We’ve seen new screens from Samsung and LG, and now TCL is next, as it taps Mini LED for 2021’s TVs.
It’s nearly at the halfway point of the year, and the year’s crop of TVs is finally, properly on their way out.
With Samsung showing off its QLED hardware first, LG next with OLED and QNED TVs, and Sony recently letting us see a new Bravia model with OLED models to come, the rollout of new TVs is taking a little longer than we’re used to.
But we’ll get there, and TCL appears to be next, announcing several screens on their way to Australia in June and July, offering 4K and 8K resolutions with Mini-LED technology, leveraging TCL’s second-generation on the stuff since the first-gen TCL Mini-LED models arrived last year in 2020. While nothing in the 2021 range opts for the organic light emitting diodes more commonly known as “OLED”, the clusters of small LEDs that make up Mini-LED serve as more precise backlighting could end up being the solution for TV owners looking for OLED-like colour precision without the OLED price.
Mini-LED is a technology nearly every TV maker is embracing, save for Sony, and in TCL’s latest, the company aims to turn it up a bit with three Mini LED ranges running across 4K and 8K all with the colour-focusing technology that is Quantum Dot, as well as one model without Mini LED and yet with Quantum Dot, and then one model that aims to keep the price down without either.
There’s also a new chip under the hood, something TCL calls the “AiPQ engine”, which aims to process content in real time and upscale the information for the display and speakers, with pictures “optimised according to content” (which sounds to us like the colours might be a little more heightened) while audio “is compensated dynamically based on volume” (which reads like the processor is trying to normalise volume).
However, Dolby Vision IQ is also along for the ride, using light sensors in the TV to adjust the picture quality based on what the lighting is like in the room, allowing High Dynamic Range (HDR) visuals to shine regardless of what you room looks like.
What’s more, TCL’s 2021 range seems to have moved on from Full HD entirely, with everything being wither 4K or 8K, and some of the models will even come with Google TV, Google’s improvement to Android TV that you can find on the recent Google Chromecast model.
You’ll find that in the X925 and X925 Pro, which is the starting point for TCL’s Mini LED options, also arriving alongside 8K, hitting $4499 for a 65 inch TCL X925 and $5999 for a 75 inch X925. There’s a bigger option on the way in the 85 inch X925 Pro, but there’s no price on that just yet.
Below these, TCL is offering 4K Mini LED TVs with Android TV — the older version of Google TV — arriving in the C825, which starts at $2499 and stretches all the way to $6499 for an 85 inch model.
Just below, TCL skips out on Mini LED and offers 4K quantum dot TVs instead, with the 4K TCL C725, starting at $1099 for a 50 inch, with $1499 getting a 55 inch, $1999 for a 65 inch, and $2499 for a 75 inch 4K TV. TCL will also offer a model without quantum dots in the P725, which starts at $899 for a 43 inch model and stretches to $2199 for a 75 inch variant or $3299 for an 85 inch take.
As for availability, mid-year is when TCL’s options will rock up, with the C and P series arriving in June, while the X-series 8K Mini-LED TVs arrive from July at stores across Australia.
