The TCL 6 Series/R625 2019 is a good budget 4k TV that delivers a great HDR experience, with a picture quality that can rival other high-end TVs on the market. Its VA panel's high contrast ratio is supported by a full-array local dimming feature, resulting in deep and inky blacks. However, its response time is a bit slow and there are visible duplications of the image when using its black frame insertion feature. For gamers, this TV has a remarkably low input lag, but there are no advanced gaming features like FreeSync. Luckily, the TV runs on the Roku platform, which is very user-friendly and gives you access to most popular streaming services.
Our Verdict
Overall, the TCL 6 Series/R625 2019 is a good TV for most uses. It has a high contrast ratio and displays deep, uniform blacks in a dark room. Its low input lag makes it a good choice for playing games, but its slower response time causes a bit more motion blur. Although the TV is suitable for a bright room thanks to its high brightness levels, the image loses accuracy at an angle, which isn't ideal when watching sports with a group of friends or doing chores while watching TV shows.
- Outstanding low input lag.
- Deep, uniform blacks.
- Excellent wide color gamut.
- Noticeable motion artifacts.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 is an excellent TV for watching movies. It has outstanding contrast, a good local dimming feature, and excellent black uniformity, making it a great choice for dark rooms. It can remove judder from all sources without introducing the soap opera effect, and lower-resolution content is upscaled well. Unfortunately, there are noticeable uniformity issues, and the image degrades at an angle, so it isn't great for a wide seating area.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 is a good TV for watching TV shows during the day in a bright room. It can get very bright and its reflection handling is not bad, so glare shouldn't be an issue. It has a very large number of apps and it upscales lower resolution content well. Unfortunately, the image loses accuracy when viewed from the side, so it isn't great if you do chores while watching TV.
The TCL R625 is a decent TV for watching sports, but it's best-suited for watching the game with only a small group of friends, as it has disappointing viewing angles. Its reflection handling is not bad and it has great peak brightness, but its response time is just okay, so some motion artifacts and duplications can be seen in fast-moving content. Unfortunately, there's vignetting at the corners and some visible dirty screen effect that can be very distracting.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 is a good TV for playing video games. It has an excellent contrast ratio and outstanding black uniformity, great for dark-room gaming. Its input lag is remarkably low, but its response time is just okay, which results in more motion blur in fast-moving scenes. Also, it doesn't support any variable refresh rate technologies like FreeSync.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 is a great TV for watching the latest movies in HDR. It has excellent contrast and outstanding black uniformity, resulting in deep, uniform blacks, and it has a good local dimming feature. It has great HDR peak brightness, so small highlights stand out, and it can display an excellent wide color gamut. Unfortunately, its gray uniformity is just okay, and some banding and dirty screen effect can be seen in some content.
The TCL R625 is a good TV for gaming in HDR. It has an excellent contrast ratio, it can display a wide color gamut, and it can get very bright to bring out small highlights. Unfortunately, some motion artifacts can be seen in some content, including duplications in fast-moving content.
The TCL 6 Series R625 is a decent TV for use as a PC monitor. It has a remarkably low input lag to provide a responsive desktop experience, and it displays chroma 4:4:4 properly, which is important for text clarity. Viewing angles are sub-par, so images look washed out at the sides if you sit up close. On the upside, its VA panel is immune from permanent burn-in, so you won't have to worry about static desktop icons being always in the same place.
Changelog
- Updated Jun 17, 2020: We corrected a minor mistake in our BFI scoring.
- Updated May 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Feb 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Oct 16, 2019: Review published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 65" TCL 6 Series 2019, and we expect our review to be valid for the other available size, the 55" 55R625.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their TCL R625 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Size | US Model | Dimming Zones |
| 55" | 55R625 | 100 |
| 65" | 65R625 | 120 |
The 65R625 we reviewed was manufactured in July 2019.
Note: Some retailers list a 75" 2019 model of the 6 Series. This is actually the 2018 6 Series R617, but it was released later than the other sizes. There is currently no 75" model of the 2019 6 Series R625.
Popular TV Comparisons
The TCL 6 Series 2019 is a great 4k TV at a low price. It's one of the best budget TVs on the market, and in many ways outperforms many premium models from other brands, but it isn't without its flaws. See also our recommendations for the best Roku TVs, the best budget TVs, and the best 65 inch TVs.
The TCL 6 Series/R625 2019 is very similar to the TCL 6 Series 2018. The R625 has a more premium design and a much better local dimming feature, but the 6 Series 2018 is brighter and has better reflection handling. The R625 has a higher backlight flicker frequency, but a slower response time, and motion doesn't look as good.
The TCL R635 is slightly better overall than the TCL 6 Series/R625 2019. The R635 model performs much better in well-lit rooms because it has improved reflection handling and it gets much brighter, so it combats glare easily. It also has a faster response time that makes motion look smoother in video games or when you watch sports. However, the R625 version is a better choice for dark room viewing since the local dimming feature is much better; there's a lot less blooming, and it has significantly better black uniformity, but this may vary between units.
