The TCL 6-Series has established itself as the best TV for the money over the last five years by fusing excellent image quality with a price that most TV buyers can afford.
The Roku TV is a great choice for midrange price range. It has many channels and apps to choose from, and it is user-friendly.
Design
The TCL 6-Series 8K is a large, heavy TV by modern standards. The panel is one inch thick overall, but it expands to almost three inches in some places to provide room for the electronics and sound system at the back. The 65-inch set weighs more than 70 pounds, not that we’re trying to shame it or anything. It follows that you shouldn’t attempt to carry it up stairs by yourself and that you should use a sturdy piece of furniture to support it if you intend to place it atop a credenza. ..
The TCL 6-Series 8K TV is supported by a 12-inch deep, center-mounted wedge stand, similar to the one used by LG for their B1 OLED TVs. The stylish and solid support prevents you from discretely stowing a sound bar or cable box underneath the set. The Roku streaming channels software is one of the friendliest and most well-known smart TV user interfaces, and it is used by the TCL set. It hasn’t changed much over time because it supports thousands of streaming online channels and is simple to learn. ..
The integrated voice search offers still another degree of convenience and functions well in a number of contexts while browsing for titles across all channels and searching for YouTube videos. Siri, Alexa, and Google integration with voice control is also possible. You also receive a premium remote with this premium television. The typical Roku controls, including a 4-way directional pad and an “Ok” button in the middle, are displayed on its silver exterior. On the right side of the remote, there are volume controls and four buttons specifically designated for Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu, and Disney +.
TCL Roku TV 6-Series 8K R648 review: Features
The TCL 6-Series 8K uses Roku’s smart TV platform. The set contains four HDMI ports for establishing the necessary connections, one of which is eArc to detect compatible soundbars and receivers automatically. A mini analogue output jack and a digital optical output are available for audio. A USB port and a coaxial port for an antenna are located on the TV’s back as well.
To connect to your home network, you can use dual-band Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Outside of the US, this model is not accessible. The X925 from TCL Australia does come in 8K, but since it’s a Google TV, its performance may vary. The R648 employs the well-known Roku TV user interface, as suggested by its full name. The options are highlighted in a scrolling menu on the side, and they include “Featured Free” (free TV shows and movies), “My Feed” (your customizable video stream), “Movie, TV, and channel stores,” “Search,” and “Home.”
Roku TV is a great smart TV platform, but it doesn’t have the features found on other platforms like Google TV or Apple TV. Its app selection has grown to include essentials like Apple TV+ and Disney+, but its clunky and out-of-date design makes it less desirable than other sets’ more cutting-edge options.
Picture quality
The TCL 6-Series is a new 8K TV that will astound you if you’ve never seen one before. It particularly shines when fed 4K material, especially anything shot in HDR or Dolby Vision. With no haloing, light leakage, or oversaturation, the 6-Series manages to achieve the ideal balance of vibrant colors, startling contrast, and excellent black levels.
The Mini LED lighting on the TV is the key to its success because it can precisely control how much light is directed to each area of the screen at any given time and how much of the LED zones on the screen need to be turned off. This improves an LED-LCD TV’s ability to control contrast to an almost OLED level and lessens problems like blooming.
The TV’s performance was good when we fed it HD or sub-HD content, but there were some issues with the motion processing. We turned off the motion processing on the TV to fix these issues.
Our TCL Roku TV 6-Series 8K R648 review found problems with the TV that cause motion artifacting, blurriness in live-action videos, and background grain.
This TV has a few flaws, but the biggest one is that it doesn’t upconvert to 8K well.
TCL Roku TV 6-Series 8K R648 review: Sound quality
The Roku sound options on the TCL 6-Series 8K set keep things simple. The six preset modes, titled Music, Theater, Speech, Big Bass, Normal, and High Treble, are all self-explanatory. The set has two 15-watt speakers and a 30-watt subwoofer built in to crank up the volume.
This set doesn’t need a sound bar unless you want additional bass for frantic soundtracks. On Aha’s “Take On Me,” a passive radiator on the back of the TV produced bass that was considerably better than what we typically hear on a TV. Additionally, it allowed Martin Sheen to narrate Apocalypse Now in an appropriately gravelly voice. With the TCL 6-Series, we were able to reach party-level, neighbor-annoying volumes at just 75% of its output without noticeably introducing distortion.
Looking into sound bar options can help you get more focused sound if you want it. The 6-Series’ music mode audio seemed a little jumbled to us, with midrange instruments mixed together. Jeff Baxter’s guitar got lost in the mix on Steely Dan’s popular song “Reelin’ in the Years,” while the bass guitar merged with the electric keyboards.
The TCL 6-Series 8K TV performed well with movies. The pre-set theater setting delivered a clear Centre channel and didn’t muffle the conversation. Although the Theater mode setting emphasizes higher notes, it has the ability to give the impression of a larger sound stage and directionalality, which can be used to track the sound of an aircraft moving across the screen. ..
Gaming
The TCL Roku TV 6-Series 8K R648 has a number of features that make it a great choice for those looking for an 8K TV. For example, it has two independent HDMI 2.1 ports, eARC port, and variable refresh rate (VRR). Additionally, it can deliver 4K/120Hz gameplay with a variable refresh rate (VRR), auto low latency mode (ALLM), and HDR all at once using an Xbox Series X dashboard.
The LG TV has four HDMI 2.1 ports, making it the most versatile gaming TV you can buy. It also has picture quality that isrespectably minimal input lag and image enhancements offered by THX Game Mode. The eARC port is still available to individuals who have sophisticated home theatre systems without limiting one of the HDMI 2.1 connectors, which is a major plus.
TCL Roku TV 6-Series 8K R648 review: Ports
The ASUS Republic of Gamers laptop has a variety of ports that are easy to access. The Ethernet port, the pinhole Reset button, four HDMI ports, the coaxial cable connector, one USB 2.0 port, the headphone jack, and the optical audio out port are all on the right side. The power port is on the left side.
The HDMI 2.1 standard enables cutting-edge features like 120 Hz refresh rates at 4K resolution, Variable Refresh Rate, and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which switches your console’s settings into gaming mode when you turn it on. It takes some trial and error to determine which ports use which standard because they are not labelled. The port that supports eARC and ARC is at least identified as such. Hopefully TCL will follow the example of businesses like LG, which has recently equipped all of its HDMI ports with the newer, more potent standard on its models, as HDMI 2.1 becomes more common in the industry.
Price and availability
The 65R648, a 65-inch TCL Roku TV 6-Series 8K, was evaluated for this study. We anticipate the performance of the 65R648 and the 75R648 to be comparable, if not necessarily in terms of the viewing experience, as these two models share the same fundamental characteristics and underlying technology. ..
Conclusion
The TCL R648 is a good TV for watching SDR and HDR movies in a dark room. However, it has a lot of black crush, so it’s not ideal for use in brightly lit rooms. ..
The Acer Predator C7-591G is a great gaming laptop that has excellent peak brightness and handling of reflections. It is great for watching movies or sporting events, but it has limited viewing angles. For a great gaming experience, gamers should also appreciate the low input lag, quick response time, HDMI 2.1 inputs, and support for variable refresh rate.
