Television manufacturer TCL shared news and details about its home theatre lineup at CES 2021.

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TCL announces new TVs and sound bar

Covering both television and audio, TCL revealed it will expand its product portfolio to include next generation mini-LED TVs, and a wireless soundbar.

The 3rd generation TCL mini-LED TV, is called the OD Zero mini-LED TV, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it does stand out.

“OD Zero combines TCL’s latest mini-LED backlight technology, driven by its skilled in-house development and vast expertise in display engineering, to deliver an ultra-slim display with tens of thousands of mini-LEDs and thousands of Contrast Control Zones for striking brightness, precision contrast, and smooth uniformity,” reads the news release shared by TCL. “The zero represents the measurement of distance between TCL’s mini-LED backlight layer and the LCD display layer, which has now been reduced to a remarkable 0 mm to create an ultra-thin high-performance panel.”

What does that mean for you? In a nutshell, that you’re getting an insanely thin TV.

New TCL 6-series TVs are 8K

TCL also says all its new 2021 6-Series TCL Roku TV models being launched will feature 8K and that while the new 6-Series 8K TCL Roku TVs will roll out later this year, all existing 6-Series 4K TCL Roku TV models will continue to be available.

In addition to making 8K “more accessible”, TCL is also rolling out a lineup of massive 85-inch TVs. Three different models will make up what TCL calls its “XL Collection”.

There’s the basic model, or the “simply smart” 85-inch 4-Series TCL Roku TV with 4K HDR streaming, the 85-inch 4K HDR TCL Roku TV with QLED picture quality, and the “ultimate” 85-inch mini-LED powered 8K TCL TV with QLED wide color technology. The prices will reflect the options from budget up to premium.

TCL Alto R1 sound bar announced

TCL also released details about its companion sound bar for high quality audio in the home theatre.

The TCL Alto sound bar line will launch in 2021 and will have voice assistant capabilities and a new wireless connectivity with TCL Roku TVs.

“TCL has teamed up with Roku to make upgrading any TV with premium audio easier than ever by launching the new Alto R1 sound bar, the company’s first entry into “wireless” bars and the first sound bar to use Roku proprietary WiFi AUDIO streaming technology.,” according to the company’s press materials.

This new wireless feature completely eliminates the need to use a cable when connecting to the TV. The power cord will be the only one needed; no HDMI, no optical audio, a major revelation.

“The advantage of this new technology, aside from eliminating the need for a cable, will be the ease of use with only one remote, regular and automatic software updates, simple consolidated on-screen sound settings and impressive audio/video synchronization. Whether you want to watch your favorite news channel, TV show or movie, or stream music via Bluetooth, use your current TV remote and all features for the Alto R1 and the Roku OS sound settings will be accessible.”
Naturally, watch for all the new TCL TV models to become available at Best Buy and we’re definitely working to get our hands on review models when we can too.

Find a range of TCL TVs at Best Buy, and check out all the biggest CES 2021 announcements here.

Erin Lawrence
Editor TV and Home Theatre
Erin is a journalist, writer, and TV producer with a fascination for technology and a love of gadgets. Check out her blog TechGadgetsCanada.com