“Quantum dot” technology sounds like a fake invention, something made up by a well-meaning marketing team. Well, it is, and it isn’t. Although different companies have different brand names for their own recipes, quantum dot displays are a real innovation that allows TVs to show off a wider range of colors, and they’ve become one of the best ways to get a beautiful TV at a decent price. This year, TCL brought quantum dots to its popular 6-Series, and speaking as someone who’s spent a lot of time with these TVs, I’m here to say that the upgrade is exciting.
I’m highlighting the quantum dots on the new TCL 6-Series with the Roku TV operating system because otherwise, the new one is very similar to last year’s model: 100 zones of dimming on the 55-inch, HDR, and Roku built-in. I reviewed that TV, and I loved it, so when TCL told me it was upgrading the guts and selling the new 6-Series for the same low price, I had to check it out. In addition to a new quantum dot film to improve the colors, there are more local dimming zones—100 in the $600 55-inch model and 120 in the $800 65-inch. Like the old 6-Series, this year’s model offers 4K resolution and Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos support. Unlike the old TV, the new one also supports a calibration app that works with Google Pixel phones and makes it easy to tweak your TV settings for more accurate colors.
TCL 6-Series (2019)
WHAT IS IT?
A cheap 4K TV with quantum dot technology
COST
$600 for 55-inch, $800 for 65-inch
LIKE
Terrific color accuracy, loads of great features
NO LIKE
No longer the cheapest 4K TV like this
Mapping the difference between the $600 TV (this TCL) and the $1,400 TV (that Vizio) isn’t a super useful exercise. Based on specs alone, the Vizio P-Series Quantum is more competitive with the TCL 8-Series, which starts at $2,000 and also hopes to compete with Samsung and LG TVs that cost upwards of $3,000. And if all of these four-digit sums are boggling your mind, you’re on the right track. You’d better be obsessed with image quality if you want to spend more than $999 on the TV these days because as the new TCL 6-Series illustrates well, even the cheap 4K TVs are good enough for most people. They even have fancy technology inside, like quantum dots.
So at the risk of repeating myself, the new TCL TV does a better job with colors than its predecessors. Skin tones look more natural. Details look sharper. Colors look more vibrant. In my side-by-side testing I spent quite a bit of time with Ex Machina, which is heavy on texture and shades of grey but with the occasional splash of color. It’s easy to see how much livelier the quantum dot-powered TCL TV looks compared to the older model. Meanwhile, Tall Girl is a Netflix movie about a tall girl that’s awash in bright colors all the time. I was impressed, however, by how the new 6-Series didn’t oversaturate them the way the other set does.
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