Xiaomi S Pro 2026 vs Blaupunkt UGC5500S

When it comes to HDR quality, the Xiaomi S Pro 2026 is undoubtedly a really bright TV. On our synthetic measurement charts, we were able to generate a peak brightness of around 1400 nits. This is not only a very good result but even spectacular, considering the price of this model. However, as we always repeat, for our editorial team, measurements and experiences from the content we watch every day—movies and series—are more important. So let's analyze how Xiaomi handles film material. Unfortunately, the result is somewhat mixed. When very bright scenes appear on the screen, the S Pro 2026 truly shows its full potential and can achieve real brightness of 800-1000 nits on bright elements. Moreover, even smaller objects can "burn" the eyes— in scenes from the movie Sicario 2, small metallic elements of the helicopter were really bright. The problem is this—and here the story comes full circle back to our assessment of contrast—that in such scenes, we cannot count on absolutely cinematic black. In our opinion, this compromise is too significant; high visibility of details in bright areas should not come at the expense of such a substantial boost in black levels. And even though the HDR effect itself can be striking here, it is important to remember that when very difficult, mixed scenes appear on the screen, we may feel a slight disappointment. Exactly the one we mentioned in the previous paragraph regarding dimming issues in HDR mode. On a positive note, it is worth adding that the S Pro 2026 is equipped with an additional PFS filter (which works similarly to a QLED layer), effectively broadening the color palette coverage. As a result, measurements showed a DCI-P3 color gamut coverage of up to 94%. This gives us the confidence that in most colorful scenes, the image will look rich and appropriately saturated.

Here, we won't beat around the bush either – if you're looking for a TV strictly for cinematic HDR experiences, you've come to the wrong address. The Blaupunkt UGC5500S unfortunately is not a machine designed 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 film screens speaks for itself. It's simply too little to even talk about any real HDR effect. To be honest, everything displayed here in this format can best be considered a slightly "boosted" SDR mode. We expected this because practically every device in this price range fails in this regard, but we feel obligated to warn you. Manufacturers love to boast about HDR compatibility stickers on the boxes, but in reality, this format simply doesn't exist here – it lacks the "fuel" of brightness.

The situation is made all the more difficult for Blaupunkt because we have a panel with a very basic DCI-P3 color gamut coverage of just around 80%. You won't find any advanced coatings that enhance these capabilities (like quantum dots), making scenes that are supposed to burst with richly saturated colors appear simply desaturated on this screen. Therefore, we have a concrete piece of advice for you: do not push the HDR mode on this model. If you have the option in the streaming app settings – just turn it off. Sticking with the classic SDR mode will ensure that the TV won't try to "enhance" something that it can't handle hardware-wise.

Of course, we conducted all our measurements in "Film" mode, which is usually the best and most accurate choice you get straight out of the box. And we have to say it bluntly: even though this is the best mode, it is still very far from ideal. First of all, the television has a clear tendency to give the image a cool, bluish tint – this is due to a poorly set white balance. Additionally, there is a problem with how the S Pro 2026 manages its brightness right after being taken out of the box, which results in an overly bright image. These two flaws contribute to really huge colorimetric errors (Delta E). In HDR content, they were able to exceed our expected error scale of "10" (meaning values close to 20). For reference – the threshold of perceivable error by the human eye is a Delta E value of around 3. Results at the level of 20 mean that the image significantly deviates from what the director intended.

We also took a close look at how Blaupunkt handles colors in movie mode, and here the situation is, to put it briefly, twofold. We must clearly separate what we see in the standard SDR format from what happens when HDR is turned on, as these are two completely different worlds. Let’s start with the better side of the coin. If you plan to watch classic television, YouTube, or older movies on this TV, you can count on really well-tuned colors. In our test sample, the white balance in movie mode was exceptionally accurate, which honestly surprised us. Of course, to not make it too rosy, we noticed some flaws. Looking at the gamma charts, we observed that the processor struggles with properly dimming the image in its brightest parts. Additionally, there is quite strong, at times too aggressive, red saturation, which resulted in noticeable errors in reproducing certain shades. Nevertheless, in general terms, 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 form. The excess blue in the white balance is so overwhelming that it literally clashes with the eyes, ruining any realism of the scene. Furthermore, the TV interprets brightness very loosely, which, when analyzing the EOTF curve, clearly showed that for most of the time the colors appear simply washed out and lacking depth. This is, by the way, perfectly visible in the color errors that become evident 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 feels forced and not properly refined.

So how does the S Pro 2026 perform after our calibration treatment? We must admit that after calibration, the television becomes a really pleasant device for watching everyday content. As you can see in the graphs, we managed to bring both white balance and gamma values to nearly perfection in HD (SDR) material. Most importantly, the colorimetric errors have become practically invisible to the human eye. In this scenario, the S Pro 2026 is simply a great television that, after professional calibration, can provide a lot of enjoyment while watching. However, it is worth noting clearly – our efforts helped little in 4K HDR mode. Despite calibration, the television still interprets the image rather strongly "in its own way," which is clearly seen in the measurement of the EOTF curve (luminance tracking). It's a bit of a shame, because this shows that the problem lies not in the panel itself, but in the software. Underdeveloped image management algorithms in HDR content can, unfortunately, disqualify this television for many more discerning users.

