TCL has finally launched its first line of Fire TV Smart TVs in the US with the release of its new 2023 Q6 Class 4K QLED Fire TV Smart TVs. TCL introduced its premium Q Series TVs earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show as Google TV-only models but is now making them available with Amazon’s Fire OS platform as well in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 75-inch sizes.
The new TCL Q6 Class Fire TVs sit in the middle of TCL’s 2023 smart TV lineup. TCL has, thankfully, not chosen its low-end S Series models for its first set of U.S. Fire TVs, but the Q6 Class TVs fall at the bottom of TCL’s premium Q Series smart TVs, with the Q7 Class and QM8 Class TVs above. Both the TCL S and Q Series TVs were introduced as Google TV-only models earlier this year and only the Q6 Class TVs are now also being offered as Fire TVs. While they aren’t the highest-end models TCL has to offer, they’re a step above the TCL Fire TVs released in Europe last year and fall in the upper tier of all Fire TV Smart TV models.
That premium placement is thanks to the TCL Q6 Class Fire TVs featuring 4K Quantum Dot QLED panels that support the full suite of high dynamic range formats, including Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG. Keeping these TVs from being ultra-premium models is the use of direct-lit LED backlights, instead of full array local dimming backlighting which TCL reserves for its Q7 and QM8 Class TVs. Peak brightness is 400 nits for the 55-inch size and 380 nits for the other two sizes. The Q6 Class Fire TVs use just a 60 Hz native refresh rate but feature “Motion Rate 120” for smoother interpolated frames that simulate 120 Hz screens. While they support auto low latency game modes, TCL’s “Game Accelerator 120” feature that is available on the equivalent TCL Q6 TVs running Google TV, which switches to 120 Hz at the sacrifice of a lower resolution, is, unfortunately, missing from these Fire TV Q6 variants, as is AMD FreeSync support.
Port selection is pretty standard for a Fire TV Smart TV with three HDMI ports, of which at least one is HDMI 2.1 with ARC/eARC support. You also get a composite video port, optical audio out, 3.5mm headphone audio out, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports that include FAT32 and NTFS support. Connectivity comes in the form of WiFi 5 dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, a 10/100 Ethernet wired connection, and Bluetooth 5 for connecting headphones and BT peripherals, like game controllers. Speaking of audio, these TVs feature a pair of 12W speakers and onboard Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital+ processing.
Under the hood is Amlogic’s T962x3 processor with a quad-core Cortex-A55 CPU running at 1.9GHz and a Mali-G31 running at 800MHz, which include H.265 HEVC and AV1 video decoding among many other formats. While this SoC isn’t as good as the beast of an octa-core setup in the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube, it’s a welcomed step above the MediaTek MT9020 T31 quad-core 1.5GHz processor found in most Fire TV Smart TV, including Amazon’s own flagship Fire TV Omni QLED TVs. TCL has matched its chosen processor with the usual 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Running everything is the 32-bit Fire OS 7, which is based on Android 9 Pie, and includes both Apple Airplay2 and Miracast for casting mobile screens remotely to these TVs.
While other Fire TV Smart TV manufacturers have chosen to go with proprietary remotes, like Panasoinc’s recent offering, TCL is including Amazon’s standard Fire TV Smart TV remote with these TVs. It, of course, supports Alexa voice capabilities and includes the usual Fire TV navigation and media buttons, as well as a TV guide button, settings button, and recent button. Along the bottom are four app shortcut buttons which appear to be for Prime Video, Netflix, DirecTV, and Peacock.
The new TCL Q6 Class Fire TV Smart TVs are available to order from Amazon and are ready to ship immediately. The 55-inch model will run you $449.99, the 65-inch model costs $599.99, and the 75-inch big boy costs $799.99. Unfortunately, the 85-inch TCL Q6 running Google TV isn’t being offered with Amazon’s Fire TV operating system.
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Anyone know if QLED can actually do HDR? I have two LCD HDR tvs, and I see zero difference in HDR content. I am starting to wonder if I have to buy OLED to get noticeable HDR.
The QLED will produce better and brighter colors with HDR content than on a non QLED TV, so it will be a step up from your regular LCD TV. If you want the best of the best when it comes to HDR content, get the OLED. But you wouldn’t be disappointed in QLED. Amazon TVs though tend to not produce great HDR from what I noticed. I have a Toshiba C350 4K Dolby Vision Fire TV and it has been a disappointment. Colors are dull and inaccurate. A lot of professional TV review sites state the same when it comes to Amazon’s offerings.
QLED primarily has to do with color accuracy while HDR primarily has to do with screen brightness. One does not directly relate to the other, meaning, it’s possible for a non-QLED TV to have better HDR than a QLED TV.
For great HDR, the TV’s peak brightness is the most important factor. You’re probably not seeing a difference with HDR because, while your TV can display HDR video, it’s not capable of the brightness that great HDR requires.
Most Fire TV Smart TVs have around 200-300 nits of peak brightness, with the Hisense being the brightest that I’m aware of with 600 nits peak. Even that is pretty low for HDR, with the top-of-the-line TVs being above 1,000 nits.
I’ve asked Amazon about the peak brightness of these TCL TVs and will update the article if I get an answer.
Just heard back from Amazon and the peak brightness for these TCL TVs is 400 nits for the 55-inch size and 380 nits for the other two sizes.
Thanks. Guess I will avoid. haha
Whoops. Thanks for posting accurate info. I guess I may give the Omni 55″ a try if it’s cheaper than a comparable TV on Prime day.
I haven’t been able to control any of the Fire TV’S I have owned with a Tivo remote, why don’t Fire TV’s play nice with my TiVo?
Was a matter of time. Amazon has Thursday Nite ball games. TCL is the NFL partner. 1+1=TCL FireTV.
I’d get a ‘Fire TV’ TV if Amazon wouldn’t continue to hobble it with lower CPU/GPU and LAN. A 10/100 Ethernet wired connection? Realize Cube 3 itself is hobbled by this, which forced me to get a USB gigabit hub. C’mon! And use the same SoC as Cube 3.
Would this be a better choice than the Amazon Omni QLED? For a 55″, the price is only $20 more than the Amazon Omni that I ordered this morning.
Just based on specs, I’d probably choose the Omni QLED over these new TCL TVs if the price is about the same. You can see a comparison of specs here: https://www.aftvnews.com/comparison-of-premium-qled-fire-tv-smart-tvs-tcl-q6-amazon-omni-hisense-u6/
The TCL will probably feel a bit snappier, thanks to the CPU, but i expect the Omni QLED to have a better picture thanks to full array local dimming and higher peak brightness. You also get more perks with the Omni, like the ambient light sensor, hands-free mics, and ambient mode.
Thank you Elias for that very quick response, I was not expecting anything so quick! At the same time as you, I was replying to myself with the comparison info. (I would now delete that reply, but I don’t see how to do it)
I just saw the comparison article Elias posted later today. It would seem that the Amazon Omni QLED comes out on top due to HDR 10+ Adaptive Dolby Vision IQ and backlight local dimming, although the TCL has a better CPU. I welcome anyone’s thoughts about this…
Overall it should be better. And for what it’s worth, Linus did a strip down of one of the Omni TVs a year ago and it turns out it was using components from TCL.
Their warranty service is the worst. I have been dealing with them for 6 month on a simple warranty issue and the hoops they make you go through are ridiculous.