TCL 6-Series Roku TV R625 review
Our Verdict
Sitting in the sweetness spot between expensive, cutting-edge sets and deal basement models, the TCL six-Series offers the correct mix of features and picture performance.
For
- Pleasing picture
- Good upscaling
- Very competitive toll
Against
- Less intense colors
- No headphone jack on the Roku remote
Tom's Guide Verdict
Sitting in the sweet spot between expensive, cutting-edge sets and bargain basement models, the TCL 6-Serial offers the right mix of features and picture performance.
Pros
- +
Pleasing moving-picture show
- +
Good upscaling
- +
Very competitive price
Cons
- -
Less intense colors
- -
No headphone jack on the Roku remote
TCL 6-Serial Roku Idiot box R625 review: Specs
Price: $599.99
Model number: 55R625
Screen Size: 55 inches
Resolution: 3840 ten 2160
HDR: HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision
Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
Ports: 4 HDMI, 1 USB
Audio: 2x 8-watt
Smart Television Software: Roku TV 8.0
Size: 48.three x 31.1 x 12.4 inches [west/o stand]
Weight: 37.ii pounds [due west/o stand]
The TCL six-Series Roku TV R625 offers a continued tradition of excellence from the Chinese Idiot box maker. TCL has typically been thought of as role of a triumvirate of Idiot box makers (some would say, 2d tier Television set makers). Together with Vizio and Hisense, they have offered the most competitive prices while striving to follow the applied science leaders, improving their pictures every year. The 4K TCL 6-Series continues that heritage, as one of the best TVs out there with an fifty-fifty better picture and lower cost.
The 55-inch model of the TCL 6-Series we tested comes with all the features ane would expect of higher resolution sets. The LCD panel uses a quantum dot pic to augment the array of colors it can display and has a full-array local dimming backlight with 120 contrast control zones. The set supports loftier dynamic range (HDR) video, HDR10, HLG (for streaming and circulate HDR sources), and Dolby Vision, as well and Dolby Atmos audio. Topping off the list of features, the TCL half-dozen-Series includes the Roku smart TV interface, which is still the simplest and yet most extensive service in terms of apps and streaming services available today.
Our TCL 6-Serial Roku TV R625 review makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to run into that you can get great functioning and smart features without the premium price of more expensive 4K sets.
TCL six-Serial Roku TV R625 review: Price and availability
With five unlike TV lines, the TCL six-Serial Goggle box sits 2nd from the top of the line beneath the more premium TCL 8-Series models (there is no 7-Series). Equally such, it offers some splendid features for the price, lacking only the cutting-edge mini-LED technology of the viii-Series (which only comes in 65- and 75-inch sizes).
The 55-inch TCL 6-Series lists for $599 but is available for less at several retailers. So in a big screen world of ever falling prices, that's still a deal. If you've got the money--and the space--even better is the $899 65-inch version of the same set. Compare that to the $2,000 toll tag on the 65-inch TCL viii-Serial. True, a 55-inch TCL v-Series ready is well-nigh $threescore less than the same sized 6-Series, only you requite up local backlight dimming, which makes a big departure in terms of revealing details in darker or more nuanced images. As such, the 6-Series seems to exist a perfect combination of value and operation.
- 55-inch 55R625: $579
- 65-inch 65R625: $799
With very few differences between the 55-inch model we tested and the larger 65-inch model, we feel confident in extending our recommendations to both sets. Bated from a higher number of contrast command zones on the larger model, the features and capabilities should be the aforementioned.
TCL six-Series Roku TV R625 review: Pattern
Similar many models, the 55-inch TCL 6-Series is a primarily black ready trimmed out with some subtle brushed chrome. It besides has the typical Y-shaped feet, which in this case attach to each stop of the set for a table-tiptop placement.
That can present something of a problem since it means you lot need to have a credenza or stand up that is at to the lowest degree 49 inches broad for the feet to fit. (The feet themselves are 12-inches deep, front end to back).
Center stands can be more all-around, in this regard, although so you can't slide a disc player or slim cable/satellite box directly underneath.
You can, of grade, install the attack a wall using a subclass. It weighs merely 37.ii pounds, so it's easily maneuverable and works with standard VESA 200 ten 200 millimeter brackets.
TCL 6-Series Roku Tv set R625 review: Ports
In terms of making necessary connections to video and game equipment, TCL hasn't left out anything critical. All the primary ports on the TCL 6-Series are on the correct side of the dorsum of the set, save for the ability plug on the left.
In improver to Wi-Fi (802.11ac) connectivity, the Idiot box has 4 HDMI (ane of which is ARC), i USB, and an AV output with an adapter for older video sources similar VCRs. For cord cutters, there's an RF coaxial connection, also as a mini jack for headphones or audio output, plus an optical audio output.
