Compare: Xiaomi S Mini 2025 vs TCL A400 PRO

Xiaomi, well-known as a giant in the smartphone market, has decided to compete for the attention of high-end tech enthusiasts by presenting a MiniLED backlit television. The S MiniLED 2025 model looks truly impressive on paper. An enormous number of dimming zones provides excellent contrast, and the brightness, reaching impressive levels, can impress both in high-quality HDR materials and in older SDR. The television performs exceptionally well where motion smoothness is key. The high refresh rate panel and low input lag make it a good choice not only for sports fans but also for gamers. Support for features like ALLM and GameBar further enhances the gaming experience. Google TV on this television works as it should – quickly, smoothly, without unnecessary stutters, which we couldn't say about the model A Pro 2025. Additionally, with such an extensive app library, it will satisfy even the most demanding user. However, not everything looks so good in practice. Despite solid hardware specifications, the television has its quirks. The biggest issue is the algorithms managing the dimming zones, which can be quite irritating when watching movies in the evening. The performance of individual zones is overly noticeable in dynamic scenes, which can effectively distract our attention from the image. Problems also arise in more demanding HDR scenes despite the truly impressive brightness. Small bright elements often lose brightness, which spoils the effect that high-quality imagery should provide. The system is also not without its shortcomings – features that enhance images in lower-quality materials work unevenly, and some options in Google TV are poorly translated or even untranslated. Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 has enormous potential, but in its current form, it seems underutilised. It is clear that Xiaomi wanted to do something really good, but a few significant shortcomings lead to a mixed final outcome. A device with high aspirations that needs better software to truly shine. It is an ideal television for brighter rooms, where high screen brightness plays a key role, and issues with local dimming become less noticeable. It will also perform excellently as a screen for gamers and for those who value the versatility and functionality of the Google TV system.

TCL A400 Pro is one of the most interesting lifestyle TVs we've tested so far. And not because it turns the whole idea of the "TV as a picture" upside down. In that respect it does roughly what the competition does: it should look good, blend into the interior and not be just another black slab in the living room. Its real strength lies elsewhere: in picture quality. This is the first TV of this kind that actually gives us an image built on solid blacks and high contrast. Full Mini-LED backlighting combined with a VA panel means the A400 Pro can show a depth that has simply been missing from lifestyle TVs until now. Of course it's not Mini-LED that you'd put shoulder to shoulder with the best LCDs on the market, but in its "picture" category the A400 Pro does something really important: it proves that an art TV doesn't have to mean a big compromise in picture quality. Importantly, it doesn't stop at blacks and contrast. The A400 Pro has very good colours, supports Dolby Vision and runs on Google TV, so in everyday use it is simply a convenient, full-featured TV for films, series and streaming. On top of that there are very strong gaming capabilities, so it easily finds a place with a console or PC. And I think it's this versatility that's its biggest surprise. It looks like a lifestyle TV, but it doesn't force you to give up the functions you expect from a regular TV.

The biggest reservations, paradoxically, are not about the picture itself. Sure, the number of local dimming zones could be greater and the upscaling doesn't stand out from the usual. But given the character of this model, what bothers us more are decisions connected with the concept of a picture on the wall. The lack of a slim mount in the box is a strange move, because that is exactly the type of installation that should be standard here. In addition, the wood-effect bezels are permanently attached, so they don't offer the same freedom of personalisation as on other models of this type. And because the casing is thicker, the A400 Pro doesn't always deliver as flat and subtle an effect as you might expect from a TV in this category.

And that's the biggest paradox of the TCL A400 Pro. In terms of image it may be one of the strongest lifestyle TVs on the market, but at the same time it loses a little where such a product should charm the most. Still, the balance is very positive. If the design decisions mentioned earlier don't bother you, the A400 Pro makes a lot of sense. It's a TV for people who want something nicer than a classic television but don't want to pay for looks with a major compromise in picture quality. That's why the TCL A400 Pro is one of the most interesting models in its category.

