TVs are getting bigger and at the same time the price is increasing at a steady rate. In Malaysia there are many smart televisions on the market with various operating systems as well as screen technologies. As a consumer, this can cause a lot of confusion as well as at the same time complicate the selection process. Usually by logic the most expensive television will have the best features and the highest quality.
But this logic has started to be challenged since the entry of the Prism+ brand in Malaysia since last year. They are able to offer smart televisions with large screen sizes complete with key features that consumers want at a much cheaper price. After commenting on the Prism+ Q65-QE last year our main comment was that it does not support Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision-two features that are considered necessary for audio visual legs in Malaysia.
The Prism+ Q86 Pro QE was later offered in Malaysia with a much larger screen but eventually came with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos but again at a much cheaper price than other televisions on the market. What's the secret? What are the disadvantages? This review will answer your question.
Specifications
Prism+ Q86 Pro QE
86-inch screen size
3840 x 2160 pixel resolution (60Hz)
IPS Quantum Panel
Cortex A53 4X Chip Processor
GPU Mali-G52
RAM 2GB RAM
25GB storage
Android TV 10 Operating System
HDR Yes / Dolby Atmos
Description Maximum 490 nits
Audio 20W, Dolby Atmos & DTS TruSurround
I/O 3x HDMI 2.0 (1x ARc), 2x USB-A 2.0, RF, AV, Optical Audio
DTTV Yes/DVB-T2
Google Assistant Virtual Assistant
Internet LAN/ WiFi 2.4/ 5GHz
Bluetooth BT 5.0
Chromecast Yes
AirPlay 2 None
Size 1921 x 1106 x 435 mm (with base)
Weight 44.65kg (with base)
Selling Price RM 8999
Rekaan
The Prism+ Q86 Pro QE is a raised Q65-QE. All of the designs on these larger televisions are similar to the smaller models. The body is completely plastic with a bezel that is only moderately thick. In terms of aesthetics, it is far roasted from the fire if you want to compare with Samsung and Sony premium class televisions in the Malaysian market. A comparison that may be unfair because the selling price of this television is only RM8999 and not tens of thousands like its competitors.
The quality of building materials is usually the first sacrifice to make a product affordable and this is clearly the tactic that Prism+ uses on their products. Is this the wrong strategy? Depends on you. If you ask us a better use experience than a body made of premium metal material.
The 86 ″ screen with 4K resolution is from the Quantum IPS family which is actually very large for most homes. Before the review unit was sent to us, the question asked by Prism+ was the size of the elevator in the office. The box alone is more than 2m long and about 1.2 meters high. If you are interested in buying this TV make sure there is enough space in the living room. For those who live in apartments or condominiums, make sure the building's cargo lift is large enough.
There are two iron legs that need to be discarded at the bottom if the television is to be placed on a table surface. The legs are trying big and wide to ensure the stability of this enormous TV. How big? The size of the TV is 1921 x 1106 x 435 mm and weighs around 45 kilograms. It is impossible to carry or install it alone. This also causes the TV table we use at home to no longer be usable because it is too small.
The space between the legs and the bottom of the TV is as high as 109mm which is big enough to house the soundbar, PlayStation 4, Astro Ultra Box decoder, Internet modem, Apple TV 4K and Mac Mini. Even so there is still not enough space for a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X which we generally know is too thick and needs to be placed on the side of the TV. With this television taking up a considerable amount of space on the table, the space underneath is essential for placing other audio visual equipment in the house.
For those who prefer to hang a TV, there is a standard VESA mount on the back with Prism+ also selling two wall mount options that can be purchased as a complete package. We have to admit with its large size and weight, it was a little scary to put it on a TV table for fear of being climbed by a nephew who came to visit.
The I/O options are good with 3X HDMI 2.0 one of which supports HDMI ARC. All three also come with HDMI-CEC support that detects input from connected devices to turn on the LSP7T automatically. This is matched with 2X USB-A 2.0, RJ45 LAN, AV in, optical audio output and RF connectivity. For those who need a DTTV digital television, a built -in decoder is included but the model is not listed on the Prism+site.
All I/O are placed on the left side of the television with all connection ports facing sideways. This greatly simplifies the connection of various cables and accessories when the television is suspended. The power connection port is located on the right with a cable that has a 90 degree arc again to facilitate the process of hanging the TV.
