Sceptre X405BV-FSR: At First Glance
Just like smartphones, having a TV has become essential for more comfort. In fact, we often go for the biggest and functional TV models just like we do when buying smartphones.
This often – if not always – translates into more expenses. If you can’t spend close to or over $500, you’ll barely be able to get a large TV with a solid display performance.
Quite contrary to that, this Sceptre X405BV-FSR TV is one of those rare large screen, LED HDTVs you can get for less than $500. To be precise, this TV had a price tag of $209.90 – as of October 2021 when this article was written.
The Sceptre X405BV-FSR checks the box for affordability, large size, and solid display type, but does it deliver a solid performance? Let’s proceed to find out.
Sceptre X405BV-FSR: Design, Dimension & Weight
As you would expect of an affordable HDTV, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR looks very simple and plain. It doesn’t look like the manufacturers made any effort to make this TV’s design one of their selling points.
Even its bezels look a bit chunky going by today’s standards. To be more precise, the bezels on the Sceptre X405BV-FSR are 0.75-inch wide.
Like most parts of the Sceptre X405BV-FSR’s body, its bezels are also built with plastic. Hence, they feel a bit weak when you press on them.
However, unlike its other body parts, Sceptre added a bit of texture to the matte black finish on the X405BV-FSR’s bezels. This design pattern gives the plastic bezels a slightly convincing appearance of brushed metal.
If you look at the TV from afar, you could be convinced the bezels are not made of plastic like the other parts of the TV’s body. Similarly, you could think the same of the rectangular slab that helps the Sceptre X405BV-FSR stand firmly on a tabletop.
More precisely, the textured plastic design didn’t only feature on the TV’s bezels, it also extended to the rectangular slab I mentioned earlier.
This slab is a swivel base. It allows the Sceptre X405-FSR’s display to pivot from left to right in a swift-free flow motion.
This feature can be useful if you don’t place the TV’s tabletop very close to a wall or you don’t have the TV itself mounted on a wall. Just to mention, you can mount this TV on a wall using a 200 x 200-millimeter VESA mount.
If I were you, I wouldn’t bother mounting this TV on a wall because of how thick it looks. It won’t sleekly lie on the wall due to its big size.
Back to the TV’s display bezels, there’s a couple of design features that are worth mentioning. The bottom bezel, to be precise, accommodates a silver Sceptre logo as well as a small light indicator.
This light indicator glows blue when the TVs display comes on.
Behind the right bezel, you’ll find a row of silver-colored plastic buttons. These buttons include Power, Volume, Channel, source, and menu controls.
With a dimension of 910.8 x 87.1 x 521.9 mm, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR isn’t particularly sleek. If you want a sleek and thin HDTV, you may have to look elsewhere.
The VIZIO V405-G9, for instance, is a slimmer option. This 40-inch VIZIO TV measures 902.0 x 64.8 x 521 mm.
However, the VIZIO is slightly heavier than the Sceptre X405BV-FSR. While the Sceptre X405BV-FSR weighs 6518.1 g, the VIZIO V405-G9 weighs 6800 g.
Overall, I understand the fact that the Sceptre X405BV-FSR’s affordable price tag has a lot to do with many of its averagely satisfying design features. However, there are some things that can barely be overlooked.
Things like its chunky display bezels and its thick build that doesn’t make it look good when mounted on a wall. Regardless of how inexpensive it is, I believe the bezels and the TV’s form could have been made thinner.
Likewise, the overall build of the TV could have been less bulky. For these reasons, the Sceptre X405-FSR scores a seven in this design review.
Sceptre X405BV-FSR: Display Features
It matters if a TV’s design looks good, but what matters more is how well it displays pictures. In fact, a beautiful TVs design won’t matter anymore if the pictures it produces don’t hold up well.
In this case, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR’s LED display performs fairly well. It produces images on a good high contrast panel that makes contents appear glaringly.
To give more detail, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR has an impressive contrast ratio of 100000:1. In case you are wondering, the contrast ratio of a TV’s display is the ratio of the brightest image on a display’s screen to the darkest image available on that same display.
