Blaupunkt UGC5500S vs IFFALCON U85X

We won’t beat around the bush here – if you’re looking for a TV strictly for cinematic HDR experiences, then you’ve come to the wrong place. Unfortunately, the Blaupunkt UGC5500S is not a machine built for such challenges. This is primarily due to its very low brightness, which we measured during our tests. A result of around 250 nits on movie screens speaks for itself. It’s simply too little to even consider any real HDR effect. To be honest, everything displayed in this format can confidently be seen as a somewhat “enhanced” SDR mode. We expected this, as practically every device in this price range falls short in this area, but we feel it’s our duty to warn you. Manufacturers love to brag about HDR compatibility on the boxes, but in reality, this format simply doesn’t exist here – it lacks the “fuel” in the form of brightness.

The situation is further complicated for Blaupunkt, as we’re dealing with a panel that has very basic coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, reaching only about 80%. You won’t find any advanced coatings to expand these capabilities (like quantum dots), which means scenes that are supposed to burst with richly saturated colours appear simply underwhelming on this screen. Therefore, we have a particular piece of advice for you: don’t force HDR mode on this model. If you have the option in the streaming app settings – just turn it off. By sticking to the classic SDR mode, you’ll be sure that the TV won’t try to “enhance” something that it can’t handle hardware-wise.

iFFALCON U85 handles HDR in a rather dual manner – on one hand, it can surprise with a solid peak brightness of around 650 nits, which places it significantly above average in this price segment. This is particularly evident in bright, full-screen scenes. Examples from movies like Life of Pi or the final test sequences from The Meg prove that the television can maintain the power and essence of the HDR effect when the entire panel needs to “ignite,” providing truly satisfying experiences. However, problems arise in high-contrast scenes, where smaller, bright details appear on the screen; the dimming algorithms prioritise black depth so much that they can crush the brightness of small bright points down to just 100 nits, drastically lowering the image dynamics and depriving us of the real “bite” we expect from HDR standards. However, the question of colours remains a sweetener, as thanks to the use of the PFS phosphor filter (marketed as QLED by the manufacturer), they look very good, achieving nearly 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, which allows for a rich and vivid image in most content.

We also took a close look at how Blaupunkt handles colours in movie mode, and here the matter is, to put it simply, twofold. We must once again clearly separate what we see in the standard SDR format from what happens when HDR is switched on, as they are two completely different worlds. Let's start with the better side of the coin. If you're planning to watch traditional TV, YouTube, or older films on this television, you can count on really well-tuned colours. In our test sample, the white balance in movie mode performed exceptionally well, which honestly surprised us. Of course, to avoid being too rosy, we noticed some drawbacks. Looking at the gamma charts, we observed that the processor struggles with properly dimming the image in its brightest areas. Additionally, there is quite a strong, at times overly aggressive, red saturation, which resulted in visible errors in reproducing certain shades. Despite this, overall, the image in SDR is simply solid and watchable without a grimace on your face. Unfortunately, the magic fades when we re-enter the world of HDR. Here, Blaupunkt behaves as if we suddenly switched it to store mode, and in its worst rendition. The excess blue in the white balance is so significant that it’s glaring, ruining any realism in the scene. Furthermore, the television interprets brightness very loosely, which, upon analysing the EOTF curve, clearly showed that for most of the time, colours simply appear washed out and lacking depth. This is also perfectly evident in the colour errors that become apparent in this mode. Once again, we are left with the same conclusion: Blaupunkt in SDR mode looks significantly better and more natural than in HDR, which seems to be forcefully added without proper refinement.

