Sharp 50 Inch 4k Uhd Smart Tv Review

Our Verdict

The RCA RTRU5027 delivers 4K and a handy Roku TV platform at such a low price that if yous can overlook its weak HDR operation and sketchy sound processing it's a standout TV in the budget category.

For

• Rock-bottom price
• Roku smarts
• Decent design

Confronting

• Dim brandish
• No book leveling
• Limited viewing angles

TechRadar Verdict

The RCA RTRU5027 delivers 4K and a handy Roku TV platform at such a low toll that if you lot can overlook its weak HDR functioning and sketchy audio processing it'due south a standout TV in the budget category.

Pros

• +

  Rock-bottom price

• +

  Roku smarts

• +

  Decent design

Cons

• -

  Dim display

• -

  No volume leveling

• -

  Limited viewing angles

When information technology comes to budget TVs, few come cheaper than this $269 50-inch RCA model that offers back up for 4K, HDR, and built-in Roku TV to top it off.

This is among the cheapest 4K TVs we've seen, costing well below models like the $599 Hisense 55H9F and even the 43-inch Vizio Grand-Serial Quantum at $349.

This RCA 50-inch 4K TV doesn't do much to move display technology forward, just it does bring high-stop features down to a mass market price, and its shortcomings are easy to overlook (and sometimes remedy) at this price.

Price and release date

The RCA RTRU5027 was available starting dorsum in 2017, for $699, but these days you can find information technology at Walmart for just $269 - making information technology ane of the cheaper 4K HDR TVs on sale at the retailer.

Design

With its plastic back and minimal weight, this RCA TV comes out of the box feeling about as cheap every bit its price tag suggests. It simply weighs 25.4 pounds (11.5Kg), which makes information technology piece of cake equally always to set up upwards. That weight all sits on a pair of legs that don't accept up too much area on a media eye.

Once it'south prepare up, the cheapness of the design is easier to ignore. The bezels on it are surprisingly thin, with only about half-inch bezels on all sides except the bottom, where information technology's merely slightly thicker. The majority of the Television set is only about an inch thick, but the lower half grows to about 2.5 inches thick.

That extra thickness helped it avoid skimping on ports. On offering are iii HDMI ports, a composite video input, an Ethernet port, a USB port, an antenna input, a 3.5mm audio output, and an optical audio out. Extra HDMI ports may be welcome, just they're less necessary thanks to the inclusion of the Roku Smart Boob tube platform, which lets the RCA RTRU5027 bring the amusement with simply a power and internet connection. The Ethernet port is an platonic mode to pipe 4K content into the TV, just it besides supports two.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi connections.

Oddly, in that location's an IR receiver well-nigh the bottom left of the display that we never saw in promotional pictures of the device. It juts out and disrupts the smoothness of the design, plus it tin can exist finicky if anything (ahem, cats) get in the way

Pattern TL;DR: It may not be the thinnest, just no ane is going to look at the 50-inch RCA 4K Roku Television from the front end and retrieve you've got an ancient Boob tube – except for the IR receiver bulging out at the lesser.

(Image credit: Mark Knapp)

Smart TV (Roku Television set)

When it comes to smart Television receiver platforms, Roku'southward is amidst the best. It has admission to nigh every streaming service yous'll want, including the ability to cast content to the TV. The operating system is surprisingly quick considering RCA probable didn't bound for a premium processor to run it. That said, it occasionally hitches when trying to scrub through content within apps, especially when it'south 4K content.

Adding different apps is easy, and the platform is perfectly straightforward. That even carries over to the display settings, which feel more like a seamless part of the Roku TV operating system than a labyrinth of menus and submenus buried in a user interface from the late '90s.

The Roku remote included is serviceable, but uses IR. As a consequence, in that location'south no headphone jack or voice control on the remote, but the Roku app on a cell phone can handle those features instead.

Smart Television set TL;DR: it's an impressive smart OS to get in a TV at this price when considering that a standalone Roku device capable of 4K HDR would toll $39 on its ain without any screen.

HD/SDR Functioning

There isn't too much to get excited for from the RCA RTRU5027's performance. It's a bones TFT LCD offering upwards a meager 250-nit superlative effulgence. Virtually flagship smartphone displays offer substantially brighter displays, and whatsoever Telly boasting HDR should really height 400 nits. (In fact, the UHD Brotherhood sets its recommended specs at one,000 nits...) Of form, this is a budget brandish, and it'due south offer only about a nit for every dollar in its price tag.

In a sunny room, the display can't concur in dark scenes even with the anti-glare finish helping obscure reflections somewhat. Medium-brilliant scenes handle well enough, though. In a dark room, the screen is much easier to run across, so it would be wise to invest some of the money saved on this Telly in a decent set of window blinds.

That said, the RCA RTRU5027 puts on a decent image when the lighting conditions are right: In a room with overhead lights on, the display actually musters some impressive black levels, enough to enjoy The Nighttime Knight on. Merely, there'southward a definite sugariness spot for the black levels. In a dark room, the backlight glow is credible. And, the deep black levels quickly vanish when viewing from an angle.

