TCL C825 review summary:
Editor’s rating: 4/5
Design
Picture quality
Audio
Software
Remote
Pros
- Bright panel for SDR, HDR and Dolby Vision content
- Great TV for gaming
- Good sound output
- Sturdy Build
Cons
- Remote needs improvement
- Not so slim profile
TCL C825 mini-LED TV debuted as the first mini LED TV in India. Mini LED technology is relatively new and has its own set of pros and cons.
TCL offers this mini-LED TV in both 55-inch and 65-inch sizes. It promises OLED-like blacks while retaining the brightness and color advantages of QLED panels – and all that without asking for astronomical prices. With an Onkyo 2.1 system built in, it poises itself as a complete home entrainment package. Should you buy the TCL C825? Here’s what we think.
Navigate this review
Specs | Design | Software | Picture Quality | Audio | Remote| Verdict
TCL C285 unboxing
The TV comes in a hefty box so you’ll need another pair of hands to help you in unboxing the thing. The TV sits protected by Styrofoam frames. Taking out the TV and setting it up on a table is easy. Here’s what you get within the box:
- The TV panel
- Power cord
- Table Top Stands with Screws
- Remote with Batteries
- Camera
- Installation and User Manual
Also Check:
TCL C825 India price and specs
Dimension and Weight: 255 (W) x 770.95 (H) x 122 (D) 6.7mm; 22 kg (with stand)
Screen: 55-inch 4K, VA (QD), miniLED FALD, 4K Dolby Vision, HDR10+, MEMC, Vivid, Picture Engine 2
Audio: 2 unit 40W Speakers, Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD, eARC, and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) – HDMI
Processor: MediaTek MT9615 CPU, dual-core Mali-G52(2EE)MP2 GPU
Video Processor: AiPQ 2.0
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 32GB
OS: Android TV 11
Ports: HDMI 2.1x 4, USB 2.0 x 2, Ethernet, AV, Optical x 1, 3.5mm x 1
Wireless: Bluetooth 5.2, Dual Band WiFi ac (2×2 MIMO)
Power Consumption: 230 W
TCL C825 Price: 55″ at ₹105,999, 64″ at ₹149,999
TCL C825 TV review: Design and Connectivity
The TCL C825 follows a minimalistic design approach offering a premium look that is fit for modern homes. It has a brushed silver metal frame on the sides with slim bezels, front-firing speakers in gray fabric finish, and a metallic stand. There is an LED indicator embedded in the speaker bar. Branding is minimalistic – a simple TCL badge on the bottom frame.
It is nowhere in the race to be ‘slimmest TV’, primarily due to a sub-woofer from Onkyo mounted at the back. Either side of the rear panel has a glossy finish while on the top of the screen panel there is a cut-out to mount the attachable camera that comes in the box. The screen has slim bezels around it which ensures an immersive viewing experience.
As for Connectivity, the TCL C825 features four 2.1 HDMI ports on the right side with two supporting eARC. There are also two USB 2.0 ports, an ethernet port, AV input, and audio output, digital audio out, and antenna among others.
TCL C825 TV Review: Hardware and Software
The TCL C825 runs on a quad-core MediaTek 9615 chipset with 1.35GHz Cortex-A735 CPU cores and dual-core Mali-G52(2EE)MP2 GPU. You also get 32GB of eMMC storage and 3GB of DDR4 memory. This TV uses TCL’s own AiPQ Engine Gen 2 processor which uses intelligent algorithms for audiovisual optimization and AI-based upscaling.
The television boots up in Google TV UI which is based on Android 11. Even as we inch closer to 2022, this is among the few TVs in the country to come running on Google TV UI out of the box. It delivers content recommendations from different platforms including Disney+Hotstar, Netflix, MX Player, Youtube, and more on the home screen.
During the review, we tested the TCL C825 for almost a month playing all sorts of content and trying out several apps from the Google Play store. Throughout this phase, we didn’t encounter any major lag. The UI felt swift and smooth. Apps opened up quickly and stayed open in the background long enough for switching between them to feel smooth.
The TV has Google Assistant on-board with a dedicated button on the remote. To address privacy concerns, TCL has put in a toggle button at the back of the TV to turn off the mic. It managed to search, find answers to queries and play content on Youtube. Or to even find a said movie or show on Netflix for us. However, the same was not possible with Amazon’s Prime Videos or Disney+ Hotstar. We also managed to switch between input sources using our voice.
