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You can switch that off and try the DTS processing instead, which we feel is an improvement. It means losing the width, but there’s a touch more clarity and precision about the audio as it offers up a better sense of detail. The UK31 was clearly clipping HDR10 content, whether it was graded at 1,000, 4,000 or 10,000 nits. However, watch exactly the same footage with Dolby Vision and the results are very different. The format’s dynamic metadata precisely maps the HDR to the display’s capabilities, producing images free of any clipping, with saturated but natural-looking colours. Dolby Vision optimises the HDR format to give quite simply the sharpest, most accurate images possible. Dolby Vision-equipped TVs decode both generic HDR content and content that's specifically been encoded in Dolby Vision - a leading format in Hollywood and cinemas. Dolby Vision also adjusts the picture to take full advantage of each display's characteristics and presents an optimized picture for each scene in specially mastered content. The 50UK3163DB’s HDR efforts aren’t the only way it makes an unexpected mark on the affordable TV world, either. Its native 4K pictures also look remarkably sharp and detailed. So much so, in fact, that they make the efforts of even some recent LCD TVs we’ve seen from the usually dependable Samsung look soft and undefined by comparison. (Though its upscaled HD pictures, by comparison, look a little soft and noisy.)
As for ports, you'll find three HDMI 2.0 ports that support 4K at 60Hz. One of these ports supports eARC for connecting a sound bar. You'll also find an Ethernet, a digital optical output and a USB port so you connect a multitude of devices. This is a cheap 4K TV, but one that does manage to upscale lower-res content admirably, while Toshiba's TRU Flow technology ensures smooth, judder-free images for fast-paced sports matches and the like. The Toshiba UK31 supports HDR10, HLG (hybrid log-gamma) and Dolby Vision, but as is usually the case with TVs at this price point, the peak luminance is fairly limited. The UK31 hits around 335cd/m² on both a 10% window and a full-field pattern, regardless of which mode you select, so you’re better off choosing the more accurate Cinema mode.Toshiba continues to support Dolby’s dynamic HDR format for improved picture quality (at least over HDR10) with apps such as Netflix and Disney+. The system is based around a launcher bar that appears along the bottom of the screen when the home key is pressed on the remote control. You can then use the up and down buttons to move through a series of options: Home, Search, TV, Settings, and Sources. Most of these are fairly self-explanatory, although TV and Home offer additional features.
This is a good TV from Toshiba and a big improvement on what we’ve seen from this former great in recent years. The sound performance is poor, but that’s not an insurmountable problem, given that we’d usually advise some form of external sound source anyway. It’s the upscaling that poses a few issues. The colour performance in SDR (standard definition range) displays natural colours, consistent with other Toshiba TVs I’ve tested, with a nice punch to colours in Pacific Rim on Blu-ray. However, edges are softly described, and every now and then there appears to be what looks like noise visible in the characters’ faces. Turning Noise Reduction on didn’t rectify this.And while Toshiba seems partial to the Alexa smart ecosystem (which to be honest is the biggest on this planet), it also has Google Assistant support on some of its TVs, so there’s choice in terms of which smart system you want to go for. Affordable double whammy of Dolby Vision and Atmos
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