It’s almost the end of 2021. Smart TVs are par for the course now. It’s a cluttered space especially at the budget end with brands like Xiaomi riding the smart TV wave in India. This is the same space that Acer is also making a play for. Taiwanese major Acer’s TVs have debuted via a licensing arrangement with Indkal Technologies in India. We’re seeing many leading brands like Nokia and Blaupunkt opting for licensing agreements in India. The P Series is Acer’s entry level offering and it might just tick enough boxes if you’re looking for an Android TV on a budget.
Global Smart TV sales are zooming:
The lockdowns might have eased but one thing hasn’t changed. Our screen times have only increased with many of us still in WFH or a hybrid work mode that has flitting from one screen to the other. TV sales have continued to zoom driven by second or third TVs as consumers look at breaking away from smartphone screens for binge watching or weekend gaming. Smart TV sales grew by 7.4% in 2020 hitting 186 million units and accounting for 79% of all Flat Panel TVs sold worldwide (Source: Strategy Analytics)
Design:
There’s nothing distinctive in design terms that sets the Acer P Series TV apart. Just like most other budget TVs, this is an all-plastic build with the Acer logo at the bottom. The bezels are not too intrusive. You can either prop up the TV on the stand (like we set it up) or wall mount it. You only get the stand (two legs that you can attach to the TV in a minute) in the box, the wall mount installation (available on call) costs extra. There’s a multitude of ports including two HDMI ports, that are easily accessible (on the rear) that should please most users. We hardly needed to use any of these ports; this is a smart TV after all.
Performance:
Set up is a breeze. This is an Android TV and it didn’t take long to go online and grab the Apps that we needed to get rolling. In terms of hardware the P Series is propelled by a 64 Bit Quad Core processor with 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard memory. The effective storage is less than 8GB but it’s still plenty. I was left with over 3GB of space even after installing a whole bunch of Apps. Switching apps and navigating was smooth but the TV does take some time to power up especially from standby mode.
Picture quality:
Buyers at this price point are usually not pixel peepers. All you want is the basics sorted, the Acer P Series doesn’t disappoint on this count. We checked out the 42-inch version (1920 x 1080 pixels / HDR 10). Brightness maxes out at 350 nits with a wide colour gamut of 16.7 million colours. Blacks are fairly deep and colours are quite vibrant for a TV at this price point. There are ‘pre-set’ picture options available if that’s your thing. These pre-set options are also available for audio but except for the music and movie mode, I didn’t notice a visible difference in the audio experience. Sound quality is acceptable, the 24W speakers don’t jar even at reasonably high volumes.
Getting around the remote is quite simple too. There are hot keys for popular Apps like Netflix and YouTube, you can also access voice menus without a fuss. It’s convenient touches like this and the Android advantage that make the Acer TV P Series a contender in the budget space at a time when smart TVs have become a no-brainer.
Bottomline:
What we like: Android TV, Picture quality,
What can be better: Boot time
The Acer TV P Series (42-inch) costs Rs 23,999
