But if you want a dirt-cheap 4K TV, you could do a lot worse. So, it might help if you can tell us your exact model and let us know what youve tried. Inverters have a dedicated voltage supply from the power supply and Polaroid TVs are notorious for power supply failures. The inverter is the unit that powers the back light for the LCD. The lower-cost panels are likely to show their flaws more clearly on larger screens too, where the processor needs to work a lot harder to get a consistent picture out of all those pixels. Liz Alcorn sounds like an inverter failure. We recommend sticking with Polaroid sets in smaller sizes though, where they don't have as fierce competition from big-name rivals such as Philips or Samsung – and are still cost-effective. There wasn't much optimization to be found in the set's picture settings, but there was also little need to fiddle.Īt this price, corners will inevitably be cut, though – we found the P55D600's dimming zones and backlighting features disappointing and inexact when trying to vary the brightness in low-light content.īut for these low prices you're likely to be getting a decent picture from a Polaroid TV, as long as you don't expect too much from it. When we reviewed the Polaroid P55D600, we praised the brand's first UHD television for its impressive picture quality right out of the box, both in native 4K and when upscaling HD/SDR content. The hardware design also tends to be straightforward, with light plastic casing and a stripped-back UI. If you're looking for a more compact television to squeeze into a bedroom, or that can be tidied away in a cupboard more easily, these may be worth a look.
Polaroid also manufactures TVs in sizes some brands barely bother with anymore, like 24 and 32 inch. Any handy USB port in the back should let you use an actual Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV stick though, which might be significantly more convenient. But if you want a dirt-cheap 4K TV, you could do a lot worse.Some Polaroid sets aren't really fully-fledged smart TVs in their own right – watch out for this – but come with a basic Google OS, which relies on you casting content from a smartphone or tablet. The lower-cost panels are likely to show their flaws more clearly on larger screens too, where the processor needs to work a lot harder to get a consistent picture out of all those pixels.
Some Polaroid sets aren't really fully-fledged smart TVs in their own right – watch out for this – but come with a basic Google OS, which relies on you casting content from a smartphone or tablet. However, you'll often find Polaroid's TVs are even cheaper. Polaroid occupies a similar place in the market to Hisense or Toshiba, manufacturing budget LED sets that offer big-screen panels at affordable prices. Why should you consider Polaroid? Should I buy a Polaroid TV? And these aren't televisions for budding photographers as much as they are for those on a tight budget.īut with so many variations of TV sizes, smart TV platforms, and picture processing technologies between different sets out there, there are countless televisions you could be taking home – and, in the Black Friday TV deals currently running, countless discounts from other, competing TV brands.