TCL 8 Series: At First Glance
TCL might not be the best television brand in the world when there are other powerful brands like Samsung and LG. However, TCL is definitely one of the best in the world because it delivers inexpensive televisions with adequate specs and features.
One of such television is the TCL 8 series, a 4K smart television that was released in 2019. Furthermore, as a smart television, this TV comes with the popular Roku TV OS that gives it access to major streaming services.
That’s not all; this television also offers good picture quality and supports HDR. Apart from that, there is still so much more the TCL 8 series has to offer, including a few flaws.
Hence, to find out more about this television, you have to read on.
TCL 8 Series: Design, Dimension, and Weight
Design-wise, the TCL 8 series comes with a stunning design that is attention-grabbing. To start with, this television features extremely thin bezels that frame its display screen.
Moreover, these thin bezels are made of plastic and have a matte-black finish. However, the bottom bezel is somewhat thicker than the other bezels and features a brushed gunmetal finish.
Also, this bottom bezel has a white “TCL” inscription at the center and a “Roku TV” inscription at the right edge. With that being said, let us now discuss the rear of the TCL 8 series.
This television comes with a plastic panel on its back that is divided into two parts. Specifically, the upper part of the back panel has a glossy-black finish, while the bottom part has a textured black finish.
However, the bottom part of the back panel is quite plumpy because it houses all the television’s electronics and components. Hence, whenever the TCL 8 series is mounted on the wall, it tends to bulge out and look somewhat awkward.
Talking of wall mounting, this television’s back panel features four holes that can accommodate a 300 x 300 VESA mount. Obviously, this VESA mount is for mounting the television on the wall.
Unluckily, TCL fails to include any form of a cable management system on the back panel of this TV. Thus, users will need to manually arrange every cable attached to the television to ensure a clean setup.
Moving on, the TCL 8 series comes with a gray metallic stand that is attached from its back. Due to the metallic build of this stand, it is capable of providing enough support for the TV to stand firmly.
Hence, the TCL 8 series shouldn’t wobble too much when nudged.
Moving on to the dimension and weight, the TCL 8 series measures 1445.2 x 78.7 x 835.7 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 31706.1 g. When compared to most 65-inch televisions out there, this TCL television weighs more.
A good example is the Samsung NU6900 65, which weighs 24992.9 g and measures 1457.9 x 60.9 x 838.2mm (W x D x H).
In a nutshell, the TCL 8 series has a very attractive design that would grab one’s attention at first sight. However, this TV lacks any form of cable management and is heavier than most of its competitors.
Therefore, I will be rating the TCL 8 series an eight out of ten in this design review section.
TCL 8 Series: Display Features and Picture Quality
The display is the most important feature of television as it defines what the television can actually do. Thankfully, the TCL 8 series doesn’t disappoint in that area, as it comes with an impressive 65-inch QLED display.
The acronym “QLED” simply means quantum dot light-emitting diode. Furthermore, QLED displays are very similar to regular LED displays in terms of appearance and performance.
However, the major difference between both of them is that QLED displays are made with a quantum dot layer. Hence, this layer enhances the displays’ color accuracy and brightness, allowing them to deliver exceptional picture quality.
Thus, it is fair to say that a QLED television is better than a standard LED television. Besides, the TCL 8 series’ QLED display comes with a 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution that allows it to deliver realistic and well-detailed images.
Aside from the 4K UHD resolution, the display also offers an outstanding contrast ratio of 6649:1. Having such a high contrast ratio implies that this television’s display will be able to produce deep blacks.
As a result, movies with plenty of dark/shadowy scenes, like Mortal Kombat, will be appealing to watch on the TCL 8 series. Also, the television should be good for a dark room setting due to its impressive contrast ratio.
Amazingly, despite having a high contrast ratio, the TCL 8 series’ QLED display still supports local dimming. Just to be clear, local dimming refers to a technique that enhances the black level and contrast ratio of a display by dimming backlight zones.
Thus, blacks on this television’s QLED display will be darker than they would be without local dimming. In addition to supporting local dimming, the TCL 8 series’ QLED display also supports HDR (High Dynamic Range).
Precisely, the display supports various HDR formats which are HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision. Briefly, HDR is a picture technique that increases a display’s color production and brightness when viewing HDR-supported content.
Hence, when watching such content on the TCL 8 series, the picture quality will be very realistic and lifelike. For the record, you can find HDR-supported content on streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu.
Impressively, with the help of HDR, the TCL 8 series’ QLED display offers an exceptional peak brightness of 1379 nits. Thus, this television is more than adequate for watching movies outdoors or in a well-lit environment.
Sadly, despite its numerous amazing features, this television’s display has poor viewing angles. Therefore, pictures and colors will lose quality and accuracy when watching the TCL 8 series from an extreme angle or off-center.
Hence, I recommend you watch this television directly from the center so as to get the best viewing experience. In addition to its poor viewing angles, the TCL 8 series’ display comes with a mediocre input lag of 26.8 milliseconds.
Briefly, input lag refers to the time it takes a display to register signal input from external sources like a wireless gamepad. Furthermore, the display’s input lag is a major factor that determines a television’s gaming ability.
Specifically, if the display’s input lag is 15 milliseconds or less, the TV can be deemed adequate for gaming. Apparently, the input lag of the TCL 8 series’ display is more than 15 ms.
Therefore, this television isn’t good enough for gaming.
On a bright note, the TCL 8 series’ display has a good response time of 11.9 milliseconds. Thus, movies with numerous fast-moving scenes will be a joy to watch on this TV.
The reason behind this is that there will be little to no blur trails when the display is rendering such movies. For your information, response time refers to the duration a display takes to change from one color to another.
