TCL 4-Series 85S455 85"

The TCL 85S455 is an 85-inch 4K TV for under $1,500, and that's the whole story. You get a massive screen, the excellent Roku smart platform, and picture quality that's fine for casual viewing. HDR is dim, the audio is weak, and there's no local dimming, so it struggles in dark rooms. Buy it for a bright living room and budget for a soundbar.

The picture quality lands in the 37th percentile of our database, which translates to 'fine for the price.' 4K content looks sharp thanks to that sheer screen size, and the upscaling does a respectable job cleaning up 1080p streams. Colors are reasonably accurate out of the box, but the HDR performance is where things get underwhelming. The panel just doesn't get bright enough to make HDR content pop the way it does on a pricier QLED or OLED. You'll see the HDR badge light up on Netflix, but you won't get that wow factor.

Gaming is a similar story. You get a 60Hz panel and a game mode that keeps input lag low, which is fine for casual play. But there's no VRR, no 120Hz support, and the HDR gaming experience is lackluster. This is a big screen for a Nintendo Switch or a laid-back RPG session, not a competitive gaming display. The audio is a real weak spot, sitting in the 16th percentile. It's thin and tinny, so you'll absolutely want to budget for a soundbar, even a cheap one.

The most direct competitor is the Hisense U8 Series, specifically the 100U8QG if you want to go even bigger. The Hisense costs more but delivers a much brighter picture with full-array local dimming and real HDR punch. It's a better TV for movie buffs, but you'll pay a premium for that performance. On the other end, the Roku Plus Series 55R6C is a smaller, more refined version of this same idea, with a QLED panel and better audio, but obviously you're giving up 30 inches of screen real estate.

If you're even considering a Sony BRAVIA XR or an LG C5 OLED, you're in a completely different tax bracket. Those TVs are for people who want the best picture quality money can buy, and they'll pay for it. The TCL 4-Series isn't trying to compete with them. It's for someone who walks into a store, sees an 85-inch TV for the price of a 65-inch from a premium brand, and says 'that one.' And for that person, the Samsung Neo QLED QN75QN990FFXZA at 75 inches for a lot more money just doesn't make sense.

At $1,481, the value proposition is almost entirely about size. You're paying roughly $17 per inch of screen, which is absurdly cheap. The closest competitors in this size range often cost two to three times as much. A Sony or Samsung at 85 inches will run you well over $2,500, and an OLED at this size is a five-figure fantasy. So if your primary metric is 'how big can I go for under $1,500,' this TCL is basically the only answer.

But value isn't just about the sticker price. You have to factor in the hidden cost of a soundbar, since the built-in speakers are rough. Even a $100 soundbar will dramatically improve the experience. And if you're someone who notices blooming or grayish blacks, you might find yourself wishing you'd saved up a bit longer for a model with full-array local dimming. Still, for a dedicated streaming screen in a bright room, the sheer square footage you get here is hard to beat.

Let's be real, you're looking at the TCL 4-Series 85S455 for one reason: 85 inches of screen for under fifteen hundred bucks. That's a massive canvas for movie nights, and it's the kind of size that makes a statement in a living room without requiring you to sell a kidney. This isn't a TV for pixel peepers or home theater snobs. It's for someone who wants the biggest possible screen for the money, and who values a dead-simple smart TV experience above all else.

TCL built this thing around the Roku platform, and honestly, that's its secret weapon. The interface is clean, it's fast enough, and it puts every streaming app you've ever heard of front and center. No hunting through confusing menus. The remote has about half the buttons of a typical TV remote, with big shortcuts to Netflix and a few others. If you've ever had to troubleshoot your parents' TV over the phone, you'll understand why this matters.

But you're making a trade-off, and it's a big one. The 4-Series is TCL's entry-level line, so the picture quality is firmly in the 'good enough' camp. It's a standard LED panel with no local dimming, so don't expect deep, inky blacks or eye-searing HDR highlights. What you're getting is a huge, decent-looking 4K screen with a best-in-class smart platform. For a lot of people, that's exactly the right compromise.

Home theater enthusiasts should absolutely skip this one. If you care about deep blacks, impactful HDR, or accurate colors in a dark room, the 4-Series will disappoint you. The lack of local dimming is the main culprit, and no amount of settings tweaking can fix the fundamental limitations of the panel. You'd be much happier with a smaller but higher-quality TV like the TCL 6-Series or a Hisense U8, which offer mini-LED backlighting and real HDR performance.

Competitive gamers should also look elsewhere. The 60Hz cap and missing VRR support mean you're leaving a lot of performance on the table with a modern console or PC. A 55-inch gaming monitor or a TV with a 120Hz panel and HDMI 2.1 would serve you far better, even if it costs a bit more and gives you fewer inches.

If you want a gigantic screen for sports, casual streaming, and kids' cartoons in a bright living room, this TCL is a no-brainer. The Roku interface is so easy that anyone in the family can use it, and the picture is more than good enough for daytime viewing and cable TV. Just pair it with a soundbar and you'll have a setup that impresses guests based on sheer scale alone.

But if you're building a dedicated home theater in a basement or a light-controlled room, look elsewhere. The lack of local dimming and weak HDR will be painfully obvious in a dark room. You'll see blooming around subtitles and gray instead of black in letterbox bars. For that use case, save up for a TCL 6-Series or a Hisense U8 with mini-LED backlighting. This 4-Series is a daylight champion, not a cinema replacement.