TCL 6 Series/R655 2022 QLED Review (55R655, 65R655, 75R655, 85R655) (2024)

Curved No

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV has a very premium design that looks great. Instead of the simple feet found on other TCL TVs, like the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED, it has a center-mounted pedestal stand that supports the TV well. The borders of the TV are thin, but there's a noticeable dead space between the borders and the first pixels. Note that the 85" model has a slightly different design, with more traditional feet instead of the center-mounted stand.

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Uniformity Pictures N/A

This TV isn't part of our accelerated longevity test, but its predecessor, the TCL 6 Series/R635 2020 QLED, is.

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Wall Mount VESA 300x300

The back has a slightly premium design. The back of the stand has a removable cover, meaning you can use it for cable management. The inputs all face to the side, but they're cut into the back of the TV, so they're somewhat hard to access when the TV is wall-mounted.

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Borders 0.35" (0.9 cm)

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Max Thickness 2.69" (6.8 cm)

The bottom half of the screen houses all the electronics and inputs, and it's thicker than the top half. The thicker section prevents the TV from sitting completely flush against the wall if it's wall-mounted.

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The TCL 6 Series Roku TV has good build quality. Although it's pretty much all made of plastic, it seems well-built overall. The stand is pretty solid and holds the TV in place. Unfortunately, our unit gave off a bit of a burnt-plastic smell during testing, but there were no signs of melted plastic. We've heard isolated reports of this issue with other TVs, but it's unclear if this will fade over time or if it could cause other issues.

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Contrast

Native Contrast

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV has fantastic contrast. Dark scenes are displayed well, with deep blacks, even when bright highlights are on the screen. The native contrast of the panel is already exceptional, but the local dimming feature is very effective at boosting it even further.

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Local Dimming

Backlight

Dimming Zones Count Of Tested TV

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The local dimming feature performs the same in Game Mode as in the other picture modes.

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

Switching to 'Game' mode doesn't result in any noticeable difference in peak brightness with HDR games.

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600 Nit Tracking Delta

1000 Nit Tracking Delta

4000 Nit Tracking Delta

The TV has excellent PQ EOTF tracking. Shadow details are preserved well, but near blacks are dimmed a bit. With content mastered at lower peak brightness levels, there's a sharp cutoff near the TV's peak brightness, but content mastered at 4,000 nits has a slightly smoother roll-off, so fine details are better preserved in bright scenes.

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Real Scene Peak Brightness

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Wide Color Gamut

DCI P3 xy

DCI P3 uv

Rec 2020 xy

Rec 2020 uv

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV has a great HDR color gamut. It has fantastic coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, with slightly better coverage than the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED. It has just decent coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space, though, which is a bit disappointing. The tone mapping is good overall, which is important for content that exceeds the color space of this TV.

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1,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage ITP

10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage ITP

White Luminance

Red Luminance

Green Luminance

Blue Luminance

Cyan Luminance

Magenta Luminance

Yellow Luminance

This TV has great color volume. Dark saturated colors are displayed well, thanks to its fantastic color volume. Colors are bright and vibrant thanks to its high peak brightness in HDR.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

Picture Mode

Color Temp Setting

Gamma Setting

This TV has very good SDR accuracy before calibration. The white balance is good, with no significant issues. There are a few noticeable issues with saturated blues and cyan, but the overall color accuracy is great. The color temperature is a bit warm, but it's not too bad. Gamma follows the 2.2 target we chose for a moderately-lit room well, but most scenes are slightly too dark.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

White Balance Calibration

Color Calibration

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50% Std. Dev.

50% DSE

5% Std. Dev.

5% DSE

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV has good gray uniformity. The sides of the screen are noticeably darker than the center. The center of the screen has a bit of dirty screen effect that can be distracting when watching sports. Dark scenes look much better, and there are no significant issues.

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Std. Dev.

Native Std. Dev.

This TV has just okay black uniformity. With local dimming disabled, the screen is cloudy, and the backlight bleeds through all four corners. Enabling local dimming significantly improves black uniformity, but there's a bright halo around the cross in the center of the screen, so it's not perfect. If you'd like a similar TV with better black uniformity, check out the TCL QM8/QM850G QLED.

