Initial impressions: The Xiaomi Mi TV P1 is a fantastically priced 4K in the Philippines that you should definitely consider buying if you’re shopping for a new TV.

Pros

• Very good display
• Lots of great features
• 4K capability
• Excellent pricing

Cons

• TV is mostly plastic
• PatchWall isn’t available in the Philippines yet

Aside from their new tablet, Xiaomi is also launching their Mi TV P1 in the Philippines today. Available in multiple sizes ranging from 32, 43, 50, and 55 inches, the brand’s new TV offering has plenty of features that should make any bargain hunter happy.

Design

Xiaomi has gone to great lengths to make the TV look as good as it can be, at least on the front. Considering the price of the TV, the bezels on the front are surprisingly small, which isn’t always the case with other TVs in its price range.

The top part of the TV is relatively thin, though things do become thicker the lower you go to make space for all the ports and connectors that the TV has. There’s a slight plastic protrusion on the bottom of the TV that houses the sensors as well as the microphone and physical controls for the TV as well.

The TV ships with two plastic stand, though I opted to use my existing VESA mount to hang the TV on my wall, with the TV using a 300 x 300 mount. Take note that you might have a bit of trouble connecting the ports at the back since it’ll be blocking them somewhat.

There’s plenty of connectivity options here: there are three HDMI ports with one sporting high-end surround sound (eARC), two USB 2.0 ports for connecting storage media, Composite In (AV) port, CI Slot, an Ethernet port, Optical Digital Audio Out, a 3.5mm headphone jack and connection for terrestrial TV. There’s also Bluetooth 5.0 on tap here, as well as wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi 2.4GHz/5GHz).

The remote control is quite small and runs on two AAA batteries. It’s easy to use and most buttons are self-explanatory, and unlike most remotes, it connects to the TV via Bluetooth and not IR.

Display and sound

The Mi TV P1 comes in several sizes, namely 32, 43, 50, and 55-inches. The 55-inch model has a 4K UHD resolution (3,840 x 2,160), and Xiaomi advertises the TV as having NTSC 88%, DCI-P3 94%, and BT709 99.5% color gamut. The TV’s maximum refresh rate is 60Hz.

The TV also has Dolby Vision certification as well as HDR10+ capability. It has its own decoder that supports AV1, H.265, H.264, H.263, VP8/VP9, MPEG1/2, MJPEG video formats as well.

From what we could ascertain it looks like the TV has a VA panel, and overall the TV has great contrast and good overall picture quality. One thing that we’re a little iffy on is the motion processing on the TV, which doesn’t feel as smooth as say, the motion processing done by a TV made by Samsung or Sony.

It’s not a major deal-breaker, and once you drop the setting to low the effect isn’t as jarring.

Probably the weakest point of any TV is its speakers. That’s true for the Mi TV P1. Keep it under half and you’ll be fine for the most part, but pumping the volume up will significantly distort whatever’s coming out from those speakers.

One nice thing about the TV is that it’s able to process both Dolby Audio and DTS-HD sound, so if you have an amplifier or a soundbar that supports either, you’ll get significantly better audio.

Processor and software

The TV uses MediaTek’s 9611 quad-core processor that has a Mali G52 MP2 GPU. There’s 2GB of RAM onboard, as well as 16GB of storage.

The Mi TV P1 runs Android TV 10, and as such is a fully fleshed-out smart TV. It has full Chromecast functionality, which allows you to push content from your Android phone (either Netflix, YouTube, Spotify or any compatible app) directly to your TV for easier viewing.

It also supports Google Voice, but thankfully there’s a switch that you’ll have to press to enable it on the TV for additional security.

Just like any Smart TV, you can download and install additional apps to use with it. Navigating through the UI is pretty easy and simple, though it might prove too plain for some people who are used to the UI of TVs made by Samsung, Sony and others.

The TV also has Xiaomi’s PatchWall UI, though unfortunately, it’s not available to use for customers in the Philippines as of yet.

Wrap-up and early verdict

The Mi TV P1 is a fantastic TV for anyone looking to get a massive TV without spending a ton of money on it. It has all the bells and whistles of a smart TV, and you’ll be paying less than Php 25K for it. What’s not to like here?

Xiaomi Mi TV P1 Price Philippines

The Mi TV P1 is priced at Php 10,990 for the 32-inch mode, Php 18,990 for the 43-inch model, Php 22,990 for the 50-inch model, and Php 24,990 for the 55-inch model.

Xiaomi will have an early bird promo for the Mi TV P1 from September 30 to October 1 where those buying the 32-inch and 43-inch models will get a Redmi soundbar and a promo price of Php 8,990 and Php 16,990 respectively.

Those getting the 50-inch and 55-inch models, on the other hand, will get a Mi Soundbar and a promo price of Php 20,990 and Php 22,990 respectively. All four models will be available exclusively on Xiaomi Authorized stores and Xiaomi’s official stores in Shopee and Lazada.