Amazons Fire TV Omni QLED Series Is A Great Smart Home Hub

Amazon believes your TV isn't doing enough when you're not watching, and its new Fire TV Omni QLED series aims to solve that problem. Thanks to built-in silent Alexa, it can do everything a powerful voice assistant can. Plus, it turns into an always-on (or near-on) display that doubles as an extra-large photo frame and displays widgets to keep you up-to-date on the weather, upcoming events, and more.

Oh, and you can use it to watch TV shows, movies and games - you know, like a regular TV. It produces a good picture with a QLED display. But that's almost an afterthought.

An excellent smart home hub with good image quality

The Fire TV Omni QLED looks good for a 4K TV for its price. But it integrates Alexa better than other TVs, making it a powerful tool for controlling your smart home. The surround experience turns your TV into an always-on screen, for better or worse.

Amazon's voice assistant is already part of many TVs — TVs with Fire TV OS, as well as models that don't have it, like LG and Samsung. But it also lacks the deep Alexa integration that TVs made by Amazon can offer, allowing for smoother voice control. In many ways, using your voice to control Fire TV Omni QLED is easier and faster than using a remote. You can turn on the TV, start a show, rewind, pause, adjust the volume and more. You can use your voice to do this

Alexa on Fire TV can control more than just the Omni QLED TV. It can control your smart bulbs, control your smart security devices, change the temperature of your smart thermostat – if you live in a connected home, your TV screen can be the center of it all. And Alexa works when the screen isn't on, so you can queue up songs or use other virtual assistant features whenever you want.

Other Fire TVs can do all this too, though the Omni QLED offers a smoother experience. New to the Fire TV Omni QLED is what Amazon calls Ambient Experience. This feature turns your TV into a permanent display. When you're not watching TV, photos, artwork, or other images appear as a giant frame or screen saver. You can control how long images are displayed and choose which images to display, choose from a library or use your own photos. Anyone who likes Samsung's idea for The Frame TV will love the environment on the Fire TV.

You can also choose from several widgets to display information in idle mode. These include showing your calendar, suggestions for what to watch, and Sticky Notes, which let you post a note to your screen instead of leaving it on the fridge or counter. Widgets make your TV look like your phone's lock screen. You are never far from the latest information about your life.

You can set the Ambient Experience so that the screen only turns on when someone is detected in the room. It helps save energy, but it's also a little scary. When you walk into a room and the TV turns on automatically, you feel like you're being watched. Fortunately, if you don't feel the need for your TV to do much, you can turn Ambient Experience off.

Given Amazon's track record for smart speakers, it's no surprise that the Fire TV Omni QLED offers good sound for a TV. Despite only having two channels, dialogue was clear and even produced bass. When listening to music, it sounds just as good as the Echo. However, the TV does not support Dolby Atmos and has no virtual surround sound mode. A good soundbar will be a welcome addition to your setup.

The Fire TV Omni QLED has the technology you want in a mid-range 4K TV: a QLED display with wide brightness and local dimming zones, and an input that supports the latest HDMI 2.1 standard. In theory, this should produce a sharp image with excellent contrast and vivid colors.

But the reality is that he has a very average image. Colors looked solid most of the time. It had better contrast than a non-technical TV with deep blacks, but in many scenes dark areas blocked the light. Image quality depended on the source content. For example, while watching The Lord of the Rings: The Lord of the Rings, the TV switched to Dolby Vision IQ, resulting in washed-out backgrounds and faded greens, but reds were vivid. The TV produced good contrast on the 4K Blu-ray version of Blade Runner 2049, although some colors looked overdone.

There are a lot of tweaks you can make to the settings to fix these issues, but I've never gotten the image to look as good as it should.

Other TVs in this price range, such as the Hisense U7H, offer a better picture. And the U7H offers a 120Hz refresh rate, while the Omni QLED only has 60Hz – something gamers should keep in mind.

It focuses on Amazon services and products

All Fire TVs put Amazon Prime Video content front and center, so this isn't just a complaint about the Omni QLED. However, on the main screen that offers to watch shows, content from Amazon appears more clearly than shows from other services. And you don't have much control over what appears on the home screen. If you're not a Prime member, your TV becomes less efficient or less useful.

The Fire TV Omni QLED costs $800 for the 65-inch or $1,100 for the 75-inch (we tested the 65-inch model). If you want to take advantage of the features on offer but don't have room for such a large screen, you're out of luck. Amazon's first Omni TV launched last year (without QLED technology) is available in sizes from 43 inches ($330) to 75 inches ($1,050) and from 55 inches ($570) with the U7H to 85 inches ($ ). 1800 dollars).


Dimensions	65 and 75 inches	55, 65, 75 and 85 inches
Dimensions (for 65-inch model)	57.1 x 33.4 x 3.2 inches	57.0 × 33.1 × 3.5 inches
Weight (for 65-inch model)	45.4 pounds	43 pounds
panel type	QLED LCD	ULED LCD
references	4 HDMI (one HDMI 2.1 with eARC), 1 USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, coaxial antenna	4 HDMI (up to 2 4K at 120 Hz, up to 2 at 60 Hz), 2 USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, coaxial antenna
speaking	Optical digital audio, 3.5 mm jack, Bluetooth	Optical digital audio, 3.5 mm jack, Bluetooth
HDR	Dolby Vision IQ, Adaptive HDR10+, HDR10, HLG	Dolby Vision HDR, Adaptive HDR10+, HDR10, HLG
audio	Channel 2.0	Channel 2.0
PRICE	800 dollars	798 dollars

By producing its own line of Fire TVs, Amazon has the ability to innovate thanks to deep integration with Alexa. Fire TV Omni QLED shows how TV can be more than just a screen — voice control is quick and easy and can change the way you interact with your TV. The ambient experience can also fill your life with more images and information, or you can turn it off.

In terms of picture quality, the Omni QLED can't keep up with other TVs in its price range, such as the Hisense U7H, despite having comparable technology. But if you're looking for more than just a TV, Omni QLED displays promise to turn the biggest screen in the home into the center of your smart life.