TCL 5-Series TV Review (S555) | Nothing quite like it
TCL 5-Series TV Review (S555) | Nothing quite like it
The TCL 5-Series has evolved a bit over the past few years. It happened slowly, but is the new TCL 5-Series (S555) basically what the TCL 6-Series was 4 years ago? What can you expect from the new TCL 5-Series TV, and should you be looking at the Hisense U7H instead? Or just go for the current TCL 6-Series when the cost difference is so little? Is this a budget-friendly 4K HDR TV? We try to answer all those questions in this review.
Check our our full written review here: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-th…
You can buy the TCL 5-Series on Amazon:
TCL 50-inch Class 5-Series (50S555): https://amzn.to/3h2glWC
TCL 55-inch Class 5-Series (55S555): https://amzn.to/3ungkQ9
TCL 65-inch Class 5-Series (65S555): https://amzn.to/3Hdiutg
TCL 75-inch Class 5-Series (75S555): https://amzn.to/3uoywJ9
Also watch:
The best TVs you can buy: • The Best TVs You … ,
The best gaming TVs: • The Best Gaming T…
Hisense U7H review: • Hisense U7H Revie…
Read about:
The best TVs of 2022: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-th…
The best TVs under $1000: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-th…
The best TVs under $500: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-th…
00:00 Intro
02:37 Out of the Box
04:13 Inputs \u0026 Gaming
05:11 Interface Lag
05:50 Display Measurements
07:45 Picture Quality
09:24 Sound Quality
09:45 Compared to the Hisense U7H
11:49 Final Thoughts
SUBSCRIBE FOR THE LATEST VIDEOS
http://bit.ly/DTYouTubeSub
VISIT DIGITAL TRENDS
https://www.digitaltrends.com/
In our studio:
BDI Corridor Media Console: https://bit.ly/2u1IMrs https://amzn.to/2JtnA8v
Polk Reserve Series R600 Floorstanding Tower Speakers: https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Floorstan…
Music: https://artlist.io/Digital-142302
Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our channels.
FOLLOW US!
https://www.facebook.com/digitaltrends
https://twitter.com/digitaltrends
https://www.instagram.com/digitaltrends
#hometheater #tcl5series #roku #rokutv #tvreview #review #digitaltrends #tcl #tcltv #hisenseu7h #tvcomparison #qled #qledtv #gamingtv #4k #hdr #tv
Content
2.22 -> Sometimes the best surprise is no surprises at all
14.28 -> Welcome back everyone I'm Caleb Denison and today
we're going to review the TCL 5 series Roku TV
19.92 -> that would be the s555 possibly one of the easier
TV model numbers to remember honestly now this is
26.46 -> a TV I've been looking forward to checking out
because as you may recall I reviewed the 2021 5
31.26 -> series Roku TV that was the s535 it was a solid
TV but then the 5 series Google TV came out that
39.66 -> was the s546 at the beginning of this year and it
boasted some improvements over the Roku TV we had
45.48 -> reviewed earlier which was a bit of a departure
for TCL normally I'd have expected it would be
50.82 -> essentially the same TV just under a different
Smart TV platform well the s546 which you can
56.76 -> still buy by the way was better and although it
was a bit buggy at the time those bugs have now
62.04 -> been largely worked out still I've been eager
to check out the s55 here because it is meant
67.98 -> to have all the picture quality improvements
of the Google TV version but built on Roku
73.14 -> that being the case I I feel like I knew exactly
what to expect from this TV but because I hadn't
79.56 -> yet gotten a chance to evaluate it for myself
I wasn't comfortable including it in some of my
84.18 -> best TVs list for 2022. different sizes of the s55
here could make the best under 500 list and the
92.16 -> best under one thousand dollar list but because I
hadn't tested it myself I just wasn't ready to go
97.74 -> there well if you ask me it ain't too late this
TV is still going to be relevant for many months
103.14 -> to come and at the time I'm recording this video
the holiday shopping season is still very much
108.42 -> underway so let's see how this TV does what you
can expect from it whether you might want to buy
113.88 -> this TV or say a competing model like the Hisense
u7h before we jump in two quick reminders one is
120.84 -> that we've got a big giveaway announcement coming
up soon we're celebrating that million subscriber
125.46 -> Milestone so keep an eye open for that video
and the best way to do that is to subscribe and
130.62 -> ring that Bell also because it is scam season and
because we are running a giveaway soon a reminder
136.8 -> that we will never ask you to get a hold of
us via telegram or any other social media
141.42 -> platform those are all scams we'll be running our
giveaway through our secure page on our secure
147.36 -> website digitaltrends.com and we'll be linking
to it from the description of our announcement
152.4 -> video which thankfully is one place scammers
can't get to all right let's talk about this TV
160.8 -> so at the top of this video I said no surprises
what does that mean well starting with getting
166.98 -> the TV out of the box it means the s55 looks and
