Review VU 4K Premium Android TV / Experience

Guys I'm sharing my personal experience with this VU Android TV.

How it started -
I was satisfied and still having a very good experience with my 2018 model LG 4K TV, So around Jan 2019 I decided to buy another 43" LG 4K Tv to use as a display for my desktop.
Local retailer was quoting 2-3k more than online price so I thought of trying some other brand.
I visited another multibrand showroom where I side by side compared Panasonic and VU.
Instantly I decided for VU as it has got better contrast and deeper blacks though Panasonic was IPS panel.
At that time Flipkart was selling this VU TV model 43-OA for 26k and providing 1 year warranty, my local retailer was asking 28K with comprehensive 3yrs warranty.
so I purchased it this VU TV.

The experience -
It was a good panel but as I plugged in my desktop's HDMI cable, colors contrast and picture settings were not accurate.
Latency was good and after adjusting the picture settings I was getting unnoticeable lag with my Logitech wireless Keyboard and mouse.
Everything was working as expected though still not satisfied with color accuracy and it took me 6 months to calibrate and adjust picture settings.
Finally after approx. 6 months I was very satisfied with the display panel may be I got used to it.
As I was using this as a primary display for my desktop never bothered to check other features etc. but apps were working without a lag though not the fastest.
All audio video file formats were working directly from USB drive as intended by the manufacturer. nothing more to say as I used that TV only as a display.


The Fault -

It was 11th or 12th august this year, I tried to turn it ON and it failed. Panel was not damaged but no display only black background with backlight.
submitted a request online and it was registered on 14th Aug. Today it's 15-10-2021 still it's not fixed. Don't know the exact dates but it's how it happened
visit 1 - So called engineer visited and tried replacing power supply board, not resolved. He told me he'll order the motherboard and it may take a week from Mumbai.

Visit 2 - Motherboard arrived, engineer tried replacing and failed, problem still persists. Then he told me it's the panel and it may take another 10 days from Mumbai.
No response after 10-12 days and he was not taking my calls. Tried calling there official support multiple times as usual they assured it 'll be fixed today. Finally got a call
and he said he is coming to pickup this TV as panel wasn't available, now they need to send it to Okhla New Delhi for repair. Ok Pickup done.

Visit 3 - Finally on 23-24th September, He arrived with the TV and it worked as expected. My service request was closed.
This time I tried playing some 4k YouTube videos as my motherboard was under RMA.
4k videos were playing very good but the moment I switched to 4k 60fps it started stuttering, absolutely unplayable. So not using it was just hanging on the wall mount.
Again on 5-6th oct I tried playing something and it failed, exactly same issue.
Registered a request again on 6th and the engineer's technician visited this Monday and took a couple of photos of the item and said sir it may take some time as we're submitting
your request online.

I know my local retailer he's a friendly guy, called him 4-6 times in between this 2 months time period. Yesterday I visited the showroom and he assured me a replacement, meanwhile he
provided a brand new unit to use for a week till replacement arrives. Just like some guys here he also told me it's just in your case we've not received any complaints from anyone else.
Yesterday I plugged in this new VU TV MODEL: 43PM.

Experience with this new model is even amazing (using since yesterday only).

This new TV has got a brighter panel and better viewing angles compared to my previous model also better looking with minimal bezels. Very good picture quality and contrast.
Satisfied with the display. Even tried playing 4k 60 fps from YouTube and this time it's flawless with this upgraded model. Panel is manufactured by Hisense just like previous model.
BUT WAIT
Today morning I just thought of checking the specifications of this new 43PM model and shocked !
The official specs doesn't match the actual product. I checked with AIDA64 and it has just Bluetooth 4+ not version 5 as claimed by the manufacturer.
Dual band WIFI 5Ghz is also not supported as claimed by manufacturer.
Some Amazon reviewer also wrote the same 5Ghz band not available for some Toshiba TV as claimed. what kind of fraud is this ? or am I missing something.
Even after pathetic service experience I though of trying it second time with upgraded model but seriously something like this is not Ok.
So after all this though of sharing this info and some screenshots of the TV and AIDA64.

Official Website Product link 43PM

 

[Synth-Pop]

Some offtopic banter -
I believe the recent slew of smart android TV offerings is a perfect example of planned obsolescence by manufacturers.
The SoC/Mainboard of the TV is going to be a bottleneck going forward in the future.
I hope we find ways to re-use good panels as standalone TV/display if the motherboard craps out in the near future.
P.S. there are some display drivers I stumbled across when Aliexpress was an option, don't know how it has fared out in the last year.

I believe all these recent models from Chinese brand TVs are powered by underpowered CPU and GPU. A kind of OK panel packed with absolutely garbage hardware.
why these companies are faking specs ?. I mean when they can't provide dual band wifi then why mentioned in specs, similar issue was escalated by someone on amazon for Toshiba.
they even boasts their mediocre hardware specs like such n such ram cpu gpu blah blah but actually it's garbage. I got one LG TV they never disclosed detailed specs, so no clue about the CPU or GPU but plays 4k smoothly with some real good bitrates.

 

[kiran6680]

Yes, if the Android board goes bad, then the TV will become unusable as well. There should be an option to not boot into Android directly so that we can bypass and run an external smart device instead in such a case. People who are using a Fire Stick or another Android Box with your Smart TV, do you get the option to boot directly to the external device.
I tried hard to find a non-smart TV but couldn't and had to buy a smart one. Thankfully, it has good enough SoC for my usage so didn't have to spend further on an external device.

