TCL 4 Series/S446 2021 TV Review

The TCL 4 Series TV is part of TCL's 4 Series lineup that includes the TCL 4 Series/S434 Android 2020 and the TCL 4 Series 2020. It's a Best Buy exclusive TV, and it's different from the other two because it uses Google TV, while the S434 uses Android TV, and the 4 Series 2020 has Roku. It competes with other entry-level TVs like the Hisense A6G, Toshiba C350 Fire TV 2021, and the Amazon Fire TV 4-Series.

The TCL 4 Series looks very similar to the TCL 4 Series/S434 Android 2020 with a simple design made mostly of plastic throughout. Its bezels are thicker than most premium TVs, but the TV still looks nice in most setups.

The stand is basic and doesn't support the screen all that well because there's wobble from front to back. It raises the screen enough to place a soundbar in front without blocking the screen.

Footprint of the 65 inch TV: 43.5" x 12.6" x 2" to the bottom bezel (3" from the table to the bottom of the screen).

The 85 inch version has a different stand, similar to the one on the TCL R745 QLED.

The TCL 4 Series has a metal back panel, with plastic at the bottom section, and where the inputs are. Sadly, there's no cable management. The inputs are side-facing, but they may be a bit hard to reach on the larger sizes when wall-mounted because they're at the center of the screen.

The bottom section where the inputs are sticks out, so the TV doesn't sit flush against the wall when mounted.

The build quality is okay. It's mainly plastic, with metal only on the back panel, which flexes a bit. The plastic in the back and on the borders also feel flimsy, and the TV wobbles noticeably from front to back. Overall, it's well-put-together as there aren't any issues with that, but it feels cheap.

Unlike the TCL 4 Series/S434 Android 2020, the 65 inch version of the TCL 4 Series has an IPS-like panel with a low contrast ratio, so blacks look gray in a dark room. There's also no local dimming feature to improve it. Contrast can vary between units, but we don't expect it to be much higher for IPS-type panels.

Note: The 50 and 85 inch models have VA panels, so they're expected to have a higher contrast. TCL doesn't advertise what panels the 43, 55, and 75 inch models have, so it's possible they perform differently than the 65 inch version we tested.

The SDR peak brightness is disappointing. It doesn't get bright enough to fight glare in well-lit rooms, but its consistent between different scenes as there's no frame dimming.

We tested the SDR brightness after calibration in the 'Movie' Picture Mode with the Brightness and Contrast at their max, Color Temperature set to 'Warm -5', and Gamma at '2.2'. If you want the brightest image possible and don't care about image accuracy, we measured 309 cd/m² in the 2% window using the 'Vivid' Picture Mode with everything else at their default settings.

The TCL 4 Series doesn't have a local dimming feature. The videos are still filmed so you can see how the backlight performs versus another TV.

Once again, there's no local dimming feature. The videos are still filmed so you can see how the backlight performs versus another TV.

The HDR brightness is poor, as it doesn't get bright enough to make highlights pop. The EOTF doesn't follow the target PQ curve well either, as most scenes are darker than they should be.

We tested the HDR brightness before calibration in the 'Movie' HDR Picture Mode with the Contrast and Brightness at their max, and the Color Temperature at 'Warm -5'. If you find the image too dark, you can use the same settings and enable Dynamic Tone Mapping and set the Gamma to '1.8'. This results in a slightly brighter image as you can see in this EOTF, but it doesn't change the peak brightness.

The HDR brightness is the same in Game Mode as outside of it. The image looks the same, and any differences in the test results are down to margin of error.

The TCL 4 Series has okay gray uniformity. The screen is noticeably darker near the edges, and there's dirty screen effect in the center, which could get distracting during sports. Uniformity is better in near-dark scenes, but there's still a bit of backlight bleed. Also, uniformity can vary between units.

The black uniformity is bad, but this can vary between units. There's a ton of backlight bleed, especially towards the bottom right corner, and there's no local dimming feature to improve it.

Note: The 50 and 85 inch models have VA panels, so they're expected to display deeper blacks than we see in the photo. TCL doesn't advertise what panels the 43, 55, and 75 inch models have, so it's possible they perform differently than the 65 inch version we tested.

With an IPS-like panel, the TCL 4 Series has wide viewing angles, so the image remains accurate when viewing from the sides. It's a good choice for wide seating arrangements.

Note: The 50 and 85 inch models have VA panels, so they're expected to have worse viewing angles. TCL doesn't advertise what panels the 43, 55, and 75 inch models have, so it's possible they perform differently than the 65 inch version we tested.

The reflection handling is good. It handles a moderate amount of light well, but because it doesn't get bright, we don't suggest placing it in a really bright room.

The out-of-the-box accuracy is incredible. There are minimal inaccuracies to the white balance and colors. Gamma is great overall, but really dark and really bright scenes are too bright, while others are a bit too dark. The color temperature is on the cold side, but it's still good. Keep in mind that accuracy can vary between units.

The accuracy after calibration is remarkable. We didn't have to adjust the colors at all, and the white balance is slightly better. Both the gamma and the color temperature improved a bit, but not by much because we couldn't calibrate it too aggressively.

You can see our recommended settings here.

The TCL 4 Series upscales lower-resolution content without any issues. 480p content doesn't have the same scaling issues that we saw with the TCL 5 Series/S546 2021 QLED.

The TCL 4 Series TV doesn't have trouble upscaling 720p content like from cable boxes.

