- Jan 3, 2013
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With all the Buzz surrounding these TV's (good & bad), I thought I would post up a review for the laymen, by a laymen on the new TCL 55R615 (2018 model) 4K TV ( review here https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/tcl/6-series-2018-r617 ) TV. For a bit of context I am coming from a calibrated PN59D5500 as seen here ( https://www.digitaltrends.com/tv-reviews/samsung-pn59d550-review/ ). So as you can imagine my hopes were high. Ok, on to the review.
THE UNBOXING
From what I understand, this years box is slightly larger than last years packaging. I assume this was done to help better protect the TV and the new brushed metal bezel/back. The entire box lifts off a cardboard base and everything is neatly and nicely packed, offering a very easy and convenient unpacking. Once open and out, plastic sheets cover all the metal so that needs to be peeled. I had the box open, and the
TV (including parts) out in less than 3 minutes. Other items including a roku remote, batteries, manual, and such are in a plastic bag.
PUTTING TOGETHER
The TV has what I think are nice, sturdy legs that screw in to place at the corner/edges of the base. They make the TV stand almost as wide as the TV so one has to be careful if not wall mounting, as the stand needs to be as wide as the TV to properly fit. However, you can indeed install the feet inward to save nearly 12 inches of width and the TV remains as sturdy as before (I tested that myself). It took all of 2 minutes to install the feet, 2 screws each, and snugly fitted in to recessed area(s) covered with a plastic cover for when wall mounting (I wall mounted it after testing out the feet)
FIRST IMPRESSION
After it was opened and together, I was very impressed with the clean neat design. The almost edgeless design is very sleek and in my humble opinion has a very high end look and feel to it. The screen, which I believe is a matte finish was blemish free and the overall aesthetics of the unit was very nice! Note, the entire back is not metal. The top half of the back and the edges are, but the bottom half back in plastic. However this did not take away anything for me.
SET UP
Set up was a breeze. After I had it hung, and all connections/components plugged in (and on), I was walked through a quick update, then a handful of easy set up options. WiFi password, location, input naming, ect... All told, in 5 minutes (including update) I was up and running. It took an additional minute or 2 getting my sound bar to work via an ARC adjustment, but other than that, it was very simple and straight forward.
AUDIO
As I mentioned, I use a sound bar ( a samsung 5.1 set up) but did test the on board sound a bit and it was not horrible. It had a pretty natural sound but as most TV's it was a bit thin and lacked proper bass. If you are use to using your TV's on board speakers, these will not disappoint but not blow you away either.
VIDEO / PICTURE QUALITY
Let me just get this out of the way, the picture quality is amazing. Dosent matter if it is gaming (tested both my PS4 & XBOX1), or cabel TV, or Netflix, or Youtube. Everything looked MUCH better. The clolor are amazing, the brights and darks are exceptional, and it has actually exceeded my hopes for a major upgrade in PQ. Having said that, I want to get in to more of the specifics.
GAMING – I believe this was tested at a sub 20ms input lag, so as expected it is very fluid and responsive, no lag to be noticed. I have only gamed in 1080P but everything I tested (FC5, Skyrim, Madden 18) looked noticeably better. I am actually giddy to be able to test 4K gaming in the near future.
4K – All I can say is WOW! I tested out many Youtube videos and a handful of Netflix streams and was absolutely blown away. Although I will say upfront I think I prefer HDR10 to Dolby Vision as DV comes off a bit too dark for me). However, at worst the 4K was impressive no matter the content and at best it was next level stuff. I was actually smiling while testing it out, out of sheer happiness.
UNIFORMITY/BANDING – If you have any other user reviews you will see that some are having issues with this panel. Luckily I am not one of them. If I look really hard at an all white screen I can perhaps barely make out some gradient of vertical banding, but in no other situation can I see it regardless the content. Some are also seeing some DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) and I see none of that in any situation. However, and again, on a pure white screen I believe I can see some ever so slight corner shading but in any other situation it is not noticeable at all. I consider all of the things mentioned acceptable and perhaps even normal, and once again, in no other situation can any of these things be noticed during viewing.
VIEWING ANGLES – I find the viewing angles very nice. While in my living room, I am never more than 45 degrees off center and within that parameter there is no noticeable degradation. Even when entering the room I am at about 70 degrees and it still looks perfectly fine to me.
INTERFACE
I LOVE the interface! Its the basic Roku interface with additional tiles for inputs, but it is very easy and intuitive to use. On my old TV I was using a Roku Premier+ and I literally see zero difference in response, load times, ect... Switching inputs is quick and simple, and the tile/thumbnail even shows you a live preview of the input when you highlight it.
REMOTE CONTROL
I love the simplicity of the Roku remote, so it was very easy for me to use. However, I will say that the build quality of the TV's Roku remote feels like a tick lower that that of my Roku Premier+ stand alone remote. Nothing major but a slight disappointment. All in all it still feels good and works well. Note though, its a line of sight remote...