Thanks to its good contrast ratio, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR offers a good display view. Its 16:9 aspect ratio, anti-glare panel, and 178-degree viewing angle are some other contributing factors to the good view the display offers.
The anti-glare panel on the display helps to prevent excess light reflection on the TV’s screen. With this feature, you can conveniently view contents on the X405BV-FSR even if the environment is brightly lit.
Also, the 178-degree viewing angle feature makes it possible for you to view the display from nearly flat angles. You don’t have to always be directly seated in front of the TV to enjoy a good viewing experience.
Even from the sides, you can view contents comfortably without the colors looking washed out.
To be sure of how well this TV display performs, I gathered records of its performance in various tests.
With regular TV broadcast shows, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR’s display could handle the slight variations of flesh tones and patches of darkness without shredding the highlights or generating severe messiness.
To avoid the irregularities with regular TV broadcast shows, I also considered how well it performed while showing the Blu-ray version of Fast & Furious 8. This test concentrated more on the fast-moving cars rather than flesh tones.
To my surprise, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR had no issues keeping up with the fast action. Thanks to its relatively fast response time of 9.5 milliseconds, the X405BV-FSR was able to smoothly render the speedy traveling images on its panel without suffering from excessive blurs.
For a better understanding of what display response time is, it is the amount of time it takes a display pixel to change from one color to another. The faster a pixel is able to change color, the better.
Moving on to a less action-packed test, I retrieved records of how the TV fared when it showed Avengers: Infinity War. Based on the records, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR could handle the intense motion contained in the scenes without any issue.
On a brightness test, this TV’s 40-inch screen offered a peak brightness of 226.8 nits even though the advertised peak brightness is 250 nits. Regardless, the 226.8 nits of brightness is satisfactory considering the TV’s range.
Besides, the TV’s screen is bright enough to display rich and deep colors.
If you use this TV to play console games, you will clearly notice the way the contents on the display pop out vividly. This was a bit surprising because of its 60 Hz refresh rate.
Though I would have expected the X405BV-FSR to be capable of reproducing gaming graphics quite well, I just didn’t expect it to handle it so well. This TV’s good picture production quality makes gaming enjoyable.
However, don’t expect the Sceptre X405BV-FSR to be capable of replacing high-quality gaming monitors that can offer better screen resolution. After all, Sceptre X405BV-FSR cannot offer beyond a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 FHD.
If you want to enjoy your gaming sessions to the maximum, I will advise you to get a TV with a 4K resolution display.
Above all, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR offers a decent display performance. The quality of the picture it produces is rich and detailed.
For this reason, it scores an eight in this display review section.
Sceptre X405BV-FSR: Sound Features
For sound output, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR comes with a pair of 10W speakers for stereo sound and a S/PDIF optical connection for digital surround sound.
Performance-wise, the TV’s stereo speakers are impressive. For its range, the quality of the sound it produces is not bad at all.
Another thing that was worth noting was the way its chassis didn’t seem disturbed when the speakers were blasting at full volume. There was no significant rattle on the body of the TV while its pair of 10-watt speakers were working at full max.
However, these speakers start to sound stressed when the volume begins to exceed 70%. Also, the bass quality of this TV’s sound system is sub-par.
Regardless, the quality of the sound it produces is great provided you don’t play your contents at full volume. The Sceptre X405BV-FSR allows you to enjoy clear and crisp sounds even if you are viewing rowdy scenes in movies.
Battle scenes, crash scenes, and every other noisy scene sound nicely balanced on the TV’s sound system.
Aside from sound quality, the sound settings on this TV provide some unexpected functionality. The X405BV-FSR comes with an equalization (EQ) feature that’s commonly left out in even more expensive models.
This feature allows you to attempt recreating accurate audio by adjusting different frequencies so that the signals can all come out at the same loudness level.
You can also use the simulated surround feature. This feature enables the TV’s sound system to mimic the effect of a multi-speaker surround-sound system when it features just a dual sound system.
