TCL 6 Series/R646 2021 TV Review - Mini LED 4K TV with Google TV

The TCL 6 Series/R646 2021 QLED is a 4k TV with Mini LED backlighting. It's part of the 6 Series lineup that includes the TCL 6 Series/R635 2020 QLED, with one of the differences being that the R646 has Google TV while the R635 uses Roku TV. While the TV is an overall improvement from the R635 thanks in part to its better local dimming feature, it's still not as good as other flagship 4k TVs.

TV Review:

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TV Settings:

Model tested: 55” (55R646)
Should also be valid for the 65" (65R646) and 75" (75R646).



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00:00 Intro
00:25 Design
01:25 Test Results
06:05 Verdict
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#RatedByRTINGS #TCL #6Series #TVReview

[smlarat]

Definitely my next TV. Have seen one on display. Absolutely blown away by the picture quality.

[theoneandonly]

Great review RTINGS. Just wish to clarify based of your written review, "It accepts a 4k @ 120Hz signal in 10 or 12-bit color depth with chroma 4:4:4, but it doesn't properly display chroma 4:4:4 because text looks a bit fuzzier than what we would expect.".

This is sounding suspiciously similar to the issue which the Europe model TCL C825 Mini LED TV has been reported to suffer from, alongside the recently released Panasonic JZ2000. The issue is that at 4K 120hz signal pass-through via HDMI 2.1 ports, it outputs 4K at halved the vertical resolution, causing text and finer details to look blurry.

If that is so, than the R646 cannot be recommended for gaming or at least as a PC Monitor cause its the same issue as the Sony X900H TV which has not been resolved to this day.

[danh.]

The only thing keeping me from buying this TV is the OS. I absolutely love the Roku tv. I have a TCL 55R625 (2019 model). I’ve never once had a problem with the Roku OS. Never seen a Google tv in action, though. Great review as always

[GavinSeim]

The problem is this is just numbers with no hard conclusions or even a comparison to last year's model 🤔

[brianode]

My new R646 does NOT have flickering issues in dark scenes with HDR or Dolby Vision content like my 2018 6-series did. This tv is just a lot better compared to the older 2018 model (which was a great tv imo).

[nicholas.alan]

Still rocking my TCL 6 Series r635 from last year. Still the BEST TV I've ever owned. I'm fine with 1440p/120hz.

[jsable]

Picked it up today at best buy for 601.99, very happy with it

[NuttnButKungfu]

dude i have this tv and it's so freaking bright and the clarity is amazing like everything looks super sharp from far away you don't have to increase the sharpness at all

[reiferdranzer]

I got mine recently. Very good tv for next gen gaming. The only thing i wasnt aware of is local dimming is disabled when vrr is used. So there is no local contrast option when doing 4k at 120hz but the tv still maintains its decent black levels.

[bigChrisWithAtinyPeice]

Dolby gaming on series x on the TCL is amazing I hope they allow it @ 120hz I hope they can make the dolby vision for movies as good as the gaming

[Floridaman]

Just bought the R646 in 75in for a grand total of $1, 400 with taxes included. Really hope I don’t regret it lol

[detectiveblutomindpretzel]

Hi Rtings! I noticed in your longevity test on this TV, you stated after 2 months that the brightness had started to reduce dramatically. When looking at the graph, it seems the brightness was low at around 1k hours, but went back up. So at this point has the brightness really went down and then came back up?

[fugufsh]

Great TV, especially on sale for <$600. Most of the firmware bugs have been worked out by now. Google TV is meh, but I use Apple TV or Roku to stream.

[NaStalgia]

This TV has no flaws IMO following this review as it will undercut all the others on sale right now. I bet after this review this TV is going to be hard to find during the holiday rush just like the Hisense U8G is hard to find in stock. Kudos to TCL. This is the TV to replace my U8G in my bright living room

[Bukahta]

I sold tvs for years and I recently bought this tv and it reminds me of the q90 from a few years ago. I expected it to look a certain way but the biggest shock was the audio being pretty darn good especially for a smaller watching space

[phuongnhuha]

Will you guys review/post the review of the 5 series anytime soon? Would love to look into budget options. Thanks a lot.

[kevinUSA]

The tv is 1000$ in a 65 inch. It was on sale for 799. I got mine at bestbuy for 600$ it was a open box excellent condition. Asked then why it was open they said they was going to put it up on display but already was in the process so they put it back in the box and dropped the price way down to get it out the door. For 600 I got a steal.

[yourbestfriendjoshua]

Just got one since they're on sale for $599 and it's an EXCELLENT (and extremely affordable) upgrade to my 2016 Samsung KS8000.

[EDM_BOY]

I love this tv
Picture quality and sound
My only issue is it's so laggy and everytime I turn the tv back on it looses the wifi Connection
Even when jumping from Netflix to Hulu they always crash and the tv struggles. As of today i received a second update since purchased 2 months ago.

[BenDigmann]

Although I was initially very happy with this TV, about 2 weeks out of the return period, a burnt pixel patch appeared in the center of the screen. It appears that TCL still has some quality control issues.