Rca 50 Class 4k (2160p) Led Tv (Rlded5098-uhd) Review
Our Verdict
The RCA RTRU5027 delivers 4K and a handy Roku TV platform at such a low price that if you tin can overlook its weak HDR performance and sketchy sound processing it's a standout TV in the budget category.
For
- Rock-bottom price
- Roku smarts
- Decent pattern
Against
- Dim display
- No volume leveling
- Limited viewing angles
TechRadar Verdict
The RCA RTRU5027 delivers 4K and a handy Roku TV platform at such a low cost that if y'all tin overlook its weak HDR performance and sketchy audio processing it'due south a standout TV in the upkeep category.
Pros
- +
Rock-lesser toll
- +
Roku smarts
- +
Decent design
Cons
- -
Dim brandish
- -
No volume leveling
- -
Express viewing angles
When information technology comes to upkeep TVs, few come cheaper than this $269 l-inch RCA model that offers support for 4K, HDR, and built-in Roku TV to summit it off.
This is among the cheapest 4K TVs nosotros've seen, costing well below models like the $599 Hisense 55H9F and even the 43-inch Vizio Thou-Series Breakthrough at $349.
This RCA 50-inch 4K TV doesn't do much to move display applied science forrard, but it does bring loftier-end features down to a mass market price, and its shortcomings are easy to overlook (and sometimes remedy) at this cost.
Toll and release date
The RCA RTRU5027 was available starting back in 2017, for $699, but these days you can find it at Walmart for simply $269 - making information technology one of the cheaper 4K HDR TVs on sale at the retailer.
Pattern
With its plastic back and minimal weight, this RCA TV comes out of the box feeling about as inexpensive as its price tag suggests. It only weighs 25.iv pounds (eleven.5Kg), which makes it easy every bit ever to set up. That weight all sits on a pair of legs that don't accept upward too much surface area on a media centre.
Once information technology's gear up, the cheapness of the design is easier to ignore. The bezels on information technology are surprisingly thin, with only about one-half-inch bezels on all sides except the bottom, where it'due south only slightly thicker. The majority of the TV is merely nearly an inch thick, but the lower one-half grows to about 2.5 inches thick.
That extra thickness helped it avoid skimping on ports. On offer are 3 HDMI ports, a blended video input, an Ethernet port, a USB port, an antenna input, a 3.5mm audio output, and an optical audio out. Actress HDMI ports may be welcome, just they're less necessary thank you to the inclusion of the Roku Smart Goggle box platform, which lets the RCA RTRU5027 bring the entertainment with just a power and net connectedness. The Ethernet port is an platonic way to pipe 4K content into the TV, but it also supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi connections.
Oddly, at that place'due south an IR receiver about the bottom left of the display that we never saw in promotional pictures of the device. It juts out and disrupts the smoothness of the design, plus it can be choosy if anything (ahem, cats) get in the way
Pattern TL;DR: It may non be the thinnest, but no one is going to expect at the 50-inch RCA 4K Roku Idiot box from the forepart and remember you've got an ancient TV – except for the IR receiver jutting out at the bottom.
Smart Television set (Roku Tv set)
When it comes to smart Idiot box platforms, Roku'south is amongst the all-time. It has access to almost every streaming service y'all'll want, including the ability to cast content to the Tv. The operating system is surprisingly quick because RCA likely didn't spring for a premium processor to run it. That said, it occasionally hitches when trying to scrub through content inside apps, peculiarly when it'south 4K content.
Adding different apps is easy, and the platform is perfectly straightforward. That even carries over to the display settings, which feel more like a seamless part of the Roku Television operating organisation than a labyrinth of menus and submenus buried in a user interface from the tardily '90s.
The Roku remote included is serviceable, but uses IR. As a result, there's no headphone jack or vox control on the remote, but the Roku app on a cell telephone can handle those features instead.
Smart Boob tube TL;DR: it'due south an impressive smart OS to become in a Television at this cost when considering that a standalone Roku device capable of 4K HDR would cost $39 on its own without whatsoever screen.
HD/SDR Performance
In that location isn't besides much to get excited for from the RCA RTRU5027's performance. It'southward a basic TFT LCD offering upwards a meager 250-nit peak brightness. Nearly flagship smartphone displays offer substantially brighter displays, and any TV boasting HDR should actually height 400 nits. (In fact, the UHD Alliance sets its recommended specs at i,000 nits...) Of course, this is a budget display, and it's offering just about a nit for every dollar in its price tag.
In a sunny room, the brandish can't concord in dark scenes even with the anti-glare finish helping obscure reflections somewhat. Medium-bright scenes handle well enough, though. In a dark room, the screen is much easier to come across, then it would exist wise to invest some of the money saved on this Goggle box in a decent set of window blinds.
