Redmi MAX 86″ smart TV experience: 7,999 yuan, move the theater into the house

In life, there are always some "illusions" that make you puzzled. For example, I didn't buy anything, but I felt my wallet was getting emptied. Another example is to buy a TV in the living room, the more I watch it, the smaller it becomes.

When 4K becomes the mainstream and 8K is in the ascendant, the popular rule of selecting TV size according to the viewing distance in the 1080P era is broken. People are beginning to tend to choose a larger size TV within the budget to get a more immersive viewing experience.

According to data monitored by Aowei, in the double eleven color TV industry in 2020, the sales of large-size TVs will continue to grow, with sizes above 65 inches increasing by 33% year-on-year, accounting for one-third of the overall sales. Enough to see the popularity of large-size TVs.

However, the bigger the screen, the higher the price. This is because the increase in screen size increases the production cost and process difficulty exponentially. It is common for TVs over 80 inches to be overpriced. This is really the first threshold for the "super-large screen" to enter the homes of ordinary people.

However, the just-released Redmi MAX 86" has "brilliantly" leveled this threshold, directly hitting the price of 86-inch TVs within 10,000 yuan, up to 7,999 yuan .

You know, in Xiaomi's TV family, before spending the same money, you can only buy a 75-inch Mi TV 5. The emergence of Redmi MAX 86” obviously gives fans of large screens a more cost-effective choice.

Big enough, strong metal texture

When buying an oversized TV, we have to consider whether the budget is sufficient, but also whether the delivery process is smooth.

It is often difficult for TVs of 85 inches and larger to enter the elevators of ordinary communities. Either it has to be transported manually by climbing stairs, or it has to be lifted into the window through a crane, which requires both manpower and financial resources. This is the second threshold for the "super-large screen" to enter the homes of ordinary people.

But in front of Redmi MAX 86”, this is not a difficult task. If you look closely, you can find that its packaging box is not a traditional cuboid, but a diamond cut corner design at the edge, which is convenient for tilting entry or elevator. It is called the "Ladder Does Not Block" package, which can easily enter most residential elevators.

We installed the Redmi MAX 86” on the attached tripod and placed it on one end of the conference room table.

From the front, the visual impact brought by 86 inches is still very strong. Full screen design, the screen-to-body ratio is as high as 97%.

Redmi MAX 86" does not have a shrinking process to reduce costs. The all-metal brushed frame improves the texture and borderlessness of the TV.

Under the "Redmi" brand logo, there is a physical button hidden, mainly used to switch the TV.

Behind the TV, the left and right handles are very eye-catching. Although it is not beautiful, it is very convenient to move the position, and two people can move it.

The lower part of the fuselage is slightly thicker, with a long row of vents for heat dissipation. The interface layout is at the bottom right, showing an L-shaped arrangement. Three of the HDMI and two USB ports are facing the frame, which is convenient for users to plug and unplug. The audio interface, Ethernet interface, and TV antenna interface are facing downwards.

It is worth noting that among the three HDMI interfaces, one is HDMI 2.1, which supports up to 4K/120Hz signal input . Dynamic HDR, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and other features can satisfy users' input to high-standard content sources.

However, it seems that HDMI 2.1 is still more attractive to console gamers. As the market share of game consoles in the next era is gradually rising, the HDMI 2.1 interface has become one of the essential features of high-end TVs.

Regarding the appearance of the TV, there is not much to study. As a consumer, I hope the front of the TV looks narrow enough and the sides look thin enough. If you examine Redmi MAX 86” according to this standard, the frame is indeed narrow, but there is still room for improvement in thickness control.

Screen and chip, the two giants that affect picture quality

After TV enters the era of intelligence and computing, the picture quality is not entirely determined by the quality of the panel, and the voice of the chip is getting heavier and heavier.

The chip model used by Redmi MAX 86” is MTK 9650. This chip is not the first time I have seen this chip on “Mijia” products. This chip is used in the Xiaomi TV Master series released earlier.

