If you have a tight budget and need a basic TV for mixed usage, the TCL S450R would make sense, as it offers a fair overall picture quality and supports essential HDR formats, while keeping costs low. However, it has poor gaming performance and is not recommended for bright rooms due to its fair reflections handling. In contrast, the TCL R655 costs more but offers very good picture quality, excellent contrast, and great performance for gaming due to very good response time and low input lag. It also has superior capabilities for watching movies and handling reflections, which makes it suitable for bright rooms. If you value a higher quality viewing experience for various content and a more gaming-friendly TV, investing in the R655 may be justified despite the higher price. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the TCL S450R (LCD)
Good for upscaling
Advantages of the TCL R655 (LCD)
Best in class for bright room
Very good for dark room
Very good for gaming
Good for movies & TV
Good for news, talk, & other TV
Very good for cartoons & animation
Good for use as monitor
Very good reflections
Key differences
Picture Quality
6.5/10
8.0/10
6.428571429/10
CONTRAST
9.07/10
6.3/10
COLOR VOLUME SCORE
8.2/10
LED
PANEL TYPE
miniLED FALD
VA
PANEL SUB-TYPE
VA
The TCL R655 (LCD) has very good picture quality, while the TCL S450R (LCD) has only fair picture quality.
Movies & TV
6.0/10
7.9/10
6.428571429/10
CONTRAST
9.07/10
9.2/10
BLACK UNIFORMITY
6.1/10
7.5/10
UPSCALING
5.4/10
Yes
HDR10 SUPPORT
Yes
No
HDR10+ SUPPORT
Yes
Yes
DOLBY VISION SUPPORT
Yes
The TCL R655 (LCD) is good for movies & TV, while the TCL S450R (LCD) is only fair.
Gaming
5.7/10
8.6/10
6.0/10
RESPONSE TIME SCORE
7.0/10
10.0/10
INPUT LAG SCORE
8.7/10
4.6/10
MOTION PROCESSING
5.3/10
10.0/100
GAMING LOCAL DIMMING
85.0/100
5.8/10
GAME HDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
8.8/10
The TCL R655 (LCD) is very good for gaming, while the TCL S450R (LCD) is poor.
Cartoons & Animation
6.0/10
8.7/10
5.9/10
COLOR GAMUT SCORE
7.6/10
6.3/10
COLOR VOLUME SCORE
8.2/10
6.3/10
SDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
9.1/10
6.6/10
COLORS OUT OF THE BOX SCORE
7.7/10
5.8/10
GRAY UNIFORMITY
8.2/10
The TCL R655 (LCD) is very good for cartoons & animation, while the TCL S450R (LCD) is only fair.
News, Talk, & Other TV
6.4/10
7.2/10
6.3/10
SDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
9.1/10
7.5/10
UPSCALING
5.4/10
The TCL R655 (LCD) is good for news, talk, & other TV, while the TCL S450R (LCD) is only fair.
Bright Room
6.0/10
9.5/10
5.1/10
VIEWING ANGLE
5.2/10
6.3/10
SDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
9.1/10
5.6/10
HDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
8.5/10
6.3/10
REFLECTIONS SCORE
8.8/10
The TCL R655 (LCD) is best in class for bright room, while the TCL S450R (LCD) is only fair.
Cost
$270
$700
$0
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
The TCL S450R (LCD) has a price of $270 and the TCL R655 (LCD) costs $700.
"It has an excellent Roku interface, isn’t too expensive, has quantum dots and mini LED backlighting, and looks genuinely fantastic playing everything. If you’re in the market for a new TV, you should still start here. Gamers will like that it has a 120-Hz refresh rate at 4K, which is the maximum that a modern Xbox or Playstation 5 will put out—meaning the smoothest possible gaming and sports viewing in general. We’re no longer in the days of having to spend over $1,000 and spending a few hours on setup for decent black levels and great color accuracy and HDR"
Get a great deal on the TCL S450R (LCD) or the TCL R655 (LCD)
About TCL
TCL, the highly recognizable TV brand from China, has firmly established itself as the second-largest manufacturer in terms of sales volume. Renowned for striking an impressive balance between affordability, picture quality, and design, TCL TVs deliver a compelling overall package. While they have traditionally excelled in the low-end and midrange TV segments, TCL has recently made remarkable strides in the realm of high-end televisions, introducing impressive models that rival top competitors. Most TCL TVs use Roku software which is very user friendly and easy to use, but they have a few other models that use Google TV which has the largest app selection, but is not as user friendly as Roku.
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
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Proprietary TVs ratings developed
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Recommendations made
18,230
Consumer hours saved
About the TV team
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CEO and TVs Editor
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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TVs Expert
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