TCL C825 TV Review: Display & Picture Quality
The TCL C825 TV comes in 55-inch and 65-inch screen sizes delivering up to 4K resolution at a 120Hz refresh rate. As we expect from a flagship TV, the C825 supports all popular HDR formats including HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision IQ, and HLG.
The LED panel on offer comes with a film of Photo-emissive quantum dot particles and thousands of Mini LEDs that manage to deliver far superior contrast ratios and better screen uniformity levels as compared to any regular IPS panels.
Our 55-inch variant has 128 dimming zones that allow it to manage blacks better by turning off pixels in a particular section. Well, this is not the first time that Mini LED technology has made a positive impression on us. Apple too backs Mini LED tech and offers it on 2021 MacBook Pros and some of its iPad models. Viewing angles are wide and there is no color fading while viewing the display from an angle.
The biggest advantage of Mini LEDs and prolific dimming zones was instantaneously noticeable while watching dark sequences from Dark Knight with captions turned on. There is no blooming that we could notice from our eyes.
While watching HDR content in 4K we were quite impressed with its peak brightness levels. This TCL TV manages to deliver really bright highlights without blowing away shadow details. We watched a lot of HDR content including Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi adventure Ready Player One, Netflix’s Our Planet, and Marvel’s Avengers End Game, and each time it left us impressed. We tried Dolby Vision Bright, Dolby Vision Dark, and Dolby Vision IQ settings while watching them in a nearly dark room.
Experiencing HDR 10 content on Youtube or Prime Videos was also top-notch here. With Smart HDR mode, color accuracy is not perfect, but the TV delivers visuals that will appeal to the eyes.
The FHD and SD performance are also mighty impressive. We watched several movies and shows and they demonstrated good upscaling capabilities. Shows like Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and movies like Rain Man and A Few Good Men were upscaled with minimal noise. Visuals were sharp and vibrant. The skin tones were close to natural but not as accurate as on the Sony A80J that we recently tested. Overall, we are quite pleased with its performance.
What about Gaming Performance? Well, we tested gaming on TCL C825 using our Sony Play Station 5 and MSI Raider ge66 with Nvidia RTX 3080. It features four HDMI 2.1 ports with 4K at 120Hz support. Two of them even support eARC and VRR. We played several games including Spider-man Mile Morales, Demons Soul, Cyberpunk 2077 and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. With Ray tracing turned on, some of the visuals in Spider-Man look breathtaking.
TCL C825 TV Review: Audio
The 55-inch TCL C825 that we have with us comes with 50W of sound output – two 15W drivers and a 20W subwoofer. The subwoofer is mounted at the back of the TV while the 15W driver sits in the front just below the screen masked by grey fabric material.
The sound from the TCL C825 leaves us impressed and it is likely to impress you as well. It delivers a room-filling sound with enough details. Dialogues are clearly audible and the stereo output feels well balanced. Of course, if you are fastidious about audio you will need to use an external sound system.
TCL C825 TV Review: Remote
TCL hasn’t tried to do much with the remote I wish it offers a remote similar to Roku TVs that it offers in the west. It’s a tall remote which makes it difficult to mute or to switch off the TV without changing the grip in your hand. The remote has dedicated buttons for Netflix, Zee5, Prime Video, and TCL Channel which makes it easy to use with a single tap.
review Verdict: should You Buy TCL C825 Mini LED TV?
The TCL C825 Mini LED 4K TV offers a good bang for your buck. If you consume a lot of content on OTT apps, shelling out Rs 1,05,000 for this Mini LED TV is worth it. It delivers a fantastic HDR experience thanks to its excellent peak brightness and contrast levels. Colors reproduction and sound quality are also satisfactory. If you are into gaming, it’s a good option to pair with your Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5.
Reasons to buy
- Bright panel for SDR, HDR and Dolby Vision content
- Great TV for gaming
- Good sound output
- Sturdy Build
Reasons to not buy
- Remote needs improvement
- Not so slim profile
For the sake of your global audience the c825 is also available in 75″ and 85″ screen size. The 85 comes with very good soundbar…I have one. Otherwise good review.