The Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED offers excellent picture and audio quality, and you can save up to $170 during Amazon’s Memorial Day sale
The Amazon Fire TV Omni Series QLED is the next evolution of Amazon’s TV offerings, with an all-new QLED screen for bolder colors, sharper detailing, and enhanced contrast.
It also aims to provide you with a great streaming experience with rich, clean audio from twin 12W speakers and access to thousands of shows and movies.
The Amazon Fire TV Omni Series QLED even works as a gaming TV with a dedicated gaming picture mode to enhance color and detailing so that characters and landscapes pop.
However, the biggest strike against the Omni QLED is that a lot of its cool functionality is locked behind Alexa. This means that in order to get cool features like making voice or video calls, playing trivia, or checking the weather, you’ll have to buy an Echo device and set up an Alexa profile if you don’t have one already.
Screen size 65 inches
Panel type QLED
Operating system FireOS
HDR support Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+ Adaptive
Speakers Dual 12W
Audio Dolby Digital Plus
VRR support N/A
Refresh rate 60Hz
Connectivity HDMI, HDMI eARC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB, AUX, Optical, Coax
I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting to be as impressed as I was with the picture and sound quality of the Omni Series QLED. Since Amazon is so new to manufacturing, I was expecting a bare-bones TV with basic features and passable picture and sound. And I am very glad to be proven wrong.
The QLED panel definitely seems like an improvement over the previous iteration, producing more colors, better contrast, and sharper detailing. It also supports Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ for enhanced settings when you need it, which is great news for movie and TV show buffs. And it is absolutely worth going through the HDR calibration process (which only takes a few minutes) to fine-tune your images to get the best picture possible.
The TV also has a dedicated gaming picture mode. This gives your games a much-needed visual boost — especially if you’re playing an older console or digital copy of an older game.
The adaptive HDR10+ settings automatically adjust brightness, contrast, and color to make scenes look sharper and more eye-catching.
The TV also has integrated ambient light sensors, which automatically make the screen brighter or dimmer based on your environment. A lot of newer smart TVs have this feature. I’m glad that Amazon included it in this model upgrade. Our house catches a lot of morning sun, which can make watching the morning news a bit difficult on our Samsung TU-8000 (which doesn’t have adaptive screen brightness).
Another small gripe I have with the Omni Series QLED is the 60Hz refresh rate. While this is perfectly fine for most streaming and broadcast entertainment, if you’re an avid console gamer or sports fan, it leaves a lot to be desired. And while I understand there are licensing fees for supporting AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync specifically for gaming, general VRR support would have gone a long way toward providing smoother on-screen action.
The integrated speakers on the TV are a credit to the redesign, however, providing rich, clear audio that doesn’t sound tinny or muffled like some stock TV speakers can. Dolby Digital Plus audio support also ensures that you’ll get deep bass notes, as well as clear mid and high tones, so you never miss a line of dialogue or bit of music.
If you want a more elaborate audio setup, you can connect your TV to Echo speakers to create a custom home audio solution or provide whole-home audio for streaming music. This is an excellent feature that I wish Amazon hadn’t shackled to its own brand.
I would much rather see multi-device support for generic Bluetooth speakers and soundbars, since users might have audio equipment from different brands rather than a house full of Amazon-branded devices.
