- When I was a teen anything
bigger than 48 inches was considered a giant
big-screen TV, and they were big. This 65-inch Mitsubishi
weighed over 330 pounds. But these days, 55 to 65-inch TVs are quickly becoming mainstream, and in many homes, anything smaller is probably pulling guest bedroom duty. And why not? These giant screens, somehow,
keep getting cheaper. So today, after a two-year
hiatus, we're gonna take a look at the forces behind this trend
with another installment of why the-- - [Narrator] Advertiser friendly content. - Are you all buying this? Featuring the best selling
65-inch TV on Amazon.com, the TCL 65S425. Protect your floors from your
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get 10% off at the link below. (upbeat music) The reasons that 65-inch TVs like this TCL are getting more and more
popular is because, one, that's what consumers
want bigger TVs, and two, it's becoming more and more cost-effective to make them this big
thanks to improvements in the manufacturing process. Just like in the world of CPU silicon, TV manufacturing
capabilities are specified by fab generation, with the latest being Generation 10.5. But these fabs, rather than being defined by how small the transistor
gate length is in nanometers, like a processor, are defined by how big of a piece of glass you can make. If you've ever stood beside an 86-inch TV, you know how impressive a single piece of perfect
glass that large is. But that's only the tip of the iceberg because TV screens aren't
actually manufactured as individuals. Instead, they're cut
from an even larger sheet of what is appropriately
called mother glass. When I graduated high school, in 2004, TV fabs run Gen 7 and could
produce sheets of mother glass that were about 114-inches diagonally. They probably could have made one giant weird-shaped TV out of it, but
that size was actually chosen because it was optimal for making up to eight 40-inch panels, which
were a lot easier to sell at prices that consumers could afford, like this hoodie from lttstore.com. Today, the most common
fab generation is Gen 8.5, which being about the size of two pool tables pushed
together can be cut into six 55-inch TV panels or
into three 65-inch panels with some extra leftover
to make smaller devices like monitors, six 32
inchers to be precise. But while 55-inch screens
used to be the sweet spot where consumers and
manufacturing costs met, today TV manufacturers are
aiming more towards 65-inch, and the mother glass coming out of the new Gen 10.5 facilities, which
are currently all in China, can be cut into eight 65-inch TVs. Wow. But why does cutting up
a bigger piece of glass, make the individual TVs cheaper? It's because many of the
components of a TV substrate are put together using deposition, which happens across the entire
mother glass sheet at once. So the length of time to process a sheet is roughly the same,
regardless of its size, meaning that larger
sheets are more economical because you can process
more surface area at a time. There's already more than a
few Gen 10.5 fabs in operation, and soon, there are going to be dozens, meaning that thanks to
increased competition TVs like our TCL over here
are only going to get cheaper. And that is pretty
remarkable when you consider that this is a 3840 by 2160 UHDTV with a direct led VA panel, and it already costs under $500 U.S. It's an especially good deal for gamers considering its low input lag. We measured just one to
three frames and "CS:GO" with game mode on and the pixel
response time is good enough that fast-paced games don't get too much blurrier than they have to. Just don't expect some of the
more advanced gamer features like FreeSync or a 120-hertz
native refresh rate. For that stuff, you guys should check
out our upcoming reviews of LG's 2020 TVs, which are
on their way to our lab now. So get subscribed for that. If you think about it though, that's kind of the story of this thing and the answer to why
is everybody buying it? It covers the basics, and does it well, but without the extra frills. For example, it technically supports HDR in the form of HDR 10, but given that it's got an 8-bit panel, and a peak brightness of around 200 nits, the color volume and
contrast just aren't enough for it to really check my HDR box. The VA panel does give
it pretty decent contrast in dark environments but
when the sun comes out, you're gonna be fighting glare so I wouldn't put one of
these in a bright room. Also, if you haven't guessed by now that relatively low performance means it has no support for Dolby Vision. None of which means that
we're not recommending it for the price. The I/O is typical, even if
it's a little underwhelming with a side accessible jack pack, containing three HDMI
2.1 ports, RJ45 Ethernet, a lone USB 2.0 port, S/PDIF, and, just in case you
have a really long cable, a headphone jack. The industrial design is
spartan with basic bezels, a stamped metal back, and simple feet that
screw directly to the set. And one thing to note is that
those feet are 50-inches apart so you're gonna need a pretty
wide table to sit it on unless you decide to wall mount it which might be a pretty good idea. There's a 400 by 200 millimeter
VESA mount on the back, and the TV is relatively light so you should be able to get it up there without too much trouble. In the box, you get an adapter that breaks out the composite
port into its constituents and a pair of batteries
for the Roku remote. Which feels a little small,
kind of like a kid-sized remote, but I still support this decision. TCL has opted to integrate
Roku inside their TV for their smart TV experience, that would otherwise
cost you about 40 bucks if you bought it on a stick. And it's known as slick as LG's webOS, as versatile as Android
TV or as snappy as, well, the same OS running on a
TV with a faster processor, but it's easy to use and supports
most major streaming apps. And it's certainly better than if they had tried
to homebrew something. So bottom line. There are obviously compromises, but I don't wanna sound nitpicky either. For an entry-level set, TCL's S425 lineup, which launched in 2018, still packs a lot of value
for people on a budget, or for people who just
aren't that concerned about having the most mouthwatering picture quality on the block. I'd even go as far as to
say that most people I know, outside of the techosphere, would never complain about this one. Except for one thing, that I think we can all
agree needs improvement, the speakers. The pair of eight watt down-firing drivers are harsh and bassless and speech can actually be
kind of hard to make out, especially if you're listening to someone who has an accent that you're not used to. So maybe if you do go
for something like this, consider an inexpensive soundbar, like this one that we checked
out in the previous episode of this wonderful why you
all buying the stuff series. And if you liked our
discussion on fab generations, by the way, maybe check
out our companion video, so to speak, on quantum
dots and the future of TVs. It's a bit of a deeper dive but I really want you to just go watch it. It's a sick video. And I also want you to
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or say anything else useful. I'm just killing time. You know, I gotta cross
that 10-minute threshold. I'm just kidding, it doesn't matter. We don't run mid-roll ads anyway. Guys, it doesn't do anything
unless you run mid-roll ads.
Finally this series is back. Does it take long to research the most popular tech from amazon?
Anyone have an Amazon link for it?