A good 4K sensible TV from Toshiba, however the UK31’s design is beginning to look dated, and its efficiency appears to have stood nonetheless in relation to different manufacturers
Execs
- Inexpensive for a 65-inch
- Dolby Imaginative and prescient help
- Vibrant image
- Constructed-in Alexa
Cons
- Middling black ranges
- Common distinction and restricted brightness
- Rivals supply extra built-in streaming choices
- Weak audio
Availability
- UKRRP: £499
- USAunavailable
- Europeunavailable
- Canadaunavailable
- Australiaunavailable
Key Options
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AlexaAmazon’s Alexa digital assistant is built-in to the TV
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HDRSupports Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR for improved image high quality with Netflix and different appropriate apps
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Freeview PlaySupports UK catch-up apps reminiscent of BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and All 4
Introduction
The UK31 is one in all a number of reasonably priced 4K TVs from Toshiba’s 2021/22 vary, the mannequin examined right here is its 65-inch guise.
After a rocky begin when it relaunched within the UK beneath the custodianship of Turkish model Vestel, Toshiba has come across a constant run of kind, the previous few units have been met with four-star critiques from this very web site.
However competitors by no means stops. Roku-branded Hisense and TCL TVs have introduced loads of worth to the funds TV space. Having grow to be a number one contender within the reasonably priced TV market, what can Toshiba do, with its 65UK3163DB, to fireside again?
Design
- Plastic development
- Low profile not conducive for soundbar placement
Déjà vu is the sensation I get from the UK31. Regardless of not reviewing a mannequin from Toshiba that appears like this, I can’t shake the vibe I’ve seen this TV earlier than.
The development of the chassis is noticeably plastic, and simply as noticeable is the chunky bezel that stripes the display. However I’m much less inclined to carry both cost in opposition to the Toshiba with any severity – its seems are operate over type and most of the people within the worth bracket aren’t prone to be involved with the latter. Whereas a depth of 74mm just isn’t OLED or Mini-LED ranges of slimness, it’s not massively chunky both.
If wall-mounting just isn’t a consideration (or possible) there’s the stand to deal, which whereas straightforward to screw in, is surprisingly heavy and brings the TV’s profile down low. It has the impact of constructing soundbar placement relatively troublesome as there’s little clearance between the TV and the floor it’s on, permitting the IR receiver to be obscured. There have been many occasions the place I’ve needed to angle the distant all the way down to operate, and that will get irritating after some time.
The stand additionally stands out in a mode harking back to Hisense’s A7G, although not as awkward to take care of. There’s little else to speak in regards to the look of the Toshiba apart from to say it’s feeling relatively dated.
Interface
- Lacking a number of the greater streaming apps
- Freeview Play integration
Toshiba affords a variety of TVs with completely different interfaces – the UK31 makes use of Toshiba’s homegrown UI. In comparison with an Android or Roku TV, the Toshiba UK31 doesn’t have the identical attain the place streaming apps are involved.
The UI is serviceable, neatly laid out into rows of options and supporting an honest variety of apps together with those who fall beneath the umbrella of Freeview Play reminiscent of BBC iPlayer and All 4; with BritBox, TikTok, Twitch, YouTube and Deezer onboard too. You received’t get many extra fashionable apps because the likes of Disney+ and Apple TV+ don’t have Linux appropriate apps. For BT Sport, NOW and extra of that ilk, you’ll want a streaming gadget.
The distant is identical giant one Toshiba has packaged with its TVs for a while now. Buttons are well-laid out with Netflix, Prime Video and Freeview Play buttons stationed on the backside. However there nonetheless appears to be a bug with the Residence button. Press it in a video app and it brings up the audio-visual settings as a substitute of the rows of settings and apps. Years in the past, I used to be instructed it wasn’t meant to try this, however it’s nonetheless right here doing precisely that. Until, that’s, it’s doing exactly what it’s meant to.
Options
- HDMI 2.0 connectivity
- Constructed-in Alexa help
- Nippy recreation mode
Whereas the Toshiba UK31 doesn’t have a flotilla of apps, it isn’t with out smarts. Alexa is built-in – though annoyingly, a notification pops up asking if you wish to activate it each time the TV is powered on and may’t be turned off until you log in to Alexa. Toshiba’s reasoning being that you just’ve purchased an Alexa appropriate TV… since you wished Alexa. I’m not essentially certain that would be the case for everybody that eyes this set.
There’s synchronisation with Google’s digital assistant by means of the ‘Okay Google’ ecosystem that connects a appropriate product to the TV. With Alexa built-in you merely say her title and the TV’s microphones stand to consideration.
Toshiba has additionally not too long ago launched an Ambient Display Mode known as ‘Alexa Residence Display’ for its Alexa Constructed-In fashions. This acts as a customisable screensaver function when the TV is in standby mode, displaying data such because the time, climate and calendar occasions.
There’s Miracast help for beaming the display in your cellular gadget to the TV in lieu of Chromecast. There’s no Bluetooth streaming both.
By way of bodily connections there are three HDMI, all of them 2.0 specification, however Auto Low Latency Mode (which robotically places the TV into its lowest latency for gaming) is supported, as is eARC for sending lossless audio like Dolby Atmos to a appropriate soundbar; however Variable Refresh Charge which syncs the body charge of the TV with a PC or gaming console for a smoother efficiency isn’t.
