Amazon Fire TV 4-Series (2024)

Introduction

Everyone is looking for a bargain, especially with TVs, and Amazon is the current king of bargains. So it makes sense that when shopping for a new TV, you look for what Amazon has to offer.

The online shopping giant has given its TV line-up a refresh with an ‘all-new’ Fire TV 4-Series that replaces the previous model we reviewed and awarded four-stars to.

The changes include a slimmer design and a brighter picture, but is it all that much better than before?

Design

• Tidy look
• Feet for stands
• Disappointing viewing angles

Assembling the Fire TV 4-Series couldn’t be easier or quicker. Screw the feet in and it’s ready to be powered on in about 90 seconds.

The overall build quality is solid. The bezel that surrounds the TV is slimmer than the older model but there’s not much else that’s different aside from a flash of silver on the bottom bezel. It’s a neat and tidy effort.

The viewing angles disappoint though. It doesn’t take much shifting from a heads-on position for the colours to fade. Considering that the screen I have in for review is the biggest in the 4-Series range, you’ll have to be huddled in close for the best picture quality.

Connectivity

• HDMI eARC
• Wireless connectivity

There’s not much change from the previous model as the Fire TV 4-Series still flouts an Ethernet, three HDMI 2.0 ports, a HDMI 2.1 eARC port for connecting a soundbar (like the Fire TV Soundbar Plus), a sole USB input (down from two) and a digital optical out.

That’ll do for most people, though gamers after a TV with VRR support should give the (more expensive) Fire TV Omni Mini LED TV a closer look.

There’s Wi-Fi for casting and there’s Bluetooth for streaming to the TV, though there’s no mention of it on the Amazon product page as far as I can see.

User Experience

• Fire TV OS
• Amazon-centric focus
• Built-in Alexa

I could rinse and repeat what I’ve written before about the Fire TV interface, as while it offers plenty of entertainment options and built-in Alexa voice control, it is singular in its approach to all things Amazon.

It takes a while to find something not from an Amazon service, and a slightly annoying feature of the Fire TV interface is the carousel at the top not only auto-play video but drops down to swallow up most of the screen too. It always feels as if Amazon is slightly worried you’re not engaging and then tries to force the issue.

There are rows upon rows upon rows, though scrolling through them doesn’t feel as long as before. I think Amazon ought to consider quality over quantity as the choice provided is overwhelming.

What Amazon wants you to do is to use Alexa to find things. As always she’s helpful and relatively speedy to fetch your requests, open an app, or switch between HDMI inputs.

There’s no hands-free Alexa control for the 4-Series TV, though – everything is done through the responsive and easy-to-use remote. I do wish it had ‘Settings’ and ‘Inputs’ buttons. To me, it’s more convenient than remembering to hold the ‘Home’ button down.

You can upgrade to the Alexa Voice Control Remote Pro, but that’s optional and costs more.

There are ads but you can’t turn them off. Aside from the carousel I don’t find them too intrusive, and Amazon argues they offer more curated programming choices; though unsurprisingly most of it seems to be Amazon-related.

Features

• HDR support
• 16W audio system
• 60Hz refresh rates

As far as HDR support goes the Amazon Fire TV 4-Series comes with HDR10 and HLG but not advanced formats such as HDR10+ or Dolby Vision.

It’s a 60Hz, direct-lit LCD TV with no local dimming zones. You won’t get as precise black levels or as high a level of brightness as, say, a Mini LED TV.

On the sound front, it’s a 16W speaker system with support for Dolby Digital Plus audio. With that eARC port you can add a soundbar and hear Dolby Atmos sound.

Alexa smart home support means you can add smart cameras, control any compatible smart lights, check your thermostat and more from the comfort of your sofa. There’s also support for the Fire TV app but that’s more or less a control app in case the physical remote is lost.

There is support for games through the Amazon Luna streaming service, and they can be streamed from the app store but any gamer looking for more advanced features should look elsewhere. I measured input lag at 10.1ms, which is very fast so at least for gamers with a PS5 or Xbox Series X console connected to the Fire TV 4-Series, you’ll get speedy performance.

Picture Quality

• Colourful picture
• Some DSE issues
• Generally good levels of detail and sharpness

The short version of Amazon Fire TV 4-Series’ picture quality is that it’s good enough, but doesn’t live up to Amazon’s claims of vibrant colours and vivid picture quality.

It’s just not bright enough to pump out a “vivid picture quality”. In its Standard picture mode, the Fire TV 4-Series registers 429 nits of brightness. That’s bright enough to get close to HDR but you’d want a TV that hits over 500 nits. Any time the TV has to deal with a bright object, it starts to clip (lose detail).

That said, it’s not a complete wash with HDR films. A 4K Blu-ray of La La Land looks very good on this TV with clean white tones and expressive reds, blues, and purples.

Into the Spider-Verse is another film where the colour palette stands out compared to a Sharp QLED TV sitting next to it, with a more varied and wider range of colours the Amazon is capable of, making the Sharp look a little dull.

The TV finds itself stuck in something of a No Man’s Land. It’s more colourful than less expensive TVs, but not as expressive as more expensive models, especially with colour gradation (the range of tones it can show). This TV is close to achieving HDR but not quite there.

It’s generally good in terms of sharpness and detail for a 55-inch screen but lacks proper contrast and brightness which can make images look a little flat at times. Black levels lack depth and can veer towards more grey but I found with Into the Spider-Verse that black levels can hold up quite well without crushing (losing) detail in dark scenes.

The TV does have motion processing but you’d be better served with action smoothing off. The performance is decent but there is some noise and judder, along with a couple of moments of slowdown. Turn it off and the TV looks more natural, less artificial.

There are other settings that don’t help the Fire TV 4-Series cause, such as the Dynamic Backlight which tries to boost contrast but removes detail in the darkest parts of the image. There is also some DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) with some noticeable horizontal lines across the screen, and some backlight bleeding (a blu-ish light) towards the edges of the screen.

Upscaling

• Noisy and blurry with motion

With a Blu-ray of Tron Legacy, Blade Runner 2049 and DVDs of Drive and Spider-Man 3, the one constant is some slight noise that I didn’t see on any other TVs I was testing at the same time.

Changing the settings didn’t have an effect, and the TV is not as colourful in its SDR picture modes. Skin tones can look less natural, detail and sharpness levels seem to drop with a slightly fuzzy look in places along with some blurriness as people walk across the screen. It’s as if the colours look a little drained.

The scene where K travels across the city in his spinner looks murky and blurry, and the TV suffers more when dealing with dark scenes. Even streaming Veronica Mars TV series from Prime Video there’s a little bit of visible blurriness and noise, although streaming content does look sharper, more detailed, clearer with more expressive colours. It’s almost as if this TV was made for streaming…

It’s watchable but for the price, I expected more.

Sound Quality

• Not the loudest
• Weak bass

Audio is an arena where the Amazon Fire TV 4-Series sounds restrained.

Whatever I listen to through the TV’s 16W speakers sounds hemmed into the middle of the screen. It rarely expands beyond the four borders of the TV, and even with the volume turned up to 70, the Fire TV 4-Series sounds shallow, lacking heft and weight.

Blade Runner 2049 is a pretty loud film but doesn’t sound loud at all on this TV. There’s some punch to the bass but the problem is that there’s not much bass to begin with. As K and Sapper duke it out in the farm, their punches register as dull thuds – it’s not the excitement the scene warrants.

The TV handles dialogue fine but you’d want a soundbar to go with this TV. Amazon’s Fire TV Soundbar Plus is a pretty good option for the money.

Should you buy it?