Another sound feature that can be adjusted on this TV is the concentration of the sound production on spoken content over music. You can also increase/decrease the level of the TV’s bass response.
Overall, the sound system and features on this TV are nice and excellent. Hence, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR scores an eight in this sound features review.
Sceptre X405BV-FSR: Ports & Connectivity Features
The connection ports on the Spectre X405BV-FSR are neatly arranged on its back panel.
On this back panel, you’ll find 3 HDMI ports, a coax connection for antenna or cable, a shared composite, and component video input. The Spectre X405BV also features a VGA connection and a 3.5mm audio input for connecting to external audio devices.
Unfortunately, this TV doesn’t come with an ethernet port or Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the X405BV-FSR doesn’t come equipped with a wireless LAN too.
On another note, this TV comes equipped with a remote as you would expect. The X405BV-FSR’s 8.4-inch long remote looks just as simple as the TV itself.
This remote is simply a flat black plastic control with befitting curves around its underside.
The buttons of the remote have a soft rubberized feel that is awesome to touch. It’s quite unfortunate that this remote’s buttons aren’t backlit – it would have perfected its overall aesthetics and user experience.
In terms of user experience, this remote control includes the regular channel and volume controls. It also includes a number pad with which you can enter individual channel numbers.
As usual, there’s also a four-button navigation pad on the remote.
Considering the fact that the Spectre X405BV-FSR doesn’t feature many smart functionalities, there’s really no need for anything extra on the remote and there isn’t. It doesn’t have smart features like voice control.
This remote just does the job of a regular remote perfectly. Hence, the Spectre X405BV-FSR scores a seven in this ports and connectivity feature review.
Sceptre X405BV-FSR: Smart Features
The Spectre X405BV-FSR doesn’t have much to offer in the “smart” department. There’s not much to be called smart about the TV.
The Sceptre X405BV-FSR comes with an MHL-compliant HDMI input connector which allows you to connect devices such as the Roku “Smart TV” box to view streaming TV.
This feature also allows you to connect to MHL-compliant cellphones which you then use to view videos from the Internet or photos from your phone.
So, Sceptre X405BV-FSR does not offer any smart features and is not a smart TV. Firstly, it does not have the ability to connect to the internet.
In the last section, you would have noted that this TV does not have a wired or wireless connection. Secondly, the TV does not have any smart TV Operating System installed.
As a result, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR scores a five in this smart features review.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are wondering how to fix this issue, you can click the link below to find a way to fix the problem.
X405BV-FSR 40″ LED TV.
Yes, it does. Sceptre X405BV-FSR is Wall-mountable as long as the specs of the mounting device have the same Mount Pattern: 200mm x 200mm
Firstly, there are three HDMI ports. The first one is an MHL (Mobil High-Definition) port.
It is a standard port for connecting certain smartphones and tablets to your television. There’s also one (1) component/composite input, one (1) VGA monitor input with a 3.5mm headphone input jack for audio.
In addition, there’s one (1) USB input, one coaxial antenna input, and one (1) SPDIF audio output to connect to more modern stereo systems.
The Sceptre X405BV-FSR offers a horizontal and vertical viewing angle of 178 degrees
Yes, it does. The Spectre X405BV-FSR features 3 HDMI ports.
Conclusion
If your budget is very strict and you’re looking for a non-smart TV with a large screen, the Sceptre X515BV-FSR is an excellent choice. However, anyone familiar with bargain products certainly knows that budget products do come at some other cost – be it in build or performance.
In this case, you will have to settle for very few smart features, thick bezels, and a limiting sound system.
Moreover, budget HDTVs don’t promise much, and when you go down to deep-budget levels, you have to alter your expectations accordingly. If you can spend more than $400 on an HDTV like the TCL 48FS4690 with a 48-inch screen, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR is far from the best option.
Regardless, the Sceptre X405BV-FSR is a solid 40-inch TV that offers a lot of value for its price tag.
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