In terms of specific parameters, MTK 9650 uses a 22nm process technology, quad-core A73 CPU architecture + Mali G52 MC1 GPU architecture + 1T computing power APU, which can be regarded as a high-end chip in the TV camp.

It is understood that this APU neural network computing unit has been deeply customized and can intelligently analyze, identify, and tune images. In other words, the pictures we see are all optimized by the chip in real time. The color, clarity, and contrast of the source are all adjusted under the chip's image quality algorithm.

If the chip quality determines the upper limit of image quality, the screen quality determines the lower limit of image quality.

Let's take a brief look at the screen parameters of the Redmi MAX 86" Smart TV:

• 86-inch LCD screen
• The resolution is 4K (3840*2160)
• P3 color gamut coverage is 92%
• Support 10bit color depth
• Redmi's first TV tuned one by one, with color accuracy of dE 2
• 90 partition dynamic backlight system, each partition supports 4096 levels of brightness changes
• Support 120Hz high refresh rate
• Support 120Hz MEMC (motion compensation)
• Support HDR dynamic reshaping

In addition to these hard parameters, Redmi MAX 86" also has HDR certification "Grand Slam". Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG are all supported. For friends who like high-standard film sources, it should be a plus.

However, the hardware parameters are difficult to intuitively reflect the actual look and feel of the TV. We tried to use multiple film sources, including pictures, movies, and TV series of different definitions, to observe the actual performance of Redmi MAX 86".

Audio-visual experience, there are joys and worries

In the 4K resolution test chart, the performance of Redmi MAX 86” is very good, and the small characters pointed by the red arrow can be clearly recognized. At the same time, the details of the lines and color block structure are also good.

In the tone level restoration test chart, Redmi MAX 86” benefits from the 4096-level zoning dimming and performs well in dynamic contrast. The gray-scale transition in the gradient color is natural, and there is no stepping or doubling in the gradient area.

In terms of color performance, it can be seen that the color distribution areas of R, G, B, Y, C, and M in the lower left of this TV all present an approximate triangular distribution, and the color ball on the right also has a soft transition, which performs better.

In terms of image quality performance, we tried to use 4K, 1080P, and 720P video resources to observe how Redmi MAX 86" will perform when dealing with different definition sources.

After some testing, let's talk about the advantages based on experience.

First of all, the performance of Redmi MAX 86” is relatively stable when dealing with different quality video sources. Compared with 1080P or even 720P video sources, 4K video sources have no cliff-like decline in definition, and color management is also done. It's pretty good.

The first movie we played was "1917" in 4K, HDR, with a file size of about 14.7 GB. Open the file and you can see the specifications of the movie in the upper right corner of the screen.

Because it is an HDR film source, the TV automatically changes the image parameters to "HDR 10+".

In this mode, you can see that the tone and texture of the entire film are quite brilliant. The film has a strong flavor and the atmosphere of the battlefield is very strong.

Thanks to the excellent quality of the film source, this TV is notable for the clarity and layering of the film, and the skin color of the characters and the texture of the objects are also satisfactory.

Then we played a 1080P movie with a size of about 935 MB, which is "Game of Thrones" translated and suppressed by the subtitle group.

Even if the quality of the source is mediocre, the effect on TV is still good. The texture on the clothes is strong, and the hair of the characters is barely visible. In the performance of grand scenes, color and atmosphere can give people a magnificent epic feeling.

Below is "Sunshine" in 720P, about 1.75 GB in size. After being optimized by the Redmi MAX 86” chip, this video is much clearer than what I saw on my laptop.

Whether it is close-up or distant view, the picture can maintain a relatively clear and sharp look. 120Hz MEMC also makes the look and feel of the picture very smooth. For 720P low-quality film sources, optimization to this has exceeded my expectations.

In addition to the clear and smooth picture and full color, the other big advantage of Redmi MAX 86" comes from its size.

Because the size is large enough, I can have a strong sense of presence when watching. This is a unique feeling that 55 inches or even 65 inches can hardly bring. Especially when watching narrative feature films such as "1917" and "Sunshine", the sense of substitution and immersion will also increase a lot.