Internet support is via LAN or WiFi 2.4/5GHz. This is another improvement given by Prism+ because previously their TVs only supported 5 GHz WiFi connection. The need for a fast Internet connection is necessary because at 86 ″ in size, streaming 4K content all the time is already a necessity and no longer an option. Various other accessories can be connected with bluetooth 5.0 tether.
Android TV 10
The Android TV 10 system is used but without the support of the more attractive Google TV interface. Support for this new interface is still limited and Prism+ has yet to accept it. However, this operating system still supports various types of applications and is very easy to use, especially if you are a user of Android smart devices. Want Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Prime Video, HBO GO, iQiyi and many more major streaming platforms? No need to worry because the Play Store Android ecosystem is pretty complete.
What is a little worrying for us is that the Android TV 10 security patch on the unit reviewed is still stuck in July 2021. Almost a year of not being updated raises a bit of paranoid feeling because every month there is only a vulnerability on the Android operating system that can expose your personal data stolen by unscrupulous parties. responsible.
Android TV 10 is quite smooth 4x Cortex-A53, Mali-G52 GPU, 2GB RAM memory and 25GB storage. Like you've seen this specification before, but where is it? Oh this is the same chip as the one used on the Q65-QE. As we said in the TV review, the chip used is modest because it is not comparable to the Chromecast chip with Google TV which is equipped with 4x Cortex A55.
At Q65-QE we noticed that sometimes the TV interface is blocked, especially after launching heavy applications such as Apple TV. The TV takes a few seconds to work smoothly. RAM that is only large does not help to run the operation quickly. Blocked television incidents are rare but still more frequent if desired compared to Q65-QE.
But since it still doesn’t happen all the time (somehow it often happens when using Apple TV and Prime Video) we can still accept the performance of this TV. Forgivable but behind the smoothness of the Chromecast with Google TV and the Samsung QLED television we once reviewed in the our lab. It’s still far better than last year’s Mi TV Q1 performance which we felt was more tragic than an entry -class smartphone with a MediaTek Helio G90 chip.
In terms of performance I can say the Q65-QE is much smoother than the Mi TV Q1 reviewed by us in October 2021 for not having as fat software. Pretty amazing because the selling price of the Mi TV Q1 is more than twice as expensive as the Q65-QE.
For smartphone owners, Google’s ecosystem support is also good. You can stream content from your phone to your TV by pressing the Chromecast button in the app. The process becomes easier if you download the Google TV app that turns Android and iOS phones into remote controls. Even if the remote control is lost, there is no problem now.
This Android TV is nice but also doesn’t support AirPlay 2 for those using the Apple ecosystem. This is not Prism +’s fault as Google still has no plans to support AirPlay 2 in the near future.
What else is not supported? APFS file format used by Macs. If you are like me formatting USB drives and HDD hard disk storage in APFS format the stored content is unreadable. Android TV 10 can only read FAT32 and NTFS formats. We realize this is a first world consumer problem because this Apple ecosystem is notorious for various challenges as well as issues when wanting to apply on different ecosystems.
Remote control
The same remote control as the Q65-QE is used. This remote control is boxed, made of plastic with there are dozens of control buttons made of rubber. There are abbreviations for the main apps Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube and Google Play placed in the middle. The four -way navigation buttons are placed at the top with the video controls placed at the bottom.
The button configuration is easy to understand and the buttons are also soft. Your fingers will not feel sore while guessing the button. A special button to call Google Assistant is also provided once and it is quite responsive to hear the voice commands given.
The design of this remote control is a bit outdated. It is like a remote control from the early 2010s while in the market now the use of remote controls that are more neat, small and universal used by other brands. As we said above, if you are less fond of the design of this remote control just download the Google TV app as it is more minimalistic. The power source of the remote control is two AAA batteries.
Usage And Visual Quality
Visual quality is the most important thing when choosing a smart television. With the Quantum IPS panel, the Q86 Pro QE’s capabilities are limited to the capabilities of IPD LCD screen technology.
We start with strength. The screen is bright and able to display beautiful colors especially Dolby Vision content. There are no significant color issues compared to the majority of high -resolution content we can enjoy without any issues. With a maximum brightness of 490 nits, it is only about half the maximum brightness of an OLED screen. In terms of evidence indeed the Q86 Pro QE will not beat any OLED, QLED and mini LED TVs on the market right now. So your expectations with the Q86 Pro QE screen should be fair because again it’s just an LCD panel.
