Xiaomi Mi TV 5X quick review: Worth your money?

Xiaomi recently unveiled the Mi TV 5x series. It consists of three sizes including 43-inches ( ₹31,999), 50-inches ( ₹41,999), and the big 55-inch variant ( ₹47,999). We got the latter for this review. To be clear, all the above mentioned models have 4K displays with support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. The TV also has an ambient sensor to adjust the backlighting based on the light in the room. It is loaded with features. Is this the TV to get under ₹50,000? Let’s find out in our quick review.

The Xiaomi Mi TV 5x features a 4K display with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. It comes with Vivid Picture Engine 2, DCI P3 and a wide colour gamut of 94 percent. The TV supports features like Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, HDR 10 and HLG. All of these features are a part of all the three screen sizes across the range. The one which we received (55-inch), offers a 96.6 percent screen to body ratio. It borrows design cues from the premium Xiaomi QLED TV.

The Xiaomi Mi TV 5x comes in a plastic housing, which looks premium. While we hooked our TV to the wall, it also comes with feet hold. You get a physical toggle for the hands-free Google Assistant below the LED. One needs to toggle the far-field mics on and off from the Settings. The feature works as advertised, and I had absolutely no problem speaking to the TV and requesting the Assistant to play my favourite songs on YouTube. I was within a range of 15 feet. The TV also has LED indicators at the bottom, which turn yellow when you mute the mic.

Connectivity options on the Xiaomi Mi TV 5x include three HDMI ports with the HDMI 2 port supporting eARC, two USB ports, an ethernet port, an AV port, an optical port and a 3.5mm port. There are enough ports for you to connect a variety of devices to your TV. I connected my PS4, and it was easy to connect and get started.

Coming to the display, the Xiaomi Mi TV 5x has an ambient sensor to adjust the backlighting based on the light in the room. Notably, it doesn’t work when you have Dolby Vision-supported content running on the screen. We watched a wide range of content from The Office on Prime to live concert videos on YouTube. If you have a lot of light coming in directly on to the TV, you might want to change the location. Otherwise, even in a well-lit room, the TV delivers a satisfying performance. You’ll enjoy watching content on it in a dark room or low-light. From live sports to playing games on PS4, our experience on the Xiaomi Mi TV 5x was extremely delightful.

While there is a loss of detail in the dark scenes of HDR10+ content, the content is still quite good. The colours and preset of the TV also helps its case. The colours are really good and consuming content is fun on the Xiaomi Mi TV 5x. Playing Spiderman on our PS4 was as enjoyable as it could get on a big screen.

Apart from the 43-inch variant, which comes equipped with 30W speakers, the 50-inch and 55-inch variants have a 40W sound output, which can get really loud at high volumes. You can easily hear most of the content in the range of 30 to 40. However, when we played The Lumineers’ live tracks at high volumes (60 to 70), it was an enjoyable experience with the doorbell ringing but us having no clue about the same. Overall, we’d say that the audio output of the TV is satisfying with clear dialogues in movies. Notably, the audio quality takes a back seat if you turn the volume up to 100 but we doubt you’d do that -- preferably shouldn't be a problem.

The Xiaomi Mi TV 5x runs the company’s own PatchWall 4 UI, which gives you IMDB ratings of the TV shows and movies, although this isn’t present for all pieces of content. You get features like the IMDB top 100 list, and more lists like HDR 10+ content, Dolby Vision content. Plus, the content is segregated by actors, directors, and more. You get more than three dozen live channels as well. Patchwall lies on the better side of Android TV stuff -- it is easy to use, straightforward and always improving. You can control the UI with the help of far-field mics. However, the Google Assistant can take a bit longer than expected to respond. Plus, we experienced some lag in the UI at times.

As for the remote control, it is the same remote that you get with other Xiaomi TVs. The slim and minimalist design for the remote control is here to stay. You get directional buttons, power, Google Assistant, OTT hotkeys for Netflix and Prime Video and volume rockers. You get features like Quick Mute (Double tap volume down key to mute), Quick Settings (Long press Mi Button To Access Picture, sound and more settings).

Overall, we’d say that the 55-inch Xiaomi Mi TV 5x is worth your money for the slew of features it offers. It comes with a very good picture performance and colour reproduction. The audio is loud and room-filling. However, the UI can be laggy at times. The Mi TV 5x is a good TV option under ₹50,000.