Although 8K TVs may be closer to mainstream purchase, they carry the premium of the next-generation technology that is just beginning to emerge from proof-of-concept. TCL's 8K 6Series TVs are a lot cheaper than the LG OLEDZ9P at $30,000, however, the $2,199.99 65-inch 65R648 model that we tried was a substantial premium over the 4K 6-Series which is about half as expensive. The 8K 6-Series still stands out, offering excellent color performance and the highest contrast in LED-backlit LCDs. This 8K model is also one of the best priced. However, the TV doesn't have any content yet that can take full advantage of its highest resolution. This makes it ideal for early adopters who are patient.
Related Reading: Microsoft Surface Pro 8 Review
Elegant Silver
The sleek 65R648 looks a little more expensive than the 4K 6-Series models. The screen has a silver border running along its top and sides, as well as a thin brushed gunmetal strip at the bottom. Just below that small bump is a rectangular light source, which flashes gently whenever the TV turns on or responds to a remote control command. It sits on one rectangular, rectangular, brushed metal base that has a V-shaped profile. Although it's quite attractive, the TV is slightly wobblier than the V-shaped feet of the 4K 6 Series TVs.
The port for the power cable faces left on the back of the TV, while all other connections face right. The 65R648 has four HDMI ports, a single USB port, an Ethernet port, an optical audio output, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an antenna/cable connector. There is no analog video input. A power/input button sits on the lower right corner of the back of the TV, below the ports.
The 65R648 remote, unlike most Roku TV remotes is rectangular and thin. It's made of a mixture of glossy silver metal (two-thirds) and matte gunmetal polymer (one-third). It looks better than the standard Roku black wand, but it retains the same layout. The direction pad is still prominent, but it's circular in shape and gray. Only the middle button bears the Roku purple. The pad has the Power, Home and Back buttons, as well as a microphone to allow voice searches. Below the pad are playback controls and a voice search option. There is also a dedicated button for Apple TV and Disney+. The remote's right edge has a volume knob and a mute button. This remote is simple, direct and offers only an aesthetic improvement over standard Roku remotes.
Related Reading: Apple MacBook Air (2022, M2) Review
The Same Roku TV
TCL started to use Google TV on some TVs. However, 65R648 uses the same Roku TV platform that all other TCL smart TVs. Although it has a lot of services and apps, the interface is robust. However, some smarter features such as Google TV or Amazon Fire TV as well as LG's and Samsung's smart TVs are missing. Nearly every major streaming service is available, including Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. Roku TV supports Apple AirPlay so that you can stream any content from an iPhone, iPad or Mac.
The Roku TV platform doesn't offer any voice assistant or smart home control, however. You can use voice search to find content by pressing the microphone button and speaking into the remote, but that's about it; unlike Amazon Alexa on Fire TV devices and Google Assistant on Google TV devices, you can't use the 65R648 to get weather reports, control smart home devices, or get any useful non-entertainment functions out of it.
Amazing Performance
A 8K TV, the 65R648 has a 7,680-by-3.840 resolution and a 120Hz refresh speed. The 65R648 supports HDR10, Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log Gamma content (HLG) in high dynamic range (HDR).
Tests of TVs are done with the Klein K-80 colorimeter (Opens In A New Window), Murideo SIX-G signal generation(Opens In A New Window), and Portrait Displays' Calman Software(Opens In a New Window). We use a methodology that is based on Imaging Science Foundation's (Opens IN a NEW WINDOW) calibration methods.
How TVs are Tested
The 65R648's peak brightness is modest at 312.136cd/m2 in Movie mode with an SDR Signal and a full-screen white screen. It also shows 426.238cd/m2 and an 18% whitefield. This default mode turns the backlight down to 40%. The full screen brightness is 637.362cd/m2 with an 18% field brightness at 1,133.929cd/m2. There's also a 0.014cd/m2 level of black. This is one of our brightest and most contrasty SDR photos. Typically, SDR signals are much more dimmable than HDR signals, so even with the settings at their highest, it's one we love. They are almost identical here.
The TV displays an HDR10 signal with HDR (Dark) picture mode. It has a full-screen brightness level of 678765cd/m2, an 18% field brightness at 1,214.680cd/m2, and a black level of 0.002cd/m2. Although it isn't as bright as the TV with an SDR signal this is still amazing. The HDR (Bright), picture mode is not noticeably brighter when the color temperature is set to the warmer Warm setting.
