At a time when choices are aplenty for smart TV purchases, it isn’t at all easy to make the ideal pick. With the convenience of options comes the task of measure for measure comparison, weighed against pricing, to define utility and value. In the past handful of years, we’ve seen this a rather pleasing trend of big screen TVs becoming more and more affordable. As time as passed, compromises balancing the big screen with within reach price tags, have also reduced. The trends I’ve mentioned, are quite well summarised by Blaupunkt’s new Google TV range, and specifically the 55QD7020 which started out with a sticker price of ₹59,999 but holds a market price of around ₹33,999. Good value?
A crucial consideration, or at least it should be, for any large screen TV is the panel quality. Blaupunkt 55QD7020, as perhaps the model naming scheme would also have hinted at, is a 55-inch QLED panel. For this price, the QLED is really the best you’ll get in terms of technology. The way I see it having viewed a variety of content on the 55QD7020, Blaupunkt has optimised it rather well too. It has vivid yet well separated colours, and you always have the option of finer tweaks to alter to your preferences. It’s a crisp panel, which means it’s holding details without having to dial up the sharpness levels to unnaturally high numbers (this is a common setting for picture).
That said, you’ll need to do some work on the out of the box setting to make it more attuned for home usage and get the skin tones in place. It holds ground well with processing lesser resolution or lower bitrate content, and really shines through with 4K content. F1 TV streaming at 60fps in 4K, is a prime example of that. Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR) standard is ticked off, which is good for Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar binging.
The smart TV foundation is Google TV, which much like Android TV that it succeeds, supports pretty much every video streaming app you’d want on the TV. However, there is a definite slowdown in the smoothness of Google TV home navigation, as the software tries to do a lot with curating recommendations and integrating a rentals shop (think of it as Google Movies and TV evolving). I’d recommend finding the “Apps only” mode in settings and sticking with that – unless you really want Google TVs content recommendations. Then there’s the far-field mic in case you want to do a voice command routine with the TV.
I must point to what seems like fairly poor software update support, at least till now, from Blaupunkt. The TV is running a Google security patch from more than a year ago, and for the duration of our review for this TV, no specific updates were made available to do the routine bug fixes and performance streamlining. Whether that may improve in the future, is anyone’s guess.
Blaupunkt hasn’t designed a separate soundbar-esque speaker system, but that isn’t to say the speaker system doesn’t hold up well for most content. Blaupunkt has integrated audio processing hardware, which provides strong foundations, in the same sort of speaker setup where most TVs suffer significantly. Dolby Atmos too, but often, the physical limitations of the dual speakers will hold back the full experience. Vocals are clear, and finer details do often come through. But for movie and sports enthusiasts, a soundbar to go with the Blaupunkt 55QD7020 may very much be the ticket to a perfect TV setup.
For a price just upwards of ₹30,000 for a 55-inch TV, there is little to hold against the Blaupunkt 55QD7020 with its impressive QLED panel and the newer Google TV platform. It simply delivers on the large screen TV experience you wanted and doesn’t compromise on the crucial picture and sound elements. The long-term value perhaps comes from the observation that there is very little in terms of unnecessary preloaded apps on the 55QD7020. That tells you the TV maker have their ideas well placed.