Equally far every bit an Hard disk picture goes, the RCA RTRU5027 presents information technology crisply. In that location doesn't seem to be any fancy upscaling going on. Watching Witcher on Netflix in Hard disk, details were however clear, from wood grain to skin. But we'd expect almost as much from a 1080p screen at this size from 10 feet away, but up close it'due south clear enough that there's no magic happening to increase the perceived resolution. Still, the image was sharp enough to spoil some of the CGI effects in Inception.

The dynamic range is off-white. In The Witcher, high contrast scenes with a bright white sky and Nilfgaardians in black armor did see some of the darkest and brightest detail muddled, but otherwise the picture looked most as good as we could expect from HD and SDR. (Annotation: Yes, we're aware The Witcher is available in 4K HDR, only that'south not how we watched information technology.)

HD/SDR TL;DR: The picture show looks skilful, but there's no magical upscaling. Lighting weather condition and viewing angle tin dramatically impact the feel.

(Prototype credit: Marking Knapp)

4K/HDR Performance

Watching 4K content, there's no question that the display is abrupt. That shows upwards especially well in fine hairs, like we see so much of in the Blender blitheness Cosmo's Laundromat. It truly lends a lifelike texture to the sheep. Though nosotros had to get closer to the screen to see all the extra detail 4K offered. The Hunters on Prime Video likewise had plenty of item in 4K, as did The Boys.

But, where 4K succeeds at delivering all that extra granular item, the HDR mode doesn't do every bit groovy a chore delivering extra color and calorie-free particular. It may be to its credit that it doesn't try to force some overly saturated, punchy colors, but the result of HDR is almost muted colors compared to SDR. We rewatched the opening barbecue scene of Hunters in SDR, and many of the colors were more saturated than in 4K HDR on the RCA RTRU5027.

That doesn't necessarily make it bad. Cosmo's Laundromat in 4K HDR is still a punchy, colorful delight. The glowing red eyes of Homelander in his drug-house raid at the opening of the Season i finale looked spectacular plenty, with the glowing red heart lasers brightening up the scene but for it to quickly fall back to blackness. It's non easy to get detail out of the dark areas of the scene, but in that location is some item.

The viewing angles go on to be an issue for HDR. Nighttime scenes are harder to see from a low angle, fifty-fifty merely slightly below the middle point of the display. We watched a expert test video for HDR, "My Blender Simulations in HDR." In it, the pure black backgrounds looked groovy when viewed from the sweet spot. Merely, the highlights in the scene bear witness how much the 250-nit peak brightness doesn't accept the headroom for compelling HDR.

Across the RCA RTRU5027's lack of functioning in HDR, it also has a foreign side result: HDR way adds a warmer tint to white, giving it an orangish hue, that'southward most noticeable when the display is just showing white text on a black background. We don't meet this in SDR content, as with the HBO Now logo at the start of any HBO content.

For gamers, RCA reports an 8ms response time for the RTRU5027, but doesn't back up adaptive sync technologies similar Nvidia Yard-Sync or AMD Free Sync.

4K/HDR TL;DR: The resolution is plenty abrupt for a Television receiver this size, simply the display tin can't get bright enough to offering a compelling HDR experience.

(Paradigm credit: Mark Knapp)

Sound

The audio on the RCA RTRU5027 is a mixed bag: The speakers work rather well, with plenty of sound for fifty-fifty a sizable living room, just information technology's how the TV uses its speakers that causes the trouble.

From HBO to Netflix, the sound is all over the place. Sometimes it's perfectly loud at a low book setting, other times it's hard to hear at with the book dialed up. Then sound furnishings like gunshots, tires squealing, or knives stabbing will sound thin in the audio mix. That happens whether the sound way is set to normal or to leveling.

An audio level that was working perfectly well on Amazon all day would suddenly exist hushed on HBO Now with Dolby Audio. The closest analog to what is sounded like is a switch from front end-facing speakers to lesser-firing speakers on a laptop. It is not subtle, and it is not beneficial.

Sound TL;DR: There'south enough of power in the speakers, but the sound processing is hit or miss. It may be worth taking advantage of the audio ports to pair with a soundbar.

Concluding verdict

As it stands, the RCA RTRU5027 is one of the most affordable means to jump into the 4K ballpark. Its functioning feels more than adequate at the price, and the Roku TV platform is a stiff signal.

But, that said, HDR functioning leaves it lagging behind the field, especially when another $100 tin can get y'all the Vizio K-Series M437-G0, which offers a higher 400-nit effulgence, 12 local dimming zones on a quantum-dot display with back up for Dolby Vision, and built-in voice control.

• Looking for a new big-screen Telly? Here'due south our listing of the best 4K TVs

Over the last several years, Mark has been tasked as a writer, an editor, and a manager, interacting with published content from all angles. He is intimately familiar with the editorial process from the inception of an article idea, through the iterative process, past publishing, and downwards the road into performance assay.

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Source: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/rca-50-inch-4k-roku-smart-tv-rtru5027-w

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