That said, the RCA RTRU5027 puts on a decent paradigm when the lighting conditions are right: In a room with overhead lights on, the display actually musters some impressive black levels, enough to savor The Nighttime Knight on. Merely, there's a definite sweet spot for the black levels. In a nighttime room, the backlight glow is credible. And, the deep black levels quickly vanish when viewing from an angle.
As far equally an HD moving-picture show goes, the RCA RTRU5027 presents it crisply. In that location doesn't seem to be any fancy upscaling going on. Watching Witcher on Netflix in HD, details were all the same clear, from wood grain to skin. Merely we'd look almost as much from a 1080p screen at this size from 10 feet away, but upward shut it's clear enough that there's no magic happening to increase the perceived resolution. Yet, the image was abrupt enough to spoil some of the CGI effects in Inception.
The dynamic range is fair. In The Witcher, high dissimilarity scenes with a brilliant white sky and Nilfgaardians in black armor did see some of the darkest and brightest item muddled, but otherwise the picture looked about as skillful as we could await from Hard disk drive and SDR. (Notation: Aye, we're enlightened The Witcher is available in 4K HDR, just that's not how nosotros watched it.)
HD/SDR TL;DR: The picture looks expert, merely there'due south no magical upscaling. Lighting weather and viewing angle can dramatically affect the feel.
4K/HDR Performance
Watching 4K content, at that place'southward no question that the display is sharp. That shows upward particularly well in fine hairs, like we see so much of in the Blender animation Cosmo'south Laundromat. It truly lends a lifelike texture to the sheep. Though nosotros had to get closer to the screen to see all the extra particular 4K offered. The Hunters on Prime number Video also had plenty of detail in 4K, as did The Boys.
But, where 4K succeeds at delivering all that extra granular particular, the HDR mode doesn't do as not bad a job delivering extra color and light particular. It may exist to its credit that information technology doesn't try to forcefulness some overly saturated, punchy colors, just the event of HDR is near muted colors compared to SDR. We rewatched the opening barbecue scene of Hunters in SDR, and many of the colors were more than saturated than in 4K HDR on the RCA RTRU5027.
That doesn't necessarily make information technology bad. Cosmo's Laundromat in 4K HDR is still a punchy, colorful delight. The glowing red eyes of Homelander in his drug-house raid at the opening of the Flavor one finale looked spectacular plenty, with the glowing ruddy eye lasers brightening upward the scene only for information technology to quickly fall dorsum to black. Information technology'southward not easy to get detail out of the dark areas of the scene, but in that location is some detail.
The viewing angles proceed to be an issue for HDR. Dark scenes are harder to encounter from a low angle, even simply slightly below the center betoken of the display. We watched a good exam video for HDR, "My Blender Simulations in HDR." In information technology, the pure black backgrounds looked peachy when viewed from the sweetness spot. Only, the highlights in the scene show how much the 250-nit peak brightness doesn't take the headroom for compelling HDR.
Beyond the RCA RTRU5027's lack of performance in HDR, it too has a foreign side effect: HDR mode adds a warmer tint to white, giving it an orange hue, that'south nearly noticeable when the display is just showing white text on a blackness groundwork. We don't encounter this in SDR content, as with the HBO Now logo at the start of whatever HBO content.
For gamers, RCA reports an 8ms response time for the RTRU5027, but doesn't back up adaptive sync technologies like Nvidia G-Sync or AMD Free Sync.
4K/HDR TL;DR: The resolution is plenty sharp for a TV this size, but the display tin't go brilliant plenty to offer a compelling HDR experience.
Sound
The audio on the RCA RTRU5027 is a mixed handbag: The speakers work rather well, with enough of sound for even a sizable living room, but it's how the TV uses its speakers that causes the problem.
From HBO to Netflix, the sound is all over the place. Sometimes it's perfectly loud at a low volume setting, other times it'south hard to hear at with the volume dialed up. Then audio effects like gunshots, tires squealing, or knives stabbing will sound thin in the sound mix. That happens whether the sound mode is set to normal or to leveling.
An audio level that was working perfectly well on Amazon all day would suddenly exist hushed on HBO Now with Dolby Sound. The closest analog to what is sounded like is a switch from forepart-facing speakers to bottom-firing speakers on a laptop. It is not subtle, and it is not benign.
Sound TL;DR: There's plenty of ability in the speakers, but the sound processing is striking or miss. Information technology may be worth taking advantage of the sound ports to pair with a soundbar.
Last verdict
As information technology stands, the RCA RTRU5027 is one of the near affordable ways to bound into the 4K ballpark. Its performance feels more than adequate at the cost, and the Roku TV platform is a strong signal.
Just, that said, HDR performance leaves it lagging behind the field, particularly when another $100 can get you lot the Vizio M-Serial M437-G0, which offers a higher 400-nit brightness, 12 local dimming zones on a quantum-dot display with support for Dolby Vision, and born voice command.
- Looking for a new big-screen Television set? Hither's our list of the best 4K TVs
Source: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/rca-50-inch-4k-roku-smart-tv-rtru5027-w
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