TCL vi-Serial Roku Boob tube R625 review: Performance
As with other Roku integrations, the pic pre-sets for the TCL half-dozen-Series TV are under the Roku settings menu. You get very basic options: Brighter, Bright, Normal, Night, Darker. We tested in Normal mode and then selected Flick mode under avant-garde settings. (Movie mode turns off Action Smoothing and LED Motion Clarity to minimize distortions and the flattening effect these settings tin have on a motion-picture show). There is no Filmmaker mode, a pop option that strips out all additional processing for a more pristine movie presentation, and has been showing up on smart TVs from many manufacturers.
Overall, the TCL half-dozen-Series revealed moderate effulgence levels, delivering maximum brightness of 385 nits, less than a recently tested Hisense R8F Roku Tv with 435.7 nits and a Vizio P-Series Quantum X (PX65-G1) at 567 nits. Where the TCL 6-Serial really excelled, though, was in terms of colour accurateness and contrast. Information technology was decidedly closer to true-blue colors with a Delta E of 2.2—better than the aforementioned Hisense and Vizio sets. And contrast was an impressive 2592.6:1. Translation: what you'll see are more than moving picture details in circuitous light-and-dark scenes and true-blue colors from verdant greens to ruby red tail lights.
In the 4K Sanctuary episode of the Mandalorian, for example, the TCL six-Series lacked some of the punchiness or intensity of say, an expensive OLED, but it delivered more details, such as the subtle shading revealing 2 moons above an alien daytime sky and the mist rising off the rice paddy ponds. Colors looked realistic with verdant greens in the forest scenes and the reds of lights and laser blasts staying sharp without blooming or blowing out the rest of the scene. And thanks to local dimming, the top and bottom confined of the letterbox format remained solidly blackness, eliminating any possible distraction.
Cornball scenes in a 4K disc of One time Upon A Time in Hollywood looked nicely detailed, like the reflections in the hood of Sharon Tate's Porsche, the skin tones of the actors, and the colors of California cruising cars, from Mustang red to VW Problems burgundy. In some scenes the contrast seemed pushed to its limits, such equally the Western pic scene with DiCaprio holding the girl hostage in the bar: several times the dark background assorted too severely with the foreground. How much yous'll notice this volition depend on how closely yous're looking for it. For example, in the 4K disc of Star Wars: The Ascent of Skywalker Darth Vader's burnt out helmet looked for a moment faux confronting the white of Ren'southward spaceship interior, simply the effect is fleeting.
What we found really impressive with the Skywalker disc, however, was the virtual absenteeism of any visible banding in the skies above the market scene. Color transitions were smooth and unperturbed, demonstrating how sophisticated TCL's processing and software has become. We also took note here of the fact that the horizontal off-axis viewing was quite good, with a large reduction in the loss of color and effulgence equally you movement to one side or the other of the pic.
For cord cutters—and those viewing traditional HD 1080p and 720p material--we tested the set with a Mohu ReLeaf Hard disk antenna for local HD broadcasts. The local NBC primetime lineup looked smooth and clear with no noticeable artifacts or other distortions resulting from upscaling. The only slight imperfection afterward hours of viewing was a slight and very small area of concealment in the corners of the screen. Information technology'southward also notable that the TCL 6-Series' tuner performed well, pulling in stations such as CBS with the antenna that others in the aforementioned location and situation could not.
Finally, gamers will be pleasantly surprised to note that the TCL six-Series is a more than capable machine for Call of Duty missions. There is a specific gaming setting on the Television set to turn off a lot of the video processing, and it quickened motion-picture show response, turning in a fast thirteen.ane milliseconds lag time. For comparison, that's less than half the lag time of a Vizio PX65-G1 (35.1 ms) we recently tested.
TCL 6-Serial Roku TV R625 review: Smart Telly features
The TCL half-dozen-Serial relies on the familiar red Roku screen for its smart Idiot box features, which is a good affair. Roku scans your Television'south input sources, looking for game consoles like a PlayStation and inputs like a Television antenna, so adds them to the principal screen above the likes of Netflix, Prime Video, et al, so that everything is in one place. With literally thousands of apps and streaming sources, far more than whatever competing smart TV platform, Roku offers the well-nigh smarts, and yet Roku also stands on top in terms of simplicity and design.
From the start, the Roku software makes setup dead easy: pair upwards the remote, make the usual language and location selections and found an Internet connection with your abode network. You lot exercise accept to switch to an online setup portion on your phone or PC for the Roku section of linking to your business relationship, but in one case y'all've done so, it adds channels you already subscribe to (Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, et al) to the Boob tube with the most extensive library of streaming options--save for NBC'southward Peacock and HBO Max.
