- When I was a teen anything bigger than 48 inches
was considered a giant big-screen TV, and they were big.
This 65-inch Mitsubishi weighed over 330 pounds.
But these days, 55 to 65-inch TVs
are quickly becoming mainstream,
and in many homes, anything smaller
is probably pulling guest bedroom duty.
And why not?
These giant screens, somehow, keep getting cheaper.
So today, after a two-year hiatus, we're gonna take a look
at the forces behind this trend with another installment of
why the--
- [Narrator] Advertiser friendly content.
- Are you all buying this?
Featuring the best selling 65-inch TV on Amazon.com,
the TCL 65S425.
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The reasons that 65-inch TVs like this TCL
are getting more and more popular is because, one,
that's what consumers want bigger TVs, and two,
it's becoming more and more cost-effective
to make them this big thanks to improvements
in the manufacturing process.
Just like in the world of CPU silicon,
TV manufacturing capabilities are specified
by fab generation,
with the latest being Generation 10.5.
But these fabs, rather than being defined
by how small the transistor gate length is in nanometers,
like a processor, are defined by how big
of a piece of glass you can make.
If you've ever stood beside an 86-inch TV,
you know how impressive
a single piece of perfect glass that large is.
But that's only the tip of the iceberg
because TV screens aren't actually manufactured
as individuals.
Instead, they're cut from an even larger sheet
of what is appropriately called mother glass.
When I graduated high school, in 2004,
TV fabs run Gen 7 and could produce sheets of mother glass
that were about 114-inches diagonally.
They probably could have made one giant
weird-shaped TV out of it, but that size was actually chosen
because it was optimal for making up to
eight 40-inch panels, which were a lot easier to sell
at prices that consumers could afford,
like this hoodie from lttstore.com.
Today, the most common fab generation is Gen 8.5,
which being about the size
of two pool tables pushed together can be cut into
six 55-inch TV panels or into three 65-inch panels
with some extra leftover to make smaller devices
like monitors, six 32 inchers to be precise.
But while 55-inch screens used to be the sweet spot
where consumers and manufacturing costs met,
today TV manufacturers are aiming more towards 65-inch,
and the mother glass coming out of the new
Gen 10.5 facilities, which are currently all in China,
can be cut into eight 65-inch TVs.
Wow.
But why does cutting up a bigger piece of glass,
make the individual TVs cheaper?
It's because many of the components of a TV substrate
are put together using deposition,
which happens across the entire mother glass sheet at once.
So the length of time to process a sheet
is roughly the same, regardless of its size,
meaning that larger sheets are more economical
because you can process more surface area at a time.
There's already more than a few Gen 10.5 fabs in operation,
and soon, there are going to be dozens,
meaning that thanks to increased competition
TVs like our TCL over here are only going to get cheaper.
And that is pretty remarkable when you consider
that this is a 3840 by 2160 UHDTV
with a direct led VA panel,
and it already costs under $500 U.S.
It's an especially good deal for gamers
considering its low input lag.
We measured just one to three frames and "CS:GO"
with game mode on and the pixel response time is good enough
that fast-paced games don't get
too much blurrier than they have to.
Just don't expect some of the more advanced gamer features
like FreeSync or a 120-hertz native refresh rate.
For that stuff,
you guys should check out our upcoming reviews
of LG's 2020 TVs, which are on their way to our lab now.
So get subscribed for that.
If you think about it though,
that's kind of the story of this thing
and the answer to why is everybody buying it?
It covers the basics, and does it well,
but without the extra frills.
For example, it technically supports HDR
in the form of HDR 10,
but given that it's got an 8-bit panel,
and a peak brightness of around 200 nits,
the color volume and contrast just aren't enough
for it to really check my HDR box.
The VA panel does give it pretty decent contrast
in dark environments but when the sun comes out,
you're gonna be fighting glare
so I wouldn't put one of these in a bright room.
Also, if you haven't guessed by now
that relatively low performance
means it has no support for Dolby Vision.
None of which means that we're not recommending it
for the price.
The I/O is typical, even if it's a little underwhelming
with a side accessible jack pack,
containing three HDMI 2.1 ports, RJ45 Ethernet,
a lone USB 2.0 port, S/PDIF,
and, just in case you have a really long cable,
a headphone jack.
The industrial design is spartan with basic bezels,
a stamped metal back,
and simple feet that screw directly to the set.
And one thing to note is that those feet are 50-inches apart
so you're gonna need a pretty wide table to sit it on
unless you decide to wall mount it
which might be a pretty good idea.
There's a 400 by 200 millimeter VESA mount on the back,
and the TV is relatively light
so you should be able to get it up there
without too much trouble.
In the box, you get an adapter
that breaks out the composite port into its constituents
and a pair of batteries for the Roku remote.
Which feels a little small, kind of like a kid-sized remote,
but I still support this decision.
TCL has opted to integrate Roku inside their TV
for their smart TV experience,
that would otherwise cost you about 40 bucks
if you bought it on a stick.
And it's known as slick as LG's webOS,
as versatile as Android TV or as snappy as, well,
the same OS running on a TV with a faster processor,
but it's easy to use and supports most major streaming apps.
And it's certainly better
than if they had tried to homebrew something.
So bottom line.
There are obviously compromises,
but I don't wanna sound nitpicky either.
For an entry-level set, TCL's S425 lineup,
which launched in 2018,
still packs a lot of value for people on a budget,
or for people who just aren't that concerned
about having the most mouthwatering
picture quality on the block.
I'd even go as far as to say that most people I know,
outside of the techosphere,
would never complain about this one.
Except for one thing,
that I think we can all agree needs improvement,
the speakers.
The pair of eight watt down-firing drivers
are harsh and bassless
and speech can actually be kind of hard to make out,
especially if you're listening to someone
who has an accent that you're not used to.
So maybe if you do go for something like this,
consider an inexpensive soundbar,
like this one that we checked out in the previous episode
of this wonderful why you all buying the stuff series.
And if you liked our discussion on fab generations,
by the way, maybe check out our companion video,
so to speak, on quantum dots and the future of TVs.
It's a bit of a deeper dive
but I really want you to just go watch it.
It's a sick video.
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I'm not gonna do anything else, or say anything else useful.
I'm just killing time.
You know, I gotta cross that 10-minute threshold.
I'm just kidding, it doesn't matter.
We don't run mid-roll ads anyway.
Guys, it doesn't do anything unless you run mid-roll ads.