TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) review
Our Verdict
The TCL half dozen-Series Roku TV (R635) offers enormous value for it's affordable price, offering premium film quality and a groovy smart TV experience for much less than the competition.
For
- Excellent picture with QLED-boosted color and mini-LED backlight
- Slap-up gaming performance
- Roku TV offers a huge app selection and easy interface
- Improved Roku remote
Against
- Sound is a little weak
- Roku is missing some of the latest apps
Tom'due south Guide Verdict
The TCL half dozen-Serial Roku Boob tube (R635) offers enormous value for it'southward affordable toll, offering premium picture quality and a cracking smart TV experience for much less than the competition.
Pros
- +
First-class picture with QLED-boosted color and mini-LED backlight
- +
Peachy gaming performance
- +
Roku TV offers a huge app option and easy interface
- +
Improved Roku remote
Cons
- -
Audio is a little weak
- -
Roku is missing some of the latest apps
TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) Specs
Toll: $649.99
Model number: 55R635
Screen Size: 55 inches
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
HDR: HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision
Refresh Rate: 120 Hz
Ports: 4 HDMI, 1 USB
Audio: 2x eight-watt w/ Dolby Atmos
Smart Goggle box Software: Roku TV 8.0
Size: 48.3 x 28.1 x 2.viii inches [w/o stand up]
Weight: 41.9 pounds [w/o stand]
The TCL 6-Series Roku Idiot box (R635) is the 2020 version of TCL'south superb 6-Series model line, one of the best value TVs on the market for several years running. Based on our testing, this is easily one of the best TVs of the twelvemonth.
TCL has outfitted this mid-range set with more premium features than ever earlier, enhancing the display with quantum dot enhancement and mini-LED backlighting – engineering that earned it a 2021 Tom's Guide Accolade for best Television receiver innovation – and backing it all with their best video processor to date. The Television offers one of the best implementations of Roku TV you can purchase, and includes voice search with a microphone congenital right into the remote for super user-friendly utilise.
Our TCL half-dozen-Series Roku TV (R635) review makes it clear that the 2020 set is everything we've loved nigh past six-Series models, similar the 2019 TCL 6-Series Roku TV R625 — merely amend. The 1 affair that didn't change? The excellent price.
Editor's Note : Since our initial review in September of 2020, TCL announced that it will keep the TCL six-Series Roku Goggle box (R635) on as it'southward flagship 4K Telly in 2021 and launched the new TCL 6-Series 8K Roku Boob tube (R648) , expanding the model line beyond mainstream 4K sets. We've updated the review to reverberate this. The rating and overall recommendations of our review remain unchanged.
TCL 6-Series Roku Television (R635) review: Pricing and availability
The TCL six-Serial Roku TV (R635) is available in several sizes, ranging from 55 up to 75 in. Our review focuses on the 55-in model, but all of our observations and test results should agree consistent beyond every size in the line.
- 55-inch (model 55R635) — $799
- 65-inch (model 65R635) — $1,099
- 75-inch (model 75R635) — $i,599
The merely significant differences between these models is the number of mini-LED backlights. The 55-inch model we reviewed boasts 128 backlighting zones fabricated up of hundreds of mini-LED lights. The 65 and 75-inch models offering up to 240 zones and every bit many as ane,000 mini-LED lights, due to the larger size of the screens.
With such pocket-sized differences between the different screen size options, we're confident that our recommendations for the 55-inch model apply equally to the 65 and 75-in versions of the set.
And while near TV makers launched new TVs for 2021, TCL is still be offering the 6-Series R635 as it'south mainstream 4K TV in 2021. However, the 6-Series is getting a new model, with a pair of 8K TVs. Check out our TCL 6-Serial 8K Roku TV (R648) review to learn more.
TCL 6-Serial Roku Television receiver (R635) review: Design
The TCL 6-Series is relatively slim, measuring two.8 inches at the thickest bespeak, only narrowing down to simply ane inch thick around the outside bezel. The design is actually a piffling flake boxy, but in line with past TCL designs. It emphasizes the display very well, with a frame-like bezel and chassis that'due south covered in what looks to be brushed metal.
The back of the set up protrudes just a flake to firm the various TV components and speakers, merely it will even so mount on a wall without any difficulty using a 300mm x 300mm VESA mount.
The height half of the rear chassis has a slick looking glossy finish, so if yous wish to set the TV upward in the middle of the room instead of up against a wall, the dorsum side of the prepare is not the usual drab you lot'll get on most TVs.
The stand that comes with the Idiot box consists of two feet, which attach at either finish of the set. They adhere quite easily, and the pattern is prissy in that the brackets are easily marked and simply fit in the correct spots, and then there'southward no accidentally attaching the right foot on the left hand side of the set and vice versa. New in 2020 is the addition of cable management in those feet, with clips for power cables and other cords built in.
TCL half-dozen-Series Roku Goggle box (R635) review: Ports
On the back right hand side of the TCL six-Series you lot'll find a drove of ports, gathered in a single easy-to-reach panel set five inches from the border of the TV. There yous will find four HDMI ports, a coaxial connection for cable or antenna, a unmarried USB port, an 3.5 mm headphone jack, a digital optical TOSLINK connection and a small AV input connection.
