NOTE: the TV was briefly listed for $1500 from an Amazon marketplace seller. Check link to view current pricing
When we spoke with TCL executives at their spring TV and soundbar preview event in New York City last week, they seemed pretty serious about growing their presence in the extra large TV market (98-inch and up) by 1000% in 2024. How serious? 98-inch TV for $1999. That’s how serious.
Get one now while they last:
TCL 98-inch 4K LED TV on Amazon.com
In addition to providing a fine big screen viewing experience for your living room or home theater, at this price you could probably find some additional uses for the TV:
1.) Buy 5 and build your own Virtual Reality holodeck – one on each wall and one on the ceiling
2.) Use it as a wall to turn a large bedroom into two smaller bedrooms (almost as cheap as sheetrock)
3.) Line both walls of your mom’s basement with them and feed them with a real time webcam view of the New York City skyline so you can pretend you live in a massive studio apartment on the Hudson in Jersey City with breathtaking city views.
If you plan to use it for more pedantic purposes, like watching movies, TV shows and sports, then you may be interested in some of the details (provided below).
4K for $2K!
The originaly announced MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) on TCL’s 98-inch S550 TV was $4,999 but it dropped to $3999 and was available for as low as $2000 last year during sales. The TV is back down to its Black Friday price, likely to make room for the brand new 2024 models. And if you’re looking at 85-inch TVs already, the 98-inch version only takes about five and a half extra inches of space on each side but gives you over 30% more screen real estate.
The TCL S550 features a native 4K Ultra HD resolution (3840×2160 pixels) panel with support for Dolby Vision IQ HDR, Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X immersive surround. The panel’s refresh rate is 120 Hz which makes it a great choice for gamers and sports lovers. Google TV is built in for quick access to any number of streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Max, Disney+ and more. It even includes a farfield mic so you can call out to your Google Assistant (built into the TV) from across the room.
While the S550 does have direct full array LED backlighting, it lacks local dimming so you’re not going to get the kind of precise contrast or black levels you’d see on a higher end model with local dimming. It does include the company’s AIPQ picture processor (Gen 3) for motion handling, color processing and upconversion of SD and HD source material like live TV broadcasts and Blu-ray Discs. For 4K UltraHD content, the S550 supports just about every manner of HDR (High Dynamic Range) available today including Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG. So it can take full advantage of the highest quality streaming movies and TV shows, Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs and Kaleidescape content.
The S550 includes adjustable feet for placement on stands of different widths. It can be wall mounted as well. Just be sure to get a very sturdy wall mount as the set weighs 120 pounds and is roughly seven feet wide and four feet tall. So yeah… BIG TV!
The Ins and Outs of the TCL S550
TCL’s S Class 98-inch TV offers four 4K HDMI inputs total: two HDMI 2.0 inputs support 60Hz input, one HDMI 2.1 input supports up to 120Hz and one HDMI 2.1 input supports up to 144 Hz (optimized for gaming PCs and consoles). There are stereo speakers on board with 10 watts of power to each side plus 20 watts to a built-in powered subwoofer, so you can get pretty good sound right out of the box. Of course, we’d recommend connecting a full immersive surround system (or at least a good soundbar) using the set’s eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) HDMI port or the set’s fiberoptic digital output. With all the money you’ll be saving, you can probably even afford TCL’s new Dolby Atmos 7.1.4-channel soundbar the Q85H.
Private listening is also possible with both a wired headphone output and a wireless Bluetooth output for Bluetooth headphones or speakers.
TCL 98S550 98-inch 4K TV Noteworthy Features:
- 4K Ultra HD Resolution
- 120Hz Panel Refresh Rate
- Motion Rate 480 with MEMC Frame Insertion
- Wide Color Gamut
- High Brightness LED Backlight
- HDR ULTRA (Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HDR10, & HLG)
- TCL AIPQ Engine with Deep Learning AI
- Auto Game Mode (ALLM)
- Game Accelerator 240 for Up to 240 VRR Gaming
- Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X
- FullView Metal Bezel-less Design
- Google TV Smart OS
- Built-in Subwoofer
- Bluetooth Personal Audio
- Hands Free Voice Control (Far Field)
- 4 HDMI Inputs (One with eARC)
- Chromecast Built-in
- Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
- Dual-Band 802.11ac Wi-Fi
The Bottom Line
With a high quality 98-inch TV selling for under $2,000 consumers now have the choice of going cinematic at home without the effort involved in installing a projector and without the high cost normally associated with a large flat panel TV.
The $1,999 price is available now, but is likely limited to supplies on hand.
> TCL 98-inch 4K LED TV on Amazon.com
Related Reading:
