TCL Is Launching A 50-Inch 4K Television For $999, But Should You Buy It?

Ultra-HD (4K) televisions may be the holy grail of living room entertainment, but obtaining one at anything resembling a reasonable price is nearly impossible. At this rate it may take years for it to reach widespread consumer adoption. That is, unless a manufacturer like TCL brought a 50-inch 4K television to market for an obscenely low $999.

On paper and in product shots, the TCL 7E51040 Ultra-HD looks astounding. A 50-inch Edge-lit LED display with a resolution of 3840x2160. A 120Hz CMI refresh rate. 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio to ensure that colors pop and images have excellent contrast. Four HDMI ports. An upscaler for improving the quality of your "normal" HD content. It even sports an attractive ultra thin bezel.

But what's the deal with that price? $999? That's more affordable than the average Smart HDTV in the same size class. To put things in perspective, LG has a 55-inch 4K television retailing for $6999. ASUS just launched a 30-inch consumer 4K monitor for $3499. TCL is the #1 television manufacturer in China, but they're new to the United States. This, the company explains, is why they're pricing their product so aggressively for their September release.

“Our mission is to deliver high quality HDTVs with advanced technologies and premium design at an aggressive price to establish the TCL brand in the US,” says Michelle Mao, President of TCL USA. “Similar to what the market saw a dozen years ago with the introduction of HDTVs, 4K UHD TVs are priced so high today that most consumers cannot afford them. While other brands see the introduction of 4K as an opportunity to make large margins – we see it as an opportunity to demonstrate to US consumers the combination of advanced technology and great value we’ve been delivering across the world for over 30 years."

That's a logical argument, but is there more to the bargain-basement price? This TV sports four HDMI 1.4 connections. The 1.4 spec allows for a maximum of 24 frames per second at a 4096 x 2160 resolution. I'm not an expert on 4K technology, but that seems great for video content; films, TV, etc (of which we desperately need content for at native 4K quality). But it might be a dealbreaker for gaming.

Kevin Wasielewski, CEO and co-founder of Origin PC, a popular system builder primarily comprised of ex-Alienware employees, says they've been keeping a watchful eye on developments in the 4K gaming space. Given his position preparing their business for the rapidly approaching future, I sought out his advice.

"We are on the cusp of the 4K gaming revolution. Our high performance PCs are ready. What’s missing are high performance 4K displays. Don’t just jump on the first 4K TV you find at a good price though," Wasielewski explains. "For a 4K TV/monitor to be a true gaming display it needs to have at least 60Hz frame rate, a good refresh rate (8ms or lower), and the right port(s). Beware of 4K displays that don’t have the right ports because your frame rates will be crippled to ~28 FPS and real gaming will be unbearable."

Yep, even if you're rocking three GTX Titans -- the most expensive gaming graphics card money can buy -- your frame rate will still suffer.

So what should we be looking for if we want to consider this TCL television -- or any 4K display -- for gaming?

"Look for either a DisplayPort 1.2, a pair of dual-link DVI ports, or HDMI 2.0," Wasielewski says. "This will allow for gaming at 60 FPS and trust me, once you game at 4K with 60 FPS in all its beautiful stupendous glory, you can never go back!"

TCL's 4K television doesn't contain HDMI 2.0, DVI, or DisplayPort inputs, so unfortunately we have to rule it out for gaming, which is my personal area of concentration. For consuming multimedia content, however, Hollywood and 4K evangelists like Sony are getting themselves prepared and that $999 price tag seems beyond perfect.

Obviously I can't recommend or sway you from this affordable piece of display tech without getting eyes-on, but if you're a gaming enthusiast looking to jump on the 4K train, patience may be the best course of action.

Stay tuned to this space for an upcoming series of articles focusing on 4K gaming. Check out my personal blog at www.TheGameTechnician.com, and follow me on Twitter or Facebook.