Acer 'Limitless' 4K TV review — as good as it gets

I am a tech nerd first and a reporter second. As the former, I have three major passions in life — televisions, gaming, and smartphones.

Now, it can be argued that the first two go hand in hand, though there are some that swear by using gaming consoles with dedicated gaming monitors. But for me, size does matter and the sheer immersion that a large-screen TV offers in gaming in hard to replicate on a smaller screen.

And for this reason, I'm always window-shopping for large-screen televisions and consider myself well-informed in that department. So, when Acer reached out to me to review their latest offering, a 50-inch Ultra HD television, I was more than happy to oblige.

The Acer 'Limitless' H series 50-inch UHD TV, on the face of it, is nearly indistinguishable from its similarly-sized peers and that's a good thing. For most folks, 50 inches is plenty of television screen real estate and unless you're a connoisseur or a brand snob — which most people aren't — it is more than good enough for your daily television needs.

Don't get me wrong — the Acer TV isn't perfect. It's missing one of two key features you would expect 2022 televisions to have. But it's not alone in this. Every television in this price range — around Rs 30,000 — is missing these features, which I'll come to in a minute, but that's just the price you pay, quite literally, for an affordable 4K, big-screen TV.

The user interface should be instantly familiar to anyone who's used a smart TV — out of the box, the television is powered by Android 11.

The Acer 50UHD boasts of a peak brightness of 420 nits, which is pretty good even for a well-lit screen — trust me, you don't want your television so bright that it burns your retinas off — and comes with HDR10+ compatibility, Dolby Vision, MEMC, Blue Light Reduction, 4K upscaling. These are truly quality-of-life features that one can visually appreciate in a television, with the rest being numbers that are not going to matter that much in real-world usage.

HDR means high-dynamic range. It basically means in theory that the TV displays an accurate range of visuals even in poorly lit scenes. The Acer UHD works as well as any other TV in this price range.

That said, the Acer aces the rest of the visual features. The MEMC reduces tearing — the screen not being able to keep up with fast-moving visuals, which results in a tearing effect — the blue light reduction, which, while not physically measurable, could play off in the long run; and 4K upscaling ensures even HD-quality visuals are pleasingly sharp and non-pixellated.

The TV comes with three HDMI 2.1 ports — the current industry standard. HDMI 2.1 offers for higher data transfer compared to 2.0, allowing better fidelity and visuals. 

The sound quality is another standout feature. Usually in TVs this thin, the first thing to be sacrificed is sound quality as it is physically impossible to fit speakers that produce deep, rich sounds into a thin frame.

TVs have corrected this over the last couple of years and the ACER 50UHD takes full advantage of that. Equipped with 60-watt HiFI PRO speakers with Dolby Atmos, I have never once during my week of testing felt like I was missing out on sound. They are pleasantly bassy, punchy, and offer rich sound while watching a movie, show or playing a video game.

The Acer 50UHD, for around Rs 30,000, is as good as it gets. You'll be hard-pressed to get a better piece of kit for this price, though nearly all TVs in this price bracket offer a similar experience.

In short, if you buy the TV, you will not likely regret it. It's hard to go wrong with this one.