TCL C955 Review: Deserves a solid recommendation

The TCL C955 is being released as one of the successors to the popular C845, which competes with Samsung and Sony’s Mini LED models in terms of technology at a significantly lower price. It is, so to speak, an offline version of the TV, sold only in stores and not online. The TCL C955 comes with an updated system chip, more miniLED zones, and the latest version of Google TV.

The TCL C955 is available in 85 and 98 inches, while its sibling, the C855, is available in 65, 75, 85, and 98 inches. TCL MQLED98 and TCL C959 are all creative pseudonyms for the same model, the C955. To ensure high picture parameters, the TV uses two exclusive technologies: the new QLED Pro filter and the 6th generation Mini-LED backlight! In the TCL 85C955 review, we will discuss in detail how much the huge screen and big ambitions correspond to the price.

TCL C955 – Review

Design

With the new TCL 85C955, the company moves away from the C845’s design , which placed the electronics in the lower half of the back, toward a more streamlined design language — more in the style of Sony TVs. The electronics are spread out across the entire surface, and the back panel curves slightly from the edges to the center.

The new design makes the screen a little thicker at the top, but it’s still a positive step. The even distribution of thickness across the entire body means you can mount the TV flush against a wall. The frame around the screen is metal, and it has a “Premium QD-MiniLED” logo on the right side, which many would prefer to remove.

The ports are located on the back, on the left side (when viewed from the back), with the exception of the power port, which is on the right. Unlike the TCL C855, you won’t find a grille of upward-firing Dolby Atmos speakers on the back. All the speakers are hidden under the textured surface of the back panel, and they are facing the back, not towards the viewer. We’ll get to that later.

The stand consists of two metal legs, widely spaced at the edges. So a large TV will also require wide furniture. Therefore, it makes sense to use the wall-mounted option. Fortunately, all the connectors are directed to the side and do not interfere with bringing the case as close to the wall as possible. The C955 comes with a new remote control. It is much simpler and looks better. It has a metal surface, but the bottom is still black plastic.

Image quality

Thanks to TCL CSOT panels, TCL LCD TVs not only match TVs from more famous brands, but often surpass them, despite their significantly lower price. This is also evident in the TCL C955 TV – the number of Mini LED zones is 2304 and 2160 in 85 and 98 inches, respectively. That is, significantly more than in a similarly priced TV from, for example, Samsung.

You’d have to go for the flagship 2024 QN95D 4K TV to get the same zone count. But the Samsung QN95D is significantly more expensive. Comparing it directly to the C845, you’ll notice that the higher zone count has resulted in higher HDR brightness in the 1% and 2% windows. In other words, in the windows that matter most, since that’s where movie and game creators typically take advantage of high peak brightness levels.

The problem with Mini LED LCD TVs, of course, is that they can suffer from blooming around bright objects. The C955 can’t claim blooming-free status, despite its increased zone count. This isn’t surprising, since halos are also seen on TCL’s giant X955 with over 20,000 zones.

The C955 has an additional uncertainty factor with peak brightness. This is because it has a boost system that kicks in when extra brightness is needed for short bursts. Without it, it “only” reaches 2400 nits. The boost system takes time to cool down before it can kick in again. However, the C955 is extremely bright, reaching 700 nits in full-screen mode (100% window).

In other words, Mini LED LCD TVs still deliver much higher brightness across the entire screen than any type of OLED. On the downside, dark HDR scenes on the C955, like other zone-controlled LCD TVs, can sometimes look washed out and milky. The effect is less pronounced on the C955 than on models with fewer zones, but it’s still there.

The TCL C955 series supports four HDR formats (HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG). HDR10+ works with the Apple TV 4K, for example, which offers access to the largest catalog of HDR10+ content if you don’t want to use Dolby Vision for some reason. The same goes for the Google TV box. Moving on to SDR, or all content that isn’t HDR, we see that the high brightness helps combat reflections during the day.

Motion and Game Processing

In fast-moving scenes, especially bright ones, the C955 series can exhibit a “strobe effect” similar to OLED TVs, although less pronounced due to the slower LCD panel. TCL’s motion system, Motion Clarity, helps mitigate this, but it introduces too much visible image artifacting that you’ll end up wanting to turn it off and turn down the brightness instead.

