Sceptre X505BV-FSR: At First Glance
In a world where we have smart 4K TVs, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR is definitely far from the ideal modern-day TV. With 1080p display resolution and a lack of smart functionality, there’s barely any interesting thing to discuss about this TV.
If I were to summarize what the Sceptre X505BV-FSR seems like in a less technical way, I would say it is a boring time traveler from the past. It is a perfect example of the only type of TV technology that was available a few years ago.
I’m not outrightly saying this TV is a bad TV, but it just seems so clear that despite its attractive price, it will offer limited features.
Despite the seeming doom and gloom I have painted so far about Sceptre X505, does it have anything to offer? Let’s find out.
Sceptre X505BV-FSR: Design, Dimension, and Weight
As you would expect from a TV of its price, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR is mostly built with plastic. Though this makes it feel very fragile, there’s also a good side to its plastic build.
With a weight of just 11149.3 g, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR is incredibly light. Moving it from one room to another won’t pose any serious challenge.
The only issue may be that you will need two sets of hands to move the TV. This is mainly because of its large footprint.
To give more detail, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR measures 1123.9 x 92.4 x 648.4 mm. Come to think of it; this TV is pretty thick compared to the slender premium TVs of today.
It’s not surprising, though, considering that this TV’s kind of thick profile is very common among TVs in its price range. Nonetheless, it could have been more appealing if Sceptre had at least gone with a slimmer design.
Still, I’m not hesitant to give them a little accolade for the functionality of the X505BV-FSR’s design. Even if it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing TV, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR’s design is functional for the most part.
Like most modern-day TVs, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR comes with a pair of black plastic legs that serves as a support for the TV while it sits. You can screw these legs under the bottom part of either end of the TV.
It may seem as though this TV’s boomerang-shaped legs are purely for aesthetic reasons, but their shape offers more than beauty. Their boomerang shapes enable them to offer good stability to the Sceptre X505BV-FSR while it sits on a tabletop or furniture set.
All you need to fully enjoy the stability they offer is that you ensure they are screwed in 44 inches apart under the TV.
However, if you want to ignore the idea of using a set of stands, you can also wall-mount the Sceptre X505BV-FSR. Sceptre allocates four VESA mount compatible holes on the back of this TV.
This will enable you to mount the TV on a wall with any 200 x 200mm VESA wall bracket.
Overall, this Sceptre X505BV-FSR TV barely has anything worth shouting over in terms of its design features. Nonetheless, it earns a score of seven in this section of the review for the functionality it offers with its design.
Sceptre X505BV-FSR: Display Features
The display performance the Sceptre X505BV-FSR offers is nearly a balanced mixture of both good and bad. For a TV of its price point, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR offers a picture performance that’s at least slightly better than average.
Still, I wouldn’t encourage you to get your hopes up too much. Aside from its 5000:1 contrast Ratio and 178-degree viewing angle, there’s barely any other thing to be excited about.
Besides, the TV’s 1080p resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate, and average display features should be enough to cut your expectations short. In use, every preconceived notion one has about this TV’s average display performance will all become an established fact.
I will give you a detailed report of this TV’s performance as I proceed with this display section of the review.
In all honesty, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR’s incredible contrast ratio will definitely swing into full action when you are viewing content. However, there are still some obvious issues that are worth mentioning.
Before I highlight these issues, let me explain what contrast ratio means in case you aren’t aware of what it means. Contrast ratio is the difference between the bright whites and the darkest blacks a TV’s display can offer.
Generally, contrast ratio is one of the most important aspects of a TV’s display performance. To put it simply, high contrast ratios typically mean deeper blacks, which constitutes a big difference in a TV’s overall picture quality.
The necessity of good contrast ratios becomes evident when you are viewing dark scenes in movies or games – especially in a dark room.
Overall, images tend to look better on displays with high contrast ratios since white images are extremely bright and black ones are very deep.
That being said, this TV’s remarkable 5000:1 contrast ratio is largely responsible for the above-average performance it offers. However, it turns out its excellent contrast ratio isn’t enough to get the job done.
This TV has a serious backlighting issue. Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting completely uniform backlighting on this TV because of its affordable price.
However, its backlighting issues are even worse than I had thought they would be. While this TV displays on-screen content, you will most likely get distracted by the shadowy corners it casts on images.
There also seems to be an occasional glow of excessive brightness around the outer edges of the TV’s display. Meanwhile, it still suffers from another issue that’s very common to extremely affordable TVs.
For more details, this issue has to do with the quality of the image detail the Sceptre X505BV-FSR can offer. The Sceptre X505BV-FSR cannot display content with fantastic image details.
At some point, you will notice some kind of irregularities in the human faces the TV displays. From time to time, you will also notice some irregular patterns on pieces of clothing in contents that display on the screen.
These effects become more pronounced when the TV begins to display fast-motion content. You will be able to vividly notice the effects caused by the TV’s subpar display quality.
Fortunately, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR isn’t so bad at color reproduction, so there’s a little bit of consolation. According to the lab test results, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR can reproduce 97.9 percent of the gamut in the Rec. 709 color space.
In simple terms, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR has a wide color gamut which means it can conveniently reproduce a wide range of colors.
Comparatively, the X505BV-FSR results match that of the Vizio 24-inch D-Series, which scored 97.9 percent on the same test. The Sceptre X505BV-FSR also offers a much better color gamut compared to the TCL 32S325 Roku TV, with an 84.8 percent result.
