If you are looking for an extra-large 65-inch display at an affordable price, the Coocaa Y73 Pro is worth considering. It offers great colour accuracy, especially in SDR, and a matte finish on the display that effectively mutes reflections. The display has wide viewing angles, and the audio is loud and reasonably clear. On the downside, the HDR experience isn’t as impactful, and we encountered a few random bugs in the software. With any unfamiliar brand, it’s hard to have complete assurance of long-term after-sales support, however, Skyworth, the parent company of Coocaa, has extensive experience in manufacturing TVs and operates over 300 service centres in India.
Coocaa is a familiar brand in South Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The company is now trying to make inroads in India and is selling TVs online on Flipkart. The launch of new TVs from such brands in the market often signals a prime opportunity for buyers, as new entrants typically aim to make a strong first impression by offering feature-rich products at competitive prices. We have been testing the Coocaa Frameless 65Y73 Pro QLED TV, which features a QLED+ panel, runs the Google TV interface, and supports popular HDR formats like Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HDR10. In this review, we will discuss whether the Coocaa 65Y73 Pro QLED TV is the great bargain it promises to be.
The TV is manufactured by the parent company Skyworth at their Hyderabad manufacturing facility. This 65-inch QLED TV features a solid metallic frame and narrow bezels on three sides. The slim plastic strip at the bottom, with Coocaa branding, has a chrome finish that enhances the design without being distracting. Below the panel, there’s a physical power button with a stylish power LED and a dedicated shutter to disable the far-field microphone for added privacy.
The metallic feet are reasonably stable and provide a secure base for the TV. The ports are all side-facing and easy to access. Overall, the TV has a functional design and there are no concerns here.
The remote control connects to the TV via IR or Bluetooth. While the build quality feels a bit flimsy, the remote is quite comfortable to hold and operate. One peeve point is that you can’t increase the volume by just pressing and holding the volume up button. For a 10-point volume increase, you will have to press the volume up 10 times.
The remote features dedicated buttons for summoning Google Assistant, changing user profiles, and switching inputs. The white colour of the D-pad and Home button makes them easier to use in low light. A standout feature is the customisable ‘Daily Key,’ a fourth hotkey that can be mapped to any app of your choice and can also be used to set two button combinations targeting different apps and functions.
Coocaa is using a “QLED+” panel. Let’s briefly explain how this is different from regular QLED panels. QLED+ essentially refers to the use of an xQDEF diffuser plate.
QLED TVs use a Quantum Dots layer to enhance the quality of the backlight. This layer or sheet is usually the Quantum Dot Enhancement Film or QDEF. New QLED TVs now replace the QDEF sheet with xQDEF diffuser plate that is basically a combination of QDEF and Diffuser plate. This combination of components results helps enhance viewing angles, brightness and colours. This also results in a better lifespan and reduced cost for manufacturers. We are assuming many other OEMs are also using xQDEF without explicitly marketing it.
Also Read: QNED vs QLED vs OLED TVs: What’s the difference?
Another interesting highlight of the TV is the matte finish on the display. This feature reduces reflectivity, which I found to be a major advantage, especially if you plan on watching your TV in a well-lit room with light sources or open windows. The matte finish helps minimise glare and improve contrast, thus making it easier to enjoy your TV. However, at times the picture can look less sharp, especially if you are too close to the TV. Glossy displays, on the other hand, can give a greater sense of depth.
We tested the TV in Filmmaker Mode which is the most accurate colour-accurate profile on the TV. Filmmaker Mode works for Dolby Vision and HDR10+/10 as well. We recorded a maximum peak brightness of 387 nits in the vivid mode but in filmmaker mode, the brightness expectedly drops down to approximately 300 nits.
The colour volume as well as colour gamut was consistent with QLED TVs in the affordable and mid-range price segment. The display can reproduce about 85% of DCI-P3 colour space and around 66% of BT2020 colour space in UV terms.
Our unit seems to have an IPS or equivalent panel with wide viewing angles, and we did not notice any loss of luminance or colour when viewing off-axis. It’s not uncommon for companies to source both IPS and VA panels for retail units.
