Skyworth TV Review: OLED Excellence and A Few Caveats

By TV-Review-Land.com July 10, 2023No Comments

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We start this Skyworth TV review with an introduction to the brand. Skyworth is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) with several production facilities in China and Inner Mongolia. The company fabricates many of the components that go into its products. In addition to manufacturing, Skyworth handles much of its own marketing, logistics, and product development.

Skyworth’s R&D operations give us impressive products like 8K screens that bend and cutting-edge sound equipment. Some of Skyworth’s innovations result from partnerships with outside companies like LG. This brings us to the Skyworth XC9300 TV, which comes with an OLED panel from LG.

Skyworth TV review: Introducing the XC9300 OLED display

Skyworth is still learning the US market, so their product lines tend to have few models. Take the XC9300 series from Skyworth’s 2021 lineup as an example. The XC93 comes in two sizes, limiting shoppers to choose between the 55-inch and 65-inch models.

This review looks at the 65-inch model, but the 55-inch alternative should have identical specifications and performance.

Skyworth XC9300 OLED TV review: First looks, build and design

Dark, barely-there bezels and metal-colored edges frame the XC9300 screen. This edgy aesthetic gets an extra boost from the metallic pedestal that supports the panel. You’ll find that the pedestal’s size and backward tilt provide a solid, stable base for the TV, but there’s a catch.

There are less than two inches between the bottom of the TV and the surface it sits on. This means that the average soundbar will block the bottom of the XC9300 screen. If this drawback is a deal breaker, you could always try a wall-mount setup.

OLED panels like the Skyworth XC9300 have a slim side profile that lets them hug the wall like a painting. This Skyworth OLED panel also has a sleek, lightweight build that makes for an easy wall-mount installation. You’ll find an adequate selection of input/output ports on the back panel, but the ports are less accessible in a wall-mount setup.

[Read what others are saying about this television]

Connectivity

Three HDMI 2.0 ports allow you to connect most media players, audio equipment, gaming consoles, and computers. One of the HDMI ports also has ARC capability that lets you channel audio through the TV and onward to your audio equipment. The HDMI ports support Dolby audio formats, including Dolby Atmos.

In addition to the HDMI ports, the XC9300 comes with the following ports:

Digital optical output
Two USB ports
A 3.5mm composite port
Cable/antenna connector

A wireless adapter provides dual-band WiFi that allows you to connect the TV to your router and other devices in the home network.

Smart TV interface: Android 10

Android 10 comes with a large catalog of streaming apps and plenty of productivity tools. You can also use the platform to turn the Skyworth TV into a controller for compatible smart home devices. The interface offers the following additional features:

Hands-free voice commands with Google Assistant or Alexa
Screen sharing via Google Chromecast
A dashboard that displays your gaming devices and gameplay settings in one place

Like most smart TV platforms, Android has ads that will take up screen space from time to time. You’ll also have to be proactive about preventing bloatware from affecting the OS.

Skyworth TV review: Hardware and performance

The XC9300 is a 120Hz OLED panel with 4K resolution and a peak brightness level of 500 nits. OLED TVs tend to be dimmer than comparable LCD panels, so a 500cd/m² panel points to a decent OLED display. Each pixel in this Skyworth TV can go completely dark to deliver rich, dark hues. The resulting native contrast is impressive, and there’s nothing stopping the Skyworth XC9300 from executing fine detail, depth, and shadow contouring.

Here is what else 120Hz Skyworth 4K TV has to offer when we put it through its paces:

Color reproduction

The Skyworth XC9300 has a wide color gamut, with excellent coverage of most color space standards. This translates to a color palette with enough material to recreate the exact colors that the cinematographer captured. Now we find out how well the XC9300 makes use of its native capabilities.

Color reproduction is pretty accurate right out of the box, and the only issue is a little coolness in the color temperature. This means that some TVs may display images with a tinge of green or blue. The good news is that a little adjustment to the color settings will remove the blue-green tint to reveal perfect color accuracy.

Contrast and HDR content

A panel’s native capabilities only showcase themselves with the help of a capable processor. In the case of the CX9300, the panel’s quad-core processor manages to execute decent contrast and convincing HDR highlights. 3D artifacts look good and fine detail stands out in brighter scenes.

Viewing angles

OLED widescreens transform every seat in the house into the best seat in the house. Colors, contrast, and brightness remain unchanged, even at an angle. The view at 178 degrees looks a lot like the view from the center of the screen. This makes the Skyworth XC9300 a good fit for the person who likes to host viewing parties for sports and movies.

Motion handling and gaming features

Expect smooth motion with minimal blurring from this 120Hz Skyworth panel. Low input lag delivers a responsive user interface and enjoyable gameplay. Lastly, the TV leverages VRR to prevent screen tearing for game titles with frame rates that are lower than 60fps.

Despite being a 120Hz panel, the XC9300 lacks support for 120fps game titles; which is unfortunate.

Pros

Wide color gamut
Good color accuracy
Wide viewing angles
Hands-free voice commands and support for Chromecast
Android delivers a large selection of apps through the Google PlayStore
The Android 10 interface has a simple, intuitive layout

Cons

Despite having a 120Hz panel, the Skyworth CS9300 lacks HDMI 2.1 ports to support 4K/120 content
Lack of support for Apple Airplay
Intrusive ads from the Android OS
Far-field microphones in the TV may be a deal-breaker for users who are strict on privacy

Skyworth TV review verdict: An affordable OLED TV with plenty to offer

Smooth motion handling delivers breathtaking visuals with sports, video games, and other types of fast-action content. Better still, the display offers gaming features like automatic low-latency mode and VRR. The only oddity with this Skyworth OLED TV is a lack of HDMI support for 4K/120 content. This omission leaves the TV to punch below its weight class; especially when you connect the latest gaming consoles. However, we have to remember that the CX9300 is a 2021 release that came out at a time when HDMI 2.1 ports were less common. Most avid gamers may be unable to look past this drawback.

The CX9300 OLED TV from Skyworth delivers good picture quality and useful features. This display is the perfect host for movie night, thanks to its wide viewing angles. Pure blacks and decent contrast also make this 4K TV a great fit for dark-room viewing. Click here to learn more about this television.

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