TCL touts “High-zone” mini-LED TVs and new processors in 2024

While TCL didn’t announce any ground-breaking new technologies at CES, there will be plenty of new sizes and improvements available to buyers–especially in the backlighting department.

2024 Smart TVs

The model number of each of TCL’s 2024 TVs end with a numeral 1. The new 4K UHD S551 series is a case in point. It will be available in 43-, 50-, 55-, 65-, 75-, 85-inch screen sizes, and it joins the existing 32-inch 720p model S250, and the 1080p S350 series (in 32-, 40-, and 43-inch sizes) in TCL’s entry-level tier.

Why is there no model S451 to replace the S450? TCL says the newbie is so much better it deserved a higher number. Well, okay. TCL calls it “smart and vivid,” which means its product managers think it’s “all that” even without quantum-dot color.

It’s worth noting that while Samsung coined the QLED acronym a few years back, it’s become shorthand for every company’s quantum dot LED TVs, TCL’s. You might occasionally see QDLED as well. But I digress.

TCL

TCL

TCL

Last year’s 60Hz, quantum dot Q650 has revved to the 120Hz, 4K UHD Q651 (in 43-, 50-, 55-, 65-, 75-, 85-, and 98-inch sizes), and TCL has added a Q651 Pro model (in 55-, 65-, 75-, and 85-inch sizes) that features brighter full-array local dimming (FALD). Taking the back-lighting improvements story further, TCL’s QM751 series features more granular mini-LED backlighting.

And that brings us to TCL’s major talking point for this year: “High-zone” mini-LED (the M in QM) backlighting. In normal English, that would be high zone count, meaning there are a whole lot of dimmable zones. This has been a strength of TCL’s for a while now, but the company is just now getting around to highlighting that fact.

If you’re wondering why the fuss, a larger number of dimming zones means more precise control of the contrast throughout the image, with fewer–or at least less intense–blooming and other backlighting artifacts.

If you really want to go to town with the FALD, the 120Hz QM851 (65-, 75-, 85-, and 98-inches) and QM891 (115 inches) supplant last year’s models and feature by far the highest number of dimmable zones: Up to 5,000 on the QM851 models, and a staggering 20,000 on the QM891. Yikes! Most vendors top out with mere hundreds of zones.

TCL claims up to 5,000 nits of peak brightness for both the QM851 and QM891, which is also a remarkable figure.

TCL

TCL

TCL

Which fancy tech is built into which TCL TV will of course vary with price. Various flavors of Dolby, FreeSync, the latest version of HDMI, Wi-Fi 6, and so on. Shoppers should read the spec sheets closely to find their must-have features; this is especially true for gamers, although TCL implements most gaming technologies throughout its lineup.

Each of the models TCL described to us carry a G at the end, denoting that they utilize the Google TV operating system. The company will still sell existing Roku and Fire TV models, but Google seems to be their choice for the future. That very well could be because both Roku and Amazon now sell their own branded TVs that compete directly at TCL’s strongest price points.

New processors and processing features

TCL is touting its latest AIPQ processor in most of its non entry-level 4K TVs), its AIPQ-Pro chip in the step-up QM751 and QM851, and its best AIPQ Ultra proc in its QM891 TVs. These are said to enable the massive numbers of dimming zones along with audio features such as dialog enhancement.