On the whole, the image quality optimization algorithm of Redmi MAX 86" smart TV is remarkable. Since the quality of the sources we usually watch varies, a good chip and optimization algorithm have a considerable impact on the user experience. obviously.

During our experience, we also discovered some shortcomings of this TV.

The first is that the brightness of the screen is average. Even if I set the brightness of the TV's backlight to the highest level, the details and layering of the picture are still a lot weaker when presenting the dim scenes in the film.

Under the natural light source indoors during the day, I can hardly see the dim light scene on the TV. In order to have a better viewing experience during the day, it is recommended to close the curtains to create a darker viewing environment.

The reason for the above-mentioned negative experience is the reflection of the screen . Although the screen of Redmi MAX 86” is matte, due to its huge size, the reflection phenomenon is much more obvious than that of a small-sized TV.

For large-screen TVs, a good anti-glare technology or coating can immediately improve the user experience. Redmi should be considered for cost control, and it is regrettable in this regard.

Furthermore, the sound quality is average . For such a "big guy", the built-in 2 x 12.5W speakers still seem a bit "small". Even if the TV supports Dolby Atmos, the effect and layering are still not excellent. Users who pursue sound quality can choose echo gallery or other speakers.

Of course, this is not a "disadvantage". After all, the price of 7,999 yuan, what kind of bicycle is needed.

Familiar UI, and office mode

When choosing a TV, in addition to price and picture quality, we often consider its ease of use.

Redmi MAX 86" is equipped with MIUI for TV 3.0 smart TV system. For users who have used Xiaomi or Redmi TV, they can get started directly. New users can master the interface, functions and interaction logic without too much time learning.

The TV comes with a Bluetooth remote control, which has a strong family taste in design. The TV has built-in Xiao Ai 3.0, click the voice button on the remote control, you can dialogue control.

There is not much to say about the TV’s UI interface. The content display still uses a drop-down waterfall flow, and the automatic infinite loading mode can present all the content on one page. The overall design is relatively simple and efficient.

However, during the experience, I found that there were occasional freezes and delays during the operation. For the configuration of MTK 9650 and 2GB+32GB, this should not happen. I wonder if it is related to the software version.

In terms of content, the current Redmi MAX 86" smart TV has reached in-depth content cooperation with iQiyi, Tencent Video, Youku, Mango TV, and bilibili. In addition, such as Future TV, Wasu, BesTV, Sohu Video, Ju Sports, Fresh Time The content of platforms such as, Kuai TV and Tiger E-sports can also be seen on this TV.

According to the experience of the past few days, under the classification of TV series, movies, and variety shows, it is mainly the content source provided by iQiyi. If you are interested in exclusive content on platforms such as Tencent Video, Youku, and Mango TV, it is best to move to the corresponding app to view it.

It is worth mentioning that Redmi MAX 86” has launched a non-disturbed office mode. In this mode, the UI becomes very simple and convenient for users to connect external input sources, screen projection, and document management.

The screen projection method is as convenient and fast as always, and it is very friendly to Android and iOS users, as well as Windows and Mac users. From this point of view, Redmi MAX 86” is also a good choice to put in an office or conference room.

7,999 yuan, make a friend?

On the whole, the overall performance of Redmi MAX 86” is already quite excellent. Before the launch of the conference, colleagues once thought that its price would exceed 10,000 yuan. After all, the market price of home color TVs of the same size was basically more than 10,000 yuan.

The price of 7,999 yuan and the "Ladder Doesn't Stop" packaging make it likely to become "the first large-screen TV for young people."

Although Redmi MAX 86" has shortcomings such as screen brightness, glare control, etc., for those who want to enjoy the thrill of a large screen and have a limited budget, I think it may not be so important.

#Welcome to follow Aifaner's official WeChat account: Aifaner (WeChat ID: ifanr), more exciting content will be provided to you as soon as possible.

Ai Faner | Original link · View comments · Sina Weibo