We tested the factory colours in the iFFALCON U85X model in “Film” mode, which is definitely the most accurate among all available settings, although it is still far from perfect. The main issue that catches the eye in both SDR and HDR content is the improper white balance – an excess of blue and red contributes to a slight purple tint in the image, detracting from the naturalness of the film scenes. An even greater challenge is how the television manages its brightness. Analysing the gamma chart for SDR signal, we noticed significant instability: instead of adhering to the standard value of 2.4, the device oscillates around 2.2, then suddenly makes an unnatural jump to around 3.0. In practice, this leads to confusing effects – large, bright surfaces on the screen appear too dark, while smaller elements are unnecessarily brightened. A similar characteristic can be found in the EOTF curve, which makes the image unpredictable and loses its cinematic authenticity.

It may sound like a joke – pulling out professional measuring equipment for a TV that costs around a thousand złoty / 250 dollars, but we wouldn’t be ourselves if we didn’t check it. The question is: does such cheap gear give us any leeway in terms of calibration? To your surprise, the answer is: yes, absolutely. In the Blaupunkt UGC5500S menu, we found surprisingly many options that allowed us to effectively work on the picture. These aren't just empty sliders; these are concrete tools that enabled us to make use of our measurement sensors and software. In SDR mode, the effects were visible to the naked eye. We successfully eliminated the problem we mentioned earlier – that excessive, almost artificial saturation of reds. We also fixed the issue with the incorrect dimming of the brightest parts of the image. After calibration, the picture in standard format became significantly more balanced and simply correct. When it comes to HDR, the situation was more complicated again. While we managed to “tame” that aggressive blue tint in the white balance, it was clear that we were fighting a bit of a losing battle. Even after changing the settings, the TV still tried to interfere with the picture in its own way, as if the electronics knew better than we did how the scene should look. To top it off, there's the hardware barrier that no slider can overcome – colours in HDR still remain undersaturated. This simply results from the quality of the panel itself; it physically cannot produce the most vivid colours. To summarise this point: if any of you ask whether it’s possible to calibrate a TV for “a grand”, we respond with complete conviction: it is possible.

After professional calibration of the movie mode, we must admit that the effect is more than satisfactory – the iFFALCON U85X undergoes a true transformation here. Colour errors in SDR content have dropped to a level below 2, making them practically undetectable to the human eye. We managed to set the white balance almost perfectly, and brightness management (gamma) has become almost exemplary. As a result, with standard quality materials, the television simply looks perfect and it's hard to fault it.

In the case of HDR signal, the situation has also improved significantly, although here the nature of the device is a bit more noticeable. Colour errors have been reduced to around 3, which is an outstanding result in this price range. It's worth taking a look at the EOTF chart (available on the right side of the screen in filters: 4K HDR, gamma / EOTF) to see what is not immediately apparent regarding brightness management by the U85. Though the reference line looks decent, in actual film scenes the television still interprets the signal “in its own way” due to very aggressive local dimming zone algorithms. Does that disqualify this model for watching HDR content? Absolutely not. It’s simply a typical issue with nearly every Mini-LED that has to balance high brightness with the attempt to maintain deep blacks. One just needs to be aware of these technical limitations, which are unavoidable in this segment.

If you're hoping that the processor in this model will magically "fix" the poor quality signal from your cable TV or old movies from YouTube, we must disappoint you. The capabilities of this television end at absolutely basic upscaling, which is simply stretching the image to a higher resolution. It does this correctly in that the image is not blurry, but there is no mention of any intelligent sharpening or adding details. Worse still, Blaupunkt is completely devoid of any functions to reduce unwanted tonal transitions. If the material being viewed shows what is known as banding (ugly "steps" instead of a smooth transition of colours, e.g., in the sky), this television will display them in all their glory. Additionally, the television has a tendency to slightly crop the edges of the image. Instead of displaying 100% of what the source sends, Blaupunkt slightly zooms in on the frame, causing us to lose details that are at the very edges of the screen. In summary: in the category of digital "enhancement" of the image, Blaupunkt simply performs poorly. We receive a raw, unprocessed signal, with all its flaws.

