PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra Review – Delightfully Priced and Beautifully Vibrant 4K UHD TV Tested

While it is a generally understood principle that good things don’t come cheap when it comes to tech and TVs especially, the PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra QLED 4K UHD smart TV is a surprising outlier to the trend as it comes at a price point that belies its capabilities. We managed to get a sample for testing and after putting it through its paces, here’s our PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra review where we share if it’s truly value for money.

PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra review – Build and Design

Launched earlier this year, the PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra has a surprising origin, hailing from over the Causeway from Singaporean outfit PRISMPlus who’ve been steadily spreading their wings in Malaysia and in regions beyond. 

Instead of cutting corners with a cheaper LCD display, our PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra review sample implements a newer and more premium 55-inch Quantum Light Emitting Diode (QLED) 4K UHD panel which offers enhanced brightness, deeper blacks and richer colours too. 

The panel is also certified to not only support HDR10 but HDR10+ support and Dolby Vision support to cover the vast majority of high definition streaming content. On the audio front, it also features Dolby Atmos and DTS TruSurround for richer, more immersive audio from its two 10W stereo speakers.

In terms of design, our PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra review unit has a clean minimalist look with slim bezels all across its sides with its main identifying feature being the PRISMPlus logo at the base that’s flanked by a series of sensors, a mic for voice-actuated commands using Google Assistant, a physical power button as well as a mute switch for the aforementioned mic.

Also bundled with the TV is a remote control and a display stand. The provided remote is typical of many other Android TV designs with direct shortcuts to all the popular video streaming services including Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video all at the bottom and requires a pair of AA batteries to run.

In keeping with many other TVs, the majority of ports are emplaced at the back with a raised housing in the rear centre portion hosting a trio of HDMI 2.0 ports, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, an Optical Audio out, an RF In and HDMI Arc support which covers almost every eventuality including the option to plug in a soundbar and gaming console too. 

While plunking all the ports on the rear is generally a clean and neat solution, it also makes accessing the ports a chore as you have to reach around and behind the TV if you need to plug things in or out. The TV also features Bluetooth 5.1 support as well as WiFi connectivity. That quibble aside, the Q55 Ultra is an otherwise stylish design that will blend in well with all but the most outlandish decor. 

PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra review – Setup and Performance

Getting our PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra review unit out of its cardboard shipping container is more of a two-man job due to the size of the panel itself and it comes with its own display stand for easy deployment on a mantelpiece though it does have a VESA mount in the back to support wall-mounting options which we did to maximise floor space.

After getting it set up and signing in to our Google account, we gave it a quick test to ensure that it was in working order and there were no dead pixels on the huge QLED display. Under the hood, the PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra runs Android TV OS 11 and can acquire a smattering of apps on the Google Play store suitable for Android smart TVs.

Fortunately, the TV supports all the major streaming services including Disney+, Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, iQiyi, Viu and even Spotify too if you fancy music now and again. The PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra also has built-in Chromecast support so you can cast content to it from a browser or a movie from your laptop or phone. 

When displaying 4K reference footage, our PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra review sample did not disappoint with beautifully deep blacks and lusciously rich colours on account of its QLED panel with default settings for most content though for mainstream dramas on iQiyi, a tweak to Vivid settings was preferred for a bit more saturation and visual zing especially in period dramas. 

Where it knocks things out of the ballpark is that it supports the majority of HDR formats including HDR10+ and Dolby Vision which pack additional metadata down to a per-frame basis in order to optimise brightness, colour and sharpness.

This shows itself in visually dark shows like the Mandalorian where indoors and underground scenes which are typically an unidentifiable swath of black in lesser quality displays but which were beautifully displayed with nuances and gradations of black and grey with fine details such as the scuffs and nicks on Din Djarin’s body armour. 

Cinephiles who appreciate a more authentic experience will love the new Filmmaker mode that ensures heavy post processing from the TV is omitted and a movie is displayed as close to what a director’s vision has intended for best effect though this doesn’t work with Dolby Vision HDR content so you’ll need to pick one or the other. Tom Hanks’s naval masterpiece Greyhound and its mostly dark grey tones in the Atlantic looked better with Dolby Vision so it’s more of a personal aesthetic choice which settings to pick.

While the panel maxes out at a 60Hz refresh rate, console and PC gaming proved to be a pleasant affair with Cyberpunk 2077 on both platforms running smoothly with minimal ghosting even at 4K resolution.

The provided stereo speakers do a decent job for a 2.0 setup are loud enough to fill a living room with sound such that it can be cranked up to near maximum without distortion. There’s some modest left and right sound staging though bass is understandably underwhelming on account of the lack of a subwoofer.

Unfortunately the PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra lacks any upscaling for 1080P or lower resolution content to 4K which means you’ll need sufficiently high quality footage to fully maximise its potential though Full HD movies still look fantastic onscreen. 

Should you buy the PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra TV?

The PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra TV makes for one of the best Android TVs in its price category with excellent connectivity, a quality QLED display that also supports the latest HDR content standards including HDR10+ and Dolby Vision and all at a fantastic price point that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. If you’re looking for an affordable yet high-performing smart TV, this comes as an easy recommendation.

PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra TV Specifications

Price RM2,299 (55-inch)
Display 55-inch QLED TV, 3,840 x 2,160 pixels w/ Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, Dolby Atmos, DTS TruSurround, 60Hz refresh rate
OS Google TV 11
Speakers 2 x 10W
Connectivity 2.4GHz/5GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
Inputs HDMI 2.0 x 3, HDMI Arc, USB 2.0 x 2, Optical Audio out, RF In, Ethernet LAN x 1
Size 1,226 x 720 x 92mm (without stand) / 11.8kg (without stand)

PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra Review sample courtesy of PRISMPlus Malaysia. For more details and to purchase please visit the official PRISMPlus Q55 Ultra page at https://prismplus.my/collections/tvs/products/prism-q55-ultra