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The 50UK4D63DB gets off to a strong start by using a native 4K VA panel with direct LED lighting – a combination that usually delivers better contrast than IPS/edge-lit rivals. Though it’s worth saying right away that the VA panel does limit viewing angles. Try not to watch from more than around 30 degrees off axis if you don’t want to see a significant reduction in contrast and colour saturation. The UL5A sports a surprising number of HDMI inputs (four). Other connections include an optical out, LAN, satellite and aerial antenna, two USBs and, interestingly, VGA and component connections. While it makes sense to include the latter for those who wish to connect a PC or other legacy equipment, it does feel antiquated. Having fallen on hard times of late, Toshiba’s TV brand is hoping for a resurgence with its latest set of TVs. The UL5A is one of the more affordable sets in its lineup and, undeterred by its budget leanings, offers Dolby Vision HDR and Alexa integration. The 55UL5A63DB’s picture quality could be described as decent for the price – but the HDR performance is compromised in some ways.
While the 50UK3163DB isn’t anything special when it comes to handling dark images, it sure stands out with the intensity it brings to both bright parts of dark scenes, and full-screen bright HDR content. In fact, when it comes to the bright end of the light spectrum, it delivers arguably the most aggressive HDR performance in its class. Also not surprising for the 55QA5D63DB’s money is the slightly limited nature of its connections. Three HDMIs dominate rather than the four you can generally expect if you step up a couple of hundred pounds, and none of these three HDMIs supports the latest premium gaming features of 4K/120Hz or VRR.This issue can lead to some colours in dark scenes looking a little ‘polluted’ by greyness too – though at least neither the greyness nor any over-aggressive work by the Tru Micro Dimming system results in any significant loss of shadow detail. Again, you need to choose a Dynamic Contrast setting that best suits your personal taste, but the picture is good either way. The finest details that more premium sets reveal are missing, but there's enough bite in all of the close-ups in that tavern scene. Whether it’s the CGI wrinkles of Maz, Solo’s worry lines or the smoother skin of Rey and Finn, the Toshiba makes for an enjoyable watch with the colours still holding true and little lost to the darkness. The Hisense R50B7120UK Roku TV, for example, offers a 50in panel for the same price with a brilliant smart platform and a virtually complete set of apps. The higher-spec Samsung TU8000 is better for both sound and picture and, while we haven’t tested it at the 43in size, it’s currently available for much less than the cost of this Toshiba plus a budget soundbar. We test every TV we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
The two blade-style feet you get with the TV are solid, easy to attach, leave the TV feeling stable, and become almost invisible when you’re watching the TV head-on. The picture is solid at all levels. For detail, for scaling, for contrast and largely for colour too, it performs well for its low price. The only real reason not to buy this TV is that there are bigger and better ones available for similar money. As long as there’s content to watch in Dolby Vision, that is. Netflix supports it and there are a few shows on Prime Video. If you have a Dolby Vision 4K player, the increase in performance and fidelity is welcome. There are, to be fair, one or two more picture areas where the 55QA5D63DB does pretty well. Its native 4K pictures are crisp and sharp (a touch too much in its Vivid and Standard picture presets, perhaps), and the sharpness doesn’t break down badly when there’s motion in the frame. Nor is there any of the overt smearing or excessive judder we still often see on budget TVs, even with 24p movie sources. Detail levels are quite high, and dialogue is never overwhelmed. The mid-range is quite open and expressive, and escalates decently well to meet the challenge of big action movie moments.You can improve things marginally – and we do mean marginally – by tinkering with the Adaptive Luma and Local Contrast controls. But even with the 55QA5D63DB’s contrast optimised as much as possible, very dark scenes in beloved films are honestly difficult to watch. The 50UK4D63DB also follows its 50UK3163DB predecessor in achieving a genuine 4K feeling with the sharpness and detail density of its pictures. It maintains that clarity better than most when there’s motion in the frame, too, and while it’s naturally at its best with native 4K, it upscales HD very credibly and naturally for such an affordable TV too. In fact, while we’re obviously not talking about levels of brightness even close to those the best OLEDs or, especially, premium LCD TVs can produce, the 55QA5D63DB is bright enough to deliver comfortably the biggest escalation from SDR to HDR of any TV in its price class.
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