When it comes to scaling images to 4K resolution, the iFFALCON U85X performs solidly. The device effectively boosts low-quality signals, making even older materials look clean and clear on the 4K panel. At extremely low resolutions, such as 480p, you can notice slightly jagged edges (especially on thin lines), but let’s be honest – this is a scenario you'll only encounter while watching very old recordings, so in everyday use, it’s not a real issue.

On the other hand, the digital processing aimed at smoothing tonal transitions performs significantly worse. Although the menu features a function called “Gradual Smoothing”, its effectiveness is at least debatable. In practice, it does not effectively eliminate banding (colour stepping) and, worse yet, can cause more harm than good. This filter can be too aggressive where it shouldn’t be, artificially smoothing out details that shouldn’t be touched, such as the natural texture of the face or the fine details of skin texture. Instead of improving quality, this function can give the image an unnatural, “plastic” look, so it’s best to use it with caution or, preferably: leave it turned off.

When it comes to motion fluidity, Blaupunkt has nothing to defend itself with. A 60 Hz panel at this price is standard, so none of us expected a perfectly sharp image in fast action scenes or during a match. However, the biggest drawback of this model is that you won’t find any digital motion smoothers in the menu. The manufacturer hasn’t given us any room for manoeuvre – nothing can be smoothed out or the image adjusted to our personal preferences. The picture is always "raw" and we receive it exactly as it is transmitted by the source. For fans of cinematic "jumping" images, this might be good, but the rest simply has to get used to the lack of any motion enhancement.

Unlike budget constructions that can resemble a slideshow in dynamic sports scenes, the iFFALCON U85X is a heavyweight player equipped with a panel featuring a native refresh rate of 144Hz. It's worth remembering that in the realm of movies, series, or sports, we'll predominantly operate at 120Hz due to the specifics of image enhancement systems. Such a fast panel is excellent news for gamers and sports fans, as it opens the door to advanced motion settings that simply aren't available in cheaper 60Hz models.

Everything is managed from the menu “Motion Clarity”, where instead of using ready-made, often overly aggressive modes, we strongly recommend a custom configuration based on two sliders. The most important of these, Flicker Reduction, is responsible for fluidity in films – here, it's best to aim for a value around 4, which helps maintain the natural, cinematic character of motion without falling into the artificial “soap opera effect.” Meanwhile, the first slider, Motion Blur Reduction, is key to success in sports broadcasts. In this case, it's worth going all out and setting it to maximum, ensuring that the image remains sharp during fast-paced action on the field, while annoying ghosting is eliminated.

When it comes to gaming on the Blaupunkt, we weren’t expecting miracles and indeed – the list of features isn’t very long. However, there are two interesting points worth mentioning, as they might be significant for some of you at this price. The first advantage is that the TV quite smoothly detects the connected console. Thanks to the ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature, the device knows when you start gaming and automatically switches to low latency mode. This is convenient because you don’t have to fiddle with settings every time to ensure input lag doesn’t spoil the fun. The second point is a real curiosity that surprised us. Despite it being a 60 Hz panel, the Blaupunkt can display a 120 Hz image at Full HD resolution. Sure, we lose 4K details, but for those playing more dynamic, online shooters where smoothness is more important than resolution, this is a really nice and unexpected addition in such an affordable device. Other than these two points, you won’t find anything more here. There are no advanced smoothness enhancement systems for gamers or extensive gaming menu bars. It’s a simple screen for occasional gaming.

iFFALCON U85X is an outstanding piece of gear for gamers that has pretty much everything you could ask for from a modern screen for console or PC. It features two full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with a full bandwidth of 48 Gbps, which opens the door to key technologies such as VRR and ALLM, ensuring smooth gameplay without screen tearing and with minimal lag. The TV effortlessly handles high refresh rates at various resolutions, and a real curiosity is the mode that allows for up to 240Hz when dropping down to Full HD quality. Everything is managed by the Game Bar (which is a faithful copy from TCL), allowing for instant switching of picture modes, personalization of the interface appearance, or even adding a virtual crosshair in the middle of the screen.