Xiaomi S MiniLED is one of the most affordable televisions with MiniLED technology available on the market. The model we tested, sized at 55 inches, is equipped with as many as 308 local dimming zones, which is impressive for such a price. Additionally, it features a VA panel, which inherently offers significantly better contrast than IPS panels. On static test screens, the television performed excellently, achieving an impressive contrast ratio of 182,000:1 in the film Oblivion. Blacks were deep, and details in both bright and dark areas of the image were clearly separated. However, in more demanding scenes where the image is dynamic, the situation begins to complicate.

Where lies the problem? The main cause is the local dimming algorithms. Although on static images, their effects are promising, during movie playback – which reflects the television's natural working conditions – they operate too aggressively. In dynamic scenes, like those from the tested film, one can see how the individual dimming zones "work and flicker," which detracts from the viewer's sense of image coherence. This effect is particularly noticeable in motion, when bright objects move against a dark screen. As a result, although Xiaomi S MiniLED offers fantastic contrast on paper, in practice, the effect is less satisfying. The aggressive operation of the algorithms ruins the perception of dynamic scenes, making the television perform average in this category. This is a good example of how MiniLED technology requires not only a good specification but also adequate optimisation.

Moving on to the image quality tests, it’s immediately clear that the biggest change compared with typical lifestyle TVs is what the TCL A400 Pro brings to blacks and contrast. This is all thanks to full-fledged Mini-LED backlighting placed directly behind the panel. That allows the TV to locally dim selected parts of the image and not be limited solely to the panel’s native contrast. In the 65-inch sample we tested, we counted 180 dimming zones. That’s not an impressive number compared with conventional Mini-LED TVs, where there can be many more zones, but for a lifestyle TV it’s already a very big step forward. Especially since competitors often either lack advanced local dimming or use much simpler edge-lit backlighting.

In practice this delivers very good results. In simpler scenes where bright elements are clearly separated from a dark background, the A400 Pro can effectively dim the black areas and show genuinely deep blacks. It’s one of those things that immediately sets it apart from many conventional "picture-first" TVs. Of course, that doesn’t mean TCL completely avoids the limitations of Mini-LED LCD technology. 180 zones is still relatively few, so in more complex scenes, for example with small bright elements on a dark background, a halo effect can appear. It also happens that blacks in those conditions take on a more navy-purple tint, because the TV cannot dim the background with the same precision as OLEDs. Despite these limitations, we think the A400 Pro brings a significant breath of fresh air to this category. For a lifestyle TV that’s primarily meant to look good on the wall, the black level and contrast are a very strong selling point.

NOTE. It’s worth noting that the number of local dimming zones depends on the screen diagonal. Larger variants should have more zones, but because the number of zones increases with panel size, we don’t expect major differences in black level and contrast between the Mini-LED versions. The exception is the 32- and 43-inch models, in which TCL did not apply local dimming. These are much simpler LCD designs, so our review does not directly apply to those diagonals, and the prices given in the review should be treated as indicative only.

Number of dimming zones in the TCL A400 Pro

Screen size	Backlight type	Number of local dimming zones
32"	PFS LED	None
43"	PFS LED	None
55"	QD Mini-LED	112 zones
65"	QD Mini-LED	180 zones
75"	QD Mini-LED	240 zones
85"	QD Mini-LED	264 zones
98"	QD Mini-LED	448 zones

Since Xiaomi S MiniLED boasts an impressive 308 zones of dimming, it's time to see how it performs in HDR tests. Starting with luminance, or the ability to display bright scenes, the television achieved nearly 1000 nits of brightness – a result that can be considered outstanding in this class. But do these numbers translate to real-life experiences in film scenes? In the case of less demanding shots, such as those from the film The Meg, the television indeed delivered excellent results, reaching up to 900 nits. Such values are impressive and can truly convey the strength of HDR effects.

Unfortunately, just like with contrast, there were some issues. When smaller, brighter elements appear on the screen – as in challenging scenes from Sicario 2 – the aggressive action of the dimming zones ruins the entire effect. Brightness in these moments drops to just 100 nits. That is definitely too little to convey the full magic of HDR. Instead of a dynamic and detailed image, the viewer gets a muted, almost flat impression, which takes away all the enjoyment of the viewing experience.

