OnePlus entered the television segment with the Q1 series of quantum-dot LED TVs in 2019, but has since turned its attention towards making TVs with varied screen sizes and budgets for a price-conscious India. This includes the Y1S Pro series of televisions, which offer bigger Ultra-HD screens at reasonable prices, familiar software experiences, and some integrations and ecosystem benefits if you have other OnePlus hardware. While the 43-inch and 50-inch variants in the Y1S Pro range were launched earlier in 2022, the company only recently put the largest 55-inch variant on sale.
Priced at Rs. 39,999, the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro Ultra-HD LED TV has been developed with value in mind, and goes up against the competition from brands such as Xiaomi and Redmi, TCL, and Hisense, among others in the deeply competitive, affordable big-screen TV segment. The OnePlus television offers support for HDR10+ high dynamic range content, and promises a software experience that works well with your OnePlus smartphones and accessories. Is this the best television you can buy for under Rs. 40,000 right now? Find out in this review.
The OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro is considerably different from the company’s more expensive options when it comes to design
OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro design and specifications
OnePlus’ television range in India fits roughly into three categories, of which the Y-series range is the most affordable. That said, the Y series in itself has standard and ‘Pro’ models. The Y1S Pro range features three size options — 43 inches, 50 inches, and 55 inches — with all featuring Ultra-HD (3840×2160-pixel) LED screens. The largest of the three sizes, the one on review here, is priced at Rs. 39,999 in India.
This isn’t a particularly fancy television when it comes to design, but it does check the boxes for a competitively-priced television of this size. The OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro is available in a single black colour, and has slim borders surrounding the screen on all sides and a good screen-to-body ratio. There is a small OnePlus logo on the bottom strip and a fairly conspicuous module, but the TV has a design that is largely distraction-free and keeps the focus on what’s on the screen.
The OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro weighs around 10.9kg without the included table stands attached, and can be wall-mounted using standard VESA-compatible wall mounts (not included in the box, but can be arranged for at the time of installation). It isn’t particularly slim, and there is a reasonably wide gap behind the TV even when wall-mounted, but the TV doesn’t come across as too thick either. However, the ports on the left side of the TV are far inwards from the outer edge and can be a bit difficult to reach if you have the OnePlus TV Y1S Pro on a standard low-profile wall mount.
Connectivity options on the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro include three HDMI 2.1 ports (one supports ARC/eARC), two USB ports, a digital Optical (Toslink) port, an Ethernet port, and a single socket for AV input (to be used with a 3-in-1 adapter). There is also Bluetooth 5 and dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity on the television.
As mentioned, the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro has a 55-inch Ultra-HD (3840×2160-pixel) LED screen, with support for high dynamic range content in the HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG formats. The speaker system has two drivers, with a total rated output of 24W and support for Dolby Audio. There is 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage for apps and app data on the OnePlus TV Y1S Pro.
OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro remote and features
Minimalist remotes are now the norm, and the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro has a fairly standard remote which keeps the focus on the basics of the smart TV user experience. Interestingly, there is no dedicated power button; the button with the OnePlus logo controls the power and standby modes, in addition to quickly switching to the Oxygen Play interface.
The OnePlus Connect app lets you use a smartphone as a remote for the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro
Apart from this, there is a standard D-pad and selection button for navigation, home and back buttons, volume and Google Assistant controls, and hotkeys for Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. The remote uses both IR and Bluetooth for connectivity, and is powered by two AAA batteries.
It’s a good looking and conveniently-shaped remote, and the learning curve (particularly related to the power controls) wasn’t too much to handle. I would recommend keeping the TV on standby much of the time rather than powering it down completely, since this ensures a quick boot-up when you turn it on again. However, you might need to do a full shut-down every few days to keep the system running smoothly.
In terms of features, the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro is like any other budget Android TV device, with Ultra-HD Chromecast built-in, and support for Miracast and HDMI CEC. As mentioned, there is voice assistant support through Google Assistant, with the invoking button and microphone on the remote.
OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro software and interface
Similar to Xiaomi’s dual-UI approach, the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro runs on Android TV 10 with the refreshed stock Android TV user interface as the primary UI, but with the addition of the company’s Oxygen Play launcher. Oxygen Play has no content of its own, instead focusing on curation of content from various OTT platforms and services. This includes movies, shows, sports, kids content, and news telecasts, from services such as Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5 and Sony Liv, among others.
As with other curation-focused launchers, you’ll need paid subscriptions for most of the services, and you might also need to install the apps if they aren’t already installed. Apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Sony Liv, and Voot are preinstalled on the TV, but some can be uninstalled to make things a bit lighter if you prefer. On the whole, Oxygen Play is great for those looking for recommendations — particularly popular Indian content, but there are also curated lists for globally relevant movies and TV shows.
If you know what you want to watch, or prefer browsing through content within specific apps, the stock Android TV launcher might be better suited to you. I do, however, recommend lightening the installation load by removing any apps you don’t intend to use and leaving only the ones important to you.
You can also install the OnePlus Connect app (available on Android and iOS), which lets you use the smartphone or tablet as a remote for the TV when connected to the same Wi-Fi network. The app also provides access to other interconnectivity features such as screen casting, local video casting, and file transfers to the OnePlus TV Y1S Pro. If you have other OnePlus devices such as earphones or smartwatches, these can be connected to or used with the TV quickly and fairly seamlessly.
Oxygen Play provides curation of content, but you’ll still need the apps and subscriptions to be able to watch most of what’s on offer
The television has only 8GB of internal storage, and on one occasion I was asked to clear some space to be able to install a 1.2GB firmware update, considering the size of existing loads such as Oxygen Play and apps such as Netflix and YouTube which can’t be uninstalled. Although 8GB of storage is adequate on most Android TV devices, OnePlus’ software package makes it fall short, and there should ideally have been 16GB of space on the Y1S Pro television.
