TCL 55-inch T6G QLED TV turned out to be a surprisingly impressive option in its segment. The TV combines an attractive design, is feature-packed and comes with a colour-accurate movie mode for SDR and HDR content. For gamers, the TCL 55T6G offers several features like ALLM, HGIG mode, AMD Freesync and a 120 Hz game accelerator that elevates the gaming experience with the latest-generation consoles.
The software has some really useful extras but it is also loaded with proprietary TCL services that aren’t as useful and get in the way. Of course, the price entails some limitations like some minor screen uniformity issues and the available dynamic range for HDR but overall, if you are looking for an option that offers great picture quality on a budget for entertainment and gaming we can recommend the TCL T6G QLED TV as an option.
Pros
- Great colour accuracy
- Solid HDR performance for the price
- Good gaming performance with120FPS support on consoles
- Impactful Audio
Cons
- Bloatware in the software
TCL 55T6G QLED TV is a competitively priced TV from a renowned global brand that comes loaded with features like Dolby Vision HDR, a 120Hz game accelerator, Dolby Atmos, far-field microphones, and more. Equipped with a QLED display and 56W audio output, this TV aims to deliver a comprehensive home entertainment and gaming experience at a reasonable price. But does it live up to these promises? Let’s find out in our in-depth review.
TCL 55T6G QLED TV review: Specifications
- Panel Size: 55-inch
- Panel Type: QLED (VA LCD)
- Panel Resolution: 3840 x 2160 – 4K UHD
- Panel Refresh Rate: 60Hz
- Supported HDR Formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG
- Speakers: 56W
- Audio formats: Supports Dolby Audio, DTS Virtual:X, DTS-HD
- Software: Google TV
- HDMI Ports: 3x HDMI 2.1
- HDMI Features: ALLM, eARC
- Other connectivity options: one USB port, Dual-band Wi-Fi, Optical input, Bluetooth Ethernet, Antenna input, AV in adapter, Headphone out
- Processor: 64-bit Quad Core Processor
- Built-in RAM and storage: 2GB + 16GB
TCL 55T6G QLED TV Review: Design and Remote
This 55-inch QLED TV has a solid metallic frame and narrow bezels on three sides. The slim plastic strip at the bottom with TCL branding has a chrome finish and uplifts the design without being distracting. The LED indicator underneath does not appear cheap or tacky. Apart from the power-on button, TCL has also added a hardware toggle to disable the microphone on this module. In case you can’t locate your remote, you may also use this hard button for essentials like changing channels, adjusting volume, or switching inputs. You can also summon Google Assistant with an ‘OK Google’ prompt and use voice commands to operate the TV hands-free.
The TV comes with plastic feet featuring a metallic finish that convincingly resembles real metal. These feet provide a stable and secure base for the TV.
All ports are positioned on the central rear chassis and are outward-facing. One oddity we noticed was that, unlike in most Indian TVs, all ports are right-facing, while the power chord is on the left. This doesn’t pose any functional disadvantage but is something to keep in mind depending on your home setup. The power cord is detachable which means you will be able to easily replace it if needed.
Also Read: RGB to PHOLED – 8 Different Types of OLED Display Technologies You Should Know About!
So, overall, the TCL 55T6G QLED TV looks quite appealing.
The TV remote is sleek and quite ergonomic, thanks to the rounded side edges. We like that TCL has included a lot of useful buttons like the Options button to quickly access the quick settings menu to adjust brightness, change picture or sound mode, and more. There are also dedicated keys for Settings, Google Assistant, and hotkeys to quickly access a few popular apps. On the downside, there are a couple of superfluous extras that can also get confusing. The apps button for instance doesn’t take you to the app drawer but opens a random TCL service overlay.
TCL 55T6G QLED TV Review: Performance and software
Compared to what we usually see in this price segment, navigating the interface on the TCL 55T6G feels smooth if not snappy. The quad-core processor is backed by 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. We still had 11GB free and available after installing popular apps and that assures decent performance in the long run.
The Google TV software is based on Android 11 TV with several added customisations on top. It is mandatory to make a TCL account while setting up the TV and the interface is a little pushy with TCL’s own apps and services that most people won’t use as frequently. Other than that, TCL has made it simpler to access frequently used options and offers ample customization options within the TV settings.
Google TV ensures perks like smart connectivity via Google Assistant and seamless mirroring from the Google Home app. There are also far-field microphones, and the TV could snappily respond to OK Google prompts hands-free from a normal viewing distance of six to seven feet.
You can also cast videos from your Android phone or Apple iPhone across popular apps like Netflix, YouTube and more. And in situations where your remote goes missing, perhaps hidden under cushions, you can always rely on the virtual option in the Google Home app as a temporary replacement.
Also Check: Xiaomi Smart TV X Series (2023) 65-inch Review
TCL 55T6G QLED TV Review: HDR Performance
This TV offers a 4K QLED panel for a very competitive price and we were naturally quite eager to test the picture quality.
To start with, all popular Smart TV formats including Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG are supported on this TV. Of these, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are advanced HDR format that allows content creators to adjust content settings on a scene-by-scene or even frame-by-frame basis, thus resulting in a more impactful HDR representation.
