TCL 55C805 Review: A Mini-Led Television At A Light Price And Good In Everything, Or Almost

The C805 is a mid-range UHD 4K Mini Led television that offers good brightness and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. With its 55C805, TCL offers a 4K UHD Mini-Led television with high brightness and a refresh rate of 144 Hz at an interesting price.

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Presentation

We were able to review TCL’s premium C955 televisions during a press trip to Warsaw and observed an impressive peak brightness. Here, we review the 55C805, a less premium 4K UHD model, but also much more affordable. It remains interesting, especially for its bright peak, which should be high thanks to the Mini-Led technology, and a refresh rate of 144 Hz for gamers. It is priced at a recommended retail price of $800, if our review results are good, it could be one of the best value-for-money options at the moment. But let’s check all of this without further delay.

Note, by the way, that there is a 65-inch version of the television under the reference 65C805, but also a larger 75-inch version, and even huge 85 and 98-inch versions.

Technical Specifications and Features of TCL 55C805

TCL 55C805 Image Quality

TCL has chosen a VA panel for the C805, as on most of its televisions, and the vertical structure of red-green-blue subpixels is present.

In SDR, the Film mode delivers excellent color accuracy with a delta E of 2.6, below the threshold of 3 beyond which the human eye can perceive color deviations. The average color temperature, at 7070 K, is a bit on the cool side, but nothing too serious. However, be cautious, disabling local dimming will result in a much colder rendering of 9660 K, which deviates from the reference value expected in video (6500 K). The gamma is stable but closer to 2.2 than the expected 2.4 on a television. The grayscale levels will be well reproduced on the screen, albeit a bit too bright.

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VA panels generally offer very good contrast, and the 55C805 is no exception. We measured 3660:1; the blacks are deep, especially when local dimming is activated, which turns off certain areas of the screen when a dark image is displayed. However, OLED TVs perform better due to their ability to turn off each pixel on the panel. A notable issue with VA panels is that the image degrades when viewed from a certain angle, and we measured a brightness loss of about 66% at 45°. It’s significant, so it’s essential to stay directly in front of the TV to fully enjoy it.

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The AiPQ 3.0 processor used by TCL is quite simple, but it allows the television to adjust brightness based on ambient light and scale Full HD content effectively. Regarding motion blur reduction, the motion compensation engine improves over the years at the manufacturer, although it remains a bit less precise than that of competitors. Pushing the compensation to too high a level may introduce artifacts on the screen, so we recommend adjusting it to low or disabling it entirely.

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HDR

The 55C805 is compatible with all current HDR formats (HLG, Dolby Vision, HDR 10, and HDR 10+). By sending it a signal at 10,000 cd/m², we can see that the reference EOTF curve is perfectly followed. The TV does not smooth the signal, and one could see clipping (loss of details in the highlights) in certain scenes.

The Mini-Led technology offers the highest brightness on the market, and we measured it here at 890 cd/m². While not as high as the flagship (98CX955) of the brand, and still below OLED MLA panels with a peak at 1400 cd/m² (on LG G3, Panasonic MZ2000, or Philips Oled 908, for example), the C805 competes with the LG C3 and Samsung S90C, which offer brightness of approximately 900 to 1000 cd/m². These two OLED TVs, however, cost twice as much as the C805. Therefore, one can enjoy a true HDR image without breaking the bank.

Just like in HDR, the color accuracy in Film mode has proven to be excellent with an average delta E of 2.7. While the DCI-P3 color space (most commonly used in cinema) is covered at 83%, only 62% of the REC.2020 color space is covered. This is not very significant, as this format has not really gained widespread use at the moment: only a handful of films utilize it today.

Video Games

The input lag (display delay) is very low when setting the television to game mode. To do this, you need to look for the Game Master Mode in the general menu, and once done, we measured a display delay of 17.8 ms. Some competitors manage to go below the 10 ms threshold, but in practice, it will be difficult to notice the difference. In reality, players will not observe any latency between an action performed with the controller or mouse and its repercussion on the screen.

The average persistence of 16 ms is a bit high, and OLED performs much better in this regard. In any case, ghosting (ghost trails) should not be visible behind moving objects.