In summary, if we're looking for a television with high brightness for watching movies during the day, the Xiaomi S MiniLED will easily fulfill that task. However, its inability to precisely manage the dimming zones makes watching movies in the evening, especially during demanding HDR scenes, potentially more frustrating than satisfying.

The TCL A400 Pro is a moderately bright TV. Its peak brightness reaches around 600 nits. That level already allows for a real HDR effect and in many films it does deliver a noticeably more appealing picture than in SDR. However, it’s not a level that dazzles by brightness alone. The A400 Pro is not one of those TVs that bombard the viewer with a powerful flash in every dramatic scene. The biggest limitation is visible with small bright elements on a dark background. Because of fairly aggressive zone control, the TV can significantly reduce their brightness, in extreme cases down to around 100 nits. That means small lights, sparks, stars or single highlights can be much less visible than they should be. It should be added, though, that this isn’t done without reason. The A400 Pro does this to keep black levels as deep as possible and to limit the halo effect around bright objects. It’s a deliberate compromise: the TV more often opts for deeper blacks rather than maximising point highlights. On the one hand this is understandable, especially given a limited number of dimming zones, but on the other you should be aware that the HDR effect won’t always be as strong as the peak brightness alone might suggest.

On the plus side, the colours are a strength. The PFS LED filter used here, marketed by the manufacturer as QLED, delivers suitably saturated colours. Our measurements showed about 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and around 74% of BT.2020, which is a solid result for this class.

Xiaomi, like many manufacturers, offers a wide range of picture modes. On the S MiniLED, we can find both IMAX Enhanced and Filmmaker. Our tests were conducted in Filmmaker mode, which theoretically aims to reference the image, but the reality turned out to be somewhat different.

Let’s start with the SDR material tests. Here the TV had quite a few problems, especially with white balance. The noticeable dominance of red made the image appear too warm, and all colours gained a reddish hue. This was particularly evident in the comparative scene from the film Star Wars. The brightness characteristic (gamma) also left much to be desired – instead of a smooth transition, we had a real "rollercoaster," with visible excessive brightening of the screen.

In 4K materials, the situation looked considerably better. The white balance, though still not perfect, was much more balanced, with a slight dominance of red and blue, but no excessive impact on the overall perception. The EOTF curve (responsible for brightness in HDR) showed some brightening in the brightest parts of the image, which was noticeable in the test scene from the film Pan that we described above. These brightening effects may disturb the precision of the image, but in 4K, the overall effect was far more acceptable than in SDR.

Although Xiaomi S MiniLED can pleasantly surprise in 4K materials, its factory settings in SDR require significant corrections, especially regarding white balance and brightness. It's definitely a TV that would benefit from calibration.

As usual, we carried out colour measurements in the best‑tuned picture mode, Filmmaker Mode, the one intended to be closest to the creators’ intentions. The A400 Pro, of course, also offers other picture modes, but in practice they show much larger colour errors and interfere more with the image character. So we won’t cover them in detail in this part of the review. How does the factory colour reproduction fare? In short: really very well. In fact, looking at our measurements, it’s excellent. Both the white balance and the luminance response were set surprisingly precisely. The errors were so small that during the measurements we genuinely rubbed our eyes in surprise. Such good factory settings don’t happen often, even in televisions running Filmmaker Mode. All the more reason to praise TCL, because the A400 Pro straight out of the box can produce an image very close to how the source material should look. The results were so good you could easily think someone had already given this unit extra attention and tried to calibrate it. Our one bit of nitpicking comes down to a single issue. In SDR material the image was slightly brighter than the reference for a dark room, because the factory gamma was set closer to 2.3 than 2.4. It’s not a large error and most viewers probably won’t even notice it. We should note, however, that we are talking about our specific test unit. There can always be some variation in factory colour between individual units, production batches or screen sizes. We do not assume every A400 Pro will look identical straight out of the box.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is a television that gains a whole new life after calibration. The results are truly impressive and show how much potential this model has.

In SDR mode, the white balance is almost perfectly aligned. The errors are so minimal that in many cases they can be considered negligible. This is confirmed by the Colour Checker palette results, where errors did not exceed 2 ΔE – a truly rare outcome. Gamma also performs very well, although there are slight brightening effects in the darkest elements at the beginning of the graph. However, this is a minor exception that does not significantly affect the viewing experience.

