Cheap TVs are a minefield if you care about picture and sound quality. While there’s more choice than ever, many sets fail to deliver the goods when we get them in for testing, despite having solid on-paper specifications.
That’s why, when you check out our TV reviews section, many get four, or at times three-star ratings after we have tested them. This includes cheap TVs from big names including Samsung, TCL, Hisense, LG, Sharp and more.
This can be such an issue that we often describe finding a good cheap TV – one that is capable of offering good enough picture quality to keep a serious movie fan immersed in what they are watching – as tantamount to spotting a diamond in the rough.
This, in turn, is why for the past two years, one of the few affordable TVs to perform well enough to earn a five-star rating from us, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED 50-inch has sat unchallenged at the top of our best cheap TV guide as our overall recommendation.
That, though, has just changed. Our reviewers have uncovered an even more accomplished TV worthy of taking that top spot. Say hello to the TCL C6KS (50C6KS-UK), our new recommended cheap TV.
The TCL offers better picture quality than the Amazon set in a couple of the key areas we care about. And that's down to its unusual inclusion, at this level, of a Mini LED panel.
Mini LED is a clever panel technology that uses smaller LEDs than found on a 'regular' LCD TV, arranged in clusters in a grid format to boost key things including peak brightness, contrast and black level. While we have yet to find a Mini LED set that can take on OLED, in most instances the tech offers clear performance benefits on basic LED panels – which most cheap TVs use.
This is certainly the case with the C6KS. As well as offer higher peak brightness levels than average, it also handles demanding dark scene incredibly well, leading our reviewers to report:
“We’re pleasantly surprised by how much refinement and subtle toning the TV retains in areas that are notoriously tricky for affordable TVs, such as skin tones, blue skies, leafy trees and grassy meadows. Nothing feels clumpy or cartoonish.
“This has a knock-on effect on the C6KS’s sharpness, joining forces with the strong shadow detail performance to really convince you that you’re looking at 4K images despite this TV sporting a relatively small screen size by today’s standards.”
That’s in stark contrast (see what we did there) to the Fire TV Omni QLED, which offers distinctly grey black levels and a slightly washed out experience during demanding dim scenes, by comparison.
We have just two minor words of caution. First, if you’re a gamer with a current-generation games console or modern gaming PC, the C6KS’ lack of HDMI 2.1 connectivity means you won’t be able to run them at full speed. The TV’s refresh rate caps at 60Hz. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S can run at 4K/120Hz.
Second, while the TV’s picture is generally great considering its price, we did detect some motion-handling issues during testing. During certain scenes characters’ movements felt soft and slightly artificial, and it's an undeniably distracting shortcoming once you notice it.
Even with these issues, though, the C6KS remains the best TV at its price that we have tested – which is why it is the cheap option we now recommend to most buyers on a strict budget.
MORE:
These are the best OLED TVs we have tested
We rate the best Mini LED TVs money can buy
Our picks of the best soundbars for movie fans
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