TCL 49S405 Review: Best Suited for Gamers!

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TCL 49S405: At First Glance

TCL is a popular brand that I am sure most people would have heard about. Founded in 1981, the brand has produced numerous electronic products such as phones, DVD players, soundbars, and air conditioners.

However, TCL is mostly known for manufacturing televisions and not just anyhow televisions, inexpensive TVs with excellent specs and performance. In that regard, the brand released the TCL S-series – a lineup of well-priced 4K televisions with adequate performance and features.

One of the televisions in this lineup is the TCL 49S405, which is the main focus of this review article. This television was released in 2017 and features a 4K UHD display with decent picture quality and a low input lag.

Also, the TV support HDR and comes with the Roku operating system that gives it access to major streaming services. Having mentioned a bit about this TCL television, why not read on to find out more about it?

TCL 49S405: Design, Dimension, and Weight

In terms of design, the TCL 49S405 comes with a simple design that, surprisingly, still looks good and is quite appealing. To start with, this television has very narrow bezels which measure just 15.24 mm that surround its display screen.

Furthermore, these bezels are made entirely with plastic material and feature a glossy black finish. However, the bottom bezel is 5.08 mm thicker than other bezels.

The reason behind this is that it features a silver “TCL” inscription at the center and a “Roku TV” inscription on the right side. These inscriptions aren’t just there to add to the television’s design aesthetics; they actually serve a greater purpose.

For example, the “TCL” inscription tells you the brand of the television. Meanwhile, the “Roku TV” inscription gives you first-hand information about the type of operating system the TV runs on.

Turning to the back of the TCL 49S405, you will see a matte-black panel. This back panel is made with a mixture of metal and plastic.

Specifically, the top half of the back panel is made of metal, whereas the bottom half is made of plastic. However, the bottom half is quite chunky due to the fact that it accommodates all the TV’s electronics and components.

Thus, due to the chunkiness of the back panel’s bottom half, the TCL 49S405 will definitely bulge out when wall-mounted. Speaking of wall-mounting, you’ll find holes in the back panel of this TCL television.

These holes are to accommodate a 200 x 200 VESA mount so as to wall-mount the TV. Unfortunately, there is no form of cable management system on the back panel of this television.

Thus, you will have to manually arrange the cables attached to the TV to ensure a neat and organized setup.

Moving on, the TCL 49S405 comes with a pair of plastic triangular-shaped legs. These legs feature a silver finish and are situated near the edges of the TV.

Due to the settings of the legs, you will need a fairly large table to place the TCL 49S405 on if not wall-mounted. Nevertheless, although the legs are made of plastic, they offer enough support for this television to stand well.

In fact, the television will only wobble slightly when nudged with force. Having said that, let us now discuss the dimension and weight of this TCL television.

The TCL 49S405 measures 1109.9 x 76.2 x 645.1 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 11294.4 g. Compared with the Sony XBR – 49X900F, this television is significantly lighter – the Sony XBR – 49X900F weighs 13600 g.

All things considered, the TCL 49S405 deserves a rating of eight out of ten in this design review section.

TCL 49S405: Display Features and Picture Quality

The TCL 49S405 features a 49-inch LED display with 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution. Unarguably, 4K UHD resolution is the most used resolution option in the modern television market.

The reason behind this is that it allows a display to deliver vivid, sharp, and clear picture quality. Besides, a 4K UHD resolution display should offer far better and sharper picture quality than an HD or FHD resolution display.

This is because 4K UHD resolution offers about four times the number of pixels that an HD resolution has. Also, it has roughly two times the amount of pixels that an FHD resolution has.

Aside from having a 4K UHD resolution, the TCL 49S405’s display also comes with an impressive contrast ratio. Specifically, the display features a high contrast ratio of 4171:1.

For clarity, contrast ratio is the difference between the maximum level of whites and the deepest level of blacks a display can produce. Furthermore, the contrast ratio is a key factor that determines the black level of a display.

Basically, the higher the contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks the display will be able to render. Hence, with a contrast ratio as high as 4171:1, the TCL 49S405’s display should be able to deliver deep blacks.