Performance and navigation on the user interface was a bit slow at times but content, once streaming, worked well with not much lag. I did receive a firmware update during my time with the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro, and most popular apps for Android TV are supported through the Google Play Store. Apps tend to display content in the maximum possible resolution (based on availability and your own subscription plan), with Ultra-HD HDR content available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar.
OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro performance
The affordable big-screen television segment typically focuses on specifications and format support, but OnePlus’ approach to the space is a bit different. This is an Ultra-HD TV with high dynamic range support, but OnePlus has skipped the more expensive Dolby Vision format support in favour of better overall performance with picture quality and sound quality for the price.
While the company’s more expensive Q1 Pro is better equipped including a front-firing soundbar speaker system and support for Dolby Vision and Atmos, the Y1S Pro is expectedly simpler given the price difference. On paper, it might even seem a bit under-equipped as compared to competing options from brands such as Xiaomi, Vu, Hisense, and TCL, but the overall experience was largely on par with what I’ve experienced with other 55-inch televisions priced at around Rs. 40,000.
Ultra-HD HDR10+ content expectedly looked best on the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro
While Dolby Vision support might have been a good addition given the variety of content for the format available through platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, and Apple TV+, the OnePlus TV Y1S Pro manages to make do reasonably well even with the step down to HDR10. Some content from services such as Amazon Prime Video is available in HDR10+, but the differences between the two formats weren’t significant, and seemed more to do with the quality of the content itself.
I watched a number of TV shows and movies across various services and formats, including the first season of Andor and Rogue One on Disney+ Hotstar, season three of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime Video, and Kaleidoscope on Netflix, to test performance with high-quality Ultra-HD HDR content. I also watched various other HD and full-HD shows and content including the Football World Cup final, assorted episodes of Modern Family, and videos on YouTube.
Among the various Ultra-HD HDR shows I watched on the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro, picture performance was best with Jack Ryan, particularly during well-lit, daytime scenes. Europe’s scenic cities, as well as the Greek coastline on display in the third season looked great, with decent levels of brightness, reasonably accurate colours, and plenty of visible detail.
While the typical punch and vibrancy visible on more expensive TVs with better displays was expectedly missing, it still made for a good viewing experience — if you can cut out enough ambient light in the room. There was also a noticeable difference in the way bright and dark scenes were handled by the TV, which also tended to affect certain types of content such as action shows and thrillers, making for a less consistent viewing experience.
The OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro is unique in that it offers LED backlight dimming. However, it’s what can be termed as ‘global’ dimming where there is a single backlight zone that automatically adjusts the entire backlight for the LED display according to the scenes and detected colour levels. The settings menu allows for adjustment in the intensity of this, and it did seem to make a bit of difference with dark scenes, although not by much.
This being an affordable LED TV, the OnePlus TV Y1S Pro doesn’t benefit too much from this, and black levels weren’t particularly good in dark scenes across the shows that I watched. Some of the darker scenes in Kaleidoscope and Rogue One appeared to be ‘grey washed’, with significant noise visible even with the most gentle of movements. Content remained watchable, but I did need to darken the room as much as possible, and tended to watch mostly at night in order to cover for the TV’s shortcomings in this regard.
Lower resolution content performed similarly to Ultra-HD content in terms of brightness, black levels, and the general adaptability of the OnePlus TV Y1S Pro to changing scenes and varying picture conditions. There was, of course, a visible difference in the sharpness that was made more obvious by the 55-inch screen size, but this is to be expected from any television of this size and didn’t heavily impact the viewing experience.
Sound quality on the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro is very good for a television in this price segment
The Football World Cup final with its bright lights and colours looked fine, as did episodes of sitcoms such as Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. Conversely, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 didn’t look as good because of its generally dark tone and the TV’s weakness with dark scenes, which also tended to bring out the shortcomings in the upscaling.
Gaming on the OnePlus TV Y1S Pro with the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) was good too, with the TV generally performing well with the bright, sharp imagery of the games I played. The television doesn’t have any specific features for current-generation console gaming, but should perform decently in such a use case for the basics.
Sound on the OnePlus TV 55 Y1S Pro may seem unexciting if you only go by the specifications, but I was fairly impressed by the actual audio performance of the TV. Apart from being able to get quite loud, the Y1S Pro TV was also well tuned and made the most of its simple two-channel speaker system. Dialogue was clear and sharp, the low-end had a reasonable amount of drive and attack to it, and audio levels were generally consistent across volume points.
Even with the volume turned down at night, dialogue and sound effects were clear and audible. Although the lack of Dolby Atmos support might seem like a drawback, OnePlus’ approach to delivering straightforward, well-tuned sound with its basic speaker setup is arguably a better approach in this price segment.
Verdict
The Y1S Pro series from OnePlus has put the brand in an important price segment, and the latest 55-inch size option finally gives the company a big-screen Ultra-HD option at a competitive price to match options from brands such as Xiaomi and Vu. While the spec sheet and the lack of support for Dolby Vision may seem like drawbacks, the reality is quite different, and the 55 Y1S Pro is a reasonably capable television that matches up to the competition in most ways.
I did experience some drawbacks in the user experience, and picture quality in dark scenes was only really watchable in a darkened room, but the TV largely delivered a worthwhile performance when it came to high-quality content and sound quality. The OnePlus ecosystem benefits might be worth considering if you already have a OnePlus smartphone or earphones, but the 55 Y1S Pro is a decent option to consider if you want a big screen on a reasonable budget.