TCL S446 (LCD)

TCL S446 (43" LCD)

TCL S446 (LCD)

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BEST RATING
Cartoons & Animaton:
3.5
PICTURE QUALITY: Poor5.8/10
MOVIES & TV: Poor5.4/10
GAMING: Poor5.8/10
SPORTS: Fair6.4/10
CARTOONS & ANIMATION: Fair6.4/10
NEWS & TALK: Fair6.4/10
BRIGHT ROOM: Poor5.8/10

The TCL S446 is a budget-friendly LCD TV that provides a fair viewing experience for sports and cartoons, as well as news, talk, and reality TV. However, its performance in dark rooms and with movies is poor, and it also has poor contrast, which can affect overall picture quality. It offers good reflection handling, which is beneficial if you will be watching TV in a brightly lit room. The S446 has an excellent color gamut, but its HDR brightness is inadequate, meaning HDR content won't pop as much as on other TVs. The TV is equipped with 3 HDMI ports and has a good capability as a monitor, but it does not support advanced HDR formats like HDR10+ or Dolby Vision. For gaming, its lag is fair, and response time is very good, so casual gaming should be satisfactory but might disappoint more serious gamers. Sound quality is fair, so it may require external speakers or a soundbar for a more immersive audio experience. Overall, the TCL S446 could be suitable for general use, especially in well-lit environments, but is limited for movie enthusiasts and serious gamers. Give Feedback

this description is based on the product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars.








Evaluation

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Pros
  • Good for use as a monitor
  • Excellent upscaling of lower-resolution content
  • Decent at handling reflections
  • Good for wide seating arrangements
Cons
  • Poor overall picture quality
  • Poor performance in both dark and bright rooms
  • Inadequate for gaming
  • Sound quality is mediocre

Ratings by Category

Cartoons & Animaton:
3.5
The TCL S446 has excellent colors out of the box, which is important for the vibrant hues often found in cartoons and animation, but its color volume is only fair, which might result in some colors not appearing as rich or varied across different brightness levels.
Sports:
3.4
The TCL S446 is fair for watching sports owing to its mediocre motion processing and average response time, which may not render fast action sequences as smoothly. However, it handles reflections well and offers a decent viewing angle, making it suitable for viewing in rooms with multiple viewers or some ambient light.
News, Talk & Reality TV:
3.4
The TCL S446 is adequate for watching news and talk shows because it has good capabilities for upscaling lower-resolution content and displays colors accurately right out of the box, which means standard definition broadcasts will look clear and the colors will appear natural without needing manual adjustments. However, its color gamut is limited, which could result in less vibrant colors compared to TVs with a wider color range.

Full Specs

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GENERAL

Price
$230
Brand
TCL
Release Date
September 1, 2021
Full name
43S446
Screen Size
43"
Screen Resolution
4K

TV FEATURES

Operating System
Android TV
Sound Quality Score
PerfectRec logo
6/10
NextGen Ready
No
HDMI Ports
3
Coax Ports
1

DISPLAY QUALITY SCORES

Picture Quality Score
PerfectRec logo
5.8/10
Bright Room Score
PerfectRec logo
5.8/10
Gaming Score
PerfectRec logo
5.9/10
Movies & TV Score
PerfectRec logo
5.5/10
Sports Score
PerfectRec logo
6.4/10

PHYSICAL

Dimensions w/o Stand (H x W x D)
22.3" x 38.2" x 3.3"
Dimensions with Stand (H x W)
24.6" x 38.2"
Weight without Stand
15.4 lbs
VESA Mount
200 x 200

DISPLAY

Color Depth
10 bit
Black Frame Insertion
Yes
Auto Low Latency Mode
Yes
Contrast
PerfectRec logo
5.4/10
Local Dimming
PerfectRec logo
2.5/10

SOUND

Speaker Setup
2.0
Speaker Power
16 W
Dolby Atmos
Bypass only
DTS:X
No

Comparison charts

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Why trust us

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This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec TVs team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest TV information and makes it digestible for you.

By the numbers

385
TVs evaluated
33,110
TVs stats compiled
21
Proprietary TVs ratings developed
130,530
Recommendations made
19,580
Consumer hours saved

About the TV team

Joe Golden, Ph.D

CEO and TVs Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.

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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Chandradeep Chowdhury

Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.

Jaime Roldán

TVs Expert
Jaime is a Colombia-based TV expert. He is an electronics engineer with 8 years of experience in the telecom sector and has been making TV recommendations for 12 years.

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