The contrast ratio between the U8G and the TCL 6-Series 4K TCL is less than half of that of 65R648 (74.3326:1). They are both excellent, however, the Hisense U8G is brighter due to an HDR signal (1763.368cd/m2) and a higher level of black (0.014cd/m2) for a contrast ratio that's 88.168:1. The 8K TCL 6-Series is clearly the best in terms of overall contrast. OLED TVs such as the LG C1 have better contrast. OLEDs can't produce black levels at the same level as the high-end LCD-backlit LCDs 65R648. The C1 has a peak brightness reading of 565.692cd/m2 and an 18% white area.
The 65R648 also impresses with its color range and accuracy. The above charts show the TV's color levels with an SDR signal compared against Rec.709 broadcast standards, and with an HDR signal compared against DCI-P3 digital cinema standards. The SDR colors are unsurprisingly spot-on; recently we've seen very few TVs that don't nail Rec.709. With HDR, the 65R648 reaches nearly across the entire DCI-P3 color space, with only yellow falling short of the range. Green drifts a bit, and magenta leans slightly toward red, but otherwise the color performance is very strong. It's not as strong as the LG C1, though, which effectively nails DCI-P3 out of the box, with very little drift.
Upconversion
We are unable to test the 65R648 at its native resolution because there is no 8K consumer content. The TV's upconversion capabilities will be required by users who purchase it. We tested the TV using our standard assortment of Ultra HD Bluray discs to test how 4K video appears on an 8K display.
BBC's Planet Earth II is clear and crisp when in motion. You can clearly see fine details such as fur and bark with very little or no upconversion artifacting. Although the 65R648 does not attempt to add new details to match higher resolutions, it also doesn't alter what is already there. It's possible to see a little fuzziness by pausing and inspecting certain edges and textures. However, it is only noticeable if you are within about a foot of the screen. It will be difficult to see the differences between an upconverted image and a native 4K panel if you are sitting comfortably. This is a vast improvement on the old 4K TVs with their 1080p upconversion.
Planet Earth II is natural and bright on the 65R648. The vibrant greens and blues in water, sky and leaves are bright without looking too saturated. Rocks and dirt look balanced.
Even in cooler scenes, the red color of Deadpool's suit in Deadpool is vivid and rich. You can clearly see the different colors of flames from the lab battle. The shadows in darker areas of the frame are easily discernible and they don't appear washed-out.
The Great Gatsby generally looks quite sharp upconverted from 4K to 8K, but noise in certain frames can produce a bit of fuzziness. It isn't distracting, and the noise appears on 4K TVs as well, but it seems more pronounced on the 65R648. The starkly high-contrast party scenes show off the extremes in brightness and darkness the TV is capable of, with the whites of shirts and servers' jackets standing out and the blacks of suits looking very dark. In fact, those suits can get so dark as to look slightly muddy, but even then the contours and cuts can be discerned. Skin tones also look natural in these scenes.
Great for Gamers
The 65R648 is THX certified and offers gamers THX Game Mode. It also supports variable refresh rate and auto low latency modes (ALLM). The input lag is also impressive.
We measured input lag in Game mode at 7.3 milliseconds using an HDFury Diva HDMI mat (Opens in a new Window). This is well under the threshold of 20ms that we used to define a good TV for gaming. You should make sure to set Game mode when playing. In Movie mode the input lag is 95.4ms.
It's still possible to adopt early, but it is more affordable.
TCL's 8K 6Series TVs are impressive. They have strong color performance, and the highest contrast ratios we've ever seen in an LED-backlit LCD. Its 8K resolution is the main attraction and justification of its price. There isn’t much content available right now. You can't enjoy the 4K resolution or lower on your TV without it. You must rely on upconversion. It is usually very efficient.
You can also get the LG C1 OLED TV for about the same amount. It isn't quite as large and has only 4K resolution. However, it offers better color performance and smarter TV features such as the ability to use Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands. Also, the TV boasts AMD FreeSync (and Nvidia G-Sync) and superior gaming performance. You can also save some money and get the Hisense U8G or TCL's 4K TCL 6Series, which offer great performance at a fraction of the cost of the 8K 6Series. The TCL 6-Series from TCL is the best option if you are looking to plan for an 8K future.
- Amazing contrast
- Strong color performance
- Upconversions of 8K are possible
- High-end
- 8K content still isn't available
TCL's 6 Series of 8K TVs from TCL offer a great picture, with excellent contrast and large colors at a lower price than other models 8K. However there is still not enough content to take full advantage of this.