A final phrase on the gaming latency, which is an enchancment over different Toshiba TVs I’ve examined. Beforehand there was no distinction when the sport mode was switched on, however the UK31 affords a swift 10.3ms – quick sufficient for blink and also you’ll miss it controller response. The image high quality may use extra tuning as colors in Gran Turismo 7 are too vividly represented.
Image high quality
- Not the strongest distinction
- Common black ranges
- Restricted brightness
- Good SDR efficiency
The Toshiba UK31 comes with the full-set of Toshiba’s Tru Image Engine options that cowl movement (Tru Move), upscaling (Tru Decision) and distinction (Tru Micro Dimming).
Dolby Imaginative and prescient is supported to adapt Dolby Imaginative and prescient content material for improved black ranges and colors. Additionally included is the trade normal HDR10 (which all TVs should help) and HLG, primarily used for broadcasts and on-line streaming reminiscent of BBC iPlayer and Sky.
Image efficiency is, total, blended. Using an IPS panel affords respectable colors at wider angles – helpful for anybody watching off-centre, however blacks aren’t blacks, particularly with the lights off, described with a milkiness after I moved off-axis. Evening-time scenes in Netflix’s The Energy of the Canine are murkily described, one scene the place Benedict Cumberbatch’s Phil Burbank walks down a staircase is difficult to make out particulars other than the bannister, his face and hat.
The identical applies to Dune (4K Blu-ray) when Home Atreides come beneath assault from the Harkonnen forces, the silhouettes of figures are arduous to discern in darker scenes. Using a DLED panel (which has LEDs arrayed throughout the display) results in diminished distinction, the UK31 lacks the three-dimensional depth seen in premium 4K HDR TVs. That’s no shock for a funds set, however it all results in a flat look.
That’s additional affected by the UK31’s lack of luminance – 343 nits is probably the most it will possibly muster in its Pure image mode. Dolby Imaginative and prescient refines colors and provides a cinematic sheen, however highlights don’t stand out, reinforcing that flatness.
Cinema mode is somewhat too brown for my liking, exacerbating some odd inexperienced and purple flesh tones in characters’ faces in Amazon’s Jack Reacher adaptation (it additionally seems on my Sony OLED, so it should be the programme’s encoding).
Sticking with the Amazon present and testing Toshiba’s Tru Move movement processing, and it struggles as soon as Reacher begins dealing out punishment arduous and quick within the jail washroom combat, with pixelation and blurriness evident. On this occasion I most well-liked the scene with the processing off – it actually positive factors extra constancy within the course of.
With a Blu-ray of The Matrix taking part in, movement is healthier resolved suggesting the Toshiba’s movement isn’t as slick with streaming. As Trinity escapes the brokers within the opening scene, the Tru Move conducts its work in a secure method – other than some blurriness, judder and the slight unreality movement typically presents, it’s a easy performer.
It’s the upscaling that poses just a few points. The color efficiency in SDR (normal definition vary) shows pure colors, per different Toshiba TVs I’ve examined, with a pleasant punch to colors in Pacific Rim on Blu-ray. Nonetheless, edges are softly described, and from time to time there seems to be what seems like noise seen within the characters’ faces. Turning Noise Discount on didn’t rectify this.
This IPS display performs higher in brighter rooms (blacks are actually helped), and efficiency just isn’t a lot completely different from the UL20 or U29. Nonetheless, that highlights the sensation the UK31 isn’t a notable step ahead within the image division.
Sound high quality
- Lacks scale
- First rate vocal readability
- Weak Atmos efficiency
The Toshiba UK31’s downfiring speaker produces a flat, un-dynamic sound. Scenes in Pacific Rim that see kaiju in opposition to jaeger lack measurement and scale, resulting in an unexciting efficiency.
Voices are handled with readability, at the least, and there are just a few modes to mess around with in Good (which emphasises voices), Information (which reduces music and different sounds) and Encompass mode (which affords a barely greater soundstage if left on), however the first two modes produce an echo impact as if individuals had been talking in a chamber.
Watching Alita: Battle Angel in Atmos and the movie sounds somewhat chilly and compact. Bass is missing, as anticipated, and voices tread on being overly sharp, the general presentation cramped relatively than the expansive soundfield Atmos is famous for. A soundbar would elevate the efficiency on faucet.
Newest offers
Must you purchase it?
£499 for a 65-inch is nice worth: The worth ought to seemingly attraction to these after a big-screen TV that doesn’t break the bank and comes with an excellent smattering of smarts
Different TVs supply extra worth: The Hisense Roku 65-inch prices the identical and bundles in additional options, with its OS steadily up to date. It doesn’t help Dolby Imaginative and prescient, nonetheless.
Remaining Ideas
The Toshiba UK31 hasn’t taken a sufficiently big step ahead, with different TV manufacturers on this funds house boasting a greater function set – the 65-inch Hisense Roku A7200G is obtainable for a similar worth and is a greater value-priced purchase.
The image efficiency is restricted by an absence of brightness and distinction together with a sound efficiency that’s under par. The Toshiba UK31 is an honest effort, however it’s standing nonetheless the place others have solid onwards.
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