The five new TVs in the Fire TV Omni Series are Amazon’s first TVs made in-house. Sure, they all offer 4K resolution with HDR support, but the focus here is on the convenience of built-in Fire OS over enhanced picture quality. The Omni TV series is deeply integrated with Alexa for simpler and faster searching and is priced similarly to Best TV selection, TCL 6-Series.
After a few weeks with 65-inch Fire TV Omni TV Series, we tailored the Fire OS interface, asked Alexa to upload our favorite content, and spent countless hours programming to see how it stacked up.
A big sturdy TV on Alexa smart device
The Fire TV Omni doesn’t have the top picture or best interface we’ve ever tested. This is a first-generation product with great Alexa integration, concise voice control, and a host of smart features. However, for some people, the picture quality may leave you wanting a little more.
Who, what and how?
Who is this for: The Fire TV Omni is a TV for Alexa-obsessed Amazon users who value functionality over picture quality.
What you need to know: The Fire TV Omni series impresses with a smooth Fire OS experience for easy content access combined with concise Alexa voice control. But it’s also future-proofed with the promise of updates and AirPlay 2 support soon. But since Amazon opted for the standard LED panel, you won’t get an all-star picture with exceptional vibrancy. or rich contrast.
How does this compare: For the price, Amazon is focusing on value and convenience with Fire TV Omni series, however, it falls short of similarly priced TVs, with just average picture quality and no local dimming. This definitely means contrast and brightness suffer. Those who want to focus on image quality will be better served by TCL 6-Series, but the Fire TV Omni really won us over with its Alexa integration for ease of control and its sleek design.
Thinner bezel, aluminum bezel and Alexa microphone switch
Fire TVs made by Insignia or Toshiba have never been particularly good-looking – with many boasting sizable bezels and sturdy backs. However, considering the affordable price and built-in smart features, that’s never been too much of a problem.
The Fire TV Omni ups the ante, especially on the larger 65-inch and 75-inch models. Here you’ll find thinner bezels that closely resemble the TCL’s 5– and 6-Series, but not as sleek as Sony’s luxurious A90J. Amazon has chosen to sport silver aluminum bezels over those same larger sizes, allowing you to focus on the screen over the design elements. When it comes to branding – at least in terms of physical design – there’s only a single Fire TV logo in the center of the bottom bezel.
You can wall mount Fire TV Omni – VESA compatible – or use the two built-in feet to prop it up on any flat surface. The pins are quite similar to those of a TCL 5- or 6-Series and will require a screwdriver. It’s not as plug-and-play as some of Sony’s newer sets, allowing you to just use it, but you get what you pay for.
Centered at the bottom of the TV is a rectangular box that serves as the status light and contains a switch that lets you effectively disable the built-in microphone. This not only supports hands-free voice control, but also effectively allows the TV to double Alexa-enabled speaker. The light will glow blue on the box when Alexa is listening, and when you flip the switch to mute the microphone, it will glow red.
The similarities with other Amazon products sum up much of the appeal of this new Omni Series – because it’s all about convenience for Amazon customers. If you’re a fan of Alexa, Prime Video, or Fire OS, you’ll be right in the house. In fact, when you buy a Fire TV Omni from Amazon.com, it’s linked to your account, which makes setup super simple. Just connect to Wi-Fi, log into your Amazon.com account, and you’re good to go. In some cases it will even remember your most used apps, but remembering your passwords won’t go far, which we think would be a killer feature.
The Omni has four HDMI ports (one of which is eARC), a USB-A port, an Ethernet jack, an optical output, and a dedicated port for the infrared extender. This comes in handy if you want to decide where to place the remote, similar to the one used with other Amazon Fire TV products.
Here, you will get a slightly ergonomic back and lots of buttons. It works well for controlling the Fire TV Omni Series, but it’s not the best remote we’ve tested – that’s an honor. Apple’s second generation Siri remote control.
Here’s the TLDR on the Fire TV Omni Series: The 65-inch model’s picture quality is far superior, but it won’t rival or surpass our top pick for a TV, TCL 6-Series. Vibrancy and contrast come together here to create a beautiful all-round picture and for most people that should be fine.
But it’s worth noting that Amazon’s focus isn’t on picture quality. In fact, in our side-by-side testing, the Fire TV Omni matched the TCL 5-Series best. Obviously, the smart ecosystem and integration with other digital services have been given more attention.
One thing the Fire TV Omni lacks is local dimming, which is key to producing better images, better details in low-light scenes, brighter highlights without distortion, and good HDR. than. It offers better overall picture quality than our budget pick, the Vizio V-Series, but our top pick, the TCL 6-Series, features a tiny LED for more precise control and higher quality images.
Check out some recent episodes of “Hawkeye” on Disney+ – the night scenes bring life and feel to New York City holidays but lack the detail around brighter lights in contrast to the scene almost blurred. Vibrant colors don’t pop out as much, and more overall details are also lost in darker environments. The LED panel here, with its backlight, falls short of what we’d expect a TV at this price point to be able to reproduce. Unless you’re significantly off-axis, viewing angles are similar to the TCL 5-Series – an overall enjoyable experience.
Image settings here are minimal, so anyone who likes customization may be left feeling frustrated. The 65-inch and 75-inch models are Dolby Vision-enabled, for a more immersive experience, but it’s not as noticeable as on higher-end or even 6-Series TVs.
In the smart TV world, finding content is simple, meaning you won’t need to buy a third-party streaming stick or an external box to plug it in. Fire TV Omni runs Fire OS with access to hundreds upon hundreds of streaming services, including HBO Max, Disney+, Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu. And with easy access to Alexa, you won’t have to fumble with the remote. It’s a cohesive, well-thought-out experience that reflects what we’ve seen from Fire TV Stick 4K Max. The difference is that it’s built into the TV itself.
As expected with Fire OS, it’s a heavy and rather congested visual experience, rotating content and combining rows across rows of recommended apps and services, or even a movie or show. Recommended TV show. The most disappointing part of the layout is the advertising banner that blankets the interface, which could include the new Official Video Show or whatever is being offered by Amazon on a separate service. Underneath all these are the three main menus, including Home, Find and Live, and alongside that you’ll find your most used apps.
Instead of struggling with menus with your remote, you can use your voice. Just say, “Alexa, open Netflix” or “Alexa, start ‘Borat 2’ on Amazon Prime Video.” Remember, Amazon has a lot of experience with voice dictation and feedback, which we think makes for a crowded user interface.
We prefer voice over physical controls, but if you don’t want to use the always-on microphone, you can turn it off and use Alexa manually via the physical controls (however, you also might want to consider another TV, considering it an Omni’s superpower). Amazon has also hinted at new apps and experiences in the future.
Eg, Launch is expected to arrive shortly and will allow you to plug in webcams to participate in video calls directly from the TV. Support for Apple HomeKit and AirPlay 2 for easy casting from Apple devices is also rolling out. We’ll update this when we get a chance to try it out.
The Fire TV Omni doesn’t have the top picture or best interface we’ve ever tested – we’d pick the Roku for that. This product is a first-generation, in-house Amazon product that has quite a few things going for it, such as interactive and handy control with Alexa through its always-on wake-up function and Fire OS operating system. core integration for easy-to-use streaming services. The design is beautiful, but the picture quality will leave enthusiasts wanting more and unmatched with our top pick, the TCL 6-Series.
General, Fire TV Omni is a good product, but our hope is that through software updates and eventually the next generation with higher quality hardware we will get a full upgrade. For now, if you’re heavily invested in the Amazon ecosystem and want it to be your primary TV experience, it deserves a look. If not, we recommend other options, such as a Roku TV from TCL.
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