For the uninitiated, a canned video walks y'all through the remote command and Roku features. Information technology includes other options, similar Roku's Featured Gratuitous department, the mobile app options (including adding headphones), and how to search using your voice.
As with all smart TVs, there are issues well-nigh privacy. While using the antenna to gear up local stations, the TCL 6-Series gear up warned the states about automated content recognition (ACR) and the fact that it would rails what we watched through the antenna and continued devices. You can switch it off in the privacy setting section.
Conversely, it makes it especially easy for string cutters. Roku automatically builds an electronic program guide based on the channels information technology finds during its initial scan. Meliorate however, the TCL 6-Series set has Roku's Live TV Intermission feature. By plugging your own 16GB thumb drive into the USB port, yous get 90 minutes of DVR-like stopping and restarting of programs. Y'all can' t use information technology to record shows in advance, but the pause feature is handy and it certainly offers enough time to become the laundry or to deal with a takeout delivery. By the manner, a larger pollex drive won't buy y'all more fourth dimension; xc-minutes is the maximum.
TCL half dozen-Series Roku TV R625 review: Sound
No one is going to throw away their stereo in favor of the TCL half dozen-Series' built in sound system. But the 8-by eight watt organisation proved adequate enough to fill up most viewing rooms with sound. If y'all push it beyond, say, iii quarter's full book some distortion starts to interfere with your sonic enjoyment.
There are half-dozen preset sound modes: Music, Theater, Normal, Speech, Large Bass, and High Treble. The picture sound setting has a dialog enhancer and virtual environment setting. We didn't find that the virtual surround theater style delivered very expansive sound, and certainly you won't confuse it with a full-fledged environment sound system. It tends to sound thinner and lack the resonance and richness of a full-sized sound bar or environs organization.
We recommend sticking with the Music and Theater sound modes on the TCL 6-Series. Vocals on pop songs (okay, we played Aha's Take on Me in 4K--once more) were faithful enough. The music setting has a crash-land up in the upper mid-range and lower bass frequencies. The theater setting tends to kicking the bass up fifty-fifty more for explosive soundtracks, and drops the high end. Dolby Atmos is supported, as well, but the soundtracks still seemed more focused toward the center of the screen rather than 3D.
For fuller, richer sound, we recommend adding one of the best soundbars, with Dolby Atmos back up for the all-time experience.
TCL half-dozen-Serial Roku TV R625 review: Remote
The TCL vi-Series comes with a standard small Roku remote. Controls include power on/off, back and habitation buttons, a four-way directional pad and standard playback controls. There's also a mic push button for vocalism commands and searches, and four defended buttons for Netflix, ESPN, Hulu, and Roku channels. On the correct side you lot'll find tiny volume controls and a mute button, which may be more difficult for larger hands to master.
Roku'southward star push on the remote gives you quick access to TV-specific settings including moving picture mode (Normal, Pic, Sports, Low Power, Vivid), audio mode, and features like a sleep timer. Ane item missing: There'southward no headphone jack on the remote. And so if yous desire to do any private or tardily-night listening, you volition have to use the smartphone app and plug your earbuds into your phone.
Roku's voice search for Boob tube and picture show fabric gets meliorate and meliorate. Press and hold the mic button and say, "Switch to channel 7" to go directly to a local bear witness. "Detect Fellini movies" volition transport the TV rummaging through all your sources to listing everything from viii ½ to documentaries on the director. Roku will even find programs on services yous may not subscribe to; for example, we hadn't signed into Benchmark only Roku found movies we wanted in that location and suggested we subscribe. It also constitute costless showings of La Strada on Kanopy and suggested we join upward.
On the other hand, Roku's vox search is no digital factotum on the order of a Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Information technology can't answer grad school history questions or tell you jokes. Y'all can, even so, use Banana or Alexa by adding the TCL set up to their corresponding apps or pairing the TV with an Amazon Repeat or Google Home smart speaker.
TCL 6-Series Roku TV R625 review: Verdict
The TCL vi-Series Roku TV R625 offers a cracking blend of satisfying picture quality and rich smart TV functions, making for a standout value at a reasonable price. This may turn out to exist i of the most competitive years for large screen TVs, which is good news for shoppers. In that location are quantum dot sets similar this model from TCL, presenting an enviable picture for a very reasonable price.
We think the TCL six-Series Roku TV R625 beats out the competing Hisense R8F Roku TV in terms of flick quality. Additionally, it matches the more expensive 55-inch Vizio P Serial set and bests it when it comes to smart Television features. So the TCL 6-Series sits in something of a sugariness spot right now. Sure, companies are coming out with budget OLED sets, in instance you had your eyes on that technology, but even a bargain 55-inch Vizio OLED will set you lot back more than twice as much as this ready.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/tcl-6-series-roku-tv-r625
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