The Thomson OP MAX 4K LED Smart Google TV (2023) review is a feature-rich 4K HDR TV that punches above its weight. Its IPS LCD panel delivers excellent colour accuracy and should be great for viewing content in well-lit rooms. The dynamic range and contrast you get from the IPS panel are not enough for an impactful HDR experience, but that’s perhaps to be expected of all TVs in the affordable price segment.
Thomson OP Max 4K LED Smart Google TV (2023) is an LED LCD TV that comes with a promising spec sheet bedecked with features like a ‘TQ LED’ panel (not QLED) with narrow bezels, support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+, 40W 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 Thomson OP MAX 4K LED TV features a fairly standard design, which you can also find in other TVs manufactured by SPPL. The feet are made of high-quality polycarbonate 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. While the design may not be considered premium, it seems quite appropriate in this price segment.
The remote control is again the standard TV remote that we get on other SPPL TVs or from 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 make the remote easier to use in a dark ambience. 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!
This Thomson 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 fast TV and feels particularly 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.
Thomson uses Google TV software with minimal customisations. The standard Google TV perks like Google Assistant, Integration with the Google Home app, Chromecast Built-in, and others work well. We didn’t face any issues casting from popular apps on Android phones and iPhones.
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Thomson markets this TV as TQ LED, but it is important to note that this is not a QLED TV but a standard 4K LED TV. It comes with an IPS LCD panel with wide viewing angles and we measured a contrast ratio of 1250:1 in movie mode (SDR) which is also the most colour accurate preset.
The peak white in movie mode closely approaches D65, but the overall colour temperature tends to be warmer than the standard D65. As a result, many users may find themselves leaning towards the Standard or Vivid modes, even though these modes are regrettably not very accurate in terms of colour representation.
For this review, we have tested the TV in movie mode using Spectracal C6 HDR2000 Colorimeter and Calman Ultimate software.
The panel can reproduce 100% of the sRGB colour space and 93.4% of the DCI-P3 colour space. We also recorded 72.4% BT2020 coverage in UV terms. These are really good numbers for an affordable TV and comparable to what we usually see on affordable QLED TVs.
The colour accuracy on the TV in SDR (movie mode) is rather great. We measured a delta error of less than 3. The luminance however doesn’t strictly follow the standard gamma 2.4 or 2.2, which is perhaps to make the most of the limited panel brightness.
Bright SDR scenes were handled quite well. In the dark scenes, we noticed that shadow details were a little crushed in both SDR and HDR content.
Speaking of HDR, this TV supports popular HDR formats like Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HDR10. In HDR10, the colour accuracy is again excellent with an average delta error less than three. We recorded a maximum brightness of almost 350 nits, which is standard in this price segment. The blacks are noticeably raised and the TV struggles to deliver impactful HDR highlights. Even subtle details like shadows on faces get clipped.
During our perceptual testing, we noticed that the skin tones were natural in both HDR10 and SDR content. In Dolby Vision content, we noticed a slight red tint on fair skin tones.
The colour of the grass and sky felt accurate in both SDR and HDR content.
Overall, the picture quality exceeded our expectations. The panel is quite good at reproducing colours accurately, but expectedly falls short when it comes to dynamic range in luminance.
Note: The first Thomson OP MAX 4K LED LED TV we received had some glaring issues with picture quality in Dolby Vision and with colour performance in SDR/HDR. Thomson then replaced our review unit with a new model. The findings mentioned above pertain to the updated unit.
We have run into more reports of a purple cast in Dolby Vision on Thompson, Blaupunkt, Kodak or Westing House TVs. This issue can be fixed with a software update. You will need to connect with customer support.
Also Check: What are MicroLED displays? How are they better than OLED or mini LED displays?
The TV lacks gamer-centric features and a dedicated game mode. However, for casual gamers, the response time with consoles should suffice. In our testing with the PS5, gameplay was generally smooth. The HDR experience, however, is not particularly impactful.
The Dolby Atmos audio on the TV is underwhelming, which prompted us to switch it off for improved dialogue clarity. The Audio gets fairly loud but doesn’t feel well-balanced. For an immersive audio experience, you will need to invest in a soundbar.
The Thomson OP MAX 4K LED Smart Google TV (2023) review is a feature-rich 4K HDR TV that punches above its weight. Its IPS LCD panel delivers excellent colour accuracy and should be great for viewing content in well-lit rooms. The dynamic range and contrast you get from the IPS panel are not enough for an impactful HDR experience, but that’s perhaps to be expected of all TVs in the affordable price segment. If you are into gaming, the TCL T6G in this segment should serve you better.