The TCL US5800 Series UHD LED has an average picture quality for a 4k TV. It has a bit more blur than ideal on fast sequences. The screen of the US5800 also produces harsh reflections that can't get countered by the low TV brightness. The Roku smart platform is great though and the TV operation is user-friendly.
Our Verdict
For a 4k TV, the TCL US5800 isn't terrible but still at the bottom of the range. For most usages, 'average' would be the word to summarize its performances. It has more blur than ideal, its colors aren't that good and the fact that the TV can't get bright emphasis its reflections issues. The main strength of the TCL US5800 is really its strong Roku smart platform.
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Great smart platform
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More blur than ideal
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Not suitable for a bright living room
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Average screen uniformity
- 6.9 Mixed Usage
- 7.0 Movies
- 6.7 TV Shows
- 7.0 Sports
- 7.5 Video Games
- 6.8 HDR Movies
- 5.2 HDR Gaming
- 4.7 PC Monitor
- Updated Mar 01, 2017: Review published.
- Updated Jun 01, 2016: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated May 31, 2016: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 55" (55US5800). For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 65" (65US5800).
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their TCL US5800 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.
| Size | Model |
| 55" | 55US5800 |
| 65" | 65US5800 |
Compared To Other TVs
Although the TCL US5800 has good value for the price, other 4K TVs offer better picture quality and might be worth investing into because of this. Not all TVs are as good when it comes to smart functionalities though.
The Hisense H8C is a better TV than the TCL US5800. It has deeper blacks, higher peak brightness, better reflection handling, better motion handling, HDR compatibility, and slightly better built-in speakers. On the other hand, the TCL uses Roku's smart interface which has a wide array of apps and is easy-to-use.
Test Results
The TCL US5800 is a good looking TV although a thick one. It is mostly made of plastic except for its feet that are made of metal.
The two feets are made of metal with a silver finish.
Footprint of the 55" TV stand: 9.1" x 39.8"
The TV isn't attractive from the back. It has a few different level of thickness so it might look strange when wall mounted. When it is, most of its connections won't be blocked which is good.
From the side, the TV is fairly thick and has an unattractive design which reminds of older LCD TVs.
Blacks aren't the best but deep enough to offer a good native contrast ratio which help picture quality in a dark room.
The TCL US5800 isn't bright at all. Brightness kept around the same level for all window sizes.
This TV does not support HDR.
Gray uniformity isn't good. Corners of the screen are darker, banding can be seen both vertically and horizontally (even at a slight angle) and some color tints can be observed.
From the side, the picture of the US5800 deteriorates but not as much as some other LED TVs.
Update: We have changed the methodology of testing. Since this is an old TV which we don't have anymore, we extrapolated the results.
Great as a whole. Faint clouding can be seen when the TV displays a totally black screen but nothing distracting.
8 bit gradations can be seen in our gradient pattern. Also, some tints of colors are present in the gray gradations. This shouldn't much of a problem in normal content though.
Out of the box, white balance dE is high and gamma is off. Although this results in a picture that is far from perfect, most people won't notice.
The only possible way to calibrate the TV is with the Roku application. There they offer color space, 2 point and 11 point settings. Calibrating the television was a nightmare, and very time consuming. Some errors couldn't be fixed.
480p upscaling is a little inconsistent. It sometimes looks slightly blocky. There are worse TVs than this one though and most won't notice.
The TCL US5800 does a better job with 720p content like cable channels, once upscaled the image looks good.
1080p looks detailed enough. Closer than about two feet away from the TV, the pixel sub-structure can be seen. This can't be seen farther away and is not an issue.
4k offers rich details. As in 1080p, from very close, the pixel substructure can be seen but is a non-issue from afar.
Good enough for Rec.709 only. There is no wide color gamut option on this TV.
Direct reflections are harsh on the screen of the US5800. Since the TV can't get bright, this will be a problem in moderately lit to bright rooms.
The trail following the logo is a little bit long and has a darker yellow tint. The US5800 has an unusual backlight flickering. The PWM frequency is 200Hz, which isn't a multiple of 60Hz. Visually, it produces a shaking duplication of fast moving objects.
Only movies from 24p sources are completely judder-free. Other sources have constant judder. It might not be an issue for everyone though since most cannot detect judder in movies.
The US5800 doesn't have a motion interpolation feature.
The 1080p input lag of the US5800 is 46.3ms, which is average. For most gamers this shouldn’t be noticeable. Input lag is the same with and without Game Mode enabled.
Looking at the screen from up close you can notice a strange pixel pattern. This only occurs when the 'color temperature' setting is set to warm. You can see the pixel picture here.
Update: From further testing we have concluded that all current TCL TVs that we have reviewed do not display 4:4:4, but 4:2:2. This is due to the TV inputs accepting 4:4:4 but actually displaying 4:2:2. 4:2:2 is better than 4:2:0, but slightly blurrier for text than 4:4:4.
Poor low-end cutoff and maximum loudness. At 160Hz and 87.5dB respectively, these values are not good even for a TV. The frequency response is also below average and pumping may be present at higher volumes.
The overall amount of harmonic distortion is elevated, even at lower volumes. At maximum volume, there is a noticeable rise in distortion, but not as bad as some other TVs we have measured.
Roku is the smart platform that offers the most apps. All aren't great but the most popular ones are there.
Roku is the smart platform on the TCL US5800 and it delivers great smart features. It has thousands of apps including most of the popular ones. Its interface is quick and the menus and remote are straightforward for anyone to use. The fact that this TV doesn't have a lot of options plays favorably for its user-friendliness. The US5800 also has a lot of inputs which is great.
TV controls can be found on the back of the right side of the TV. The controls can be accessed if the TV is wall mounted.
