The Polaroid’s built-in speakers are a touch crude, particularly at high volumes, but the sound is impressively clear and direct, with a decent weight to the lower midrange.
A more premium TV will produce more punch, and also balance sharpness and smoothness more effectively, but this is still a natural performance with control and clarity.Ī little surprising is the Polaroid’s input lag of just over 28ms when Game mode is selected, which is low enough to be practically imperceptible to all but the most hardcore of players. Switch to standard-def via the built-in tuner and, as long as you’ve dialled the settings down a little, the performance is perfectly acceptable. There’s still a relative lack of black depth and richness to colours, but it feels as if you’re seeing the film more or less as the Coen’s intended. There’s plenty of sharpness, lots of detail, and the film grain is neither exaggerated nor downplayed.
The Polaroid is actually better suited to SDR content, perhaps because it sits more comfortably within the set’s technical limitations. Playing Fargo on Blu-ray we’re impressed by the balanced, natural delivery. But, while the backlight is a bit grey, it is at least consistent and free of blotchiness. In other words, contrast is limited and colours are a little less rich than they might be. The backlight is limited, too, both in terms of not allowing much in the way of black depth and in the lack of local dimming.
The broad strokes are handled well, but it can make skin tones, in particular, look a touch unsubtle in their shading. There are limits, of course, with the Polaroid lacking the tonal nuance of more sophisticated sets. (Image credit: Future / American Gods, Amazon Prime)