TCL Roku TV 6-Series 8K R648 Review

The Roku 6 Series 8K TVs generally retain the chunky, boxy look of TCL's previous 6 Series, with a few improvements. It's an excellent TV that deserves flagship status in TCL's lineup. It has a native resolution of 7680 x 4320, and Natural Motion 480 motion enhancement technology helps digitally reduce blurring that occurs with fast-moving objects on the screen.

The TCL 6/R648 2021 8k QLED Series is TCL’s first 8k Roku TV. This is a latest model that is part of the flagship 6 Series range along with the TCL 6 Series/R646 QLED, which has Google TVs instead, and the 4k TCL 6 Series/R635 2020 QLED.

This TV features a Mini LED backlight, providing greater control over full local dimming. 8k resolution helps give better picture clarity, but 8k content is still limited and it does not display 4k content as well as a native 4k TV. It’s upgradable for gaming as it has two HDMI 2.1 inputs, so you can use it for 4k@120Hz or 8k@60Hz gaming with the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Finally, the built-in Roku is greatest if you don’t Don’t want to purchase external streaming devices, as they are user-friendly and have a wide selection of apps obtainable through the App Store.

The TCL TVs R648 is ideal for most uses. It’s greatest for watching SDR and HDR movies in a dark room as it displays deep blacks and has a decent local dimming feature, but it crushes the blacks too much. It’s ideal for watching movies or sports tv shows as it has very good peak brightness and very good reflection management, but it has narrow viewing angles. Gamers should too appreciate the low input lag, fast response time, HDMI 2.1 inputs, and variable refresh rate support for an very good gaming experience.

Design

The Roku TVs 6-series 8K generally retains the chunky, boxy look of TCL’s previous 6-series entries, with a few tweaks. The whole thing measures 57 x 32.7 x 3 inches at its thickest point, with the main part of the screen itself just over 1 inch deep. Because of its size and weight, you’ll need the help of another person to set it up securely. The brushed metal frame is slim on all sides except the bottom, where the half-inch width is large enough to accommodate the TCL and Roku TV logos; there are quarter-inch black stripes at the top, left, and right. The back of the TV is all black, with thin vertical lines on the plastic compartment that houses the unit’s components to hide the vents.

A column in the center is all black except for two concentric metal circles that add some visual interest to the top center. The screw holes for the VESA mounting frame that center the column. If you prefer to place your TV on a table or entertainment center rather than on the wall, a wedge-shaped metal bracket is included that easily connects to the bottom of the TV with four screws. The attractive brushed metal stand is sturdy, measuring 18.9 x 7.8 in front of the TV when installed , while integrated cable management channels at the back help simplify the usually tedious process of keeping your media setup neat.

Display

Enjoy streaming content at the push of a button with the TCL 6-Series R648 Class 6 HDR 8K UHD Smart QLED TVs. It has a native resolution of 7680 x 4320 and Natural Motion 480 motion enhancement technology helps digitally reduce blurring commonly associated with fast-moving on-screen objects. Mini-LED backlight technology helps provide a Bright, even image with local dimming control for enhanced contrast. HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision compatibility enables it to deliver bright, vibrant colors when used with compatible content and equipment.

Features

The R648 uses the Roku TV interface, as its full name suggests. The available options are highlighted by a drop-down menu on the side, which includes “Featured Free” ; “Our Stream”; movie, TV and channel stores; Look for; and Home, which gives you instant access to your installed content channels, live TV  and any other HDMI-connected devices you have. Roku TV is quick to learn and easy to use, but lacks the depth and range of features that define the best smart TV systems, such as Google TV. There’s not much wrong with that now that its app selection has grown to include essentials like Apple TV+ and Disney+, but it’s starting to feel basic and archaic compared to more modern choices. seen on rival sets.

Video quality

If you’ve never seen an 8K TVs before, you’ll be blown away by the TCL 6 Series. When fed with 4K content especially content shot in HDR or Dolby Vision it really shines. The Series 6 has that perfect way of balancing vivid colors, stunning contrast, and excellent black levels, all without haloing, light loss, or oversaturation. The secret to the TV’s success is its Mini LED lighting which can precisely control how much light goes to any part of the screen at any given time and how much LED areas of the screen need to be turned off.

This gives an LED almost OLED levels of control over contrast and reduces issues like blooming that you’ll find on other LED-LCD TVs. In terms of color and contrast, the new 6 Series has all the tools for the job. In fact, the only issues we’ve had with the TV’s performance are with its motion processing and upscaling, especially when feeding HD or sub-HD content.

Watching the new animated show Masters of the Universe on Netflix had serious issues with its motion until we simply disabled motion processing from the menu, while HD shows like Kim’s Convenience looked more like a decent 4K picture than a beautifully scaled 8K image. In both cases, the problems with the TV are noticeable. If you’re watching an upscaled HD broadcast you might see a bit of graininess in the background where the CPU doesn’t have enough data to work with while the motion artifact can make motion janky in animated shows or leave a blur in fast-animated live-action content.

