TCL 55P607 - Review 2022 - Gunter Flord1990

Equally a relative newcomer to the TV scene in North America, TCL doesn't have quite the proper name recognition of LG or Samsung. It has, still, established itself equally a maker of solid-performing, inexpensive 4K televisions. It goes even further with this year's P-Series, offering high dynamic range (HDR) compatibility with impressive contrast and color functioning paired with the wealth of connected features of the Roku TV platform. At $649.99 for the 55-inch 55P607 nosotros tested, the P-Serial stands every bit one of the all-time budget Goggle box deals you'll find, and our Editors' Selection.

Pattern

TCL doesn't get as well fancy with blueprint here. The screen is surrounded by a flat glossy blackness plastic bezel 0.3 inches wide on the sides and elevation, and an inch wide at the bottom. Slim gunmetal-colored plastic pipe runs up the sides, but otherwise the Goggle box looks simple and direct. It stands on two U-shaped legs the aforementioned dark gray metallic color as the pipe on the sides.

All of the ports sit on the correct side of the dorsum of the Tv set. They include three HDMI ports, a USB port, an Ethernet port, an antenna/cable connector, a 3.5mm composite video input for use with the included adapter, a three.5mm headphone jack, an optical audio output, and a reset push button. Having every connection face correct instead of letting some face up straight back or down makes hooking up the Tv easy, but three HDMI ports limit how many devices you can connect without using a splitter or a switch.

TCL 55P607

While you don't need a media streamer cheers to Roku Television receiver, you'll run out of ports in one case you've continued a cable or satellite box and two game systems. Four HDMI ports are standard on most TVs, with a few offering five, so the connection options here are a little tight. A minor cluster of buttons on the lower correct corner of the back of the Idiot box provide physical controls outside of the included remote.

Roku Tv set and Remote

The remote included with the 55P607 is similar to the remote included with TCL's 55UP130 and the Roku Premiere+. It's a short, glossy blackness plastic wand with a prominent royal management pad flanked by Dwelling house, Back, and Ability buttons to a higher place, and playback controls and app buttons below. It offers instant access to Hulu, Netflix, and Sling TV, with dedicated buttons for each service. The volume controls are tucked away on the correct border of the remote, along with a mute push button.

As a Roku Television set Enhanced Remote, it includes 1 of our favorite Roku features: a headphone jack. This jack sits on the left side of the remote, reverse the volume controls, and automatically mutes the Idiot box and sends all audio through it equally presently as you plug your headphones in. The remote includes a uncomplicated ready of earphones, merely you can utilise your favorite headphones just as easily. This is a fantastic feature for anyone who wants to spotter TV without disturbing their loved ones or neighbors, and we always appreciate its presence.

TCL 55P607

Since the 55P607 is a Roku TV, it offers all of the apps and services of a Roku media streamer. Almost all the major streaming names are bachelor, including Amazon, Crunchyroll, Google Play Movies & TV, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, and YouTube. Roku has one of the largest selections of apps (called channels) of all the smart Tv set and media streamer ecosystems, so yous'll likely detect whatever service you want to use (except Apple). Roku Television receiver also supports streaming media from your smartphone or tablet to the 55P607 using the Roku app, which doubles as a remote command.

Performance

We exam TVs with a DVDO AVLab 4K test pattern generator, a Klein K-10A colorimeter, and Portrait Displays' CalMAN 5 software on a Razer Blade Pro laptop. The 55P607 supports high dynamic range (HDR) video, and that certainly comes through in our measurements. Later a basic dark room calibration, the TV showed a remarkably bright 507.85cd/m² and a very expert blackness level of 0.02cd/m² for an splendid 25,393:1 dissimilarity ratio. It'southward impressive performance, but not without some caveats.

Nosotros saw notable light blossom with our window test pattern, and noticed some significant clipping and poor stardom of grays with black-and-white PLUGE patterns. The 55P607 has some strong reach into lights and darks, but information technology isn't the most graceful when handling gradations between them. If you want ameliorate contrast performance without spending 3 times every bit much on an OLED TV like the LG OLEDC7P, look to Vizio's 1000-serial and its 40,670:i dissimilarity ratio. The Vizio is still more than expensive, however, and its color performance doesn't come close to the 55P607'southward.

TCL 55P607

The chart in a higher place shows Rec.709 color levels every bit squares and the 55P607'due south measured color levels every bit dots. Out of the box, the TV reaches well across the standard color gamut, with greens and reds notably extending far without any noticeable skew. Dejection aren't quite then impressive, within the Rec.709 value and tinting slightly toward green, though secondary colors are well-counterbalanced despite this. The LeEco Super4 serial shows slightly more impressive colors, but its contrast levels are inferior and its 55-inch version is pricier than the 55P607.

The 55P607'southward vivid console and HDR compatibility is apparent when watching The Great Gatsby on Ultra Hard disk Blu-ray. The blazing highlights in both day and night scenes popular, displaying plenty of fine detail even on nighttime objects like the textile of black suits. The deep black levels we measure don't show upwardly quite equally well in the darker scenes due to some slight lite bleed. While the letterbox bars appear sufficiently blackness, most other nighttime objects in dark scenes tin expect done-out when there are very bright highlights in the frame. It isn't a jarring or particularly unpleasant effect, simply it means you don't get quite the inky blacks of an OLED.

The 55P607's broad and well-balanced colors come through on Deadpool on Ultra HD Blu-ray. The reds of Deadpool'due south costume are very brilliant without looking unreal, and flesh tones appear natural in different lighting conditions. The yellowish and orangish flames in the lab fight look very bright, though the scene's shadows announced slightly grey.

Planet Earth Two on Ultra Hd Blu-ray looks clean and balanced on the 55P607. The blues and greens of the islands expect natural, and fine textures of fur and feathers are easily discernible in shaded shots. Off-angle viewing is solid, only non dandy; colors desaturate slightly when y'all look at the Boob tube from an angle of 60 degrees or more, making greens look slightly pale and yellow.

Input Lag and Power Consumption

Input lag is the amount of time betwixt when a TV receives a signal and the screen updates. In our calibrated picture way, the 55P607 shows a solid input lag of 31.4ms. Game Fashion, which improves input lag at the expense of some picture quality, cuts that in less than half to 15.1ms. This is almost the all-time performance you tin can get on a 4K Boob tube; if you want fifty-fifty less lag, y'all'll need to look to a gaming monitor.

Nether normal viewing conditions, the 55P607 consumes 123 watts in our brightly calibrated picture mode. The Depression Power moving-picture show manner used with the Normal panel brightness setting can halve that to 64 watts, dimming the screen considerably but keeping it very watchable. For comparison, the LeEco Super4 X55 consumes 115 watts in its calibrated manner, merely its power-saving setting only trims that to 111 watts. Meanwhile, OLEDs are power hogs, with the LG OLED55C7P using 242 watts even in its power-saving mode.

Conclusions

TCL's P-Serial of 4K TVs is by no means perfect, but it's an excellent value for the price. Despite a few quirks and flaws with shadow particular and off-bending viewing, it shows remarkable contrast and color to justify its HDR characterization. The utilize of the Roku TV platform gives it a comprehensive set of continued features, and its headphone jack-equipped remote carries over 1 of our favorite aspects of high-end Roku media streamers. At $650 for a 55-inch screen, it'due south the all-time budget TV deal nosotros've seen and so far this yr, and for that it earns our Editors' Selection.