operates a lot like I thought it would this TV is
174.12 -> relatively inexpensive but it isn't the cheapest
you can buy and that pretty much describes the
179.58 -> TV's looks and build quality it's not flashy but
it ain't trashy either the only thing that struck
185.52 -> me as odd as I assembled this TV was that the
screws didn't want to seat in their holes as I
190.8 -> screwed them in I mean all too well that ends
well the feet are now secure in the TV but it
194.64 -> was an interesting touch Point still far from a
surprise now the feet only go in one spot on this
200.4 -> TV unlike some models where you can position them
inward so you can set it on a smaller media stand
205.38 -> or shelf you'll need some width to accommodate
this TV in the case of this 65-inch model that we
210.96 -> have here about 50.25 inches now there's no real
Cable Management so I would suggest getting some
217.56 -> velcro ties to keep the cable mess to a minimum
I also also find those velcro ties clutch for
222.66 -> when you're wall mounting too way better than zip
ties for multiple reasons if you do wall mount I
228.24 -> think you'll like the way this TV looks like most
decent TVs these days it's got minimal bezels on
233.46 -> the top and sides and a matte black strip along
the Bottom now that light under the TCL logo in
239.58 -> the center can be turned off in the menu if you
want by the way you know it's funny that same
244.44 -> light on a TV I have at home drives me nuts and
I know I can turn it off for some reason I just
250.38 -> don't don't be like me just turn it off in the
Roku menu if you want now for connectivity this
255.54 -> tv offers four HDMI inputs and none of them
offer full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth but that does
262.2 -> not mean this is a poor TV for gaming it's pretty
solid for gaming actually so you know what let's
267.9 -> just talk about gaming right now it's got a 60
hertz native panel so it will max out at 4K 60
274.32 -> hertz but it does offer variable refresh rate or
vrr including basic freesync now how you useful
281.34 -> that will be to you I'm not sure it basically goes
down to 48 Hertz and up to 60 hertz which isn't a
288.24 -> huge range but that seems to mitigate a little bit
of screen tearing in games that aren't locked at
293.64 -> a low refresh rate I think what really makes this
a decent gaming TV for me though is the very low
299.04 -> input lag about 11 seconds in game mode at most
resolutions which is awesome that right there is
305.04 -> going to make gameplay feel great and then the HDR
performance in game mode as I'll discuss shortly
310.5 -> is also quite nice now before I get into some
picture quality measurement data I do want to
315.48 -> talk about one slight annoyance that remains from
prior 5 series models that I've tested and that's
321.06 -> a little bit of lag in the interface operation
from time to time clicking around at a fast pace
326.22 -> will get you hung up it unfreezes eventually but
I'm easily annoyed by that also if you have the
332.88 -> TV connected to a sound bar powered speakers or an
AV receiver via Arc or e-arc yes it does support
339.84 -> e-arc then you'll notice changing the volume is
a really slow Affair again an annoyance that I
345.9 -> expected as I experienced this on other TCL Roku
TVs now as promised it's time for my favorite
352.74 -> segment numbers for Knit nerds now if you care not
for the Nitty Gritty sorry look you don't have to
360.06 -> stick around for nerd time theater you can skip
ahead to the picture quality takeaway using the
364.32 -> time code link down in the description but for
my knit nerds out there here's the basics this
370.14 -> TV for me punched up to about 550 nits in SDR and
just shy of 800 nits in HDR when calibrated to d65
380.1 -> White point now the SDR brightness I got is a tad
lower than what some other folks have gotten while
386.4 -> the HDR Peak brightness is a bit higher than what
some other reviewers got and that's in the dark
392.1 -> HDR setting by the way with warm color temperature
and local dimming feature maxed out now my take on
398.46 -> this TV includes that 800 result because I factory
reset this TV and checked many many times over and
405.9 -> it came in that way every single time so I'd
like to think it is representative of what's
410.94 -> on the market but it did come straight from TCL so
keep that in mind at any rate the out of box white
417.06 -> point and color errors on this TV in the movie
mode for SDR and dark HDR mode for hdr10 were
424.8 -> not bad just shy of four on the white balance and
about the same for color so technically visible
431.04 -> but not by much and it didn't take a lot for me to
correct the bright white balance for some reason
436.74 -> my adjustments to the Roku app were ineffective
at 10 20 and 30 luminance for white I'm not sure
442.98 -> why I'm reaching out to TCL about that but hey I
really don't see anyone getting this TV calibrated
448.32 -> so what's important to me is that it looks great