While TCL doesn't say 1 manner or another whether these are HDMI ii.1 connections, they exercise merits back up for some of the most notable features from the 2.1 spec, like Auto-Depression Latency Mode (ALLM) and Variable Refresh Charge per unit (VRR).
The set has an ethernet jack for wired internet connection, every bit well as built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi. As well on the dorsum of the ready is a small physical power button.
- Check out our Roku Ultra LT review
TCL six-Series Roku TV (R635) review: Operation
The 55-inch TCL half dozen-Serial has a large, bright 4K panel, with QLED applied science enhancing the brightness and colors, and a 120 Hz refresh charge per unit providing smooth action for any content you want to watch.
Color quality was rich and vibrant, with life-similar color on a bird's wings and exotic foliage as I watched scenes from Our Planet, Netflix's 4K nature documentary series. There was some minor banding in scenes where color transitions were especially subtle, similar vivid blue sky, but changes in tone left slightly posterized circles of color as sunlight shifted between shades of blue and yellow.
The backlight performance on the TCL 6-Series is very good, with the fix'southward many discrete dimming zones doing an admirable job of providing high contrast light and dark with minimal haloing. Information technology's not perfect, simply neither is whatever LCD set we've reviewed. However, the halos aren't egregious, and we're merely noticeable in scenes with very high contrast and modest points of low-cal.
While watching Blade Runner 2049, the TCL 6-Series exhibited some haloing during a scene that shows embers coming upwards from a bivouac and stars in the sky – merely the issue was far less pronounced than we anticipated.
Watching the 4K teaser trailer for The Batman, the shadow drenched-scenes offered a not bad test of how well the prepare handles blackness and virtually-black colors, a common weak indicate among even the best LCD sets. Whether information technology was Batman's black-and-grey armor or crowds of blackness suits and overcoats in a crowd, the TCL half dozen-Serial did well in not only retaining the details in night shadows, information technology as well did well with all of the subtle variations between black and grey and near blackness shades of color.
The TCL 6-Series proved every bit good at handling bright color in the 4K trailer for Wonder Woman 1984. A sunlight drenched arena filled with Amazons and a 1980s inflected Times Square filled with vivid signs and video billboards looked superb with bright reds, greens and yellows. In normal fashion reds and blues were just a bear upon over saturated, simply switching to moving picture mode solved most of the very minor color issues nosotros saw on the screen.
Highlights like glinting gold armor and jets firing upwards in a dark airfield too expect excellent, and the HDR performance on the set is among the all-time I've seen on a non-OLED TV. With support for Dolby Vision as well every bit standard HDR10 and HLG content, most movies volition wait fantastic.
Despite the TCL vi-Series facing the same challenges as other LCD sets, the combination of the QLED panel and mini-LED backlight reduces or eliminates many of the issues we expected to encounter. Nosotros didn't notice whatever shadows along the edges or in the corners of the display, and the backlight consistency across the entire screen looks perfect.
Viewing angles on the ready are likewise nice and wide, with merely the merest tint of color shifting when viewed at 45-degree angle. That makes this an excellent Goggle box for movie night or the big game, since anyone seated off to the sides of the prime viewing spot will still be able to see everything with full clarity and authentic color.
TCL six-Series Roku Boob tube (R635) review: Test results
My positive impressions of the 6-Serial' excellent operation were confirmed by the results of our lab testing, where the R635 showed itself to have first-class color and brightness.
Color gamut, which measures the breadth of colors the display can reproduce, showed an impressive 99.92 percent of the sRGB color space. While we will occasionally see premium OLED sets that exceed 100%, this matches the best we've seen from any mid-range Telly. The 2019 TCL 6-Series eked out a slightly higher score (99.95%), simply we saw lower numbers in both the Hisense H8G Quantum Series (65H8G) review (99.78%) and the Vizio M-Series Quantum (M658-G1) review from last year (99.91%), despite the fact that all of these sets offer some of the best color in the sub-$ane,000 toll range.
Color accuracy was just every bit impressive. When tested with our X-RIte colorimeter and CalMan calibration software, the TCL 6-Series R635 had a delta-E rating of 2.8 (closer to 0 is better). Again, last yr's TCL 6-Serial Roku TV R625 was ever-so slightly improve (2.ii), and the Hisense H8G Quantum Serial (65H8G) is actually the current accurateness leader (i.2), simply the equally superb-looking Vizio One thousand-Series Quantum (M658-G1) was less authentic color overall (3.6).
All in all, the color and image quality on the TCL R635 is excellent, and more importantly, it looks excellent whether y'all're watching broadcast TV, streaming movies or Ultra HD Blu-rays.
TCL 6-Serial Roku Tv (R635) review: Gaming
The TCL 6-Series is also no slouch in the gaming department. While all modern TVs take a depression-latency game way, the TCL half dozen-Serial R635 is the kickoff to get THX Certified Game Mode, which not simply strips out the extra video processing that would tedious down the response time for the player, information technology also meets a bunch of other criteria for high-quality images. These stringent requirements look at everything from color quality and refresh rates to rise fourth dimension, which looks at how quickly the TV can handle night-to-low-cal transitions, essential for fast-paced games.
