TCL has announced two new 4K Roku TV lines that support Dolby Vision HDR. The American company is doing so to follow up on its P6 series of TVs that it created in partnership with Roku. Now, because of the line’s success, it appears TCL is hoping to recreate this in 2018 with two new lineups, known as the 2018 6-series and 5-series, packed with a number of features aimed at improving image quality.
The 6-series of Roku TVs represents TCL’s slightly more premium offering, with a new brushed metal finish and support for 4K HDR picture backed by Dolby Vision, which should help improve both the contrast and brightness of the display. To further improve the picture quality, TCL has introduced support for a wider color gamut, as well as a new set of features called the Performance Package Pro. As part of this, a new software known as Contrast Control Zone technology is being included inside the TVs, with the goal of identifying any dark or bright areas in the image being shown at a given moment, with the display being divided into separate zones in order to allow for accurate recognition. Once identified, the software should help control each zone individually – the larger model includes 120 zones that can be controlled individually, while the smaller model features 96. Moving on to the cheaper 5-series, TCL has removed the brushed metal build, but maintains a number of other features such as Dolby Vision support, and a slightly stripped HDR Performance Package. Both TVs offer an Ethernet port in order to speed up streaming via services such as YouTube and Netflix, and three HDMI ports. In the case of the 6-series, TCL has also equipped the TV with a new Roku TV Voice Remote, and further adding to the list of features will be a new update set to be released sometime this year by Roku which will debut both Roku Connect and the Roku Entertainment Assistant, the company’s answer to the Google Assistant.
For now, TCL has confirmed that the 6-series will be available in both 55 and 65-inch models, while the 5-series will be available in a number of sizes beginning with a 43-inch model and topping out at a 65-inch variant. Both the 6-series and 5-series models are expected to go on sale this spring, though their prices are yet to be specified.
