Our Verdict
The TCL S525 is a good TV for most uses. It has excellent contrast and good black uniformity, important for watching movies in a dark room. It has outstanding low input lag, and a fast response time, great for gaming or for use as a PC monitor. Unfortunately, the image degrades when viewed at an angle, and it has mediocre gray uniformity, so it isn't the best choice for watching TV shows or sports during the day.
- Deep, uniform blacks
- Outstanding low input lag
- Image degrades at an angle
- PWM flicker at low brightness levels
The S525 is a decent TV for watching movies in a dark room. It has an excellent contrast ratio and great black uniformity, but it lacks a local dimming feature. 1080p Blu-ray movies look great, and it can remove judder from all sources. Unfortunately, it has mediocre gray uniformity, which might be distracting.
This is a decent TV for watching TV shows in a bright room. It has only decent reflection handling, but good peak brightness, so glare shouldn't be an issue for most people. It has a good selection of streaming channels, and older, low-resolution content is upscaled well. Unfortunately, the image degrades at an angle.
The TCL S525 is a decent TV for watching sports during the day. It has a great response time, so you can clearly see the players, not just blur. It has good peak brightness and decent reflection handling, so glare shouldn't be an issue in a bright room. Unfortunately, the image degrades at an angle, so it isn't great for watching the game with a group of friends.
This is a great TV for playing video games. It has outstanding low input lag, resulting in a responsive gaming experience, and it has a great response time, so there is only a short blur trail behind fast-moving objects. It upscales 1080p content well, with no noticeable issues, great if you haven't upgraded to a 4k game console.
Decent TV for watching the latest HDR movies. It has an excellent contrast ratio and great black uniformity, but it lacks a local dimming feature. It can display a wide color gamut, but can't get very bright in HDR, so small highlights don't stand out. 4k content is displayed perfectly, with no pixel issues.
This is a great TV for gaming in HDR, mainly due to the great gaming performance. It has outstanding low input lag, and a great response time, so there's only a bit of blur behind fast-moving objects. It has excellent contrast and great black uniformity, and a great color gamut. Unfortunately, it can't get very bright in HDR, so small highlights don't stand out much, and there's no local dimming feature.
This is a great TV for use as a PC monitor. It has excellent low input lag, a great response time, and unlike the S517, there are no noticeable sub-pixel issues. Unfortunately, though, the image degrades at an angle, and it has only decent reflection handling, so it might not be suitable for a bright room.
Changelog
- Updated May 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Feb 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Sep 27, 2019: Review published.
- Updated Sep 23, 2019: Early access published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 55" (55S525). For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 43" (43S525), 49" (49S525), and 65" versions (65S525) as well. At the time of publishing, there don't appear to be any variants, but let us know in the discussions if you find a different model number, and we'll update the review.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their TCL 5 Series doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.
Note: We received reports that the 43 inch model has crosshatching effects that make text look blurry, and that it doesn't have any motion settings. If you've noticed any of these issues, let us know.
| Size | Model |
| 43" | 43S525 |
| 49" | 49S525 |
| 55" | 55S525 |
| 65" | 65S525 |
In Europe, the TCL models are completely different and do not directly correspond with the U.S. models.
Popular TV Comparisons
The TCL S525 is a good budget TV, and it performs similarly to other budget models. See our recommendations for the best budget TVs, the best TVs under $500, and the best 4k TVs.
The TCL S525 is slightly better than the Vizio V Series 2019. The TCL has a much faster response time and less input lag, making it a much better choice for gaming. The TCL also has an optional motion interpolation feature. The Vizio V Series, on the other hand, has better reflection handling and slightly better viewing angles. The TCL also has better smart features, with a huge selection of streaming channels.
The Hisense H8F is a slightly better TV than the TCL S525. The H8F has full-array local dimming, while the TCL doesn't have any local dimming feature. The H8F can also get brighter, especially with HDR content. The black levels of the H8F are better, and it has a slightly wider color gamut. On the other hand, the TCL has more accurate colors out of the box, has much better response time, and uses Roku's smart interface, which is much smoother and easier to use than the Android TV interface found on the Hisense.
The Samsung RU7100 and the TCL S525 perform very similarly overall. The RU7100 has better gray uniformity, an optional black frame insertion feature, and slightly better reflection handling. The TCL S525 has a faster response time, better gradient handling, and it can remove judder from all 24p sources.
The TCL S525 is a bit better than the TCL 4 Series 2019. The S525 is a lot brighter, and it can remove judder from all sources. The S525 also has an optional motion interpolation feature. The 4 Series has better reflection handling.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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