Blaupunkt, better known for its offerings in the world of audio products, ventured into the smart TV segment in India a couple of years ago. Recently, the company announced four “Made In India” TVs as part of its brand licensing agreement with SPPL. The new lineup includes a 43-inch 4K model priced at Rs 30,999, which competes with the likes of Xiaomi’s Mi TV 4X and the Realme Smart TV 4K (review), both of which are priced slightly lower. So what makes the Blaupunkt Cybersound 43-inch 4K TV better? Let’s find out in this full review of the device.
Table of Contents
The lowdown
In keeping with the current trends, the Blaupunkt 43-inch TV sports ultra-thin bezels around the screen. The construction is plastic all around, and the edges are sharp with a polished silver finish on the bottom bezel. Below that are the TV’s IR sensors. A set of footrests have been provided, which screw in easily at the bottom and raise the device’s height considerably when placed on a flat surface. You get a standard set of ports at the back, in line with what the current smart TVs offer. There are 3 HDMI ports, with one of them supporting ARC. Apart from that, there are two USB A ports, a LAN port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an antenna port. Wireless connectivity options include Bluetooth 5.0 and support for the 5GHz Wi-Fi channel.
Blaupunkt has provided a rather large remote that has dedicated buttons for Netflix, Google Play, YouTube, and the TV’s local folder. There is also a Google Assistant button that works with the in-built mic on the remote itself. The buttons are clicky but there is a slight lag with the input on the TV. Also, there are a bunch of buttons that are of little use. Apart from that, all basic functionalities are present on the remote, including volume controls, home and menu buttons, mute, and more. In terms of performance, Blaupunkt has specified that a quad-core MediaTek Cortex A53 processor handles all the tasks on the TV. I faced issues with some of the functionalities on offer and the UI did lag a few times. Apps switching took some time too. There is 8GB of storage on board along with 2GB of RAM. As far as software goes, you get Android TV version 10 along with the usual access to the Play Store and a built-in Chromecast feature for casting your phone’s display on the TV.
Several 4K TVs have been popping up in the affordable segment and the Blaupunkt 43-inch LED is right up there at the top in terms of both picture quality and sound. There is support for Dolby Vision that is certainly going to make a lot a lot of OTT content look more immersive. Apart from that, the screen supports HDR10+ as well. I have been finishing a rerun of Game of Thrones on the TV and the visual depth matched with the excellent dynamic range makes for a splendid viewing experience. Now I wouldn’t say the brightness levels are the best and I had to make adjustments in the settings menu to tune it to my liking. MEMC motion smoothening is also present, but in my experience, the frame rate was a bit jittery and did not work as well as advertised. Finally, there are the 50W Dolby Atmos speakers with DTS TruSurround and Dolby Atmos support. The audio department is quite spectacular with excellent vocal stability even at extremely high volumes. The speaker is quite capable of filling a large hall with music rich in depth without distorting the bass.
Final verdict
The Blaupunkt Cybersound 43-inch 4K TV ticks boxes, the first of which is the the good visual and aural experience it offers. The installation process is quite easy and it also has sleek looks, making it worthy of placing anywhere in your home. However, many of the TV’s features are available on the cheaper Realme Smart TV 4K as well. Even so, if it is a great audio experience you demand from your TV, then the Blaupunkt 43-inch is a very good choice to make.
Editor’s rating: 3.5 / 5
Pros:
- Nice picture quality
- Excellent audio
- Great design
Cons:
- Performance could be improved
- Remote response is slightly laggy
- MEMC doesn’t work well