Thus, the television will be great for watching movies with a lot of dark/shadowy scenes, such as The Twilight Saga. Unluckily, due to the fact that it already has a high contrast ratio, the TCL 49S405’s display fails to support local dimming.

Briefly, local dimming refers to a picture technique that automatically dims the backlight zones of LED/LCD displays in order to increase the black level. Thus, with the presence of local dimming, a display will be able to deliver deeper blacks than it would without this feature.

Nevertheless, despite the TCL 49S405’s display’s lack of local dimming, its high contrast ratio still enables it to still deliver an adequate black level. However, local dimming would have been an added advantage to the display’s features.

To compensate for its display’s lack of local dimming, TCL made the 49S405 compatible with an HDR effect called HDR10. In brief, HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a picture technology that enhances a display’s brightness and color accuracy.

This happens when the display is rendering HDR-compatible content. Thus, when watching such content on the TCL 49S405, pictures and colors will appear more realistic and lifelike.

Just so you know, you can find HDR-compatible content on streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. Sadly, despite being compatible with HDR, the TCL 49S405’s display has a terrible peak brightness.

To be more specific, the display recorded a peak brightness of just 178 nits. Honestly, as a TV review writer, this has to be one of the lowest peak brightness I have ever come across.

Well, the consequence of the poor peak brightness is that the TCL 49S405 won’t be good for usage in bright or well-lit areas. As a matter of fact, the television’s display might struggle to keep up in moderately-lit areas.

To make matters even worse, the TCL 49S405’s display has disappointing viewing angles. Therefore, colors and pictures will look washed out or blurry when you watch the television from an extreme angle or from the sides.

Thus, this TCL television isn’t suitable for a wide or large room setting. On a positive note, the TCL 49S405’s display offers a low input lag of 14.6 milliseconds.

In brief, input lag is the duration a display takes to respond to signal input from external sources like a wireless gamepad. Furthermore, the display’s input lag is a key factor in determining how well a TV can perform when it comes to gaming.

Basically, the display needs to have an input lag of 15 ms or less before the TV can be considered good for gaming. Obviously, the TCL 49S405 should be good for gaming because of its display’s low input lag of 14.6 milliseconds.

In addition to its low input lag, the TCL 49S405’s display also delivers an impressively fast response time of 14.4 milliseconds. Thus, users will enjoy watching fast-motion content such as sports on the TV as there will be minimal to no blur trails.

For the record, response time is the amount of time it takes a display to change from one color to another.

All things considered, I will rate the TCL 49S405 a seven out of ten in this display features review section.

TCL 49S405: Sound Features

For the sound department, the TCL 49S405 delivers a disappointing performance. Specifically, this TCL TV features a pair of built-in 8-watt speakers that produce average sound quality.

In fact, these speakers aren’t loud enough – they can’t comfortably fill a large or medium-sized room with sound. Besides, the television lacks a subwoofer, meaning it won’t be able to produce an adequate amount of bass.

Hence, watching bass-heavy movies on the TCL 49S405 is a “no-no”. However, you can decide to purchase a soundbar with the television so as to get an adequate bass production.

On a bright note, the TCL 49S405 features a sound technology known as Dolby Digital Plus. This sound technology enhances the sound performance of a television’s speaker.

Specifically, the Dolby Digital Plus plays a role in increasing the loudness and surround sound production of the speakers. Thereby enabling them to deliver a cinematic sound quality.

Unfortunately, the TCL 49S405 has a disappointing distortion performance. To be more specific, the television delivered a score of 4.8% on the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) test.

Briefly, the THD test is an assessment that evaluates the level of distortion a sound device can produce. Furthermore, on this test, when a sound device scores 1% or less, its means that it produces a small amount of distortion.

However, a score above 1% indicates that the sound device is capable of producing a significant amount of distortion. As clearly mentioned above, the TCL 49S405’s THD score is far above 1%.

Hence, the television’s speakers will produce a noticeable amount of distortion even when set to a moderate volume level. In fact, at the max volume level, the distortion might be unbearable and really disturbing.