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Color Washout

Color Shift

Brightness Loss

Black Level Raise

Gamma Shift

Unfortunately, the TCL 6 Series Roku TV has a poor viewing angle. This TV isn't a good choice for a wide seating arrangement, as colors fade and lose accuracy as you move off-center.

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Screen Finish

Total Reflections

Indirect Reflections

Calculated Direct Reflections

The reflection handling of this TV is superb. The semi-gloss finish reduces the intensity of direct reflections significantly, and indirect reflections aren't very noticeable. Direct reflections cause some smearing, though, but overall there's no issue with visibility in a bright room.

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100% Black to 50% Gray

50% Gray to 100% White

100% Black to 50% Red

50% Red to 100% Red

100% Black to 50% Green

50% Green to 100% Green

100% Black to 50% Blue

50% Blue to 100% Blue

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Smoothing

Detail Preservation

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Unfortunately, like the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED, signals aren't scaled properly. Adjusting the scaling setting has no impact on this. It isn't an issue unless you have a really old DVD player that doesn't support upscaling; it's unlikely that you'll encounter this issue with modern equipment.

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Subpixel Layout

Type LED

Sub-Type

Like most TVs on the market, this TV uses a BGR (Blue-Green-Red) subpixel layout instead of the traditional Red-Green-Blue layout. For video content, it doesn't cause any issues, but if you're planning on using this TV as a PC monitor, this reduces text clarity a bit, although there are easy workarounds for it. You can read more about this here.

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80% Response Time

100% Response Time

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV QLED has a very good response time, very similar to the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED. There's very little black smearing in dark scenes, and transitions are consistent with different types of content. Some motion blur is visible when playing games or watching sports.

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Flicker-Free

PWM Dimming Frequency

Unfortunately, the TCL 6 Series Roku TV uses pulse width modulation (PWM) to dim the backlight, and it flickers across all picture modes with all settings. The flicker pattern is extremely unusual and appears to be a combination of multiple separate waves, but the overall frequency is very high and won't bother most people.

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Optional BFI

Min Flicker For 60 fps

60Hz For 60 fps

120Hz For 120 fps

Min Flicker for 60 fps in Game Mode

This TV has an optional backlight strobing feature, commonly known as black frame insertion. It flickers at either 60Hz or 120Hz, depending on the content. The score for this test is based on the flicker frequency and not the actual performance.

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Motion Interpolation (30 fps)

Motion Interpolation (60 fps)

This TV has an optional motion interpolation feature to improve the appearance of motion. It can increase the frame rate of content up to 120fps, but it doesn't look very good with busy scenes. Slow scenes look good, but there are significant artifacts in busier scenes.

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Frame Hold Time @ 24 fps

Frame Hold Time @ 60 fps

Unfortunately, there's a bit of stutter when watching low frame rate content like movies. It's especially noticeable in slow panning shots.

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Judder-Free 24p

Judder-Free 24p via 60p

Judder-Free 24p via 60i

Judder-Free 24p via Native Apps

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV automatically removes judder from any source, ensuring a smooth movie-watching experience.

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Native Refresh Rate

Variable Refresh Rate

HDMI Forum VRR

FreeSync

G-SYNC Compatible

4k VRR Maximum

4k VRR Minimum

1080p VRR Maximum

1080p VRR Minimum

1440p VRR Maximum

1440p VRR Minimum

VRR + Local Dimming Yes

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1080p @ 60Hz

1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz + 10-Bit HDR

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

4k @ 60Hz With Interpolation

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 60Hz

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV has superb low input lag, ensuring a very responsive gaming experience. The input lag is also low in 'PC' mode, which is great as you can enjoy clear text and a smooth desktop experience. Oddly, though, the input lag increases significantly when running at 144Hz.

