TCL P8 AI 4K UHD Certified Android Smart LED TV Review and Price

TCL P8 Introduction:

TCL P8 is an Android-based smart led TV. TCL P8 is available in three sizes 43, 55, and 65 inches. There is not much variation in feature and specs between all these available sizes but if there is then should be slight which you will not notice while using that awesome television. The difference that mainly clicks your mind is the number of ports for connectivity.

Editors Choice

TCL 55P8

9.0/10

 4/5

Type: LED Sub-Type: VA Resolution: 4K Reviews: 931

It delivers decent picture quality and displays deep blacks in a dark room thanks to its high native contrast ratio. It can’t get very bright, and although it has good reflection handling it isn’t suitable for a bright room. It lacks a wide color gamut, and due to its low HDR peak brightness, it can’t deliver HDR content with vivid colors and bright highlights.

The response time is fast and the TV displays fast-moving content with very little blur trail. It offers a responsive gaming performance thanks to the low input lag but unfortunately, it lacks any support for advanced gaming features like FreeSync.

Specifications:

Size: 55″
4K Ultra HD (3860 x 2160)
Refresh Rate: 60 hertz
3 HDMI – 2 USB Ports
Sound: 20 Watts Output
Android 9.0
A+ Grade Panel
Warranty: 18 months

Good

Bad

About the TCL TV

Design And Look: The TCL P8 series has a decent design. It has a wide plastic stand that supports it well, but can’t prevent wobble if the TV is nudged. The top half is metallic, while the bottom part and the body are plastic. It isn’t very thick and won’t protrude much if wall-mounted. The build quality is decent, and you shouldn’t have any issues with it.
Thickness: The TV has an average thickness when viewed from the side, and it won’t stick out much if wall-mounted.
Back: The back of the TV is plain. The top part is metal, while the bottom half and the rest of the body are plastic. The TCL P8 series is available in many sizes and not all of them fit the same VESA mount size. There isn’t any cable management.
Stand: The TCL P8 Series’ stand is made of plastic and supports the TV well. It’s almost as wide as the TV and looks like the stand from last year’s TCL S405, though that had a silver finish. The legs can’t be reversed, and the TV will wobble if nudged.
Borders: The borders are plain and have an average thickness. They won’t distract you while you watch TV.

Picture Levels

Disappointing SDR peak brightness. This TV is okay for a moderately lit room, but it isn’t suitable for a bright room. On the upside, the brightness remains unchanged no matter the scene, except for small highlights.

The TCL P8 Series has poor HDR peak brightness and can’t display bright HDR highlights. Just like in SDR, the brightness remains unchanged no matter the scene.

The TCL P8 Series has decent gray uniformity. There’s some vignetting, which is more visible at the corners, and some dirty screen effect, which might disappoint sports fans.

It has poor viewing angles, as expected for a VA panel TV. The black uniformity is decent and also this TV can handle reflection very well.

The TCL P8 Series has mediocre color volume. The TV can’t display very dark saturated colors. It doesn’t have a wide color gamut. There isn’t any temporary image retention on this TV. We don’t expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention.

Response

The TCL P8 Series 2019 has an excellent response time. Fast-moving content has only a small blur trail. In dark scenes, however, some smearing may be present due to the long transition between darker shades.

This TV can’t reduce its flicker frequency to 60Hz to make the image look crisper, doesn’t provide any motion interpolation feature to please the soap opera effect fans.

The TCL P8 series has a little stutter due to the very fast response time that results in a higher frame hold time of 24p content, like movies. Unfortunately, the TV doesn’t offer an option to help you reduce stutter.

Unfortunately, the TCL P8 Series can only remove judder from 24p movies when they are played from 24p sources like DVDs or Blu-rays. 24p movies played from 60p/60i sources like cable, satellite boxes, or even through the native apps will have some judder.

There’s no specific feature or option to turn on so as to remove judder from 24p movies on 24p sources. The TV detects it and displays the movie properly.

Native Refresh Rate: 60 Hz

Sound Quality

This TV won’t have any thump or punch to its bass but TCL P8 will satisfy you with clear and understandable dialogues. It can get reasonably loud, but not loud enough for noisy environments. The distortion performance is decent. Although it won’t be noticeable in most cases.

Speakers

Output

20 W

Connectivity

The TCL P8 series has an outstanding low input lag provided you turn Game Mode to ‘On.’ The Game Mode is available in all picture modes. The TV supports the most common resolutions at 60Hz, but it can’t display any resolution at 120Hz.

Chroma 4:4:4 works properly with a PC even if the icon on the input isn’t set to Computer. For other sources, change the icon to Computer. When you connect a PC, it’s always detected automatically, and you don’t have to do anything.

HDMI, USB

2, 1

Headphone Jack

Yes

Smart Features

Smart OS: Android

The Android interface is very responsive, smooth, and has almost no lag. The navigation menu is easy to use, but nearly all navigation has to pass through the home menu, which can be tiring at times. We saw no ads during our testing, but the TCL TVs are known to have ads. It’s a very versatile interface that allows you to do many things, like casting from your phone or playback from a USB.

Netflix, Youtube, Hotstar

Yes

Android

Screen Mirroring

Yes

TCL P8 Remote

The remote is very basic. It has basic navigation buttons and four dedicated app buttons. The volume controls are on the side of the remote and can be hard to find the first time.

Control from TV

The TV controls are located on the underside in the center of the TV, under the TCL logo and far back. The functionality is limited, and you can only power on or turn off the TV, change input source, and adjust the volume.