Why is EVERYONE Buying this TV?? - YouTube

- When I was a teen anything bigger than 48 inches

was considered a giant big-screen TV, and they were big.

This 65-inch Mitsubishi weighed over 330 pounds.

But these days, 55 to 65-inch TVs

are quickly becoming mainstream,

and in many homes, anything smaller

is probably pulling guest bedroom duty.

And why not?

These giant screens, somehow, keep getting cheaper.

So today, after a two-year hiatus, we're gonna take a look

at the forces behind this trend with another installment of

why the--

- [Narrator] Advertiser friendly content.

- Are you all buying this?

Featuring the best selling 65-inch TV on Amazon.com,

the TCL 65S425.

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The reasons that 65-inch TVs like this TCL

are getting more and more popular is because, one,

that's what consumers want bigger TVs, and two,

it's becoming more and more cost-effective

to make them this big thanks to improvements

in the manufacturing process.

Just like in the world of CPU silicon,

TV manufacturing capabilities are specified

by fab generation,

with the latest being Generation 10.5.

But these fabs, rather than being defined

by how small the transistor gate length is in nanometers,

like a processor, are defined by how big

of a piece of glass you can make.

If you've ever stood beside an 86-inch TV,

you know how impressive

a single piece of perfect glass that large is.

But that's only the tip of the iceberg

because TV screens aren't actually manufactured

as individuals.

Instead, they're cut from an even larger sheet

of what is appropriately called mother glass.

When I graduated high school, in 2004,

TV fabs run Gen 7 and could produce sheets of mother glass

that were about 114-inches diagonally.

They probably could have made one giant

weird-shaped TV out of it, but that size was actually chosen

because it was optimal for making up to

eight 40-inch panels, which were a lot easier to sell

at prices that consumers could afford,

like this hoodie from lttstore.com.

Today, the most common fab generation is Gen 8.5,

which being about the size

of two pool tables pushed together can be cut into

six 55-inch TV panels or into three 65-inch panels

with some extra leftover to make smaller devices

like monitors, six 32 inchers to be precise.

But while 55-inch screens used to be the sweet spot

where consumers and manufacturing costs met,

today TV manufacturers are aiming more towards 65-inch,

and the mother glass coming out of the new

Gen 10.5 facilities, which are currently all in China,

can be cut into eight 65-inch TVs.

Wow.

But why does cutting up a bigger piece of glass,

make the individual TVs cheaper?

It's because many of the components of a TV substrate

are put together using deposition,

which happens across the entire mother glass sheet at once.

So the length of time to process a sheet

is roughly the same, regardless of its size,

meaning that larger sheets are more economical

because you can process more surface area at a time.

There's already more than a few Gen 10.5 fabs in operation,

and soon, there are going to be dozens,

meaning that thanks to increased competition

TVs like our TCL over here are only going to get cheaper.

And that is pretty remarkable when you consider

that this is a 3840 by 2160 UHDTV

with a direct led VA panel,

and it already costs under $500 U.S.

It's an especially good deal for gamers

considering its low input lag.

We measured just one to three frames and "CS:GO"

with game mode on and the pixel response time is good enough

that fast-paced games don't get

too much blurrier than they have to.

Just don't expect some of the more advanced gamer features

like FreeSync or a 120-hertz native refresh rate.

For that stuff,

you guys should check out our upcoming reviews

of LG's 2020 TVs, which are on their way to our lab now.

So get subscribed for that.

If you think about it though,

that's kind of the story of this thing

and the answer to why is everybody buying it?

It covers the basics, and does it well,

but without the extra frills.

For example, it technically supports HDR

in the form of HDR 10,

but given that it's got an 8-bit panel,

and a peak brightness of around 200 nits,

the color volume and contrast just aren't enough

for it to really check my HDR box.

The VA panel does give it pretty decent contrast

in dark environments but when the sun comes out,

you're gonna be fighting glare

so I wouldn't put one of these in a bright room.

Also, if you haven't guessed by now

that relatively low performance

means it has no support for Dolby Vision.

None of which means that we're not recommending it

for the price.

The I/O is typical, even if it's a little underwhelming

with a side accessible jack pack,

containing three HDMI 2.1 ports, RJ45 Ethernet,

a lone USB 2.0 port, S/PDIF,

and, just in case you have a really long cable,

a headphone jack.

The industrial design is spartan with basic bezels,

a stamped metal back,

and simple feet that screw directly to the set.

And one thing to note is that those feet are 50-inches apart

so you're gonna need a pretty wide table to sit it on

unless you decide to wall mount it

which might be a pretty good idea.

There's a 400 by 200 millimeter VESA mount on the back,

and the TV is relatively light

so you should be able to get it up there

without too much trouble.

In the box, you get an adapter

that breaks out the composite port into its constituents

and a pair of batteries for the Roku remote.

Which feels a little small, kind of like a kid-sized remote,

but I still support this decision.

TCL has opted to integrate Roku inside their TV

for their smart TV experience,

that would otherwise cost you about 40 bucks

if you bought it on a stick.

And it's known as slick as LG's webOS,

as versatile as Android TV or as snappy as, well,

the same OS running on a TV with a faster processor,

but it's easy to use and supports most major streaming apps.

And it's certainly better

than if they had tried to homebrew something.

So bottom line.

There are obviously compromises,

but I don't wanna sound nitpicky either.

For an entry-level set, TCL's S425 lineup,

which launched in 2018,

still packs a lot of value for people on a budget,

or for people who just aren't that concerned

about having the most mouthwatering

picture quality on the block.

I'd even go as far as to say that most people I know,

outside of the techosphere,

would never complain about this one.

Except for one thing,

that I think we can all agree needs improvement,

the speakers.

The pair of eight watt down-firing drivers

are harsh and bassless

and speech can actually be kind of hard to make out,

especially if you're listening to someone

who has an accent that you're not used to.

So maybe if you do go for something like this,

consider an inexpensive soundbar,

like this one that we checked out in the previous episode

of this wonderful why you all buying the stuff series.

And if you liked our discussion on fab generations,

by the way, maybe check out our companion video,

so to speak, on quantum dots and the future of TVs.

It's a bit of a deeper dive

but I really want you to just go watch it.

It's a sick video.

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