TCL’s 4K under $5K -- a bargain 65-inch Ultra HD TV

Ultra HD TVs are starting to become more and more prevalent at the top of Australia’s top electronics manufacturers’ product listings. They carry commensurate price tags, though, with the smallest and cheapest being Sony’s $5,999 55-inch X Series BRAVIA.

TCL’s 65-inch E5691 is only $4,999. The new Chinese-made TV has a resolution or 3840x2160 pixels, equalling the resolution of similar panels from Sony, Samsung and LG.

Since there is very little Ultra HD content available to consumers, and no delivery method like Blu-ray or DVD to easily store that content, the TCL E5691 can up-scale lower quality video to its native resolution. Up-scaling doesn’t increase the overall detail visible in video, but can make it more appropriate for viewing on a higher-resolution screen.

The TV also has built-in Wi-Fi, with direct access to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, SBS on Demand and SMH.tv, and a ‘Nscreen’ wireless screen sharing feature, supporting compatible Android smartphones and tablets. It’ll be available in mid-September.

TCL also used the opportunity to launch two new series of 1080p LED TVs — the E5510 and F3500 — with largely identical specifications to the E5691 apart from screen resolution and size.