TCL TVs have been available in SA for barely a year, but they have made a powerful impression at Tech by delivering a surprisingly good screen image backed by solid set of features and good build quality, and all available at a very reasonable price.
Unsuprisingly, perhaps, TCL is now the best-selling Android TV brand in the world.
The TCL P725 presents a classy build with a very thin bezel of around 1cm so you get the “floating” picture effect characteristic of top end TVs. It has 60hz refresh rate, which is the standard for TVs under R20,000, and while the black picture areas were noticeably grey in places, the detailed image adjustments and presets allow you to minimise this issue.
The most common video enhancement standards, HDR10 and Dolby Vision, are supported along with Dolby Atmos immersive sound. The GoogleTV operating system still seems a little immature, but it supports the widest range of streaming apps and comes with Google Assistant for voice control and search, and Chromecast for mirroring video from your phone, built in.
The P275 doesn’t boast the best LED-powered picture you can get or the most comprehensive feature set, but it delivers what will matter to most users: decent picture quality, stylish trim and build quality, and low price. Add in a few useful extras like Bluetooth audio, dual band wifi and HDMI 2.1 ports, and this makes up our best value TV set of the year.
UHD/4K LED, HDR10/Dolby vision, 20W audio/Dolby Atmos, LAN/WiFi 5/BT 5, 2× HDMI 2.0, 1x HDMI 1.4 , 2× USB, GoogleTV OS, R 8000 (50″)