The game mode often delivers a relative color accuracy, but that is not the case here. The delta is limited to 3 in SDR, just at the generally accepted limit, but it reaches 3.8 in HDR. A slight overshooting due to green nuances, which are not perfectly reproduced.

The 55C805 has four HDMI 2.1 inputs compatible with 4K, including two at 120 Hz, and one at 144 Hz, allowing for good gaming conditions, especially as they are compatible with ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), and Freesync Premium Pro to avoid tearing and other micro-stutters. Note that only PCs can exploit the 144 Hz, as current gaming consoles are limited to 120 fps.

Clouding

The Mini-Led technology helps limit clouding (gray/white clouds appearing in dark areas), and there’s no need to worry on that front. The average white uniformity deviation is 9.3%, well below the 20% threshold beyond which the human eye can detect a difference.

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Reflectance

Unfortunately, reflections are too prominent on this model: we measured an average reflectance of 42.9%, which is at the bottom of our comparison ranking. Therefore, attention must be paid to the TV’s placement in relation to light sources in the environment (windows, lamps, etc.).

Ergonomics of TCL 55C805

No frills on this TV, which sports a quite classic design. However, we do notice thin and metallic borders, as well as a shallow central stand (31 cm) that won’t hinder the setup of a soundbar. The dimensions of our 55-inch model are 122.5 cm in length and 77 cm in height with the stand. Of course, it is possible to mount it on the wall using the VESA mount located at the back.

In terms of connectivity, there are four HDMI 2.1 ports, only one USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack, an optical digital audio output, antenna connectors for terrestrial and satellite signals, a DVB-T2/C/S2 tuner, and an Ethernet port. Wi-Fi is, of course, included, but not Bluetooth. It’s worth noting that the HDMI eARC port is only compatible with 60 Hz, while the other ports support up to 120 Hz. Why not choose eARC at 120 Hz, which is commonly found? A small peculiarity that won’t make much of a difference for most users, but gamers using consoles and soundbars might feel limited.

The remote control is quite ordinary and operates with two AA batteries. It is adorned with old-fashioned numbered buttons and shortcuts to current streaming applications such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV+, etc.

The TV operates with Android TV 12, which is generally smooth. It includes the mentioned streaming applications, but it is, of course, possible to install any available with Google’s OS. The TV can be turned off in just one second, and it wakes from standby in 2 seconds. However, cold startup takes longer, as the system takes about 30 seconds to reach the homepage, a typical slowness of Android TV.

Audio

As a mid-range television, the 55C805 does not stand out on the sound front, as manufacturers typically focus their efforts on high-end models. The two 15W speakers will suffice for watching television, but the audio lacks bass, and cinema enthusiasts may turn to a soundbar or dedicated speakers to enhance the overall experience.

TCL 55C805 Power Consumption

The TV consumes 65.8 W when set to a brightness of 150 cd/m² with our usual review pattern, resulting in a relative consumption of 78.9 W/m². This result is quite reasonable and remains below the average in our comparison (84 W/m²).

Repairability

The C805 obtained a repairability score of 7.7, which is relatively good but is hindered by the high cost of parts compared to the price of a new television and a disassembly process that is not the simplest.

Our Settings and Measurements

There is no Filmmaker mode here, but a Film mode that offers the best image quality. For our measurements, we lowered the brightness to achieve a white level of 150 cd/m² and disabled the ambient light sensor.

Detailed Results Obtained with These Settings:

Pros and Cons of TCL 55C805

Pros

• Image quality in Film mode.
• Four HDMI 2.1 ports.
• Support for 144 Hz.
• Quite high HDR brightness.
• Marked contrasts.
• Dolby Vision and HDR10+ compatibility.

Cons

• Panel prone to reflections.
• HDMI eARC limited to 60 Hz.
• Non-backlit remote control.
• Lower peak brightness than high-end Mini-Led models.
• Viewing angles.

TCL 55C805 Review Conclusion

The TCL 55C805 is a good television overall. It offers precise calibration in Film mode, satisfactory contrasts, and relatively high brightness thanks to its Mini-Led panel. However, one should not expect the performance of high-end models, especially in the audio department, which is somewhat lacking. There are also good gaming performances and an effective Android 12 system. This TV could have likely earned 4 stars if it weren’t as prone to reflections, but it still provides a good value for money, especially when on promotion.

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