The TCL 4 Series looks similar to the TCL 4 Series/S434 Android 2020 with the way it upscales 1080p content, which is fantastic.

4k content is displayed perfectly, and there aren't any visible issues.

This is a 4k TV that can't display an 8k signal.

The 65 inch model has an ADS panel, which is a type of IPS, similar to the Sony X80J. Unlike most other TVs, it uses an RGB subpixel layout, which helps with text clarity. The 50 and 85 inch models have VA panels, but since TCL doesn't advertise the panel type for the 43, 55, and 75 inch versions, it's unclear which panels they have.

The TCL 4 Series can't display a wide color gamut for HDR content. It has disappointing coverage of the Rec. 2020 color space, and while it has better coverage of the DCI P3 color space used in most HDR content. However, it's still not as good as higher-end TVs.

The color volume is disappointing. It's limited by the narrow color gamut, low contrast, and low peak brightness. The 50 and 85 inch models have VA panels and are expected to have better contrast, so their color volume should be better because they can display darker colors.

The gradient handling is just decent. There's noticeable banding with most colors, especially darker shades, noticeable in scenes with shades of similar colors, like in a sunset. Setting the Gradation Clear setting to 'Low' or 'High' does a decent job at reducing the banding with the test pattern and in real content, but it also causes the loss of fine details in high-quality content.

There aren't any signs of temporary image retention on our unit, but this may vary.

Although some IPS-type panels can suffer from temporary image retention, this doesn't appear to be permanent as seen in our long-term test.

The TCL 4 Series has a decent response time, but there's overshoot in most transitions that leads to motion artifacts like inverse ghosting. However, unlike the TCL 4 Series/S434 Android 2020, there's no black smearing because that's more typical of VA panels.

The TCL 4 Series uses pulse width modulation (PWM) to dim its backlight at low brightness levels. Nearly all picture modes flicker at 150Hz if you set the Brightness to anything above '28', but the 'Low Power' mode starts flickering at '37', and 'Smart HDR' doesn't flicker at all. However, we don't expect this to be an issue for most people because setting it to '28' with most picture modes results in such a dim image.

There's a backlight strobing feature, known as black frame insertion, to improve the appearance of motion. It flickers at 60Hz, and it reduces motion blur trail behind fast-moving objects. Keep in mind that the BFI score is based on the flicker frequency, and not the actual performance.

There's a motion interpolation feature that causes the soap opera effect. It looks similar to the TCL 5 Series/S546 2021 QLED, as it handles slow scenes well, but there more artifacts like halos when there are fast-moving objects on the screen.

Due to the slower response time, low-frame-rate content doesn't stutter much.

The TCL 4 Series removes judder from native apps and 24p sources, which helps with the appearance of motion in movies.

This TV doesn't support any variable refresh rate technology.

The TCL 4 Series has low input lag in Game Mode. It increases with a 4k or 1440p resolution compared to 1080p, but most people won't notice that. Sadly, you can't enable the motion interpolation in Game Mode, so the input lag increases as you need to switch out of Game Mode.

This TV support most common resolutions up to 4k @ 60Hz, including 1440p @ 60Hz if you create a custom resolution from your PC. It also displays proper chroma 4:4:4 with 1080p and 4k signals at 60Hz, which helps with text clarity, but text looks blurry with 1440p signals.

Since this is a basic 60Hz TV and lacks HDMI 2.1 inputs, it doesn't support high frame rate signals from the PS5 or Xbox Series X. However, you can still play 4k games up to 60 fps in HDR10 from either console, and there's an Auto Low Latency Mode that automatically switches the TV into Game Mode when you launch a game from a compatible device.

The TCL 4 Series has eARC support, and it can pass Dolby Atmos signals to a compatible receiver through a single HDMI connection. When we tried to pass DTS:X or DTS signals via eARC, ARC, or optical, a DTS prompt would show up on the screen, but our receiver wasn't reading it as DTS:X or DTS. We tried this with a Blu-ray player, and it didn't work either. We don't expect DTS:X or DTS signals to work, and TCL doesn't advertise it either.

The frequency response is disappointing. It doesn't get loud, and there's no bass, if at all. Its sound profile isn't that well-balanced either, and it's fine for listening to dialogue, but you'll want to get a soundbar or receiver for the best sound experience.

The distortion handling is decent. There isn't too much distortion unless you're listening to content at its max volume, in which case, there's more. However, this depends on the content, and not everyone may hear it.

The TCL 4 Series uses Google TV, which is essentially an upgraded version of the Android TV used on the TCL 4 Series/S434 Android 2020, but with a few aesthetic differences. Menu navigation feels smooth, and we didn't experience any bugs, but it may take some time for you to get used to the interface. If you don't need the smart interface, Google TV is advertised to support Basic Mode, which removes the smart features so you can just focus on using the antenna and inputs.

There's even an Ambient Mode setting that can either display your Google Photos or art photos, similar to the Samsung The Frame 2021.

Like most smart interfaces, there are ads throughout the interface, and there's no way to disable them.

The Google Play Store has a massive selection of apps you can download.

This TV comes with the same remote as the TCL 5 Series/S546 2021 QLED. It's a straightforward remote with the necessary buttons to navigate the interface, and there are shortcut buttons to popular streaming services. It has a built-in mic for voice control, and you can ask it to change inputs, search for content, or open apps, but you can't ask it to change settings like the brightness.

There's a single button underneath the center branding to turn the TV On/Off and change the inputs.

• Remote (with 2x AAA batteries)
• Composite In adapter
• Power cable
• User guide