In 4K HDR material, calibration also brought visible improvements, particularly in white balance. The image looks natural and consistent. However, the characteristic of brightness remains an issue. EOTF analysis in film materials shows that the television tends to overly brighten or darken the smallest elements on the screen. This is the effect of limitations in the dimming algorithms that we previously discussed regarding HDR and contrast testing. Unfortunately, this is a technical feature of this model that cannot be completely eliminated.

Despite this minor flaw, calibration has allowed us to extract the maximum capabilities from this television. The image now looks phenomenal, and its quality impresses in every type of material. Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 demonstrates that with the right settings, it can compete with more expensive models.

Despite the outstanding factory tuning, we couldn't resist checking how the TCL A400 Pro would respond to professional calibration. With such a strong starting point, we were especially curious whether we could squeeze even more from this TV. And here we have to boast: we managed to bring our sample to absurdly low colour errors. Results below 1 are something you don't see every day, even on very good TVs. Such outcomes are more often associated with professional reference monitors than with a lifestyle TV for the living room. In terms of white balance and colour reproduction, the A400 Pro after calibration simply excelled. The only thing we can pick on after closer analysis concerns the brightness response. The TV can vary the luminance level depending on the content being displayed, and quite often the picture is a little darker than it should be according to the reference. This most likely stems from the way the Mini-LED backlight and the local dimming algorithms work in this model. That said, it doesn't ruin the overall impression, because in terms of colour precision the A400 Pro after calibration reached a level that was genuinely hard to expect.

The fluidity of tonal transitions in Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 looks very good. Even in the theoretically most challenging scene with red water, the television performs excellently – we did not notice any major issues. Minor imperfections occur in scenes like Kingsman or The Martian, where you can see subtle colour blending. Nevertheless, Xiaomi stands out in this category, offering one of the best qualities of tonal transitions in its price range. This is definitely a strong point of this television.

The TCL A400 Pro handles tonal transitions very well. Tonal gradation in most content is smooth, and any imperfections only appear in extreme cases, mainly on subtle grey transitions. It's worth noting that the vast majority of TVs struggle with scenes like these. What's also very good news is the lack of gradation issues in Dolby Vision. The A400 Pro did not introduce extra banding or visible artefacts in that format, which lately you can't take for granted. That's another factor that positively affects the viewing of films and TV series in HDR.

When it comes to tonal transitions in lower-quality materials, such as YouTube or television, the Xiaomi S MiniLED comes with a feature called “Colour Contour Removal.” In the "low" setting, it works quite well, but its effectiveness can be uneven. Sometimes it appears as if the TV struggles to smooth things out, which creates a bit of dissonance. On the plus side, we didn’t notice any visible side effects, although given the instability of this feature, one might suspect that unexpected issues could arise in certain situations.

Image scaling also comes across as average. There’s slight jaggedness, especially on thin elements like branches, and text can be a bit ragged. It may not be overly bothersome, but a more discerning eye will certainly catch these imperfections. Overall, most users should be satisfied with the scaling and smoothing quality, but the TV may not satisfy those who expect perfection in every frame.

Digital image processing is unfortunately one of the weaker points of the TCL A400 Pro. That does not mean the TV performs badly, but it’s hard to call it anything clearly above standard. The upscaling itself is acceptable: edges are fairly well smoothed, the picture does not look overly sharp or “pixelated”, and lower-quality material can be watched without major discomfort. At the same time the overall image has a slightly soft character and you don’t see the kind of precision that the best image processors in more expensive TVs can offer.

Handling of tonal transitions caused by heavy compression is much worse. TCL equipped the A400 Pro with a “Gradual Smoothing” feature that in theory should reduce visible colour banding and artefacts in lower-quality material. In practice, however, its effectiveness is very limited. It does not improve tonal transitions in any noticeable way, and at higher settings it can further smooth image detail, giving it an artificial, slightly blurred character. For that reason we think it’s best to leave this feature off. The A400 Pro copes decently with basic image scaling, but if you often watch heavily compressed material with visible posterisation, this model will not be one of the best choices.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is equipped with a 4K@120Hz (1080p@240Hz) refresh rate panel, providing sufficient smoothness for both watching dynamic sports broadcasts and playing the latest games. This level of refresh rate makes the image look fluid, even in the most intense scenes. Additionally, the television offers a "Motion Smoothing" feature that allows users to adjust the way the image is displayed in films. We can choose a more choppy effect, typical for cinematic experiences, or a smoother one, resembling the so-called "theatrical effect". As a result, every user can tailor the settings to their preferences and enjoy smooth images in their favourite content.