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Resolution 4k

480p @ 59.94Hz (Widescreen)

720p @ 59.94Hz

1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 120Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 30Hz or 24Hz

8k @ 60Hz

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV supports most common resolutions, but there are a few issues. Unfortunately, the 4k @ 144Hz feature doesn't work well with all sources, as it didn't work on our test PC with an RTX 3060, but it worked fine on a different PC with an RX6600XT. It supports chroma 4:4:4 with 60Hz signals, which is important for clear text from a PC. Unfortunately, with 1080p and 1440p signals chroma 4:4:4 isn't displayed properly at 120Hz. Chroma is displayed properly with a 4k @ 120Hz signal, but you have to be in either the 'Game' Picture Mode or have Game Mode enabled; otherwise, it skips frames, resulting in a 60Hz refresh rate.

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV is fully compatible with the PS5. Note that the variable refresh rate feature doesn't work with a 1440p resolution, but this is a limitation of the PS5, not the TV.

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

This TV is nearly fully compatible with the Xbox Series S|X. It supports everything except for Dolby Vision gaming @ 120Hz, but very few TVs or games support this.

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HDR10

HDR10+

Dolby Vision

HLG

HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth

HDMI 2.1 Class Bandwidth

CEC Yes

HDCP 2.2 Yes (HDMI 1,2,3,4)

ATSC Tuner

USB 3.0

Variable Analog Audio Out Yes

Wi-Fi Support Yes (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz)

HDMI ports 1 and 2 support the full bandwidth of HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps according to CRU), and those are the only ports that support the 144Hz max refresh rate. Unfortunately, it doesn't support ATSC 3.0, so over-the-air broadcasts are limited to 1080p.

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HDMI 4

USB 1

Digital Optical Audio Out 1

Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 1

Analog Audio Out RCA 0

Component In 0

Composite In 1 (adapter required, not incl.)

Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1

Ethernet 1

DisplayPort 0

IR In 0

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ARC/eARC Port

eARC: Dolby Atmos Over Dolby Digital Plus

eARC: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1

eARC: LPCM 7.1 Over Dolby MAT

eARC: Dolby TrueHD 7.1

eARC: DTS:X Over DTS-HD MA

eARC: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1

eARC: LPCM Channels (Bitstream)

ARC: Dolby Digital 5.1

ARC: DTS 5.1

Optical: Dolby Digital 5.1

Optical: DTS 5.1

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV supports eARC, and unlike the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED, advanced audio formats work perfectly and are passed through automatically, with no downmixing.

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Low-Frequency Extension

Std. Dev. @ 70

Std. Dev. @ 80

Std. Dev. @ Max

Max

Dynamic Range Compression

The TCL 6 Series Roku TV has an okay frequency response. Like most TVs, there's very little bass response, with no thump or rumble in its deep bass. Dialogue is very clear, even at high volume levels, but like the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED, it can't get very loud and lacks a room correction feature, so it's not a good choice for noisy environments.

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Weighted THD @ 80

Weighted THD @ Max

IMD @ 80

IMD @ Max

This TV has decent distortion performance at moderate and low listening levels. It increases significantly at high volume levels, especially in the high treble range.

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Smart OS Roku TV

Version 11.5.0

Ease of Use

Smoothness

Time Taken to Select YouTube

Time Taken to Change Backlight

Advanced Options

This TV runs the Roku TV smart interface, which is very simple, with fewer animations and a simpler user interface than you'll get with more premium TVs. It's very fast, though, and easy to use.

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Ads

Opt-out

Suggested Content in Home

Opt-out of Suggested Content

Unfortunately, like all Roku TVs we've tested, there are large ads on the home screen and they can't be disabled.

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App Selection

App Smoothness

Cast Capable

USB Drive Playback

USB Drive HDR Playback

HDR in Netflix

HDR in YouTube

There's a great selection of streaming apps to choose from, and most of the more popular streaming services are available.

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Size

Voice Control

CEC Menu Control

Other Smart Features

Remote App Roku

Fortunately, this TV comes with the voice remote found with most premium Roku devices. You can access voice controls either through the remote or through the Roku companion app. There are a few quick access buttons for popular streaming services, but like most TVs, you can't change them.

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The power button is on the bottom bezel of the TV below the TCL branding, and you can change inputs with it too.

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Power Consumption 75 W

Power Consumption (Max) 221 W

Firmware 11.5.0 build 4235-DK

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