The half dozen-Series also supports all of the gaming-oriented features of HDMI 2.ane connectivity, similar Auto-Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which switches to game mode as soon every bit the panel is turned on, and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), which matches the screen to the frame-by-frame output coming from the Goggle box, synchronizing the two for judder-costless gaming.
The overall lag time is besides decently fast, clocking at 21.v milliseconds according to our lag tester. While there are faster sets out there, like the Hisense H8G Quantum (13.eight) and the 2019 TCL 6-Series R625 (13.one), it's still more than fast plenty for most gamers, and notably faster than either the Vizio Grand-Series Quantum (29.9) or the Samsung Q60T QLED Tv (27.8).
If you want ane of the best gaming TVs on the marketplace, this is it. It's likewise shaping upwards to exist one of the all-time TVs for PS5 and Xbox Serial Ten after this year -- the combination of great performance, short lag times and HDMI 2.1 gaming support makes information technology platonic for handling the 4K, high-frame-rate gaming offered by the upcoming consoles.
TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) review: Sound
The TCL 6-Series weakest front is hands the sound quality offered past the pair of 8-watt speakers within. They aren't as loud equally we would like, and the lack of a subwoofer was noticeable when listening to test tracks, like the Deftone'southward "Ohms." The pounding drums and crushing guitar sounded good, but the bassline lacked some of the oomph that normally round out the ring's sound.
Sure, it volition fill a room, and will exist pretty articulate – I did notice some baloney creeping in when I pushed the book above 80% – but it's still a far weep from matching the first-class visual quality delivered past the TV.
For bigger sound to friction match the screen, we recommend adding ane of the best soundbars, with Dolby Atmos back up to accept full advantage of the TCL's capabilities.
TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) review: Smart features
When it comes to smart TV operating systems, Roku offers some of the best and worst you'll find on modern smart TVs. Frequently establish on less expensive models, the Roku interface is easy to navigate, has a huge selection of apps and services, and even offers vocalization navigation and search. Compared to proprietary software used by companies like Samsung and LG, Roku holds its own with a wider app choice and fantabulous interface.
Simply it also is held back past a lack of certain features. As continued devices become more prominent in our lives, the 6-Series' lack of smart home controls is noticeable. You can get some of these capabilities through the TV by pairing the set with an Amazon or Google smart speaker, but using the TV for functions like monitoring camera feeds or checking thermostat settings is very hit or miss.
Information technology'south also missing some of the latest apps – you lot can get Apple Television set Plus, Disney Plus and fifty-fifty Peloton'due south fitness apps, only HBO Max and NBC's Peacock are missing completely (at to the lowest degree for at present).
That said, if you lot want your smart TV to mostly be a Television, Roku does avowal a huge selection of complimentary apps and channels, including pop services like Crackle, Tubi and PlutoTV. The majority of paid services are besides readily available, similar Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, making it a serviceable selection for most users.
TCL 6-Serial Roku Tv set (R635) review: Remote command
The remote control that comes with the TCL vi-Serial is extremely familiar to anyone that'south used a Roku TV in the last few years, with a fairly modest, easy to concord shape and simple uncluttered design.
The basic layout remains the aforementioned, with a purple plus-shaped directional pad in the center of the remote, though the button has a comfortable rubberized finish instead of the glossy plastic we've seen on many Roku device remotes. Above that are buttons for power, home and a back button, all in the same places they've been for years. Below the plus-shaped pad yous will find two rows of control buttons to admission settings to reset entirely, every bit well as media playback buttons.
The media controls again benefit from pocket-size tweaks; the buttons are wider, making them easier to distinguish from the other buttons adjacent to them and the play/pause button in the heart is larger than the forrad and back buttons to either side. All this makes for a remote that is easier to navigate past feel.
And finally beneath those are four dedicated app buttons that will accept you immediately to the acme apps and services. These buttons cannot exist reprogrammed, and come up pre-assigned to various apps -- in this case Netflix, Disney plus, Hulu, and Sling TV -- but are handy for anyone that uses these services.
TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) review: Verdict
For a set that's divers as much by information technology's value every bit information technology's features and flick quality, the TCL half dozen-Series Roku TV (R635) is one of the all-time sets on the market. The 6-Series has a well-earned reputation for premium quality at affordable prices, just the combination of QLED enhancement, mini-LED backlighting and a solid smart Television receiver feel go far the articulate winner among TVs that sell for nether $1,000.
Even among by top picks, like the Vizio K-Series Quantum (M658-G1) and the 2019 TCL half-dozen-Series (R625), the new R635 is the best value we've seen for the coin, delivering excellent picture quality and plenty of features, including supporting side by side-generation game consoles. The whole packet is enough to make the TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) one of the best TVs of 2020.
See where else the TCL half-dozen-Serial Roku TV (R635) is mentioned:
Best 4K TVs | All-time TVs nether $1000 | Best TCL TVs | All-time Roku TVs
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/TCL-6-Series-Roku-TV-R635
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