The TCL A400 Pro is equipped with a 144 Hz panel, but in practice we're most interested in how it performs at 120 Hz. That's the refresh rate most consoles, as well as many sports broadcasts and high-motion sources, are limited to today. In that range the TV performs quite well. Motion clarity is really good, especially after properly configuring the motion smoothing. The 'Motion Clarity' function improves smoothness. Its settings include two sliders that let you tailor the motion smoothing to your preferences, separately for low-frame-rate and high-frame-rate content. This allows you to achieve either a more cinematic look or a noticeably smoother image. If you don't want to fiddle with manual configuration, you can use built-in presets such as Low, Medium, High, Cinema or Nature.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is a television that has a lot to offer gamers. With two HDMI ports boasting 48 Gbps bandwidth, we can easily connect modern consoles or PCs, utilising their full potential. Additionally, the ALLM feature automatically switches the TV to low latency mode – something we appreciate during fast-paced gaming without annoying lags. No matter what we connect, it runs smoothly, and the TV handles various resolutions exceptionally well. There’s also the GameBar, which may not look as flashy as the "bars" on competing models, but makes up for it in practicality. It’s a straightforward settings panel that allows us to quickly change the most important options or check stats – a perfect solution when time is of the essence.

However, we must admit that navigating the TV itself – or rather, finding gaming features – was quite a challenge for us. We approached the Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 test several times to locate all the necessary options. The hidden menu allowed us to discover the "GameBoost" feature, which enables switching the TV to 240 Hz mode, activating VRR, and allows for enabling the image in HGIG mode.

In summary, the Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is a TV that definitely deserves praise in the gaming equipment category. Its rich set of features – 240 Hz mode, VRR, HGIG, and "GameBoost" – provides an exceptional gaming experience. Unfortunately, the intuitiveness of the menu itself leaves much to be desired and can pose some challenges for the average user.

In terms of gaming features the TCL A400 Pro performs brilliantly. The TV has practically everything you’d expect from a gaming TV today: support for 4K at high refresh rates, VRR, ALLM, correct implementation of HDR formats in games, including Dolby Vision, and HGiG. That means it works well with both next‑gen consoles and PCs. Another plus is the inclusion of a Game Bar, a dedicated panel with the most important settings for gamers. From it you can quickly check basic information about the signal, refresh rate or active features, and customise the appearance and behaviour of some settings to your preferences. It’s a solution that may not change picture quality by itself, but it greatly improves the convenience of using the TV while gaming. The only thing to criticise is the number of full HDMI 2.1 ports. The A400 Pro has only two such ports out of four, and one of them also serves as eARC. In practice this means that if you want to connect two next‑gen consoles and a soundbar you may run into some limitations. In that scenario you’ll need to either swap devices or use extra equipment, such as an AV receiver or a soundbar with HDMI inputs. Even so, it’s hard not to rate the A400 Pro very highly as a gaming TV. The gaming feature set here is genuinely powerful.

Input lag in Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is one of its biggest advantages. 8 ms for 120 Hz content and 17 ms for 60 Hz are simply outstanding results that will satisfy even the most demanding gamers. Moreover, the Dolby Vision mode in games deserves praise. Unlike many competing models, Xiaomi maintains a low input lag even in this mode, making it an excellent choice for lovers of high-quality HDR gaming experiences.

Input lag on the TCL A400 Pro is very low. With a 120 Hz signal we measured about 11 ms, and about 15 ms at 60 Hz. These aren’t as low as the few milliseconds seen on some OLEDs, but in practice it doesn’t make much difference. The lag is small enough that controls remain quick, responsive and entirely comfortable both on a console and when connected to a computer.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is a good choice if you need a TV for computer work. The fonts are very clear thanks to 4:4:4 chroma support, making it ideal for office work or browsing documents. It also performs excellently in gaming – high refresh rates, G-SYNC, and low input lag ensure smooth gameplay, which will satisfy most gamers.

