TCL C6KS (50C6KS-UK) vs Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED QL50F601: which budget 50-inch TV should you buy?

Looking to snap up one of the best budget TVs on the market to upgrade your living room setup, without breaking the bank? You’re in the right place.

Below, we compare the 50-inch TCL C6KS and Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED, to see which one is more worthy of standing at the heart of your home entertainment experience.

We’ve put both sets through our rigorous review process in order to give you all the information you need to make the right buying decision. Let’s crack on.

TCL C6KS vs Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED: price

The 50-inch TCL C6KS cost £419 / $590 / AU$590 at launch, though at the time of writing, it's available for an even more palatable £349 in the UK.

The 50-inch Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED launched at £650 / $530, and is currently listed at £300 in the UK.

These prices make them a great pick for those on a tight budget, with little difference between them in price. So it’s all down to their performance…

** Winner: draw **

TCL C6KS vs Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED: design and build

The TCL C6KS looks decently attractive for the money. The frame around the screen proves narrow enough to avoid distraction, while the shiny black finish of the left, right, and top edges contrasts nicely with the glossy silver bottom edge.

The two feet look slightly plasticky and basic, but their slender profile ensures they don't significantly distract from the screen above. General build quality relies heavily on plastic, though you only really notice this when handling the TV rather than viewing it from a normal distance.

The remote control feels lightweight but proves comfortable to hold thanks to its long, thin shape, angled rear, and gently brushed front edge. Its layout makes sense, with good emphasis on the main navigation area plus direct-access buttons for popular streaming services.

The 50-inch Omni QLED has a slightly less premium design than larger models in the range, with silver metal accents sacrificed in favour of plain black plastic. The feet are black plastic too, positioned right at the extremes of the bottom edge – giving the set an unhelpfully wide footprint, which will influence your TV stand options. The bezels on the sides and top prove decently thin, though, allowing the display to do most of the talking.

More notably, the Omni QLED features an unusually large undercarriage housing sensors and microphones. The sensors primarily power the Ambient Experience screensaver that activates when detecting your presence, while the microphones enable voice control – the TV works like a standalone Echo device. A physical switch beneath the TV entirely disables the microphones if preferred, with a red light confirming they're off.

The remote proves perfectly serviceable and nicely compact, with easy-to-navigate shortcuts for all the main services and settings menus, though it lacks backlighting.

Both TVs deliver acceptable build quality for their price points, though the TCL's cleaner aesthetic and less intrusive design give it a slight edge – particularly for those who prefer not to have always-listening microphones in their living room.

** Winner: TCL C6KS **

TCL C6KS vs Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED: picture quality

The TCL C6KS delivers a far more impressive picture than its price suggests. Black levels prove excellent for such an affordable TV, with far less greyness in dark scenes than you'd expect. This stems partly from effective light manipulation in shadowy sequences, but also from the new HVA panel at the C6KS's heart, which typically renders impressive amounts of shadow detail in dark areas.

The C6KS's light engine creates precious few backlight blooming distractions. Even when particularly tough contrast-rich shots do reveal signs of haloing around bright highlights, the extraneous light remains faint enough to avoid serious distraction. The presentation of very dark scenes proves stable too, with neither obvious dimming zone adjustments mid-shot nor brightness fluctuations during cuts between light and dark material.

More impressively still, the C6KS achieves its excellent dark scene handling alongside very impressive brightness for such an affordable TV. It looks two or three times brighter than other similarly priced sets, giving some mid-range LCD TVs a run for their money. The brightness feels organic to the picture – it doesn't strain black levels or local dimming controls, nor does it cause the brightest colours to look faded or washed out.

Colours retain better saturations during very dark shots than expected at this level, while colour volumes leave most similarly priced TVs looking murky and flat. That vibrancy doesn't sacrifice subtlety either – the TV retains impressive refinement in tricky areas such as skin tones, blue skies, leafy trees, and grassy meadows. Nothing feels clumpy or cartoonish.

The C6KS's strong shadow detail combines with impressive core 4K sharpness to really convince you you're looking at proper 4K images despite the relatively modest screen size.

Inevitable compromises do appear: there's slight resolution loss over moving objects, particularly with 24p movie sources, though various motion processing options partially address this.