It may sound like a joke – pulling out professional measurement equipment for a television costing around a thousand zlotys / 250 dollars – but we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't check it out. The question is: does such cheap equipment give us any room for calibration? To your surprise, the answer is yes, and absolutely so. In the Blaupunkt UGC5500S menu, we found surprisingly many options that allowed us to really work on the picture. These are not just empty sliders; they are concrete tools that enabled us to make use of our measurement sensors and software. In SDR mode, the effects were noticeable to the naked eye. We successfully eliminated the issue we mentioned earlier – that excessive, almost artificial saturation of reds. We also fixed the problem of incorrect dimming of the brightest parts of the image. After calibration, the standard format picture became much more balanced and simply correct. As for HDR, the situation was again more complicated. Although we managed to "tame" that aggressive blue tint in the white balance, it was evident that we were fighting a bit in vain. Even after changing the settings, the television still tried to intervene in the image in its own way, as if the electronics knew better than we did how the scene should look. Additionally, there's a hardware barrier that no slider can overcome – colors in HDR still remain unsaturated. This simply results from the quality of the panel itself; it physically cannot produce the most vibrant colors. To summarize this point: if any of you ask whether it’s possible to calibrate a television for "a thousand," we respond with full conviction: it is possible.

Let's start with the issue we addressed in the previous paragraph: can a TV even fix the problem of poor tonal transitions in dark scenes? Theoretically, yes – in the menu, we find a feature with the promising name "Color Contour Removal." Well, "theoretically." Unfortunately, in practice, this setting – regardless of which of the three power levels is selected – yielded absolutely no real results. So we have a feature that, in practice, only exists in the menu. Moving on to the quality of upscaling (scaling the image from a lower resolution to 4K), unfortunately, we have more bad news for you. The S Pro 2026 handles this task very poorly. Interestingly, the phenomenon of "overscan" (slight image cropping) is not a big issue here. The problem is that the TV simply displays a very raw, unprocessed image. Its attempt to upscale the signal to a higher resolution looks simply poor and lacks any "smart" enhancement. There is no denying it – the whole digital image processing is the true Achilles' heel of this model.

If you expect that the processor in this model will magically "fix" the poor quality signal from cable TV or old films from YouTube, we must disappoint you. The capabilities of this television end with 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 talk of any intelligent sharpening or adding details. Worse still, Blaupunkt is completely devoid of any functions that reduce unwanted tonal transitions. If the material being viewed has so-called banding (ugly "steps" instead of a smooth transition of colors, e.g., in the sky), this television will display them in all their glory. Additionally, the television tends to slightly crop the edges of the image. Instead of displaying 100% of what the source sends, Blaupunkt slightly enlarges the frame, causing us to lose details located 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.

On paper, the specification of the S Pro 2026 looks impressive. The television is equipped with a native 144 Hz panel, capable of displaying images up to 288 Hz in a dedicated gaming mode. These are amazing results, but what interested us the most, in the context of everyday use, was how the television handles motion blur and how the image looks at 120 Hz. After all, this is the frequency used today by consoles like PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and it is desired by sports fans. Generally speaking, the panel "holds up." The matrix is fast enough to meet these challenges, and objects displayed at native 120Hz fluidity are shown correctly. As for the software, the television is equipped with a motion smoothing system, but with a key caveat – it only works for input signals up to 60 Hz. This means it is mainly suitable for classic television, movies, and series. Thanks to this, we can adjust the fluidity of the image to our own preferences – from a very smooth, "theatrical" approach to setting the slider to "zero" and maintaining a fully cinematic character.

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 during fast action scenes or while watching a game. However, the biggest drawback of this model is that you won't find any digital smoothers in the menu. The manufacturer did not give us any room to maneuver – there's no way to smooth anything out or adjust the image to our preferences. The image is always "raw" and we receive it exactly as the source transmits it. For fans of cinematic "motion jump," this might be fine, but everyone else just has to get used to the absence of any motion support.

For gamers, the Xiaomi S Pro 2026 is, on paper, an almost ideal proposition. It is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing us to unlock (although these options are somewhat hidden in the menu) the full suite of features: ALLM, VRR, and, crucially, the ability to work in 4K at 144 Hz. This last feature should particularly please owners of powerful PCs. The TV also has something akin to a gaming panel – and while it’s hard to call it a full-fledged "Game Bar," it does its job by displaying key information. It’s just a shame that in its default form, it covers a relatively large part of the screen.

However, our biggest issue with this model concerns how the S Pro 2026 handles gaming in HDR mode. To put it bluntly: it doesn’t handle it well. Due to the poorly implemented HGiG function (the HDR tone mapping standard for games), during the initial HDR calibration on the console, it’s very easy to "blow out" the image. If someone is unaware of this software flaw and follows the on-screen instructions, they will simply set the image incorrectly, with burnt-out details in bright areas. Another major problem is the Dolby Vision mode for gaming. While it does work, it generates such a high input lag that it becomes noticeable in dynamic titles. (All our latency measurements can be checked in the paragraph below). In summary: generally, it’s a really good screen for gamers, but with one small caveat. We would rather avoid HDR mode on it – unless we decide to manually adjust the brightness bar on the console "by eye," completely ignoring the instructions from the console's pictogram.

When it comes to gaming on the Blaupunkt, we didn’t expect miracles and indeed – the list of features is not very long. However, there are two interesting points worth mentioning, as they may be significant for some of you at this price. The first advantage is that the TV quite efficiently detects the connected console. Thanks to the ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature, the device automatically knows when you start gaming and switches to low latency mode. This is convenient because you don’t have to fiddle with the settings every time to prevent input lag from ruining the fun. The second point is a real curiosity that surprised us. Even though it’s a 60 Hz panel, the Blaupunkt can display images at 120 Hz at Full HD resolution. Sure, we lose 4K details then, but for those playing more dynamic, online shooters where fluidity is more important than resolution, it’s a really nice and unexpected addition in such an inexpensive piece of equipment. Besides these two points, however, you won’t find anything else here. There are no advanced systems for improving fluidity for gamers or extensive gaming menu bars. It’s a simple screen for occasional gaming.