When it comes to TV tech, TCL's X925 has everything
Google TV Mini HD IMAX enhanced variable refresh
rate up to 120 Hertz Quantum Dot Technology, HDR ten plus Dolby Vision IQ,
Dolby Atmos and in-built soundbar, complete with subwoofer.
Oh, and did I mention it also has a full resolution of 8k
8k! Now I already have thoughts about 8k and after using this TV,
I have a lot more, so there's a lot to talk about there.
So we're making another video
explaining some of the tech behind it and why they aren't such a great idea.
That's coming out soon.
Subscribe if you want a deeper explanation.
The too long didn't watch of that video
is that 8k panels are just simply not that necessary right now,
and sometimes they can even be worse to watch a lower resolution content on.
That's unfortunately very true about this TV.
It was the first thing I noticed when I started using this TV
that upscaling from 1080P to fill that full 8k
screen just simply is not good enough for an enjoyable viewing experience,
at least most of the time.
1080p streams just seem to fall apart, especially on darker shots.
I did find that brighter and less detailed the show, the better the upscaling,
but I'm not sure many people are buying ultra high def TVs
just to watch Rick and Morty certified fresh.
Good. Good job.
Now, streaming is understandably the absolute worst way to showcase
what this TV can do.
You're already having to deal with the 16 times
upscaling, and on top of that, you're having to deal with a low bit rates,
which means the videos already highly compressed.
There's not a lot to work with.
To be honest, I ended up just giving up on watching HD streams on this thing.
It's just not good enough.
Unfortunately, when I switched to the 1080p
Nintendo Switch, it was a similar story.
Metroid Dread looked decent most of the time, but also suffered some horrendous
upscaling in darker areas. Again brighter
titles like Wario Ware were perfectly OK and Smash
Bros in particular gave me a taste of what was to come with PC gaming,
thanks to the TV's adaptive refresh rate providing a 60 fps image throughout
4K movies.
That's where this gets good at 4K, the TV is only having to upscale
four times, and I think it does a really good job at that.
Streaming services once again aren't the best way to showcase this
because you're still dealing with that compressed file.
But if you can somehow find UHD disc player and want to invest in the disks
or, you know, find the files, somehow. (Yarr)
you'll be treated to an absolutely incredible viewing experience.
And the HDR Mini HD display reproduces incredibly accurate colors, deep blacks,
very bright highlights and an all round, dare I say, cinematic experience.
I made sure to watch some movies that I'd actually seen in cinemas before,
so I had something to compare against,
and yet they looked better in my living room by far.
Ultimately, anything 4K and above on this TV was so smooth and beautiful
it brought tears to my eyes and everything below
that was so blocky and ugly .
It brought tears to my eyes.
So what about 8K content?
Yeah let's talk about that in most reviews of 8K TV's
you're going to read the same thing over and over again.
There's simply no 8K content out there right now.
There's not much point, and that is very true.
But I did manage to find some test footage from a camera that can shoot an 8K.
The thing is, I cannot in any way get it to work on this TV
like this is through a hard drive plugged into the USB,
unable to play the media resource.
I've tried making it mp4
mov files, different bit rates, changing the resolution a little bit.
It does not work.
I'm fairly convinced this TV can't even play 8k footage.
There is a 8K YouTube channel, but guess what?
It doesn't play back in the 8K on this TV, so that's out of the question too.
The only way I could get this to work is by plugging
in a powerful computer, so video is almost completely out of the question.
That pretty much leaves one thing, and that is gaming.
So for that, you need to plug your PC into one of the HDMI 2.1 ports
and you'll also need to purchase an ultrafast HDMI cable.
Your regular ones will not work.
I was honestly shocked to discover that my PC can run 8k games
at high-ish graphics settings.
Forza Horizon 4 was actually the best display of this tech.
My PC sounded like it was one of the cars, but it did
handle the game at Ultra with no crashes.
Doom Eternal was a little tougher to get going.
Only being able to run in 8k with lower graphics settings,
it just simply wouldn't start if it was any higher.
By the end of my time with this TV, I was just opting for less
graphics intensive games.
That way, I could enjoy the games as they're intended
without worrying about my computer catching fire.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps, for example, looks incredible.
Old school halo even games with retro aesthetics that it's like Inscryption look
Right at home on this high
res display, and OK, the TV seems to max out at 60 Hertz.
So you're not going to be getting anything above 60 frames
per second for your games.
But that's still pretty good though, right?
If you drop down to 4K, that's when you can start to get into 120 Hertz territory.
So then you're able to get 120 frames out of your games,
if you ask me, which I prefer, a.k.a.
lower graphics settings and six or 4K upscaled
to A.K with 120 frames per second and ultra graphics.
I'm going to take the 4K option every time.
It's a much better middle ground than blasting off to ache
when it doesn't even really work that well.
I must admit, after playing some arcade games,
I just cannot tell the difference between AK and 4K.
And considering 4K performs
so much better on my PC and probably everyone else's PC as well.
