KIVI 55U760QW TV review: large, loud and affordable 4K TV

The KIVI 55U760QW isn’t exactly a flagship TV, but when it comes to the ratio of features to price, it’s a favorite among its many competitors. For the money, it offers a good balance of features and software, and it also stands out with its unique color.

KIVI 55U760QW

Pluses:

nice white design; excellent ratio of functionality and features to cost; loud 24 W speakers; generous set of ports; deep black color and good viewing angles; graphical interface with a lot of useful software and settings;

Minuses:

a considerable matrix response time of 7 ms; aggressive upscaling of 720/1080p video quality makes the picture too artificial; slow operation with some applications; limited functionality of the backlight; significant power consumption;

8.2/10

Rating ITC.ua

Technical specifications of KIVI 55U760QW

Package and packaging

The TV is sandwiched between foam, and a thick film is glued to the screen. The package includes a white power cable, remote control, paper documentation, two legs, and screws.

The remote control is compact, has a standard digital unit and several dedicated keys for popular online services. The sound is controlled by pressing the button up and down vertically, which is easy to get used to. There is also a built-in microphone, mouse function, and backlight control button.

Design, interfaces

The body is made of white plastic, the screen bezels are small but black. The white color fits well into the design of many rooms with appropriate decoration. If you have light walls, a table, etc., the TV will almost merge with them. It’s a pretty good design solution that will appeal to a wide audience. You can mount it on VESA mounts or use «chicken legs».

The legs are placed far apart, so you won’t be able to put KIVI 55U760QW on a small table like competitive TVs with one «paw» in the center. The hero of the review has no problems with aesthetics, but is it as good with the stuffing?

Most of the connectors are located on the rear panel: Ethernet, Optical, USB, three HDMI, mini AV, a 75-ohm antenna, and a power connector. On the left side we have another USB, HDMI and 3.5 mm jack.

There is a backlight lamp on top in the center, which, unfortunately, is classic and does not have smart backlighting. In general, the white color looks nice. Subjectively, this is the right choice of designers. Against the background of monotonous black TVs, KIVI 55U760QW is an interesting solution for bright rooms.

Screen, sound KIVI 55U760QW

Thanks to the VA matrix, the black color is deep, and at low brightness you might think that this is an OLED display. Viewing angles are good, the image does not lose saturation, and the brightness (about 330 nits) is enough for sunny days. With the maximum level of backlighting, you can see slight highlights on a black background.

Up close, you can see the grainy texture of the screen, although at a distance it is completely invisible. The text looks faint, fonts are smoothed automatically by aggressive algorithms, which makes the letters look like they were painted with oil paints. KIVI 55U760QW will definitely not replace a computer monitor for long-term work with documents.

The backlight on the rear panel is static and does not depend on what is happening on the screen. That is, it cannot be called a replacement for Phillips Ambient Light, but only a way to level the bezels. Since the TV is white, this backlight looks pretty good. It is regulated by the bottom button on the remote control, although it is unlikely that many people will like this level of backlighting.

The color space coverage was tested in three display modes: «Standard», «Vivid», «Movie».

Standard:

Bright:

The movie:

The sound is very loud and of good quality. There is no point in using external speakers, unless it is a 7.1 system for complete immersion. KIVI 55U760QW has profiles for picture and sound, and also allows you to fine-tune each of them manually.

The screen and speaker system are far from perfect, but the average consumer has nothing to complain about. The main thing is to find enough 4K content because 1080p from a local provider doesn’t look excellent on this screen — the TV uses algorithms for upscaling, so the image turns into an artificial one.

Software

KIVI 55U760QW TV runs on Android OS with a standard «TV» interface. It is worth highlighting many pre-installed programs, including those from KIVI. Many of them are conditionally free, so they intrusively offer a subscription.

Most of the apps are related to television (Netflix, YouTube, Megogo, Prime Video, etc.), but there are also gaming apps. For example, the Air Console service allows you to play casual Android games using your phone as a controller, and Boosteroid gives you access to cloud gaming.

There is also a file manager, a program for checking Internet speed, and others. There is a built-in browser for consuming pirated content. It works surprisingly well. By connecting a keyboard and mouse, you can easily surf the Internet, almost like on a classic PC, albeit slower.

An Android smartphone or tablet can be easily connected via Chromecast, but the input/output delays are significant. You won’t be able to play games with this method, but you can still see photos.

Energy consumption

In the most economical mode, the TV consumes less than 40 watts, and with 50% brightness, 90 watts. If you turn the backlight to maximum, the wattmeter shows as much as 135 watts. Given that it was measured without sound and without backlighting, this figure can go up to 150 watts. It’s a lot, but the diagonal is also large – 55 inches.

Experience of use

For two weeks of active use, KIVI 55U760QW has not disappointed in almost anything, except for the not very fast operation of the system. The hero of the review definitely needs a large room, because sitting two meters from a screen of this size is not very comfortable. You want at least three to four meters of space between the viewer and the TV.

For home use, this is a great option that is unlikely to leave negative impressions. Only those who have previously used top-of-the-line OLED TVs or owners of Apple TV set-top boxes, in which the system works at lightning speed, will be dissatisfied.

Although the firmware is functional and has almost everything a user might need out of the box, it is relatively slow. However, the top Android TV boxes from Aliexpress with discount coupons and thanks in Chinese often suffer from this, despite the fact that «on paper» their characteristics are almost ten times better.

Subjectively, there is no point in buying a huge KIVI 55U760QW for a small room, although it will fit well into an interior with light walls. It is also advisable to hang it on the wall because a large table is needed for the stand with legs.

It was pleasant to play casual games, watch movies, watch the losses (and victories) of the Ukrainian national football team, or listen to music on KIVI 55U760QW, although the TV did not leave a wow effect. And it shouldn’t because this is a category of equipment that offers a favorable price/performance ratio, rather than trying to satisfy the desires of demanding perfectionists.

Price and competitors of KIVI 55U760QW

The official cost KIVI 55U760QW is UAH 19,000. There are many strong competitors in this price category with a 55-inch screen. Let’s take a look at the most obvious models from popular manufacturers.

LG 55QNED75 has HDR10 support and QNED Color technology, as well as two straight legs. It is a good option with an optimized Web OS system. The official model costs as much as 28,000 hryvnias, but «gray» can be found for 20-23 thousand hryvnias.

Samsung QE-55Q60C also boasts its own proprietary operating system. This TV differs from the hero of the review by lower power consumption and Direct Dual LED backlighting, although the official price is 28,000 UAH. «Illegals» are sold for 8000 UAH cheaper.

Philips 55PUS7608 – an affordable and functional TV from a well-known manufacturer has a lighter weight, low power consumption, HDR10+ support, and a nice price of 20,000 UAH.

Nokia QLED Smart TV 5500D is a direct competitor of the reviewed KIVI, as it has similar parameters and a price of 18,000 UAH. At the same time, Nokia has a black body and a fundamentally different type of stand with one leg.

8.2/10

Rating ITC.ua

Design, ergonomics

8

Neat design in white color.

Software

8

The TV is not fast, but it has many settings and a «stuffed» menu.

Brightness, HDR

8

A bright enough screen with HDR and flexible settings.

Colors, Viewing Angles

8.5

Good viewing angles and almost complete coverage of the sRGB color space.

Frequency, Latencies

7.5

A relatively slow matrix with a standard refresh rate.

Interfaces, Energy

8

A full set of ports, but with a high level of backlighting, the TV consumes a lot of energy.

Price

9

Good performance for the money.

Sound

8

Loud acoustics of medium quality.