourth dimension between a TV receiving a signal and the display updating. In the Custom picture show way, the Element shows a high 70.7ms input lag. The PC/Game picture mode doesn't do much to aid, displaying a 70ms input lag. The LeEco's Game pic manner shows half as much input lag at 36.7ms, while the TCL's halves that once again to 15.1ms.

Under normal viewing atmospheric condition, the 55-inch Chemical element consumes 125 watts, and has no power-saving moving-picture show modes or settings to speak of. This is in line with both the TCL and LeEco's calibrated moving-picture show settings. You can manually plow the backlight down to seventy percent to reduce the power consumption to 83 watts, darkening the screen slightly but keeping information technology very watchable.

Conclusions

Element's Amazon Fire Telly Edition offers 4K resolution and all of the benefits of an Amazon Fire TV media streamer, including a microphone-equipped remote that lets you lot use Amazon'south Alexa phonation assistant, all at a very reasonable price. However, the Roku Goggle box-based TCL P-series but has a far better pic for the same price, and that'southward i of the most important things to consider when shopping for a TV. The Element is past no means a bad option, but the TCL is a better buy, and remains our Editors' Choice.