14 DAY TRIAL // The first Ultra-High Definition television sets released, last year, had prices in the range of thousands of dollars or Euro, or even hundreds of thousands, but now there are some that sell for less than standard, Full HD TVs.
You read that right: there is, officially, at least one UHD TV that has a price below that of normal television sets.
And we're not talking about the 50-inch model priced at $1,500 / €1,136, which Chinese company Seiki released a few months ago.
Although $1,500 / €1,136 is an impressive feat all on its own, undoubtedly.
No, what we are talking about is the 50-inch ultra HD TV launched by TCL just a short while ago, and which has a price of just $1,000 / €756.
Sure, it's a fire-sale price, so it won't last for long, but it's still a shocking tag, one that, we're sure, people will want to take advantage of, despite the drawbacks.
Not as shocking as the fact that the tag is likely to go lower instead of higher. After all, that Seiki TV we have mentioned, as Gizmodo so cheerfully pointed out, sells for $1,100 / €831 nowadays.
Yes, as much as we'd like to say there is no catch, there is, in fact, one. Or a set of catches.
First off, the TCL display lacks branded certifications from THX (like Sharp's TVs) or any other smart connected TV features. It's just a 4K TV, not a Smart TV or anything of the sort.
The only “smart” feature is a built-in resolution upscaler that will turn HD content into 4K resolution. We don't know what upscaler it is though. Head on to TCL USA for more information. Just don't be too eager to throw your money away, because sales will only begin in September. By that time, if we're really lucky, someone else will have unveiled a low-cost 4K TV, maybe one with more than one Smart TV feature.