out of the box and in those picture modes it does
453.96 -> in standard it is unsurprisingly way too blue and
of course Vivid looks like hot garbage or I guess
460.26 -> it would be cold garbage right but that's true
on just about any TV anyway here's my take on the
467.16 -> picture quality it is Rock Solid for the price for
anyone who remembers how impressed reviewers were
473.52 -> with the tcl6 series from like three or four years
ago it's like that today's TCL 5 series looks like
480.84 -> yesterday's tcl6 series but at a lower price
and I mean who can complain about that the SDR
487.08 -> brightness and HDR brightness are solid for the
price though not the best out there I'll get to
492.96 -> that in a minute the contrast is excellent for the
price thanks to solid backlight control even if it
498.54 -> doesn't have a ton of local dimming zones the
color is brilliant and well saturated on angle
504.36 -> at least and motion is perfectly acceptable though
you won't get as smooth a picture from this TV as
510.36 -> one that does up to 120 hertz you do however get
a bit less stunner since the reaction time isn't
516.96 -> as quick which I think some people will actually
prefer my only real complaints about this TV one
523.02 -> is that the off angle viewing is not great if
you're sitting dead on Center you're getting a
529.08 -> really really nice picture if you sit off to the
side you really aren't thanks to the VA panel we
535.44 -> get those deep blacks in great contrast but
also thanks to the pretty basic VA panel we
540.84 -> also get disappointing off-angle viewing it is
what it is so I didn't exactly win the panel
547.38 -> Lottery on this TV with regard to dirty screen
effect it isn't terrible but I see it now if you
553.62 -> don't really see dirty screen effect Now isn't
the time to remove the veil from your eyes not
558.36 -> if you're considering this TV or another at its
price point it's kind of just part of the deal
563.76 -> also no surprise the TV sound quality is not
great and by that I mean I would personally
569.34 -> not be able to go without at least a basic sound
bar I almost hate bringing it up because it's so
575.04 -> common at this price point but then there's
the Hisense u7h which sounds better than it
580.44 -> should and well that's as good a segue as any to
what I think is an inevitable comparison [Music]
590.88 -> so who should buy this TV and who should buy the
Hisense u7h well first I know there are some out
597.9 -> there who may not feel that's a fair comparison
and that's because as I'm making this video the
602.7 -> Hisense u7h costs a bit more than the TCL s55
actually the s55 here sits between High sensors
609.72 -> u6h and u7h in terms of price which makes doing a
direct comparison kind of difficult but since the
617.46 -> picture quality is so similar between the two I'm
going to go ahead and make the comparison anyway
621.9 -> because I think a lot of Shoppers are going to
do the same so first off if you prefer the Roku
627.12 -> OS built into the TV well then the s55 is the
choice but if we take the smart TV platform out
633.78 -> of consideration you do get better specs from the
u7h it's a brighter TV in both SDR and HDR and it
641.58 -> has a 120 hertz panel with HDMI 2.1 bandwidth
support from two of its HDMI inputs although
648.24 -> it does seem to struggle with proper 4K 100 120
hertz gaming a bit also the Hisense u7h manages
655.2 -> to offer jutter-free 24fps movie content when
you get it from a 60 hertz Source like a cable
661.74 -> box whereas the TCL s55 seems to struggle with
that a little bit not a lot just a bit on the
668.94 -> other hand the tcls55 has lower input lag across
its supported resolutions and to me is a less
675.36 -> flickery TV and I'm not sure the brightness
differences between the two are going to be
680.7 -> super meaningful for most viewers so I guess
I'd say if you're a knit nerd and you want the
686.52 -> most brightness for your money and you want
120 hertz panel and HDMI 2.1 bandwidth well
692.58 -> the u7h is probably a better choice at least on
paper but if you want to save a little money the
698.4 -> TCL s55 strikes a great balance between cost
and performance the kind of performance that's
704.82 -> impressive enough to deliver some wow to your
eyes without punching much of a hole in your
710.16 -> wallet I've enjoyed watching it very much now
personally speaking if the cost increase wasn't
715.74 -> a concern I'd say step up to the tcl6 series if
you can the return on investment is well worth
721.86 -> it if you're a video Enthusiast but if you're just
looking for a solid TV that is loaded with value
727.14 -> the TCL s55 is an excellent choice no surprise
there thanks as always for watching everyone
733.5 -> did you pick up a tcls55 and if so what do you
think about it let us know about it down in the
738.9 -> comments don't forget to like And subscribe and
here's two other videos I think you might like
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xj1cMIMMk