The Dolby Vision Dark setting can track too dim, losing some shadow detail, while you'll occasionally spot mild clipping in the brightest highlights and some colour banding in areas of subtle tonal blending. Colours and contrast also drop off when viewing from wide angles.

Critically, though, none of these flaws significantly undermine what proves to be a spectacularly accomplished picture for the money.

The Amazon Omni QLED takes a different approach. Watching Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the Dolby Vision Bright mode combines deep blacks with satisfyingly punchy highlights.

It doesn’t dazzle, mind, opting for balance instead. On a shop floor it might look dull sat next to super-vivid rivals, but at home it proves natural in a way that means you focus purely on the content rather than questioning the delivery.

Colours successfully tread the fine line between vibrancy and subtlety, while skin tones look natural and fairly delicately shaded, avoiding the waxy appearance many budget sets produce.

Edges prove sharp without over-exaggeration, and while detail levels obviously don't match higher-end TVs, they impress for the price – Harrison Ford's scars, wrinkles, and grey stubble resolve satisfyingly.

When the action moves to a network of caves later in the movie, the Omni QLED produces decently deep blacks for a backlit TV. The black bars prove slightly less black than ideal, particularly in the corners, but this remains mild and easy to ignore.

The backlight proves very consistent overall, with no patchiness and no obvious blooming. Shadow detail holds up better than the 65-inch version of this TV, avoiding the murky appearance that plagued some larger models.

Motion smearing remains present as people move their heads, though it's less pronounced than on the 65-inch model and doesn't significantly hamper movie enjoyment.

Switching to Pan in HDR10, it becomes clear the Omni QLED lacks brightness headroom to do full justice to movies mastered to very high peaks – the brightest highlights prove slightly over-exposed. However, the TV does a good job overall of tailoring the presentation to its limits.

Dropping down to HD with The Fisher King demonstrates that while the Omni QLED isn't an upscaler of Sony or LG's level, it again produces a nicely balanced picture in terms of contrast, colours, and sharpness, though a little more noise-suppression would help.

Ultimately, the TCL C6KS delivers notably superior picture quality. Its Mini LED backlighting, 160 dimming zones, and superior brightness give it significant advantages over the Omni QLED's 48-zone system.

The Amazon set performs admirably within its means and proves impressively consistent, but the TCL's combination of deeper blacks, brighter highlights, more vibrant colours, and superior shadow detail makes it the clear winner for picture performance.

** Winner: TCL C6KS **

TCL C6KS vs Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED: features and processing

The TCL C6KS runs Google TV, which brings the vast majority of popular global streaming services. TCL has also separately integrated all UK terrestrial broadcasters' catch-up apps, though you don't get the Freeview Play or Freely umbrella apps some other TVs provide. Google Assistant voice control comes as standard.

The C6KS supports all four main HDR formats: HLG, HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision – ensuring it always plays the best available version of any content. TCL's latest AI-boosted AiPQ processor optimises picture quality.

Gaming features prove surprisingly comprehensive for such an affordable TV. Despite the 60Hz panel limiting refresh rates, the C6KS includes TCL's dedicated Game Bar onscreen menus, ALLM switching, support for ultra-wide aspect ratios from PC games, the ability to raise dark area brightness to reveal hiding enemies, an aiming aid, and VRR support up to 60Hz. Input lag measures an excellent 9.9ms.

The 2 x 15W 2.0-channel speaker system, designed with Onkyo, decodes both Dolby Atmos and DTS HD soundtracks. Connections include three HDMI ports, which might be slightly limiting for some users, plus two media-capable USB ports.

The Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED features Fire OS, which provides excellent app support. All major streaming services appear, including Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and Prime Video, plus less ubiquitous localised services such as Now and Discovery+ in the UK. All UK catch-up apps feature as well, alongside a Freeview tuner for live broadcasts.

Alexa integration runs deep – you can control almost every function using voice commands. The TV also works like a standalone Echo device, controlling lights, music, and other Alexa-compatible devices without the screen turning on.

The sensors in the undercarriage power Ambient Experience screensavers and enable Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive, which automatically adjust to ambient lighting conditions.