I was in the same boat around 4 years ago : all the respected brands were mainly selling "smart" TVs, and I wanted a dumb TV. So had to go with VU, though it is working great so far.

A TV should easily last decades. Android-ness of the TV will definitely not last so long because Ram usage, CPU requirement of newer apps will increase and make our TV unsupported. Smartness should always be in a small, cheap device e g. Fire stick. But manufacturers are successfully duping people into buying "smart" TVs.

 

[imran_chennai]

I believe all these recent models from Chinese brand TVs are powered by underpowered CPU and GPU. A kind of OK panel packed with absolutely garbage hardware.
why these companies are faking specs ?. I mean when they can't provide dual band wifi then why mentioned in specs, similar issue was escalated by someone on amazon for Toshiba.
they even boasts their mediocre hardware specs like such n such ram cpu gpu blah blah but actually it's garbage. I got one LG TV they never disclosed detailed specs, so no clue about the CPU or GPU but plays 4k smoothly with some real good bitrates.

I faced a similar problem when narrowing down the TV purchase during the BBD sale. Most of these discrepancies are from TVs that are assembled in India and sold under a "licened" brand.
There is no continuity between engineering and marketing because these 2 sections don't exist. These "brands" operate online only and most probably the product meta-data is sourced by the e-comm platform to be listed on their website. The emphasis would be given to just raw specifications to help sell better.
Link - https://www.mobilityindia.com/kodak...rt-tv-manufacturing-and-supply-significantly/

I would still not categorize VU with these brands, but lately, there has been a lot of fragmentation of product/product lines across customer electronics.
What you have faced might be a case of an India-specific SKU variant that was stripped off all the QoL improvements to keep costs down. But they might have retained the marketing/branding material of the original parent SKU intended to be sold in some other markets. You could also try reaching out to the corporate contacts of VU India / VU US to understand the reason behind the failure to deliver the advertised specs. They will surely come up with some BS to justify it.

Established companies such as LG, Samsung rarely let this happen as -
1) They have a comparatively robust QC process that also focuses on usability rather than just checking if the parts just work
2) Also they will rarely risk their brand value over misguided marketing material. They had faced a huge backlash when they tried some "creative marketing" in the smartphone market a couple of years ago.

 

[Synth-Pop]

So finally, last Friday engineer arrived with a replacement. I was expecting a new upgraded model but NO it was the same model 43-OA.
Not a retail unit, It came in a new brown colored box and I asked if this is a new TV ?. Technician said we don't know sir, what we've got from company it's the same.
TV isn't new in anyway I've noticed some mildly faded color of plastic on rear end and a few scuffs on the frame. I can confirm it's a refurbished item but now it's working atleast.

Another service request registered today, this is 3rd request now.
it's like 15days now since this replacement unit was received. Now this Tv is turning off itself, happening like 3-4 times per day with daily usage is like 7-9 hrs.
I am not gonna buy VU again.
I wish all the best for those who 're using VU, guys consider yourself lucky if yours is working fine.

 

[i_rock098]

I faced a similar problem when narrowing down the TV purchase during the BBD sale. Most of these discrepancies are from TVs that are assembled in India and sold under a "licened" brand.
There is no continuity between engineering and marketing because these 2 sections don't exist. These "brands" operate online only and most probably the product meta-data is sourced by the e-comm platform to be listed on their website. The emphasis would be given to just raw specifications to help sell better.
Link - https://www.mobilityindia.com/kodak...rt-tv-manufacturing-and-supply-significantly/

I would still not categorize VU with these brands, but lately, there has been a lot of fragmentation of product/product lines across customer electronics.
What you have faced might be a case of an India-specific SKU variant that was stripped off all the QoL improvements to keep costs down. But they might have retained the marketing/branding material of the original parent SKU intended to be sold in some other markets. You could also try reaching out to the corporate contacts of VU India / VU US to understand the reason behind the failure to deliver the advertised specs. They will surely come up with some BS to justify it.

Established companies such as LG, Samsung rarely let this happen as -
1) They have a comparatively robust QC process that also focuses on usability rather than just checking if the parts just work
2) Also they will rarely risk their brand value over misguided marketing material. They had faced a huge backlash when they tried some "creative marketing" in the smartphone market a couple of years ago.

Because most of those manufacturers don't make their own TVs. Almost all of them are rebranding TCL or Hisense TV with their own sticker to sell it. They have no clue about the internals they sell based on whatever TCL & Hisense tell them.

 

[vriship]

I have 2 VU TVs at home both 4k models mentioned below in mine & my Parent's Bedroom-
1. VU 4K 43" Cinema Android TV(one with 40W soundbar like inbuilt speakers at the bottom)
2. VU 4K 43" ULTRA / Premium Android TV

Both have served us well only two issues to call out-
1. The smart remotes (one with google assistant feature integrated) of both of them conked off once & the remotes were replaced in warranty once. One of them has a non working microphone again.
2. Bluetooth connectivity is sketchy sometimes when connected to my Nothing ear 1 or Oppo ENCO X earbuds. I guess it has to do with poor or cheap bluetooth controllers they use. I dont have these issues with same earbuds on my Oneplus Q1 TV.

All said, I think they are doing well for the price i paid for them- about 25k each when they were purchased 2 years ago.