Sound Quality

The 6-Series 8K defaults to normal audio mode that does its best to balance the audio spectrum. The problem with this was that the bass dominated the mix and the dialogue was hard to hear. When we changed the sound settings to focus on the dialogue, everything else was pushed too far into the background, making the movies seem less cinematic. Basically, it’s not ideal in either case.

The best option we have found so far is to set the sound settings to Music and run a slight treble boost for clear mids and a strong but contained bass response. What this means for you, most likely, is that you’ll want to get a good Dolby Atmos budget soundbars with the TCL 6-Series 8K and connect it through the eARC port. It’s an added expense, yes, but you’ll be much happier with the results.

Ports

Only two of the HDMI ports support the HDMI 2.1 standard, which enables next-generation technologies like 120 Hz refresh rate at 4K resolution, variable refresh rate, and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) for automatic switching to gaming settings when the console is activated.

Since the ports are not labeled, it is a bit of a trial and error as to which port uses which standard. At least the port that supports eARC and ARC is labeled as such. As HDMI 2.1 becomes more prevalent in the industry, hopefully TCL will follow the lead of companies like LG, which has equipped all HDMI ports on its newer models with the newer, more powerful standard.

Performance

Right now, there are two key questions to consider when it comes to 8K video performance: what does the whole thing look like when upscaling from lower resolutions, and what does it look like when native 8K content playback? For the R648, let’s take them one by one. As for the first question: not too bad. It maintained both the edge sharpness and contrast sharpness so needed for the first farm scene in Blade Runner 2049. It attractively conveyed all the dazzling earthy hyper-tones of the Italian Riviera, as well as the sparkling blues and greens of underwater scenes in the new Disney-Pixar animated film Luca.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League retained its seemingly intentional sense of two-dimensional, color-sapped “caricature” with the aggressive popping of its contrast-bombing special effects. The final whirlwind battle between Rey and Palpatine in Star Wars; The Rise of Skywalker lacked a bit of the punch we’ve seen on other TVs; the swirling festival on Pasaana borders on garish in Normal and Bright Dolby Vision modes, but passed the mark in Dark.

Either way, these 4K-rendered movies looked sharp enough when viewed from a standard viewing distance. Softer edges were only noticeable in these titles on closer inspection than any human ever should, so you don’t have to worry about all your 4K movies being visually “stale” in 8K anytime soon. Upscaling from 1080p, however, was another matter. In almost everything we tested, blurring was noticeable and distracting. Mission: Impossible Fallout fared best, though even that revealed a loss of the richness that makes this action movie so immediate at lower resolutions.

Configuration Option

As you might expect, the TCL 6-Series 8K is a complete package, with almost every option included. Priced at $2,200, the 65-inch TV is an LCD design with the aforementioned quantum dot film layer and mini LED backlight. It supports most HDR modes to intensify colors, including Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG (hybrid log-gamma, a standard for streaming and broadcasting). Gamers will appreciate variable refresh rate support to minimize video hitches, as well as THX Certified Game Mode.

Final Words

We hope you understand and enjoy this review list. The TCL R648 is an exceptional television and is well deserving of flagship status among TCL’s product line. Its high brightness, solid black levels, very good color performance out of the box, smooth motion and great gaming chops make it one of the best TVs you can buy this year. 8K resolution? It’s a bonus. Like most TV makers, TCL reserves its best budget TVs performance for its line of 8K TVs, which makes the question of whether 8K really matters, moot.

John Brister
John Brister
Meet John Brister, the prolific content writer renowned for his perceptive comparison articles on Bollyinside. Specializing in topics ranging from TVs to headphones and other accessories, John's knack for breaking down intricate details into reader-friendly insights has garnered him a dedicated following. Beyond his literary pursuits, John is an avid swimmer and equally passionate about tracking, often exploring new trails and routes, feeding his sense of adventure.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related Articles

Hubspot Service Hub review 2024: a comprehensive platform

When it comes to customer support operations, HubSpot Service Hub is an all-encompassing customer service platform that is meant to...
Read more
When players on Windows 11 or 10 try to log in to Steam, they may get the error code E87....
Users of Windows 11 or 10 may find it frustrating to deal with the error number 147-0 in Microsoft Office....
The Microsoft Store is an important part of the Windows operating system because it gives users a single place to...
It can be hard to find the right balance between usefulness, durability, and cost when it comes to kitchen storage....
Both AirDroid and Vysor are well-known tools that help Android users control their devices and mirror them. One of the...
The 6-series 8K defaults to normal audio mode, which does its best to balance the audio spectrum. If you've never seen an 8K TV before, you'll be blown away by the TCL 6 Series. When fed 4K content, especially content shot in HDR or Dolby Vision, it really shines.TCL Roku TV 6-Series 8K R648 Review