In conclusion, the TCL 8 series’ display offers outstanding picture quality and supports HDR. Also, this display has an incredible maximum brightness and an outstanding contrast ratio.
However, the display has poor viewing angles. Regardless, the TCL 8 series deserves nothing less than a nine out of ten rating in this display review section.
TCL 8 Series: Sound Features
For the sound department, the TCL 8 series comes with a pair of 2 CH 15-watt speakers. These speakers deliver good sound quality but aren’t loud enough to fill a big room with sound.
Hence, this TCL television isn’t particularly good for a large room setting. To add to the woes, the television doesn’t come with a subwoofer.
Therefore, its speakers won’t be able to produce enough amount of bass needed to enjoy the rumbling and thumping sounds in movies/music. Thus, if you love bass-heavy movies, I advise you to purchase a soundbar alongside the television.
On the plus side, the TCL 8 series features Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Atmos to enhance its sound performance. First and foremost, Dolby Digital Plus is a sound technology that enhances the surround sound production of the television’s speakers.
Thereby enabling the speakers to create a cinema-style sound quality. Dolby Atmos, on the other hand, increase the loudness of the television’s speakers, allowing them to deliver an immersive sound experience.
Besides, thanks to Dolby Atmos, the TCL 8 series’ speakers are able to produce audible and clear dialogue. For context, dialogue refers to the conversation between multiple characters in a TV show or movie.
Moving on, the TCL 8 series offers an outstanding distortion performance. To be more specific, the television delivered an impressive score of 0.3% on the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) test.
For clarity, the THD test is an assessment that estimates the amount of distortion a sound device is capable of producing. Furthermore, a score of 1% or less on this test indicates that the sound device produces a minimal amount of distortion.
Whereas, a score above 1% means that the sound device can produce a significant amount of distortion. Well, as seen above, the TCL 8 series’ THD score is way less than 1%.
Thus, even when you set the television to the max volume level, distortion will be very minimal and inaudible. If you are wondering, distortion is the alteration of a sound device’s original audio frequencies.
Thereby causing the sound device to produce unpleasant sound quality and noise.
All in all, the TCL 8 series deserves a rating of eight out of ten in this sound review section.
TCL 8 Series: Ports and Connectivity Features
Port-wise, the TCL 8 series comes with a decent amount of ports that are all located on its right side. These ports include four HDMI ports, with one that is compatible with ARC (Audio Return Channel).
Hence, with the ARC-compatible HDMI port, users will be able to connect a soundbar to this TCL television. Aside from these HDMI ports, the TCL 8 series also features a USB port, an optical audio output, and composite video input.
That’s not all; the television also comes with a 3.5mm audio output, an RF connector, and an Ethernet port. Meanwhile, when it comes to wireless connectivity, this TCL television has an in-built 802.11ac 2×2 (2.4 GHz + 5.0 GHz) Wi-Fi.
However, the TV lacks Bluetooth. On a positive note, the TCL 8 series comes with a voice-supported Roku RC580 remote control.
Design-wise, this remote is entirely made out of plastic and has a matte-black finish. However, the remote is quite small, meaning it features a limited amount of buttons.
Nevertheless, due to its small stature, it should fit perfectly in your palm. Besides, the few buttons you will find on this remote include a plus-shaped navigation button.
Also, the remote has four dedicated buttons for quick access to Netflix, Hulu, ESPN Plus, and the Roku channel. Furthermore, as a voice-supported remote, the Roku RC580 remote control has a built-in microphone.
This microphone allows for voice input via Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Apart from this mic, you’ll also find a “TCL” and “Roku TV” inscription at the bottom part of the remote for brand identification.
In summary, the TCL 8 series has a decent amount of ports and comes with a voice-supported remote control. However, this TV lacks Bluetooth.
Nonetheless, I will be rating the TCL 8 series an eight out of ten in this ports and connectivity review section.
TCL 8 Series: Smart Features
The TCL 8 series make use of the Roku TV operating system, just like most TCL televisions. This OS offers a user-friendly, lag-free, and smooth interface that is very easy to understand and use.
Besides, the interface has a navigation bar in a column setting which makes you to select and highlight items with ease. Moreover, this navigation bar includes menus like streaming channels, settings, home, my feeds, search, and news menu.
Aside from all that, the Roku TV operating system offers plenty of streaming services and applications. Some of these streaming services include Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Pandora, and HBO Max.
Although these streaming services are paid streaming services, the Roku TV OS offers a handful of free streaming services. These free streaming services include Tubi, CBS, and Peacock TV.
Moreover, you can also stream/share content from your smart device to the TCL 8 series via the Roku app. Impressively, this Roku app is free and available on the Google Play Store and App Store.
To end this smart features review section, I will rate the TCL 8 series a nine out of ten.
Frequently Asked Questions
The TCL 8 series was released in 2019.
Yes, it does. The TCL 8 series comes with a voice-supported Roku RC580 remote control.
The TCL 8 series has four HDMI ports, including one that supports ARC (Audio Return Channel).
Apparently, the TCL 8 series is a smart television that makes use of the Roku TV operating system.
With its display’s input lag of 26.8 milliseconds, the TCL 8 Series isn’t good for playing games.
Conclusion
The TCL 8 series is a smart TV that offers exceptional specifications and performance. Specifically, this television comes with an outstanding QLED display as well as a decent sound performance.
Besides that, the television offers a good number of ports and a voice-supported remote control. That’s not all; this television also comes with a brilliant OS that gives it access to lots of free and paid streaming services.
However, the television has bad viewing angles and lacks Bluetooth. Also, the TV isn’t good for gaming because its display doesn’t have a low input lag.
Nevertheless, the television’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses. Therefore, if you need an adequate-performing QLED television, the TCL 8 series is worth considering.
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