The Hisense H8G and the TCL 6 Series/R625 2019 are two very similar TVs. The TCL gets brighter, displays a wider color gamut, can remove judder from any source, and it has slightly better contrast and much better black uniformity. Meanwhile, the Hisense has better reflection handling, more accurate colors out of the box, and a much quicker response time, resulting in less motion blur.
The TCL 6 Series/R625 2019 is a much better TV than the TCL 4 Series 2019. The R625 looks a lot more premium, has much better picture quality thanks to its local dimming feature, significantly brighter screen, better black uniformity, and better viewing angles. If you watch a lot of HDR content, the R625 is a much better choice thanks to its much higher HDR peak brightness and wider color gamut. While the 4 Series has a much faster response time, the R625 has a significantly better black frame insertion feature and less noticeable on-screen flicker, giving it better motion handling overall. On the other hand, the 4 Series may represent better value for some people.
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 are done with 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
The TCL 6 Series 2019 replaces the TCL 6 Series/R617 2018. It's one of TCL's most popular models, and its main competitors are the Vizio M Series Quantum 2019, the Hisense H9F, and the Samsung Q70/Q70R QLED. Although it was TCL's highest-end model last year, in 2019 they're releasing the TCL Q825, a high-end model designed to compete with premium models from other brands.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 has a great design. TCL has updated the design, adding a few nice touches, including a partial chrome finish on the feet and a glossy panel on the back. All of these changes add a premium look to this TV, and it feels solid and well-built. Unfortunately, there's still no cable management.
The feet are attached to the side of the TV, so it requires a table that's at least as wide as the TV. If you choose to wall-mount it, there are covers included in the box to hide the mounting slots for the feet.
Footprint of the 65" stand: 56.7" x 12.6"
The back of the TV looks like the 2018 model, except that the top half has now a new glossy panel. This panel adds a premium look to the TV and appears to be purely cosmetic.
Unfortunately, like the TCL 6 Series 2018, there's no cable management.
The TCL 65R625 is thicker than most TVs, especially the bottom portion of the TV, so it might stick out a bit when wall-mounted.
The overall build quality is good. The stand supports the TV well with very little wobble. It appears to be well-built, with no obvious issues. We have received a few reports of damaged screens out of the box, but your experience may vary.
Excellent contrast ratio. This TV can deliver deep blacks in a dark room, and it's even better when local dimming is enabled.
The TCL R625 has a good full-array local dimming system. It looks good overall, but the dimming algorithm can be rather aggressive, causing some areas to dim too much. There's also some blooming around subtitles, although it looks very well-managed as long as you sit directly in front of the TV.
The 55" inch model has fewer local dimming zones (100 instead of 120), but we don't expect this to have a significant impact on local dimming performance.
Excellent SDR peak brightness, more than bright enough for the brightest environments. It's not quite as bright as the TCL R617, but this shouldn't be very noticeable with SDR content.
We measured the peak brightness after calibration, with the 'Brighter' setting, with the Backlight set to '100' (max) in the 'Movie' Picture Mode, as these are the most accurate settings. Unlike many TVs, these are also the settings that deliver the highest peak brightness.
Good HDR peak brightness, but it isn't as bright as the TCL R617 or the Hisense H9F, so small highlights aren't quite as bright in some scenes.
We measured the peak brightness in HDR before calibration, with the 'Dark HDR' Picture Mode, which is the most accurate and the brightest setting.
Note 10/17/2019: Gray uniformity varies on a unit-by-unit basis, so if you buy this TV then let us know how your unit compares in the discussions.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 has an okay gray uniformity. There's significant vertical banding across the entire screen, and the corners are darker than the rest of the screen (also known as vignetting). This is especially disappointing for sports fans and it's also noticeable in most content.
Like most VA panel TVs, the viewing angles are disappointing. The image looks noticeably inaccurate from the side, making this TV less suitable for large rooms or wide seating arrangements. If you need a TV with better viewing angles, check out an IPS panel TV like the Sony X800G.
Black uniformity is outstanding. With local dimming disabled, the image is a bit cloudy, but it isn't very noticeable. With local dimming enabled, there's significantly less clouding, but some more noticeable blooming around the test cross.
Reflection handling isn't bad. It handles indirect reflections well, but it struggles in very bright rooms with light shining directly on the screen.
The TCL R625's pre-calibration color accuracy is sub-par. Most colors are noticeably inaccurate and white balance is quite off. The color temperature is warm, giving the overall image a slight reddish tint. Gamma doesn't follow the target curve, with most scenes looking darker than they should.
After calibration, color accuracy is exceptional. The remaining inaccuracies shouldn't be noticeable for most people. Gamma is perfect and the color temperature is very close to our 6500K target.
