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Welcome to The Esquire Endorsement. Heavily researched. Thoroughly vetted. These picks are the best way to spend your hard-earned cash.
I make a living writing about (and trying out) high-end electronics. Just the other day I spent hours testing a TV with a five-digit price tag. Let me tell you what I’ve learned—most people reading don’t buy the expensive shit. Why would they when you have brands like TCL? The Q65 55-inch QLED is a versatile 4K TV from one of my favorite manufacturers of TVs real people actually buy.
TCL has become a standard bearer of smart, modern TVs for a price that won’t hit you where it hurts. Fully loaded TVs like this 55-inch QLED are built for cinema lovers, sports fans, and gamers alike. I’m two of those three things and can attest, this is an awesome TV. Now it’s time to have it wall-mounted.
Get Smart: A Stunning 4K Display Loaded With Smart Features
At this point, there’s no excuse not to own a 4K smart TV. If you watch TV it’s on streaming. Same with movies, and even physical media junkies love a 4K disc. If you play any video games released in the last ten years they are made for 4K displays. And for sports? Well, that’s real people and they are really far away… of course, more resolution is better.
This is a 55-inch QLED, which is the biggest a TV gets without becoming unwieldy. It is a perfect size for most apartments and modest homes. The 4K display is crisp, can get very bright, and has solid contrasts between its darks and lights even while watching poorly lit old Halloween movies this month.
Compared to my older TCL 4K TV (a pandemic purchase from four years ago), the Google TV is more dynamic. When adjusting picture settings there are more presets and greater fine tuning. Out of the box, the Google TCL remote can take voice commands, for when you can’t be bothered to find where in the app list you put Peacock.
With a Google sign-in, settings from other TVs and YouTube preferences and history will also be imported. The Google UI also has a resume-watching feature on the system level. Next time you leave that episode of GBBO unfinished because you ran out to grab a slice of cake, you can go straight to it from the home screen.
Game Time: On the Field and on the Couch
For me, the big game is whatever Nintendo just released. Those among you celebrating the start of football season will get a lot out of the Motion Rate 240 frame insertion that mimics the look of a higher refresh rate display, smoothing everything out. Honestly, I spent my time gaming and that’s when I really fell for this TV.
From the first time I hooked up my PS5, the Google TV immediately detected it and, when I turned the console on, the input switched over automatically. This happens every time I turn my console on. Every time I boot up a game, the display optimizes for the best resolution and framerate for what I’m playing. I love getting a little pop-up every time HDR10 is enabled. It’s not just that it’s being automated, it’s getting the information.
Chances are if you’re spending less than $500 on a TV, these are the things you want to be automated. TCL gets that and has put in the legwork. Gaming has been more smooth because I haven’t had to spend time tinkering. The PS5 Ratchet and Clank runs at 60 FPS and looks good—even in performance mode.
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Sounds So Good You Don’t Need a Speaker
The kicker is the sound. With most TVs in this budget range, you are going to need a soundbar. In fact, I was testing out a soundbar when I first started reviewing this TCL but I soon found that I preferred the audio from the TV to what I was getting from the multi-hundred dollar speaker. Dolby Atmos built-in? I’m drooling.
So yeah, the speakers in this thing are pretty damn good. Loud and clear, just how I like it, and with options to boost the dialogue clarity or just drown the whole thing out in bass. It’s really the icing on the cake of a TV that is the essential centerpiece of an entertaining living room or home theater.
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