TCL has finally produced a Roku TV with excellent gaming specifications. With its popular 6-Series TV, the company is following a tick-tock release pattern. There’s a Roku version one year, a Google TV edition the next, and now the company is upgrading the Roku model yet again. The latest 6-Series TV, like previous models, has Mini LED backlighting, which employs thousands of tiny LEDs spread across hundreds of local dimming zones to produce excellent brightness, impressive contrast, and deep black levels. There are up to 360 dimming zones on this panel. TCL claims that it uses quantum dot color with “a measured 100 percent color volume in the DCI-P3 Hollywood reference color space.”
TCL is emphasizing gaming capabilities in the 2022 6-Series Roku TV. The previous Roku model could only do 1440p at 120Hz, but the 6-Series can now do full 4K-resolution gaming at 120Hz, as you’d hope so far into the PS5 and Xbox Series X lifecycles. A peak variable refresh rate of 144Hz is possible for PC gamers. Other TV manufacturers, such as Samsung, have adopted 144Hz; Vizio has even achieved 240Hz at 1080p resolution.
The new 6-Series has four HDMI ports in total, two of which support 4K / 120Hz. TCL wisely uses a different port for eARC than those two, so you won’t have to waste a high-performance HDMI port on your sound bar. Every port should have full HDMI 2.1 capabilities, but where that isn’t possible, this is about the best layout you could hope for. In addition to the industry-standard VRR spec, the latest 6-Series supports AMD FreeSync.
TCL has opted for a centrally located stand rather than legs on each side of the TV. There are two height settings in case you want to place a sound bar in front of the screen. You also get integrated cable management that runs the length of the stand. Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10 Plus, and HLG are among the HDR formats supported. Aside from that, the 2022 6-Series Roku TV has the standard brushed metal aesthetic and slim bezels.
An ambient light sensor has been added to the bottom of the screen, allowing TCL to include Dolby Vision IQ on the 2022 6-Series. HDR brightness should be optimized for your specific viewing conditions once enabled. The built-in voice microphones from the Google TV 6-Series aren’t present on the new Roku model, but you can still use voice commands with the included remote.
The TCL Roku TV 6-Series is now available in the following sizes:
$699 for the 55-inch model (55R655)
$999 for the 65-inch model (65R655)
$1499 for the 75-inch model (75R655)
