While Sylvox seems to be the dominant name in outdoor TVs, SunBrite still has a strong hold in the “full shade” category—TVs specifically designed for covered patios, screened-in porches, and other outdoor spaces away from direct sunlight. Where “Partial sun” and “full sun” outdoor TVs prioritize extreme brightness, full-shade units are designed for more controlled environments.

SunBrite’s Veranda 3 Series is our favorite full-shade set right now, so we were eager to see what its revised Veranda 4 could do. The change is substantial: Following a rising trend in the “indoor TV” industry, the Veranda 4 drops the quantum dot-enhanced QLED display of the Veranda 3 in favor of an RGB-W (red, green, blue, white) display, with backlighting that features discrete red, blue, green, and white light diodes. While RGB-W is not the same tech found in the high-end RGB LED TVs from major brands like Samsung and Hisense, it does generally improve color accuracy compared to conventional blue-diode backlighting. And SunBrite claims that the new display maintains strong brightness while lowering power use and heat—two important considerations for an outdoor TV.

The switch, however, comes with some big drawbacks. It does not achieve the same peak brightness, dropping from 1,000 nits on the Veranda 3 to just 600. The new model also loses its higher 120-hertz refresh rate, which can make sports and video games feel more immersive.

So while using RGB-W changes the spec sheet both for better and for worse, I still found that it’s well suited for its relatively specific natural habitat, shaded patios and outdoor environments.

As spring transitions into summer, the East Coast has been blessed—or cursed, depending on who you ask—with several days of rainy, overcast weather. We don’t have an outdoor cabana at the Popular Mechanics office (yet), so I set up the Veranda 4 under a massive cantilever umbrella on our patio.

I started by watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a fast-moving film that floods the screen with bright, saturated colors and a ton of contrast. In “vivid” mode, which is a recommended preset that raises backlight output, color intensity, contrast, and sharpness, the Veranda 4 delivered rich colors that made the movie pop. In scenes where black blobs start to consume the screen, the pure black portions didn’t look faded or washed out.

Frankenstein (2025) features dark and dimly lit staging throughout. After the setting adjustment for clarity, I was able to track the movie without sacrificing the film’s mood.

Watching live TV, navigating the home screen, and opening apps remained clear and visible in different lighting. I watched a few episodes of Storage Wars and perused local news channels, and they were all consistently clear in the shady environment.

In theory, an RGB-W panel features that extra white diode to boost brightness. For what it’s worth, the TV is bright enough to see at any time of day, so long as it’s properly shaded. I don’t think you can say that the performance has improved all that much, though. In my mind, the new panel technology enhances the TV’s efficiency and performance, but not necessarily its overall image quality.

It should come as no surprise that the Veranda 4, as a full-shade TV, looks its best when you keep as much sunlight off of it as possible. And this proved true on overcast days. When the weather turned sunny, the TV got harder to see, especially during low-light scenes. While the Veranda 4 was completely covered by the cantilever umbrella, I missed the extra nits of the Veranda 3 on the sunniest days because of light bouncing off the surroundings. A cabana or awning-covered patio may help reduce this, though.

That said, the anti-glare coating on the screen takes off some of the sting. Even with sunlight behind me, reflections appeared more like faint shadows than a clear mirror image, which helped keep me immersed in what I was watching.

Regardless of how you choose to cover it, the Veranda 4 offers decent enough durability to live outside in a “full-shade” setup. Like the Veranda 3, it features a powder-coated aluminum exterior and an IP55 rating for protection against dust and water. It’s sturdy and well-built, and a fully sealed media bay gives you some weatherproofed room to store smaller streaming devices and extra cables. The weatherproof remote feels like a thoughtful design, too. The weighted bottom allows it to stand on its own, making it much less likely to be misplaced.

Audio performance wasn’t as impressive. The two built-in speakers on the back of the TV fire downward and away from the viewer, which is fairly common for both indoor and outdoor televisions. Sound was mostly consistent overall, but there were times when I was streaming a show or movie at one volume, and then an ad break or scene change came out much louder. In larger or more open outdoor spaces, dialogue and smaller effects might get lost over deep bass and background music. During my testing, I sat relatively close to the TV, so it wasn’t a major issue, but those watching from farther away might struggle more. Thankfully, the Veranda 4 includes audio outputs for connecting a soundbar or outdoor speaker system.

The Veranda 4 performed well across shady, overcast, and moderately sunny conditions. Despite some downgrades in the brightness and refresh rate departments, I was impressed by the overall picture quality in full shade. The new RGB-W panel offers decent color volume and clarity, even when ambient lighting shifted throughout the day. Pair the Veranda 4 with a set of outdoor speakers, and you’ll have a fully imagined backyard entertainment setup for all your gatherings this summer.

The big question, in the short term, is whether you should get the Veranda 4 or stick with the Veranda 3 while it’s still available. On paper, I’d buy the Veranda 3 if overall picture quality is your top priority. But if you’re looking for a newer TV package with improved outdoor durability and efficiency, the Veranda 4 is still a good choice.

As a full-shade TV, the Veranda 4 is made specifically to live in a covered environment. If you planned to install it in a space where the sun will shine on it directly, I’d recommend going with a partial- or full-sun TV instead, like the Sylvox Frameless Pro, which is both brighter and designed for sun-soaked viewing.

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