TCL Pushes Mini-LED, 144 Hz Refresh Rates in High-End 2022 TVs

Jumbo screen sizes, updated motion technology, features for gamers and competitive pricing headlined TCL’s 2022 TV lineup on the company’s prerecorded CES news conference Tuesday. TCL is working with Pixelworks and other entertainment companies to define and deploy TrueCut Motion, a new “motion ecosystem,” said Aaron Dew, senior director-product development. Describing TrueCut Motion as “holistic,” Dew said it gives content creators a new tool to “dynamically use motion to better express style, to immerse viewers in stories and to elicit emotion."

The company will include TrueCut Motion on high-performance TVs this year, Dew said, and viewers will know that content displayed on TCL TVs featuring TrueCut Motion “will always match the filmmaker’s intention.” Pixelworks was reportedly “on the brink” of commercializing TrueCut Motion in May 2020 (see 2006220003), said Insight Media President Chris Chinnock, noting that the tool works with any source frame rate, allowing filmmakers to create “finely tuned” content in post-production, optimized for judder, motion blur and frame-rate performance.

In 8K TV, TCL bowed the third generation of mini-LED sets in the 85-inch 8K QLED X925pro. The set features TCL’s OD Zero mini-LED backlight technology with a depth of under 10 millimeters. The company plans more mini-LED-powered TVs over the year with "thousands of contrast control zones" in its high-performance TV series.

Targeting gamers, Dew said the latest game consoles with powerful graphics cards “deserve the biggest, brightest, sharpest," fast-switch TVs. In addition to Auto Game and HGiG modes and variable refresh rate, TCL is upping support for gaming from 4K HDR at 120 Hz to 144 Hz for “smoother action” and a “faster game feel.” TCL is looking to take business from high-performance gaming monitors that typically max out at a 32-inch screen size, he said.

Chris Larson, senior vice president-TCL North America, underscored TCL’s partnership strategy for smart TV with Google and Roku vs. a “walled garden” approach. The strategy allows TCL to add features as they’re developed via firmware updates, he said, “extending the useful life of these sets.” TCL is Google’s largest TV partner, selling over 10 million TVs annually, Larson said.

Larson said industry challenges in 2021, including chip shortages and supply chain disruptions, led to higher TV prices “for the first time in history,” at all screen sizes and technologies. Growth in 70-inch larger TV sales helped offset the rapid decline in volume on smaller sets, he said. TCL weathered the challenges well due to its scale, vertical integration and “preferential access” to supply and logistics space, he said.

Google Director-Engineering Aravind Krishnaswamy cited new features for Google TV, including profiles for individual household members’ personalized viewing, the ability to use an Android phone to control the TV or type in passwords, and the soon-to-launch Fast Pair, allowing users to pair headphones with the TV by holding them next to the screen.

TCL will add four sound bars in the Alto line in time for the 2022 holiday sales season, said Mitch Smith, audio business leader. Alto 7 3.1- and 5.1-channel sound bars, both priced under $250, will have Master Sound Calibration to help customers tweak sound for a room's particular characteristics. Additional features are DTS:X, the ability to add speakers, eight pre-set and custom equalization settings, and Roku TV Ready capability for simple setup, he said.

At the top end, TCL’s Alto 9-Series sound bars will offer 5.1.2- and 7.1.4-channel audio, adding Dolby Atmos, DTS Play-Fi whole-home wireless audio and Ray·Danz sound technology. Both models will be compatible with Dolby Vision and include Alexa and Google Assistant voice control and Spotify streaming. The sound bars will be priced “very competitively” for the feature set, Smith said.

In its mobile line, TCL will launch the 30 V 5G smartphone exclusively in the U.S. in the coming weeks, the company said. The 30 V 5G for Verizon, supporting Verizon's Ultra Wideband and Nationwide 5G networks, has a triple rear camera led by a 50-megapixel main camera and a 6.7-inch screen, said Dana Graham, sales director-TCL Communication. The 30 XE 5G, with a 90-Hz refresh rate display, is the first TCL smartphone available on T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile, with additional carriers to be announced later this year, she said.

Expanding its home appliance line, TCL is bringing its Sweeva robot vacuums to the North American market for the first time this year, the company said. Features include run time of up to 120 minutes, UV-C technology to neutralize micro-organisms and “self-emptying” dustbins. Coming soon are models with simultaneous mopping and vacuuming capabilities, it said.