When Dolby Vision content is played, the logo will appear in the upper left corner as confirmation. Then via the menu button on the remote control, users can select dark, standard and Vivid Dolby Vision profiles. All three give different emphasis to the color and description of the video on the screen.
If the content only supports the regular HDR format, it is still supported but different from Dolby Vision mode. Personally we feel the Dolby Vision HDR mode is the one that looks more beautiful and dynamic. Apple TV content that supports Dolby Vision looks different when played on the Q86 Pro QE than other TVs we’ve reviewed.
The visuals are very satisfying when native 4K content is played because it is sharp and bright. The issue only exists when HD -only content is played. Much of Disney+ Hotstar’s content is simply HD content that is upgraded to FHD using software. When played on this television screen it is less than satisfactory. The ones that are broken are more and more broken and the ones that are less vibrant and less vibrant are visible on the 86 ″ screen.
Unlike on more premium televisions, the Q86 Pro QE does not come with a distinctive image processing chip that can improve low video quality to look better on the screen.
This is the lack of oversized televisions that is the reason why 8K TVs started to be marketed in the market. The 4K pixel density on the 86 ″ screen is not very satisfactory and the lack on source visuals will be doubled. Just like using a magnifying glass on your phone screen now. We were lucky to subscribe to Netflix 4K. Netflix FHD content played on a TV here will only look ok if viewed at a distance of 5 feet and above.
Gaming
The screen performance for gaming is satisfactory but not amazing. Without HDMI 2.1, the television does not support 120Hz refresh rate or VRR. NVIDIA GSYNC and AMD FreeSync premium features are also not included. In fast -paced games, the ghosting effect can be seen because the screen is not fast enough. The Q86 Pro QE screen is satisfying for games that don’t have fast -paced action. Even connected to a 1080P console like the PlayStation 4, the images displayed are still satisfactory. On the PlayStation 5, the visuals are also satisfying as long as it doesn’t feature fast -paced action.
Audio Quality
Two speakers with 20W output support Dolby Atmos and DTS TruSurround. The audio quality produced is just modest because with a 20W output it is only slightly better than a compact bluetooth speaker we use in the kitchen. Indeed the TV supports Dolby Atmos but unfortunately with only two speakers the real Atmos experience cannot be felt. No shot -up speakers are needed at Atmos to deliver comprehensive 360 -degree audio.
There is an Optical Out for those who want to connect this TV to a more powerful AV system but it still does not support Dolby Atmos output. If you have a Dolby Atmos speaker system at home, it is useless because the Q86 Pro QE is not equipped with the required HDMI eARC port. All three HDMI ports on this TV only support HDMI ARC. This is a bit disappointing as we believe good visuals are incomplete without equally good audio.
Conclusion
The Prism+ Q86 Pro QE is a large screen television for those who are more concerned with screen size and money saving than the best audio visual performance on the market. With the Quantum IPS panel, this television screen is not able to offer visuals as good as the QLED panel. But the visuals that can be displayed are not rubbish. In fact it is satisfying especially when watching Dolby Vision content.
If viewed at a distance of about 5 feet, we do not feel any flaws in the video content watched. The processor used is powerful enough to stream 4K HDR 60 FPS video content without any problems.
The disadvantage lies in the less powerful audio system. But this is a normal thing on the majority of TVs on the market because the manufacturer wants you to buy an audio system once. With TV price savings, you can use more money to buy a separate speaker system that can offer better audio.
In short the Prism+ Q86 Pro QE is a Q65 QE with some improvements on screen size, screen description, audio and HDR support. At RM8999 it’s still a good television for most people who don’t want to spend more for a giant TV. Competitor TVs with comparable specifications are sold at a price of tens of thousands.
Pro
The screen is large enough to provide a movie -like experience at home.
Satisfactory visual quality for an LCD TV.
Dolby Vision HDR support.
Dolby Atmos audio support.
Android TV 10 offers a variety of applications without problems.
Satisfactory I/O options.
Very affordable price.
Cons
The screen is not bright enough to display actual HDR content.
No eARC output support then does not support Dolby Atmos.
No AirPlay 2.
Audio is not enough for a real Atmos experience.