The Blaupunkt QLED QD7030 TV features a large 65-inch display at a very reasonable price, though it does come with a few trade-offs. These flaws, however, seem excusable for the price. The display performs well for SDR content, offering good colour accuracy and wide viewing angles. HDR performance is somewhat underwhelming due to limited brightness and contrast, which is common among affordable TVs. The design is appealing, and the build quality feels quite reassuring.
You get 2GB of RAM and a sufficient 16GB of storage, but the performance can feel sluggish, especially when switching between apps. The TV is responsive in casual gaming, and the experience with consoles is decent, despite lacking gaming features like ALLM and VRR. Overall, this TV offers a balanced feature set that caters well to everyday users, but it may not meet the expectations of more demanding users. If a large 65-inch screen is your priority and you’re constrained by a budget of under Rs. 50K, it’s worth considering.
65-inch QLED TVs typically come at a premium, but this festive season, consumers have a variety of options in the mid-range and affordable segments. The Blaupunkt QLED TV (QD7030) is an affordable option with a lot to look forward to for its aggressive price including support for Dolby Vision and HDR10, 60W audio with Dolby Atmos and more. Do these features converge to deliver a meaningful viewing experience? Let’s answer that and more in our review!
This Blaupunkt TV features a fairly standard design and is similar to the other TVs manufactured by SPPL. The stand is made of metal and can effectively support the TV on a table. All frequently used ports are side-facing, making them easily accessible. The metal chassis on the rear is solid and durable, while the narrow bezels on the front are non-distracting. Overall, the design is quite appropriate for the price.
The remote control is again the standard TV remote that we get from SPPL brands like Blaupunkt, Thomson and Kodak. It can connect to the TV via IR or Bluetooth. The build quality of the remote feels a bit flimsy but it is quite comfortable to use. There are dedicated keys to summon Google Assitant, to change user profiles and to switch inputs. The white colour of the D-PAD and Home button further makes the remote easier to use in the dark. The best part is that you get a customizable ‘Daily Key’ as the fourth App hotkey that you can map to any app of your choice or set two button combinations targeting different apps and functions.
Also Read: Choosing the right TV for your budget – go beyond specs and navigate your TV purchase
Our review sample features a decent-quality IPS-level panel for the price. We recorded a native contrast ratio of 1234:1, and the panel is tuned for typical indoor viewing environments. Like most affordable LED LCD TVs, the black floor is elevated, and the panel closely follows the BT.1886 gamma curve. While you can find TVs with VA LCD panels offering better contrast in this budget, they come at the expense of viewing angles. The display on our review unit, however, has wide viewing angles, making it suitable for installation in a spacious area where multiple family members can watch from different angles.
The panel can reproduce almost 100% of Rec. 709 colour space used for SDR content. HDR capabilities are also better than what we usually see in this price segment. The display panel supports 95.7% DCI-P3 coverage and 75% of BT2020 coverage in UV terms.
We recorded a peak brightness of roughly 450 nits in standard mode and around 350 nits in relatively colour-accurate movie mode, which is fairly standard in this budget.
The Gamut rings give a better indication of the colour volume a TV panel can support. We recorded 100% sRGB, 80% Display P3 and roughly 56% of BT2020 colour volume on this TV, which again points the use of a good quality LCD panel for the price. Overall, the display panel quality is better than we usually see in this budget
Also Read: What are wide colour gamuts like DCI-P3 and why they can be misleading
We tested the colour accuracy of the display using Spectracal C6 HDR2000 Colourimeter, Videoforge Pro pattern generator, and Calman Ultimate software. All measurements are taken in Movie mode which is the most colour-accurate preset on the TV for SDR and HDR10 content.
Starting with SDR, we recorded an average delta error of 4, which is slightly above the perceptible threshold of 3. Skin tones appear natural, but the white point is cooler than the standard D65. While most general consumers are accustomed to cooler whites, this should not be an inconvenience; however, it does affect the overall score negatively. There is a 20-point white balance correction toggle under advanced picture settings, but it didn’t prove effective in fixing the white point. The TV can render dark and mixed SDR scenes quite nicely.
The TV supports Dolby Vision and other popular HDR formats. Once again, the colour temperature in the Movie present is cooler than standard. We recorded an average Delta Error of 4 and a maximum error of 10.2.
Colours in HDR content are great, but due to limited contrast and peak brightness, the overall HDR impact is mediocre. The TV also struggled to render scenes with both bright highlights and shadows effectively. The performance in bright Dolby Vision scenes is decent and the dark scenes are rendered brighter than expected due to raised black level.
This Blaupunkt TV offers decent performance configuration for the price which includes quad-core processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB storage of which 11GB is free for users. It is not however a snappy TV and feels sluggish while multitasking – say when you are playing content and are trying to switch picture modes simultaneously. Or when you are trying to fast-forward a movie.
Blaupunkt uses the familiar Google TV interface with minimal customisations. The software is based on Android 11 and standard Google TV perks like Google Assistant, Integration with the Google Home app, Chromecast Built-in, and others work well. There are several preloaded apps on the TV and some of them like the File Manager are useful.
We didn’t face any issues casting from popular apps on Android phones and iPhones. Apple Airplay is not supported on the TV, so screen mirroring from Apple devices will not be as seamless. Voice commands via remote control worked well.
The TV lacks gamer-centric features like VRR and ALLM but delivers a decent casual gaming experience. In our testing with the PS5, gameplay was generally smooth. The HDR experience, however, was not very impactful.
The audio quality from the TV is decent, especially considering its price point. The balanced sound profile adequately works for a range of content including movies, TV shows and casual music listening. Dialogue clarity is average and sometimes it was hard to understand the content in scenes with complex soundscapes. While the audio is decent for the price, you will need to invest in an external sound system if you are particular about audio nuances.
Also Check: Hisense E6N QLED TV Review
The Blaupunkt QLED QD7030 TV features a large 65-inch display at a very reasonable price, though it does come with a few trade-offs. These flaws, however, seem excusable for the price. The display performs well for SDR content, offering good colour accuracy and wide viewing angles. HDR performance is somewhat underwhelming due to limited brightness and contrast, which is common among affordable TVs. The design is appealing, and the build quality feels quite reassuring.
You get 2GB of RAM and a sufficient 16GB of storage, but the performance can feel sluggish, especially when switching between apps. The TV is responsive in casual gaming, and the experience with consoles is decent, despite lacking gaming features like ALLM and VRR. Overall, this TV offers a balanced feature set that caters well to everyday users, but it may not meet the expectations of more demanding users. If a large 65-inch screen is your priority and you’re constrained by a budget of under Rs. 50K, it’s worth considering.
If you’d prefer a VA LCD panel, you can consider the Acer Super Series QLED TV in the same budget. Or, if you’d rather prefer a matte finish affordable QLED display, you may also consider the Coocaa 65-inch Y73 Pro QLED TV.