The C955 uses PWM (pulse width modulation, or flickering) to control the brightness of the LEDs. Some viewers may find PWM hard on the eyes. Shifting gears to gaming, the biggest change in the new TCL models is that the miniLED zone system now works significantly better when the TV is in Game or VRR picture mode.

This is due to the reduced latency in controlling the mini LED zone, although image quality in games is still not on par with the X955. You won’t get the same precise brightness and colour control or super-fast response times as OLED TVs, and if you look closely you’ll notice that objects racing across the C955’s panel tend to blur a little.

In terms of gaming features, we have two HDMI 2.1 ports with support for up to 4K 120Hz for consoles and 4K 144Hz for PCs. There’s HDMI VRR and ALLM for automatic switching in and out of game mode, including Dolby Vision Game Mode. DV now works at 4K 120Hz thanks to the Pentonic 700 chip. You can even output 240Hz at 1080p.

Input lag is measured at 18ms. It can be reduced to 13ms by activating the Performance mode under Motion -> Refresh Rate in the settings, but the input lag will also be affected by the Local Dimming setting for the mini LED. If you set it to High, the input lag will increase.

TCL has a Game Bar menu that provides quick access to gaming features. You have to activate it manually by holding the Quick Settings button (the button with three lines) on the remote while the TV is in Game mode. Lastly, the VA panel still has narrow viewing angles. Halos around bright objects become much more noticeable unless you’re sitting directly in front of the TV, and blacks take on a purple tint.

Smart TV

The TCL C955 uses Google TV, which is powered by a MediaTek system chip. TCL has updated Google TV to Android 12, and now uses a Pentonic 700 chip, which is slightly faster and opens the door to new video features. There’s 48GB of storage, more than double the C845’s. That gives you plenty of room not only for streaming apps, but also for heavier apps like Kodi and Plex, or some of the simple kids and family games available in the Google TV app store.

Android 12 finally launches the 4K interface. The software isn’t much different from other Google TV devices. Even the settings menus have started to merge across Google TV brands, though picture and sound settings vary by brand. One difference is that TCL has its own apps pre-installed, including TCL Home.

TCL has also partnered with Apple to support AirPlay 2, allowing you to wirelessly stream media from your iPhone/iPad and control some of your TCL TV’s features via Apple HomeKit. This is in addition to the built-in Google Cast (Chromecast) found on all Google TV devices. There’s also a TCL Channel app that lets you watch free, ad-supported channels.

Of course, there are apps like Netflix, Disney+, Max, and Apple TV. The Google TV app store offers the largest selection of apps on an integrated TV platform. Google TV also offers game streaming apps like SteamLink and Nvidia GeForce Now. The Xbox game streaming app is still missing from Google TV.

Sound

The C955 has an improved speaker system, including upward-firing speakers for Dolby Atmos. They’re not noticeable, but the overall impression is that the sound quality is better than most previous TCL TVs. The speaker system delivers improved bass, though it still tends to vibrate a bit – as if there’s resonance in the cabinet.

The speakers are good enough for mixed TV use, but not for music, as music often tends to sound muddy and harsh. As always, an external speaker system is recommended. There are now good alternatives other than soundbars. Not only Dolby Atmos is supported, but also DTS (including DTS-HD MA, with or without DTS:X).

Connections

There are four HDMI ports, but only two of them are HDMI 2.1 (one with eARC ). The LAN port is still limited to 100 Mbps. The C955 supports both WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. There are USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, digital optical audio and headphone outputs, and antenna jacks. Analog video can be fed through a 3.5 mm adapter.

Conclusion

The TCL X955 flagship shows glimpses of OLED-like picture quality, but the C955 doesn’t quite reach the same heights. The mini LED zones still have clear limitations, including visible halos/blurring, and brightness/color variations depending on scene complexity. The C955 handles bright HDR scenes well, but struggles in darker ones. The zone control is used to a much lesser extent with SDR content, but the high full-screen brightness means the C955 performs well in even the brightest of rooms. On the downside, narrow viewing angles remain an issue. Considering the price, TCL’s C955 leads the pack and maintains its strong position in the value for money category, and deserves a solid recommendation.

TCL C955 Specifications