Like the TCL, the Omni QLED supports all four current HDR standards: HLG, HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision. The QLED panel uses Quantum Dots for a wider colour gamut than standard LCD. It features direct LED backlighting with 48 local dimming zones – impressive at this price, though significantly fewer than the TCL's 160 zones.

Gaming specs prove better than the budget TV norm. The 60Hz panel means 4K/120Hz remains out of reach, but VRR and ALLM appear across all four HDMI ports. One port supports eARC for sending uncompressed Dolby Atmos to soundbars or AV receivers.

The TCL edges ahead on gaming features with its dedicated Game Bar and additional gaming-specific options, while also offering superior picture processing through its AiPQ processor.

However, the Amazon counters with superior app integration, four HDMI ports versus three, eARC support, and arguably the more user-friendly smart platform – particularly for existing Amazon ecosystem users. The Alexa integration will appeal to some while putting others off.

Overall, features prove relatively evenly matched, with each TV taking different approaches to deliver strong capabilities at their price points.

** Winner: draw **

TCL C6KS vs Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED: sound

The TCL C6KS punches well above its weight sonically. There's far more volume and power than expected without the sound breaking down or sounding coarse. The audio proves extremely detailed – we pick up subtle elements in Dolby Atmos soundtracks that other models miss entirely, even many sets costing significantly more.

The sound projects nicely from the TV's chassis, spreading comfortably left and right while also seemingly propelled forwards from the screen despite lacking front-firing speakers. The large soundstage combines with subtle sound detail to place effects and handle transitions around the soundstage with good accuracy and conviction.

Dialogue emerges clearly at all times, sounding like it originates from onscreen images rather than speakers below or behind the screen. No distortions, buzzes, crackles, or dropouts occur even at near-maximum volumes, while there's surprising treble headroom to help the TV handle shrill elements without making you wince.

However, while freedom from buzzing and crackling extends to bass handling, there isn't actually much bass to handle. The midrange proves reasonably open and expansive, but a lack of significant low-frequency heft can leave dense mixes sounding slightly lopsided towards the treble.

This can cause slight over-brightness in the treble register and, more rarely, with dialogue. The sound can also slightly withdraw into itself when faced with Hollywood's densest, loudest moments.

The Amazon Omni QLED takes a similar approach to the TCL – working within its means rather than attempting feats beyond its capabilities. The delivery proves very clear and direct, avoiding the low-end distortion common from TV speakers, even on high-end sets.

Detail and dynamics prove unremarkable but fine, with nothing in the presentation that distracts or annoys. Like the TCL, there's no Dolby Atmos processing and no attempt at particularly bassy output, so you get neither the spaciousness nor weight that the best TVs deliver. However, the straightforward, clean presentation has much to recommend it.

The TCL C6KS delivers superior sound overall. While both TVs avoid serious sonic flaws and punch reasonably above their weight, the TCL's more detailed presentation, larger soundstage, and better dynamics give it the edge. That said, both would benefit significantly from pairing with a good soundbar.

** Winner: TCL C6KS **

TCL C6KS vs Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED: verdict

The Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED delivers a surprisingly accomplished performance for the money. The picture quality proves balanced and consistent, working within the TV's means to provide authentic, natural images.

The Fire OS platform offers excellent app support and integration, while Alexa functionality will appeal to existing Amazon ecosystem users. At its frequently discounted prices, it represents solid value – but it falls short of the TCL's performance.

The TCL C6KS delivers exceptional value. At £349 (current UK pricing), it shouldn't be as good as it is.

The Mini LED backlighting, 160 dimming zones, and comprehensive HDR support deliver picture quality that spectacularly over-performs for the money. Both TVs earn five stars for picture quality, but the TCL edges ahead with superior sound (five stars versus the Amazon's four). Features prove relatively evenly matched (both scoring four stars).

Inevitable compromises appear – the 60Hz panel, mild motion blur, and occasional clipping and banding remind you this remains a budget TV. You'll also need to invest some time tweaking settings to unlock its best performance. However, these minor flaws pale against what the C6KS achieves at its price point.

For viewers seeking the best possible picture quality at an accessible price, the TCL C6KS proves the superior choice. It's hands-down one of the year's biggest TV bargains.

** Overall Winner: TCL C6KS **