If there is one area TCL didn’t put much emphasis on in the P-Series, but the sets in the 6-Series seem expensive. For the TCL 55R617 worth, you’re getting a premium style, with a flat shiny black plastic edge (0.75-inch below; 0.25-inch-side) surrounding the screen.

The sides are lined with slim-profile plastic piping (gunmetal color), which adds some flavor to the overall design. It is supported by two U-shaped legs, with a similar bronze color because of the pipes on the sides.

On the back of the TV, you’ll find all the ports on the right. Here you’ve got three HDMI ports, a USB port, a LAN port, a regular antenna/cable connective, a 3.5mm composite video that may be used with the included adapter, and an optical audio output. Others include a 3.5mm earphone jack and a reset button.

The location and position of the port on the right side make it easy to hook up the set, though the three HDMI ports limit the number of devices you can connect to before using the splitter. Three HDMI is a bit rare for a modern setting, but it appears that’s one of the areas TCL skimped on to ensure the 6-Series is pocket-friendly.

Many of the sets we’ve reviewed earlier come with four HDMI ports as standard, with some having more than five. The three HDMI ports here are pretty lean. It’ll only take a satellite box and two gaming systems and you’re done, but thanks to the Roku TV, you might not be using the media streamer all that much. Sometimes, the remote can go wrong and a bunch of buttons on the bottom right corner on the back of the TV come in handy for physical controls.

Features And Remote

Bundled with the TCL 55r617 55-in. is a well-designed, small, shiny remote with a prominent directional pad. Just above the pad are the Home, Back, and Power buttons, and just below it are the Playback and App buttons.

The remote brings instant access to services like Hulu, Netflix, and Sling TV, right in the palm of your hand. For each service, you have a dedicated button. On the right edge are volume controls and a mute button.

Being a Roku TV, the TCL 55R617 6 Series opens up your world to a range of apps and services, just like you’d get from a typical Roku media streamer. It is the hub for almost all media streaming services, including Amazon, Crunchyroll, Google Play Movies & TV, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, and YouTube.

Roku is host to most of the channels (select apps) you’ll find in the smart TV ecosystem, so you’ll be comfortable with the services (except for Apple). You can also use the Roku TV app from your smartphone, and Roku TV supports streaming media from your smartphone.

Performance

Today, we’ve all come to appreciate the benefit of good resolutions, and we expect a 4K panel to work at that. Ultra HD (UHD, or 4K) The TCL 55R617 6-Series supports High Dynamic vary (HDR) content encoded in each HDR10 and Dolby Vision.
This means that most HDR videos available on most streaming services and Ultra HD Blu-ray will display perfectly on the TV.

If you recognize the numbers, the TCL55R617 is fairly bright (497.15cd/m2) and equally spectacular black levels (0.01cd/m2) are underscored by a solid 49,715:1 contrast ratio. This is an excellent performance, though with some rough edges. For example, you may experience some light blooms and the contrast between gray and black isn’t the prettiest.

If you’d like higher contrast performance while not spending much on a panel a bit like the LG OLEDC7P, the Vizio M-series is valued as a protracted look with its 40,670:1 contrast. However, the TCL’s color performance is much better than what you’ll get from the Vizio M-series.

The TCL 55R617 uses a bright panel with HDR compatibility that has a lot going for it. While watching Planet Earth II narrated by David Attenborough, I noticed clean and balanced colors on the Ultra HD Blu-ray. The views were awe-inspiring, with the island’s ocean blues and forest greens looking natural and vivid, with the fur and feathers of sea creatures. It still looks great when viewed off-angle, though not the best, as the greens look a bit washed out.

Input Lag And Power Consumption

Input lag is the amount of your time it takes for the show to update once receiving a signal, and it’s one of the few areas wherever the TCL 55R617 scores well. The HDTV showed that 18.4ms of input lag is about half that of most screens we tested, though there’s a lot of input lag in its movie picture mode. If you watch HD movies and videos, it’s all about the best 4K performance you can get on a budget TV.

Ideally, Game Mode improves input lag but sacrifices picture quality. If you wish for even less lag, simply get a dedicated gaming monitor just like the ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279Q. A dedicated gaming monitor can show less than a tenth of the 55P607’s input lag, but for a larger screen, you’ll really have to settle for a third to a half of the lag.

Under normal viewing conditions, the Roku 55R617’s consumption is in line with a 4K TV of similar size. With the screen in bright mode, it consumes 153 watts, but under low power picture mode, the consumption drops to 128 watts, with the screen dim but very viewable. You can make the HDTV use less power with the higher power-saving settings, but that makes the screen even less.