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00:00Can you ever go too big?
00:02Well, I'm going to find out because TCL sent out this review sample of their new 98-inch
00:10TV.
00:11It's the TCL 98P74-5K to be exact, and it's by far the biggest TV I've ever had in the
00:17studio and I think the biggest one I've ever seen in person outside of a trade show.
00:22And it goes without saying, this is a two-man job to get the bloody thing out of the box.
00:27With the 58kg weight aside, the assembly was actually nice and straightforward.
00:31Just screw in a couple of feet and away you go.
00:33The problem is the feet are fairly close to the edges, so you may struggle to fit this
00:38on your TV stand.
00:39And for me, well, it was almost a disaster.
00:42I should probably have measured it first.
00:44I mean, just look at that clearance.
00:46It's insane.
00:47Although I do still have a bit of an overhang at the front.
00:50To be fair, you can wall mount it and the power cable is detachable, which always makes
00:54things easier.
00:55Just make sure your wall and your mounting bracket are going to be strong enough.
00:59Power on, battery's in, and after a few minutes of setting up your Google TV account,
01:04this is...
01:05I don't know how to describe it.
01:06Absolutely ridiculous.
01:07And for context, behind this, mounted to the wall, I have a 65-inch LG G3, and actually
01:13at 98 inches you're getting over double the surface area.
01:23So who in their right mind would buy something like this?
01:26Well, I'll tell you who.
01:27My cousin John.
01:28Well, technically my wife's cousin John, because he calls me up every now and then.
01:31He lives in the US, and as those people do, they tend to have bigger houses than we do
01:35here in the UK.
01:36And he's like, Tom, what's the biggest f***ing TV I can buy that, you know, still has decent
01:41pitch quality but isn't an absolute fortune?
01:44Well here it is, John.
01:45Or for anyone else who just wants a massive TV.
01:48And for the size, I reckon it's pretty good value as well.
01:514K, with HDR10+, and Dolby Vision IQ.
01:54We get a 144Hz refresh rate, 4 HDMI 2.1s, the super quick Google TV UI, decent speakers
02:01courtesy of Onkyo, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, game modes, and did I mention it's 98 inches?
02:07Now how much do you reckon this should be?
02:09A TV of that spec and for this size?
02:11Bearing in mind it's not mini-LED or QLED or OLED, it's a regular direct LED backlight.
02:16But still a lot of features, and obviously a massive size.
02:19Well right now on Amazon UK you can pick this up for £1,800.
02:24The RRP when it launched late last year was I think £3,000, but then it quickly got discounted
02:28to £2,000 around Black Friday, so Monday.
02:31But now you can get deals on this around £1,800, which is absolutely nuts for a 98 inch TV.
02:37Although bear in mind this is just using a direct LED backlight, which means it's not
02:41as impressive in terms of brightness and contrast.
02:44Now do I think Mrs Tech Chap would let me have this thing in our lounge?
02:47Probably not.
02:48If you do live in a big American house and you sit, I don't know, 20-30 feet from your
02:53TV, or just want an absolutely epic screen to watch TV and play games, for under £2,000
02:57you're going to have a really good time.
02:59And while there is a smaller, cheaper 85 inch option, this 98 is a higher end model.
03:04To be fair though, you can go bigger than this, but then you're in the realm of laser
03:08TVs which have their own problems, and of course projectors.
03:11Now I actually tested the AWOL Vision, I think it was the LTV 3500 Pro projector, a few months
03:17back, and I absolutely loved that.
03:18Up to 150 inches, and with a floor rising ALR screen, it was a proper home theatre.
03:24The only trouble is, all in, you're talking £708,000.
03:28And bear in mind, not all TVs offer HDR10+, and Dolby Vision formats.
03:33LG and Samsung only give you one or the other.
03:35And with 4 HDMI 2.1 ports, you've got plenty of room for your PS5, your Xbox, your satellite
03:40box, and I would suggest a soundbar via the eARC.
03:43The speakers are okay, it's an Onkyo Power 2.1 setup with a couple of 30 watt speakers.
03:51And they're not bad.
03:52Serviceable.
03:53Bit tinny though, definitely lacking in bass.
03:56I think if you are going to go for an impressive home theatre setup like this, if you can stretch
04:00your budget by, say, another £400, get yourself a Sonos Beam 2.