The most colour-accurate profile for HDR10 and HDR10+ is the Movie preset. The HDR performance exceeded our expectations in terms of colour accuracy and overall representation.
Using our SpectraCal C6 HDR2000 colorimeter, VideoForge Pro pattern generator and Calman Ultimate software, we measured a peak brightness of 472 Nits which is higher than what we usually see in this price segment. In the movie mode, the TV mostly tracks EOTF diligently with a slight dip of around 60% luminance and finally rolling off at around 370 nits. The black levels, however, appear raised.
The colour accuracy is quite impressive. We recorded an average Delta error of 3.4 with a higher error in saturated colour tones. In our perceptual testing, skin tones and colours appeared quite natural and the details were reasonably good.
In Dolby Vision, motion clarity is enabled by default in all three presets which induces a slight soap opera effect. You can disable it from the picture mode settings.
We recorded a contrast of 4301:1 for the VA panel in the movie mode which is quite good in this price segment. The panel is rated to deliver a native contrast of 6000:1. In our tests, the TV covered 100% of the sRGB colour space (Standard mode) and 91% of DCI-P3, which is again above average. The TV supports a BT2020 colour coverage of 65.88 in XY terms and 72.26 in UV terms, which is slightly above average. The viewing angles are not very wide.
Also Check: Xiaomi Redmi Smart Fire TV 43-inch Review
TCL 55T6G QLED TV Review: SDR picture quality
The SDR performance of the TCL 55T6G QLED TV is impressive. The most accurate preset is once again the ‘Movie’ preset with a colour temperature close to D65 at 100% white and motion smoothening disabled by default. If you are accustomed to cooler or bluish-white tones, the Movie preset might feel a tad warm or yellowish at the start.
The alternative is the standard mode that has cool whites. This is a boosted mode with vibrant colours and options like motion clarity (or smoothening) and Dynamic Contrast enabled by default, often resulting in unpredictable and inaccurate results.
The Movie mode by default over-tracks standard gamma slightly. This is why just reducing the gamma point by 1 results in better accuracy. For SDR content, the colour accuracy is excellent. Skin tones, colours of the sky, and foliage appear natural.
We measured an average Delta error of just 1.9 which lies below the humanly perceptible level of 3. The maximum delta error is just 4.2, which is the best we have recorded in the segment.
In our test patterns, we noticed slight oversharpening but this wasn’t very apparent in the content we played. There are a few peeve points as well. Upscaling performance is just about average and artefacts are quite prominent when playing low-resolution legacy content. We also noticed screen uniformity issues that are commonly associated with LCD TVs and may vary from one unit to another.
TCL 55 T6G QLED TV Review: Gaming and Audio
The TV comes with several features for gamers including ALLM to automatically switch to the game mode when a compatible gaming device is connected, HGIG mode for accurate HDR tone mapping, and a gamebar with useful tools that you can summon by long pressing the Options button on the remote.
Another interesting feature of this TV is the 120 Hz game accelerator that is based on TCL’s proprietary Dual Line Gate technology that allows the 60 Hz panel to display 120 frames per second. This helps improve the gaming experience by reducing motion blur and tearing. This feature works only with console gaming. We tested the Game Accelerator with PS 5 and the TV-supported VRR and 120Hz in the fast mode. There’s also AMD FreeSync to enhance the fluidity of the gameplay by eliminating undesirable artefacts such as screen tearing and stuttering.
In our testing, the TV felt fast and responsive while gaming in the ‘fast’ mode. We did occasionally notice some random screen tearing artefacts in FPS games but nothing that hampered our gaming experience. The colours in SDR and HDR games felt accurate in perceptual testing.
As for audio, the 56W speakers can get astonishingly loud. Dolby Atmos experience is not very convincing, though – which is to be expected of native TV speakers. The good thing is that you can easily switch sound presets according to the content you are watching and enhance your experience.
Should you buy it?
TCL 55-inch T6G QLED TV turned out to be a surprisingly impressive option in its segment. The TV combines an attractive design, is feature-packed and comes with a colour-accurate movie mode for SDR and HDR content. For gamers, the TCL 55T6G offers several features like ALLM, HGIG mode, AMD Freesync and a 120 Hz game accelerator that elevates the gaming experience with the latest-generation consoles.
The software has some really useful extras but it is also loaded with proprietary TCL services that aren’t as useful and get in the way. Of course, the price entails some limitations like some minor screen uniformity issues and the available dynamic range for HDR but overall, if you are looking for an option that offers great picture quality on a budget for entertainment and gaming we can recommend the TCL T6G QLED TV as an option.
TCL 55 inch 4K Ultra HD Smart QLED Google TV (55T6G) Key Specs, Price and Launch Date
| Release Date: | |
| Market Status: | Launched |
Key Specifications
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Deepak Singh
Deepak is Editor at Digit. He is passionate about technology and has been keeping an eye on emerging technology trends for nearly a decade. When he is not working, he likes to read and to spend quality time with his family. View Full Profile
