TCL 50S425: At First Glance
The TCL 50S425 is an adequate overall budget television with ROKU smart TV operating system. The display on this television offers adequate picture quality and produces sharp blacks thanks to its outstanding contrast ratio.
Furthermore, although the display handles reflections effectively, it doesn’t get particularly bright and isn’t suited for a bright environment. However, the display’s fast response time and low input lag make the TCL 50S425 an ideal choice for gamers.
Additionally, the TCL 50S425 comes with quite a good number of ports for a television its price. Speaking of price, the TCL 50S425 has a price tag of $450 when I wrote this article in October 2021.
Having introduced the TCL 50S425 to you, let get into more details about the television.
TCL 50S425: Design, Dimension & Weight
In terms of design, the TCL 50S425 looks very much like its 55-inch sibling, the TCL 55S425. The only difference between them is that the TCL 50S425 has a 50-inch display while the TCL 55S425 has a 55-inch display.
The TCL 50S425 is primarily made of plastic. The only exception is the upper part of the television’s back which is made of metal.
Moreover, the back of the TCL 50S425 is very plain and has a matte-black finish. The bezels around the TCL 50S425’s display screen, on the other hand, have a glossy black finish.
Additionally, the lower bezel on the display screen features a TLC logo in the center. While on the right edge of the lower bezel, there is a ROKU TV logo.
Moving on, the television’s build quality is pretty decent. Even though the television doesn’t look premium, there aren’t any loose ends or gaps in any area of its plastic chassis.
However, the lower part of the television’s back is thicker than the other parts of the television. This is because the lower part houses all the television’s electronics and ports.
However, the lower part isn’t that thick to the extent of sticking out if the television is wall-mounted. Moreover, the TCL 50S425 comes with a pair of legs that are V-shaped if you don’t feel like wall-mounting the television.
The legs have a black finish and are also made of plastic just like most parts of the television. However, don’t be fooled by the plastic legs as it is very sturdy and can hold the television in place.
The only problem I have with the television’s legs is that they are very close to the edges of the TV. Therefore, if you want to place the TCL 50S425 on a table or desk, you will need a really big one.
For the TCL 50S425’s size and weight, it measures 1120.1 x 81.28 x 652.7 mm and weighs a massive 10477.9 g. When compared to its 55-inch sibling (TCL 55S425), the TCL 50S425 weighs less.
Specifically, its sibling, the TCL 55S425 measures 244.6 x 78.7 x 721.3 mm and weighs 12110.9 g. Moreover, when I compared the TCL 50S425 to other television brands like the Hisense 50H8G, it once again weigh less.
Specifically, the Hisense 50H8G measures 1112.5 x 78.7 x 645.1 mm and weighs 12791.3 g
In conclusion, the TCL 50S425 is a decently built television that weighs less than most of its competitors. Therefore, I will rate the TCL 50S425 a nine out of ten in this Design, Dimension & Weight Review section.
TCL 50S425: Display Features
As mentioned earlier above, the TCL 50S425 has a 50-inch LED display screen. Furthermore, this 50-inch display screen has a 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution.
Additionally, the TCL 50S425’s display has an outstanding contrast ratio of 6,054:1. The contrast ratio of a display is the ratio between peak and lowest brightness of the display.
In other words, the ratio of a display screen’s brightest white to the darkest black. As a result of the TCL 50S425’s display’s outstanding contrast ratio, blacks on the display will be very deep and accurate.
Therefore, you will enjoy watching movies with dark or shadowy scenes on the TCL 50S425. Unfortunately, the TCL 50S425’s display doesn’t have a local dimming feature to further enhance the blacks.
However, the TCL 50S425’s display has direct backlighting, and it also supports HDR (high dynamic range). HDR is a technique that improves the range of color and contrast ratio of contents on a display screen.