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
I was nervous at the 60 hertz panel but so far it has blown me away, showing no adverse effects one might worry about. Everything I have watched, including sports, has been fluid and spot on with no sign of ghosting, stuttering, ect... I have not tested it myself but I understand this panel also supports chroma 4:4:4. All in all, I am blown away TCL delivered as promised and for only $599+tax I have a TV I am once again excited to watch. Thanks for reading my review and I hope this finds some well.
THE UNBOXING
From what I understand, this years box is slightly larger than last years packaging. I assume this was done to help better protect the TV and the new brushed metal bezel/back. The entire box lifts off a cardboard base and everything is neatly and nicely packed, offering a very easy and convenient unpacking. Once open and out, plastic sheets cover all the metal so that needs to be peeled. I had the box open, and the
TV (including parts) out in less than 3 minutes. Other items including a roku remote, batteries, manual, and such are in a plastic bag.
PUTTING TOGETHER
The TV has what I think are nice, sturdy legs that screw in to place at the corner/edges of the base. They make the TV stand almost as wide as the TV so one has to be careful if not wall mounting, as the stand needs to be as wide as the TV to properly fit. However, you can indeed install the feet inward to save nearly 12 inches of width and the TV remains as sturdy as before (I tested that myself). It took all of 2 minutes to install the feet, 2 screws each, and snugly fitted in to recessed area(s) covered with a plastic cover for when wall mounting (I wall mounted it after testing out the feet)
FIRST IMPRESSION
After it was opened and together, I was very impressed with the clean neat design. The almost edgeless design is very sleek and in my humble opinion has a very high end look and feel to it. The screen, which I believe is a matte finish was blemish free and the overall aesthetics of the unit was very nice! Note, the entire back is not metal. The top half of the back and the edges are, but the bottom half back in plastic. However this did not take away anything for me.
SET UP
Set up was a breeze. After I had it hung, and all connections/components plugged in (and on), I was walked through a quick update, then a handful of easy set up options. WiFi password, location, input naming, ect... All told, in 5 minutes (including update) I was up and running. It took an additional minute or 2 getting my sound bar to work via an ARC adjustment, but other than that, it was very simple and straight forward.
AUDIO
As I mentioned, I use a sound bar ( a samsung 5.1 set up) but did test the on board sound a bit and it was not horrible. It had a pretty natural sound but as most TV's it was a bit thin and lacked proper bass. If you are use to using your TV's on board speakers, these will not disappoint but not blow you away either.
VIDEO / PICTURE QUALITY
Let me just get this out of the way, the picture quality is amazing. Dosent matter if it is gaming (tested both my PS4 & XBOX1), or cabel TV, or Netflix, or Youtube. Everything looked MUCH better. The clolor are amazing, the brights and darks are exceptional, and it has actually exceeded my hopes for a major upgrade in PQ. Having said that, I want to get in to more of the specifics.
GAMING – I believe this was tested at a sub 20ms input lag, so as expected it is very fluid and responsive, no lag to be noticed. I have only gamed in 1080P but everything I tested (FC5, Skyrim, Madden 18) looked noticeably better. I am actually giddy to be able to test 4K gaming in the near future.
4K – All I can say is WOW! I tested out many Youtube videos and a handful of Netflix streams and was absolutely blown away. Although I will say upfront I think I prefer HDR10 to Dolby Vision as DV comes off a bit too dark for me). However, at worst the 4K was impressive no matter the content and at best it was next level stuff. I was actually smiling while testing it out, out of sheer happiness.
UNIFORMITY/BANDING – If you have any other user reviews you will see that some are having issues with this panel. Luckily I am not one of them. If I look really hard at an all white screen I can perhaps barely make out some gradient of vertical banding, but in no other situation can I see it regardless the content. Some are also seeing some DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) and I see none of that in any situation. However, and again, on a pure white screen I believe I can see some ever so slight corner shading but in any other situation it is not noticeable at all. I consider all of the things mentioned acceptable and perhaps even normal, and once again, in no other situation can any of these things be noticed during viewing.
VIEWING ANGLES – I find the viewing angles very nice. While in my living room, I am never more than 45 degrees off center and within that parameter there is no noticeable degradation. Even when entering the room I am at about 70 degrees and it still looks perfectly fine to me.
INTERFACE
I LOVE the interface! Its the basic Roku interface with additional tiles for inputs, but it is very easy and intuitive to use. On my old TV I was using a Roku Premier+ and I literally see zero difference in response, load times, ect... Switching inputs is quick and simple, and the tile/thumbnail even shows you a live preview of the input when you highlight it.
REMOTE CONTROL
I love the simplicity of the Roku remote, so it was very easy for me to use. However, I will say that the build quality of the TV's Roku remote feels like a tick lower that that of my Roku Premier+ stand alone remote. Nothing major but a slight disappointment. All in all it still feels good and works well. Note though, its a line of sight remote...
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
I was nervous at the 60 hertz panel but so far it has blown me away, showing no adverse effects one might worry about. Everything I have watched, including sports, has been fluid and spot on with no sign of ghosting, stuttering, ect... I have not tested it myself but I understand this panel also supports chroma 4:4:4. All in all, I am blown away TCL delivered as promised and for only $599+tax I have a TV I am once again excited to watch. Thanks for reading my review and I hope this finds some well.
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