I just don't really see the point.
If you're not a video nerd like me, I look at video every day for work.
You're probably not going to care.
The one cool thing I did love about AK is that you can get
super close to the screen and not see individual pixels.
Look at that, that that is just impressive.
The entire TV runs off Google TV OS,
which you can find in a few other TVs and Google's own Chromecast.
I'm a big fan of it.
I think it's one of the best TV experiences out there.
It does a really good job of saving you content that you likely
want to watch right on the front page gives you a lot of choice over apps,
extra downloads and, of course, is fully compatible with Google Home.
It even has Voice Assistant built in.
So hey, cool, I guess I have yet another Google Assistant to talk to
turn off all the lights.
Oh, I
did find the operating system occasionally to slow down quite a lot to the point
where it's super annoying, but that normally only happens
if you haven't turned the TV on for a while
and it's spending the time to catch up and downloading all the information
it needs.
So most of the time, it's a pretty smooth experience.
The remote carries on this trend of being just as easy and simple to use
as the TV itself.
All right, so this is the remote,
and it's got all the buttons that you'd expect from a TV remote,
you know, volume home button back inputs pretty normal.
You got Google Assistant up here and you can actually talking
to the microphone on the remote itself, which is good.
You don't have to shout across the room.
There are these six buttons down the bottom, which are, in my opinion,
quite ugly because the rest of the remote is like a basic black and this is white
with just the logos of the different streaming services printed on.
I don't like it at all.
And if you look even closer, you can say that the YouTube
one is already starting to fade away after just one month of use.
To be fair, though, all of these buttons do instantly open the streaming services,
so it is really quick.
So if you are using Netflix and Stan, Prime Video, Disney Plus or YouTube Plus,
then you've got access to those at the press of a button, which is really cool.
I just wish I do just wish that they they gave you the option to swap these out.
We've also got the settings menus, which just like the rest of the TV.
Super simple, super easy to understand.
It took a couple of days of fiddling with the settings
every time I turned it on before I was happy with it.
But after fixing the usual suspects
and turning most of this stuff off, the TV was ready for action.
It might take a little bit of experimentation,
but at the end of the day, there are enough settings here
to really make the TV look how you want it.
While I was rooting around in the settings, I was actually really surprised
to find that the audio settings are not that comprehensive.
If you've got a few, but
it's nothing like a queues or anything
like that, which is really surprising because down here
you've got one of the best speakers I've ever seen on a TV.
I was wondering where to put my soundbar when I put this on the TV cabinet,
but holy moly, I think this is better than any soundbar I've ever used.
The TV says it's got Dolby Atmos,
but I think actual surround was a little bit hard for them to pull off
with the placement of the bar down the bottom here
and the fact that it's not that huge.
But if you do sit directly in front of it, you do get a pretty good
approximation of surround, so it does work in the right circumstances.
Besides that, it just presents audio in such a balanced and nice to hear way.
I absolutely love it.
It is hands down the best speaker on any TV I've ever used.
I must say it does kind of make this TV
look a bit more old school than you'd expect from a TV.
With all of the tech in is its way, thickness hard silver edges
and the soundbar down the bottom.
Oh, cut to make it look like those huge rear projector TVs
from the early 2000s that everyone has, it's it's certainly a look.
I also would just straight up not feel safe mounting this to one of my walls.
It's 35 kilos, so it's very heavy.
It does come with mounting stuff, but yeah, you want a professional
or be very sure you know what you're doing before you stick this on a wall.
Same with setting it up on a TV cabinet.
It's very heavy.
Definitely need two people for that job.
So should you buy this TV?
A look at the end of the day the TCL nine to five is very cool,
but a very hard sell.
If you're investing in a future where we do have eight media,
I'd still recommend you wait.
By the time the distribution platforms and playback tech is actually ready,
it's highly likely they'll be cheaper and possibly more capable TVs available.
Besides, if you're buying this for its HDR or quantum dots or mini HD
Tech, 4K TVs can do that too, and they're a lot cheaper.
The casual viewing experience on this TV is so disappointing
I cannot in good faith recommend that a regular household get this.
If you're just a family that watches whatever's
on the way to streaming services, it's not for you.
But if you're a film buff, whether you're a disc player
and a bunch of your HD is ready to watch or you have access to the file somehow.
Or if you're
a PC gamer with the literal best PC money can buy right now,
this TV will blow your fucking mind.
That's review. Thank you very much for watching.
Please do subscribe if you're interested in hearing a few more thoughts
and facts about AK television that's coming out next week.
Subscribe if you want to be notified when that comes out.
Besides that, thank you for watching.
Like if you enjoyed the video and if it helps you decide
which you'd like a TV like this?
And yeah, until I see you next time, I'll be pecking this away
because I don't know if you can tell
it is absolutely bending the hell out of my TV cabinet.
And yeah, I'm I'm starting to worry.
It's it's a heavy, it's a heavy TV and.
A TV cabinet will never be the same again.