TCL originally announced that the TCL 6 Series 2019 would have an auto-calibration function. Unfortunately, this feature hasn't been released yet, so we haven't been able to try it. Once the app is out we will reset the TV and test the auto-calibration, and post our findings in a discussion post below.
See our recommended settings here
Native 4k content is displayed nearly perfectly. Unlike the TCL R617, there's no sub-pixel dithering, but we noticed some minor cross-hatching in some content. It isn't very noticeable, though, and you have to be close to notice it. From a comfortable viewing distance, it shouldn't be an issue.
This TV has excellent color gamut. This is expected, as the quantum dot color used to produce a wide color gamut was one of the main advertised features of this TV. It's a noticeable improvement over the TCL R617, and is important for more saturated colors with the latest 4k HDR movies.
Unfortunately, the EOTF (electro-optical transfer function) doesn't follow the target PQ curve, and most scenes are displayed brighter than they should be. 'Game' mode is a bit more accurate, as shown here.
If you find HDR too dark, check out our settings page to see how to make it brighter.
Great color volume. It's mainly limited by the incomplete color gamut, as it can display dark saturated colors well, and most colors are as bright as pure white.
Good gradient handling, but there's some severe banding, especially in green and shades of gray. If you want another budget-friendly TV with even better gradient handling, check out the Hisense H9G.
The TCL 65R625 shows no signs of temporary image retention, even immediately after displaying our high-contrast static test image for ten minutes.
We don't expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention, as the VA panel in our long-term test appears immune.
The TCL 6 Series R625 2019 has an okay response time. Dark scene transitions are slow, causing visible ghosting. Also, the TV's backlight flicker causes some duplications and motion artifacts that can be annoying. This behavior is depicted in the above response time photo.
The TV uses PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) to dim its backlight, and it flickers at all brightness levels. The relatively high flicker frequency shouldn't bother most people, but it causes some noticeable motion artifacts.
Update 06/17/2020: There was a minor mistake in our BFI scoring. It's been corrected, and the score has increased a bit.
This TV has an optional black frame insertion feature. When enabled, the backlight's flicker frequency drops to 60Hz, which improves the appearance of motion but also causes duplications of the image. To use this feature, you must enable the LED Motion Clarity setting.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 has an optional motion interpolation feature, but it can only increase the frame rate up to 60 frames per second.
The setting that controls motion interpolation is the Action Smoothing.
Due to the TV's slower response time, there's less stutter when watching 24p movies. However, it can still happen in some slow, panning shots.
This TV can remove judder from all sources, which is unusual for a 60Hz TV. To use it, Natural Cinema must be set to 'On'. Note that this feature can't be used when motion interpolation is enabled.
Note 11/16/2020: The latest firmware version 9.4.0 adds VRR support; however, we no longer have this TV to test it.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 has a 60Hz refresh rate and doesn't support any of the variable refresh rate technologies, like AMD's FreeSync. This TV's successor, the TCL 6 Series/R635 2020 has a 120Hz refresh rate.
The R625 has a remarkably low input lag. To get the lowest latency, 'Game' mode must be enabled. It also has an Auto Low Latency Mode, which switches the TV to 'Game' mode automatically when it detects a game being launched from a compatible device like an Xbox One or a PC.
The TCL 6 Series 2019 can display chroma 4:4:4 properly, but only in 4k. When sending a 1080p or 1440p signal from a PC, it can't display chroma 4:4:4 properly, so text doesn't look clear. This is very surprising, as almost all 4k TVs can do this, so we expect it's a bug with the current firmware. We'll retest this with future firmware updates.
Note 11/16/2020: The latest firmware version 9.4.0 adds eARC support; however, we no longer have this TV to test it.
This TV has a mediocre frequency response. The low-frequency extension (LFE) is high, resulting in a bass that lacks thump or rumble, but has a bit of punch. Above the LFE, the response is flat, resulting in clear, even dialogue, but it lacks airiness due to the drop in the mid-treble. This TV has good max volume and should be loud enough for most rooms, and there's very little compression or pumping artifacts.
Decent distortion performance. The total amount of harmonic distortion at 80dB SPL is good, but it increases a bit at max volume. Like the TCL R617, this TV produces high amounts of inter-modulation distortion, but most people won't notice this.
The TCL 6 Series R625 runs on Roku OS, which is user-friendly and runs very smoothly.
Unfortunately, like all Roku TVs we've tested, there are large ads on the home screen and they can't be disabled.
Roku's app store has a great selection of streaming apps, covering the majority of the most popular streaming services.
The remote control is small and simple, very similar to other Roku TVs. It has shortcuts to popular streaming services and the volume control is located on the side of the remote. It has a built-in microphone for voice control but doesn't have the private listening feature found on older TCL TVs like the TCL P607.