However, the Samsung M5300 offers a slightly wider color gamut of 98.2 percent. Regardless, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR color gamut is good enough to offer excellent color reproduction performance.
On another note, gamers will also be pleased with the gaming performance this TV will be able to offer. With an input lag of 29 milliseconds, you should be able to enjoy most of your gaming sessions on this TV.
How can we tell? Let me explain.
Input lag tells how long it will take a TV to display a signal coming from a source directly on its screen. This factor is necessary for determining how a TV will handle reaction-based video games because a very low input lag means you will get a responsive gaming experience.
At 29 milliseconds, this TV’s input lag is not bad at all since the highest acceptance rate for a good gaming experience is 40 milliseconds. Due to this factor, we can conclude that this TV should be able to offer a good gaming experience.
Another factor that helps us to confirm a TV’s gaming capabilities is its response time. Response time is the amount of time it takes a TV’s display to quickly change from one color to another.
This factor determines how smoothly a TV will be able to reproduce fast-motion content. The reason for this is that it has a big impact on the appearance of motion blur.
As for the Sceptre X505BV-FSR, it offers a response time of 8 milliseconds which is incredible. Due to these reasons, you can expect the Sceptre X505BV-FSR to offer a good gaming performance.
Overall, I give the TV a score of seven in this display features section for its average display features.
Sceptre X505BV-FSR: Sound Features
Unlike the barely satisfactory performance the Sceptre X505BV-FSR offers in its picture quality, its sound production is very good. While it produces a good sound quality, you will also barely notice any rattle in its chassis when you turn up its volume to the max.
However, you can only get consistent sound quality from this TV when you keep its volume below the 70 percent mark. Increase the TV’s volume to anything beyond the 70 percent mark, and you will begin to notice obvious sound distortions.
At this point, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR’s pair of 10W speakers would have begun to sound stressed. On another negative note, the bass sound this TV produces is nothing to write home about.
Fine, this TV doesn’t come with a subwoofer, so one should already expect poor bass sounds. However, its bass sound is much worse compared to what an average TV’s bass should sound like.
In fact, there’s a near-total absence of bass in the sound the Sceptre X505BV-FSR produces. If it had come with a subwoofer, the bass sounds on this TV would have been better.
Why? A subwoofer is a speaker developed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies most commonly referred to as bass.
So, if the Sceptre X505BV-FSR had come with one, it would have been capable of producing better bass sounds.
Fortunately, dialogue sounds better on the TV. For clarity, dialogue in this context means a conversation between two or more people in on-screen content.
Notwithstanding, I will still advise that you get a soundbar with this TV if you intend to enjoy the best listening experience. Due to this, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR scores a seven in this sound features review.
Sceptre X505BV-FSR: Ports and Connectivity Features
The Sceptre X505BV-FSR comes with quite a number of useful ports. To start with, the TV features 1 USB 2.0 port and 3 HDMI ports on its back.
Sadly, none of the HDMI ports support audio return channel, so you won’t be able to connect a subwoofer to the TV via any of the 3 HDMI ports.
As for the other port options the Sceptre X505BV-FSR offers, it doesn’t come with an Ethernet port. However, it comes with 1 Component (Audio input share with composite) and 1 Composite (Video input share with component).
Since the Sceptre X505BV-FSR doesn’t offer smart features, it doesn’t come with Bluetooth or any built-in Wi-Fi for internet connectivity.
On the other hand, the remote that comes with the Sceptre X505BV-FSR is very basic – just like the TV itself. This remote comes with channel buttons, as you would expect.
Also, it has volume control buttons, a basic four-button navigation pad, and a number pad for entering individual channels.
Since the Sceptre X505BV-FSR doesn’t perform any smart function, its remote doesn’t feature any fancy features. There’s no need for features like a built-in microphone or motion-tracking cursor control.
However, this TV’s remote gets the basic job done properly.
In conclusion, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR barely has much to offer in terms of ports and connectivity. As a result, it scores a six in this ports and connectivity section.
Sceptre X505BV-FSR: Smart Features
Unfortunately, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR doesn’t offer any smart features, so there’s hardly any useful information to pass across in this section. Unlike what you get in most common TVs, this TV doesn’t offer a voice recognition feature, nor does it offer streaming apps and services.
If you want to buy this TV, you will have to prepare your mind for a less interesting viewing experience and features. Additionally, if you are someone who scarcely views lots of content or if you are satisfied with basic TV functions, then you will be able to use this TV.
However, if you are accustomed to using smart TVs, buying the Sceptre X505BV-FSR won’t be a good idea at all.
To round off, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR scores zero (0) in this aspect since it doesn’t offer any smart features.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR is not a smart TV.
Yes, it does. The Sceptre X505BV-FSR offers 3 HDMI ports.
The Sceptre X505BV-FSR was made in 2017.
As of the time I wrote this article in December 2021, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR costs $399.99.
Yes, it does. Sceptre provided four VESA mount compatible holes on the back of this TV.
This will enable you to mount the TV on a wall with any 200 x 200mm VESA wall bracket.
Conclusion
The Sceptre X505BV-FSR is a good choice for anyone who is on a tight budget. Its 50-inch display is fair for its $399.99 price point.
However, anybody familiar with gadget deals knows that low prices always come with a few, if not many, setbacks. In the case of the Sceptre X505BV-FSR, it has subpar picture quality due to the combination of bad backlighting and poor image processing.
If you are looking for a TV mainly for its screen size, the Sceptre X505BV-FSR is not too bad. However, I will advise you to gather a little more money and go for a better TV with better features, even if it means you get a smaller screen.
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