I was a fan of the Amazon Fire TV Omni when it first launched. It brought all the features and advantages of the Fire TV OS to a TV tailor-made to get the most from the experience. While the TV delivered a solid experience, there were a few aspects that could have used some improvements. Thankfully, Amazon is back for 2022 with the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series, bringing improved contrast and colour that make it a much more attractive package overall.
Similar to last year’s display, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series has a subtle small bezel look that is common among high-end televisions nowadays. The screen is framed by a slim 0.25-inch gunmetal grey border at the sides and top, with a 0.75-inch brushed metal band on the bottom edge. The Alexa far-field microphones and mic mute switch are housed in the little area at the bottom centre of the TV, giving you all the features while never taking away from the clean look the Fire TV Omni QLED brings to the living room.
At a price of $874.97 for the 65-inch model, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series is perched on two V-shaped metal legs situated close to the edges. These legs are unobtrusive and keep the display stable while taking very little TV stand real estate. Additionally, it is compatible with standard VESA mounts.
Looking at the back of the display, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series features four HDMI 2.1 ports (one eARC), a USB port, an Ethernet port, an optical audio output, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a 3.5 mm port for the included infrared blaster and an antenna/cable connector on the right side, with the connection for the power cord residing on the left-hand side at the back.
“The design of the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series means Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant is baked into the overall experience.”
Since this is an Amazon Fire TV product, the remote accompanying the TV is very similar to past iterations and almost identical to the 2021 model of the Fire TV Omni. The remote is a sleek black design with an oval-shaped navigation pad at the top. Above it are the power button, Alexa button, and a small microphone opening. Below the nav pad are controls for menu and playback, with volume and channel switches further down.
As the name suggests, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series utilizes Amazon’s Fire TV smart TV platform, so if you have ever used a Fire Cube or Fire Stick, you will feel right at home with this interface. It offers access to most major streaming services aside from Amazon, such as Apple TV, Crunchyroll, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Sling, Twitch and YouTube. Additionally, users can listen to music via Amazon Music and other third-party services like SiriusXM and Spotify.
The design of the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series means Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant is baked into the overall experience. The integrated microphone array enables hands-free control, meaning you can simply say “Alexa” followed by a command, and the television will respond. Compared to other TVs that try to take advantage of voice controls, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED feels much more responsive, often working on a single attempt. This is not surprising, considering how mature Alexa has gotten over the years. These improvements bring more refined functionality to the entire Fire TV range, including the Fire TV Omni QLED.
Offering hands-free voice commands, Alexa can open apps and search for content on your TV along with useful info like weather forecasts and sports scores that appear on the screen. With Amazon’s Drop In, Skype, or Zoom, you can make audio and video calls provided you have a compatible webcam connected. Additionally, Alexa can be used to manage any connected smart home devices on your network.
“Considering the thickness, it is hard not to appreciate the decent sound quality of Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED TV, even with it featuring just two channels.”
The Amazon Fire TV platform offers a customizable ambient mode with useful widgets. You can customize the TV by selecting from various images, including curated art and your own personal photos, and displaying other widgets such as your calendar, home sticky notes, and details about what’s on live TV.
With the TV up and running, and after putting the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series through its paces, I can safely say there have been some notable improvements to the overall quality of the picture and the brightness of the overall display. The new full-array local dimming and quantum Dot technology deliver a much-improved contrast compared to the 2021 offering. Brightness still is a bit dimmer than I would personally like, but the improvements to the picture and colour more than make up for it, especially considering compatible TVs in the same price range.
Much like last year’s display, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series fails to impress with its brightness and feels far dimmer than other 4K HDR sets. In our testing, we found the TV only managed to deliver a peak brightness of 425 Nits with an HDR signal, with a maximum brightness of 430 nits. Compared to the 334 nits of the Fire TV Omni, this is a massive improvement, although Amazon still has room for improvement to deliver the best possible viewing experience.
Jumping into some 4K content, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series manages to deliver some eye-popping colours, especially when displaying well-crafted colour-corrected content like BBC’s Planet Earth or movies like the recent The Green Knight. Foliage looks vibrant, with the animals and imagery of many creatures of the earth coming to life in life-like detail.
On the other hand, The Green Knight felt justifiably captivating, with each major event and fantasy creature delivering all the fine detail needed to transport the viewer into the mystical world. From the many battles to the dark caves and hidden dungeons, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series delivered an experience that brought new life to already fantastic media.
Thanks to support for Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision IQ, and HDR10+, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED yields a striking contrast in movies and media that are optimized to take full advantage of the TV’s features. Jumping over to Prime Videos Lord of the Rings series, the display’s image quality, colour accuracy, and deep blacks were put on full display, offering a truly fantastic 4K HDR cinematic experience with a fantastic black level that shows how content can look on its QLED screen.
“I was a fan of last year’s offering, and with the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series improving on many of my issues with that TV it is hard not to see this as a major improvement.”
Considering the thickness, it is hard not to appreciate the decent sound quality of Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED TV, even with it featuring just two channels. The dialogue is clear, and you’ll even detect some bass, making it similar to an Amazon Echo when you’re listening to music. While this TV doesn’t support Dolby Atmos or virtual surround sound modes, you can take your experience to a new level by pairing the Fire TV Omni QLED with a good soundbar or Echo Studio speakers.
If things ended there, it would be hard not to recommend the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED for everyone looking for a new 4K HDR TV, but sadly, gaming is one area where the TV does fall a little short. Lacking AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync, and with a refresh rate of only 60Hz, if you are looking for the perfect companion for your new PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, you may find yourself disappointed.
Thankfully, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series does deliver solid response rates while in gaming mode, and the detail and clarity of the image make games look truly stunning on the TV. The lifelike picture quality brings a level of vibrancy to games that is hard to ignore. Combine that with the price, and if you are someone that can sacrifice framerate for picture quality, there is still plenty to love with the Fire TV Omni QLED.
I was a fan of last year’s offering, and with the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series improving on many of my issues with that TV it is hard not to see this as a major improvement. Featuring a higher contrast due to much better dark tones, improved colour and image quality, there is a lot to like about this year’s TV. Insite of the slightly dim picture, and non-gamer-friendly 60Hz refresh rate, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series brings enough features to make it well worth the investment for people looking for their next 4K HDR 65-inch smart TV, even if there is still room for some improvement.