For your information, distortion in this context refers to the changes in a sound device’s original audio frequencies. Thereby, making the sound device deliver unpleasant sound quality and unwanted noises.

Impressively, despite having a horrible distortion performance, the TCL 49S405’s speakers are still able to deliver clear and accurate dialogue. Briefly, dialogue is the sound created by a sound device during a conversation between multiple characters in a movie or TV show.

Based on the facts above, I will be rating the TCL 49S405 a seven out of ten in this sound features review section.

TCL 49S405: Ports and Connectivity Features

The TCL 49S405 features a reasonable amount of ports – some of the ports are rear-facing while the others are left-facing. Thus, when the television is mounted on the wall, the rear-facing port might be difficult to access.

Having said that, let us get acquainted with the numerous kind of ports that this TCL television offers. Starting with the left-facing ports, the TCL 49S405 features three HDMI ports and one USB port.

It is important to note that one of these HDMI ports supports ARC (Audio Return Channel). Hence, with that specific ARC-compatible HDMI port, you should be able to easily connect a soundbar to the television.

That aside, you’ll find additional ports like an RF connector, an optical audio output, and a 3.5mm audio output among the left-facing ports. Meanwhile, the rear-facing ports include an Ethernet port and composite video input.

For wireless connectivity, the TCL 49S405 features a built-in 802.11ac 2×2 Dual Band (support 2.4 GHz & 5GHz) Wi-Fi. Regrettably, this television fails to come with Bluetooth.

Moving on, the TCL 49S405 comes with a Roku TV RC282 remote control. To give more details, this Roku remote is composed of plastic with a matte-black finish.

Moreover, the remote has a really small stature, meaning it should be able to fit perfectly in your palm. However, due to its small stature, it features a limited amount of buttons.

Some of the buttons that this remote has includes a blue plus-shaped navigation button. Also, the remote has four dedicated buttons for quick access to Netflix, Prime Video, CBS News, and Sling TV.

Besides, there exists a white “TCL” and “Roku TV” inscription at the bottom part of the Roku TV RC282 remote for brand recognition. However, unlike most Roku remote controls, this remote lacks a built-in mic for voice input.

After thorough considerations, I will rate the TCL 49S405 an eight out of ten in this ports and connectivity features review section.

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TCL 49S405: Smart Features

Just like most TCL televisions, the TCL 49S405 utilizes the Roku operating system. This operating system has a lag-free and easy-to-use interface which makes navigation seamless.

Moreover, the interface has a navigation bar on the right side of the screen. This navigation bar is arranged in a column setting and enables users to select and highlight items with ease.

Besides, the Roku OS offers a great wealth of streaming services and apps. To mention a few of the streaming services, there is Hulu, Netflix, Google Play Movies, Prime Video, Disney+, and YouTube.

However, most of the streaming services that this operating system offers are not free. Basically, users will have to pay a certain amount per month in order to access them.

Fortunately, the Roku OS also comes with a handful of free streaming services such as Tubi, Peacock TV, and CBS. That aside, you can also stream/share multimedia content from your smart devices to the TCL 49S405 via the Roku app.

For your information, the Roku app is completely free for download. Also, it is available on the App Store and Google Play Store.

That said, the TCL 49S405 supports Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa for voice input. However, before you can use the voice input feature, you’ll need to purchase a Google Nest speaker or an Amazon Echo.

This is due to the fact that the television as well as its remote control lacks a built-in microphone.

All in all, the TCL 49S405 deserves a rating of nine out of ten in this smart features review section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The TCL 49S405 is a smart TV that is best suited for gamers. Specifically, the television’s display has a low input lag which makes the TV good for gaming.

Although best for gaming, that doesn’t mean the television is bad in other areas. In fact, the television’s 4K UHD display has a high contrast ratio and supports HDR.

Also, the TCL 49S405 features the Roku OS, which gives it access to popular paid and free streaming services. However, this television comes with some major flaws that may make you think twice about purchasing it.

These flaws include terrible peak brightness, poor viewing angles, and lack of Bluetooth. Nevertheless, if you are a gamer or need a TV for casual viewing, the TCL 49S405 is worth considering.

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