Regarding picture quality, the Coocaa Y73 Pro performed well in our display test. We use Spectracal C6 HDR2000 colourimeter, VideoForge Pro pattern generator, and Calman Ultimate software to test colours.
In the SDR colour checker test, the Coocaa Y73 Pro scored an average delta error of just 1.4 and a maximum delta error of 4.3 out of the box. This is excellent colour accuracy in SDR.
The TV tracks BT.1886 gamma curve faithfully for the most part with a slight undertaking in the low brightness regions. This implies that shadow details will be crushed, but the same was not very apparent in the SDR content we streamed online.
Colours are mostly accurate in HDR10 and HDR10+ but the HDR experience lacks punch and Impact due to limited peak brightness and dynamic range. This is again true for most affordable HDR TVs that we test.
As for colours, we recorded an average delta error of 2.1 and a maximum delta error of 8.4 which is excellent. As you can see in the graph above, the Luminance response tracks the standard PQ EOTF reasonably well.
In Dolby Vision content, we noticed that the TV struggled with impactful highlights. Dark scenes in Dolby Vision were mostly tone mapped nicely but they felt a little too dark at times. Overall, the HDR experience is not impressive but still exceeds our expectations at this price point.
We didn’t notice any major issues with the upscaling of legacy content and with motion handling in the Filmmaker Mode.
Coocaa TV is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor backed by 2GB RAM and 16GB storage (11GB for users). We still had approximately 9.5GB free after installing basic streaming apps.
This is a standard configuration for TVs in this budget (save for tier-1 brands like Sony, Samsung and LG that stick to 8GB storage for affordable and midrange TVs). UI transitions are a tad sluggish. We encountered some random stutters while fast-forwarding content or when switching between apps.
The Google TV software is based on Android 11 TV with several added customisations on top. You can access quick settings and shortcuts from the input key.
Google TV ensures perks like smart connectivity via Google Assistant and seamless mirroring from the Google Home app. Thanks to the far-field microphones, you can use ‘OK Google’ prompts hands-free and this worked very reliably from a normal viewing distance of 7 to 8 feet.
Google TV interface gels very well with Google services and apps on smartphones. You can use the virtual remote in the Google TV app, set your watchlist directly from the browser on your PC, or even download apps directly to your TV from your phone.
Also Read: 10 Google TV Tips and Tricks That You Must Know!
You can cast videos from your Android phone or Apple iPhone from popular apps like Netflix, YouTube and more. Apple AirPlay and Homekit support is not present, so screen mirroring from Apple devices will not be as seamless.
Coocaa adds several preloaded apps on the TV like Swait Home, Daily Manage, and Daily Play that we didn’t find to be very useful. There is also a Tivi Karaoke app that has a collection of popular songs in Karaoke format.
This is not particularly a gaming TV, since popular gamer-centric features like motion accelerator, high refresh rate, and ALLM are missing. Our casual gaming experience on the TV was fine. Unless you are a competitive gamer, you will find the 60Hz display responsive enough for casual console gaming. HDR in games is not as impactful.
The 40W audio from the TV can get very loud. The quality of the audio, dialogue clarity and width of the sound stage are still average. If you are particular about audio from your TV, you will need to invest in an external sound system.
If you are looking for an extra-large 65-inch display at an affordable price, the Coocaa Y73 Pro is certainly worth considering. It offers great colour accuracy, especially in SDR, and a matte finish on the display that effectively mutes reflections. The display has wide viewing angles, and the audio is loud and reasonably clear. On the downside, the HDR experience isn’t as impactful, and we encountered a few random bugs in the software. With any unfamiliar brand, it’s hard to have complete assurance of long-term after-sales support, however, Skyworth, the parent company of Coocaa, has extensive experience in manufacturing TVs and operates over 300 service centres in India.
All said and done, the Coocaa Y73 Pro TV punches above its weight and its flaws seem easily forgivable for the price.
Pros
Cons