Furthermore, HDR-compatible TVs normally offer brighter colors and a wider spectrum of color detail, resulting in a punchier visual quality. However, despite being an HDR-compatible television, the TCL 50S425’s display isn’t impressive when it comes to brightness.
The display records a maximum brightness of 244.05 cd/m2. Even other inexpensive HDR-compatible television like the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 offers a maximum brightness of 300 cd/m2 upward.
On a bright note, the TCL 50S425’s display performs decently when it comes to color reproduction. Specifically, the display registers 97.4% of the Rec. 709 color gamut in a color reproduction test.
Comparatively, the TCL 50S425’s display performs better than displays on televisions like VIZIO V505-G9. To be more specific, the VIZIO V505-G9’s display registers 96.65% of the Rec. 709 color gamut on the color reproduction test.
However, the TCL 50S425’s display isn’t better than the 40-inch display found on the Samsung NU7100. The Samsung NU7100’s display registers 98.3% of the Rec. 709 color gamut in the color reproduction test.
Regardless, considering the TCL 50S425 price, its display’s color reproduction is really impressive.
Moving on, the TCL 50S425’s display has bad viewing angles, which I was expecting as soon as I saw the television’s price. Therefore, you will quickly lose picture quality and accuracy when you are watching the television off-center.
On the plus side, the TCL 50S425’s display handles reflection decently. The semi-gloss coating on the display retracts reflection from the display pretty effectively.
However, the semi-gloss coating may struggle to retract reflection from direct sunlight or a very bright environment. It should, however, be adequate in a moderately-lit room.
Furthermore, the TCL 50S425’s display not only handles reflection well but also has an ideal response time of 12.1 milliseconds. Response time is the amount of time it takes a display screen to switch from one color to another.
Additionally, a display’s response time also determines how well the display can handle fast motion. Therefore, viewing experience will be more fluid if a display’s response time is faster.
Moving on, the TCL 50S425’s display is very ideal for gaming. This is because the display has a 120 Hz refresh rate and an impressively low input lag of 12.9 milliseconds.
The length of time it takes for a display to recognize a signaled input is known as input lag. Refresh rate, on the other hand, is the frequency in which a display device displays a new image.
In summary, the TCL 50S425’s display is quite impressive considering the television’s price. However, the display’s poor brightness and poor viewing angles are huge drawbacks.
Therefore, I will rate the TCL 50S425 an eight out of ten in this display review section.
TCL 50S42: Sound Features
Unfortunately, the TCL 50S425’s audio quality is one area where the television falls short. Specifically, the TCL 50S425 is equipped with a pair of 8-watt speakers that generate mediocre sound.
Furthermore, bass is basically non-existent with these speakers. Additionally, the speakers on the TCL 50S425 have a low-frequency response.
As a result, the speakers are unable to produce vibration or vibrating sounds. However, the TCL 50S425’s speakers can get fairly loud, but not loud enough for noisy surroundings.
Additionally, the speakers offer impressive dialogue sounds. Dialogue sound is a discussion between various characters in a film or movie.
Moving on, the TCL 50S425’s speakers records a score of 0.854 percent in a THD test. THD, also known as Total Harmonic Distortion is a measurement that determines how much distortion a sound system creates.
THD score is commonly expressed as a percentage. As a result, the lower the THD percentage, the less the distortion produced.
With a THD score of 0.854 percent, the TCL 50S425’s speakers will produce minimal distortion in a medium volume level. However, distortion may be audible at maximum volume levels.
But, this is dependent on the type of content or video being watched, and not everyone might hear the distortion.
In summary, the TCL 50S425’s speakers are weak and lack bass, but they have a low level of distortion. As a result, in this section of this review, I’ll rate the TCL 50S425 a seven out of ten.
TCL 50S425: Ports & Connectivity Features
The TCL 50S425‘s ports can be found on the right side of the television. Moreover, TCL equipped the 50S425 with a decent amount of ports.
The ports on the TCL 50S425 include three HDMI ports. One out of the three HDMI ports supports ARC (audio return channel).