04:04I think right now that's the best bang for buck in terms of a soundbar, although it would
04:08look hilariously small next to a TV this big.
04:11And as for the remote, well, it does the job.
04:14You've got some nice quick streaming app shortcuts there.
04:17Doesn't feel the most premium.
04:18It's plastic.
04:19It's a remote.
04:22Now as you would expect, for a TV this big for that price, there are some compromises.
04:27The main one, as I say, being the lack of any kind of mini LED or QLED panel.
04:31And the biggest issue with that is brightness.
04:33Because I measured a peak HDR brightness of 450 nits, which was roughly the same on both
04:38a tiny 4% window and at full screen brightness.
04:41For regular SDR, tops out about 250, and putting it in movie mode can knock 70 to 100 nits
04:47off of that.
04:48So in the daytime, like we have here, I've got some studio lighting and a bunch of windows
04:52open.
04:53I mean, it looks fine, but that kind of brightness means you're not going to get the most vibrant
04:57picture in the world, and it certainly does make HDR just look a bit, well, non-existent.
05:03Nothing really pops off the screen, and it can look a little bit washed out.
05:06It's not bad, just there are much better TVs out there in terms of picture quality.
05:12But it's not a deal-breaker, and overall picture quality for the size, for the price, is good
05:16enough.
05:17And TCL has their built-in AI tech for upscaling the picture and reducing noise, and they claim
05:2295% of the P3 gamut, so colors can be pretty accurate.
05:26Although what I do really like is this anti-reflective coating.
05:30It's less of a complete mirror like I have seen on some TVs, and does a good job of diffusing
05:35all the lights around me.
05:36But it does also then, combined with that fairly low brightness, just give everything
05:40a bit of a sort of muddier, washed-out look, but I'd still rather have the anti-reflective
05:45than not having it.
05:46And as I'm flicking through here, another thing I really do like is the UI.
05:49It's running Google TV, and with their, I think it's called AI PQ Processor 3.0, it's
05:55a quad-core chip.
05:56Everything just feels incredibly fast, faster than my LG G3 just scrolling through menus
06:01and opening up settings.
06:03It's got all the usual streaming apps that you'd need, and there are plenty of picture
06:05modes to choose from.
06:06Standard is the brightest, but most of the time I've been watching in movie or IMAX
06:10modes.
06:11And it will automatically switch to HDR10 or Dolby Vision if it detects HDR content.
06:16It does also have a built-in ambient light sensor so it can adjust the screen's brightness
06:19based on your surroundings, but I'd turn that off pretty quickly so I'd get the maximum
06:24brightness I could all the time.
06:26And while a 98-inch TV does leave a bit of a black hole in your room when it's turned
06:30off, I do like the ambient wallpaper art and Google Photos, so you can use it as a
06:34giant art and photo gallery.
06:37But beyond TV and movies, you can of course hook up your console.
06:40I've got my trusty PS5 here, and with the TV's ALM, it'll put you in game mode, turn
06:45off all the background processing, and at 98 inches, oh boy does this give a new meaning
06:50to immersive.
06:51We do also get FreeSync Premium Pro for smoothing out your frame rate and reducing screen tearing,
06:56although no G-Sync.
06:57And while response time and input lag isn't as fast as a top-end OLED, it's not been a
07:01problem and everything felt responsive.
07:05So to wrap up, all I have to say is the scale, the epicness of having a 98-inch TV in front
07:10of you watching this video on YouTube does not do it justice.
07:13I wish it was brighter, it would have been really nice if they could have squeezed in
07:16a mini-LED panel without getting too much more expensive, but it's still a good TV,
07:22and at this size, it just offers something a bit different.
07:25It's definitely a niche product, I can't imagine that many people are going to be buying
07:2898-inch TVs, particularly here in the UK, but if you've got a big space to fill, for
07:33a couple of grand, it's not a bad shout.
07:35But what do you reckon?
07:36Would you ever be tempted to buy something this big?
07:38How big do you think you could get away with at home?
07:41Let me know in the comments below.
07:42If you do fancy checking this out, I will leave a link in the description below, and
07:45if you enjoyed the video, a like and subscribe would be fantastic.
07:48Thank you so much for watching, guys, and I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Chat.