Moreover, the ARC-compatible HDMI port can be used to connect an external speaker or soundbar to the TCL 50S425.
Moving on, the TCL 50S425 ports also includes a composite video input, a USB 2.0 port, and an RF port. The RF port, also known as the radiofrequency port, is for connecting an antenna.
Furthermore, the TCL 50S425 also comes with an optical digital output, Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. For wireless connectivity, the TCL 50S425 features 802.11 ac (2×2) WIFI.
However, the television lacks Bluetooth.
Moving on, a remote control comes included with the TCL 50S425. To be more specific, the television comes with a ROKU TV RC280 remote control.
Furthermore, this remote control is an infrared remote. Additionally, the remote control is made of plastic, and it has a matte-black finish and curved edges.
In addition to its curved edges, the remote control has a purple navigation button. The navigation button is flanked by playback control buttons below and Home, Back, and Power buttons above.
Additionally, the remote has four dedicated buttons for streaming services like HULU, Sling TV, Netflix, and DirecTV NOW. However, the volume and mute buttons are located on the right side of the remote, unlike most remotes.
Unfortunately, the remote control is very small that it couldn’t feature number buttons.
In conclusion, the TCL 50S425 comes with an impressive port selection and decent remote control. Therefore, I will rate the TCL 50S425 a nine out of 10 in this review section.
TCL 50S425: Smart Features
The TCL 50S425 features ROKU smart TV OS. The ROKU operating system has a user-friendly interface.
Additionally, the interface is easy to use, straightforward, responsive, and has minimal lag. Moreover, thanks to the ROKU TV operating system, the TCL 50S425 has access to a wide range of applications and streaming services.
Major streaming services include Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV, HULU, Disney Plus, and so much more. However, most of the streaming services the ROKU TV operating system offer are paid streaming services.
Therefore, you will have to subscribe to them if you want to watch any content. However, if you don’t wish to subscribe, ROKU operating system has a section for free streaming services on its interface.
The free streaming services include ROKU Channel, Pluto TV, Crackle, CW, and NBC. Furthermore, with the help of Miracast, users can stream movies from their mobile devices or laptops to the TCL 50S425.
In conclusion, the ROKU operating system on the TCL 50S425 is just exceptional. The OS has a smooth interface, and it offers both paid streaming services and free streaming services.
As a result, I will rate the TCL 50S425 a nine out of ten for its exceptional smart TV operating system.
Frequently Asked Questions
The TLC 5-Series televisions have a higher contrast ratio, full-array local dimming, and are extremely bright. Additionally, they also have a wider color gamut for HDR content, a faster response time, and less input lag.
TLC 4-Series televisions, on the other hand, have better color accuracy, and impressive reflection handling.
Usually, when the image or video on a TCL TV is blurry, it is because you selected a low resolution. However, you can change the resolution via the television’s setting.
Yes, it is. The ROKU OS features on your TCL TV are free to use because they are provided as part of the TV. However, some of the operating system’s streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, do require monthly subscriptions.
A specifications page can be found at the beginning or end of almost every TV manual. All you have to do is go to the specification page and check for the Resolution option. If your television’s manual states that it is 4K, then it is 4K.
Yes, absolutely. The display of the TCL 50S425 boasts a low input lag and a 120 Hz refresh rate. Therefore, making the TCL 50S425 is an ideal television for playing video games.
Conclusion
The TCL 50S425 is a budget-friendly 50-inch 4K ROKU TV that offers lots of features for a low price. Additionally, thanks to the television’s ROKU operating system, users will have access to various streaming services, either free or paid.
However, the television’s display isn’t bright enough even though it has an impressive contrast ratio. Also, the TCL 50S425 comes with a pair of weak speakers.
On the plus side, the television is adequate for playing video games, thanks to its display’s low input lag. Therefore, if you need a television that isn’t only good for watching movies but also for playing games, the TCL 50S425 is worth considering.
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