TCL A400 Pro also performs quite well as a large PC monitor. Helping with that is, of course, the full suite of gaming features: VRR, FreeSync, G-Sync compatibility, a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz and very low input lag. If someone wants to connect a PC and play from the couch or at a desk, the TV is perfectly suited to that. Importantly, it also handles regular computer work well. At 120 Hz fonts are very clear, so browsing, working with documents or using the system doesn't strain the eyes. It looks a bit worse after switching to 144 Hz. Horizontal parts of letters become slightly darker. However, that's not something that seriously affects everyday use. Overall, text readability is very good.

In terms of viewing angles, Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is not impressive. This is a typical problem with VA panels, which struggle without additional coatings to widen viewing angles. The image begins to lose quality when watching the TV from the side – colours fade, and contrast significantly drops. However, the advantage of VA panels is their much better contrast compared to IPS panels, which in turn win when it comes to wider viewing angles. This is a classic compromise where one has to choose between better blacks and a more universal image seen from different spots in the room.

Viewing angles are not the strongest suit of the TCL A400 Pro. This is mainly due to the use of a VA panel, which brings advantages like better contrast but naturally performs worse when viewed at an angle. Just move further off the screen's axis and you'll notice a drop in brightness and colour saturation. So it's not on the level we're used to from IPS/ADS panels, and even less so compared with OLED screens, which in this respect still remain out of reach for conventional LCDs. The A400 Pro is simply best viewed as straight on as possible. That's when its picture looks its best.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is equipped with a satin finish on the display, which moderately handles glare reduction. On the screen's surface, you can see light reflections, which may be somewhat distracting in bright rooms. However, the key element that saves this television in daytime use is its brightness. With a value of 841 cd/m², the screen performs flawlessly even in very sunlit interiors. This is more than enough to comfortably watch television, movies, or sporting events. Importantly, the television also handles more demanding content, such as winter sports, where the dominant white can pose a significant challenge for other televisions. Here, Xiaomi definitely excels.

TCL A400 Pro does quite well in a bright living room. The biggest help is the matte screen finish, which very effectively mutes reflections and means you don't have to battle every window or lamp reflecting off the panel during the day. Add a decent SDR brightness of around 600 nits, so in terms of daytime image visibility it's really good. You should remember, though, that the matte coating has its price. In a brightly lit room the picture can lose a bit of depth, and colours don't look as punchy as they do in the evening. Reflections are much less visible, but at the same time colour saturation clearly drops. It's still a good TV for a bright living room; it just performs best when viewing comfort is the priority rather than the most eye-catching picture.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is a television that stands out thanks to the Google TV system. It offers access to the most popular streaming services, music apps, and various useful features that significantly enhance everyday use of the TV. For those who enjoy personalisation, the system also provides plenty of configuration options.

The built-in voice assistant operates smoothly – we can not only control the TV but also ask for the weather forecast or set a reminder for the next day. Unfortunately, we noticed during testing that some functions have trouble translating into Polish, which can be annoying, especially for those less proficient in navigating the settings. Despite this, the overall impression is very good, and minor shortcomings can be improved in updates.

The device handles connectivity well. Wireless connections with Windows computers or Apple devices run smoothly, and thanks to Bluetooth, we can easily connect headphones, keyboards, or other accessories. The remote is simple and convenient – it works from any position, so aiming at the screen is not necessary. However, there are some shortcomings. If someone frequently uses traditional television, they might miss the recording functions from tuners or the PiP (picture in picture) option. This somewhat limits the possibilities, but for those focusing on streaming and modern features, it won’t be a major issue.

Xiaomi compensates for these shortcomings with an excellent operating system. Google TV is one of the most advanced and intuitive systems available on the market, which makes the television perform really well in daily use.

Google TV

TCL A400 Pro runs on Google TV, so in terms of Smart TV we get a very solid package. All the most important apps are there: YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Apple TV and the rest of the services you’d expect today. It also includes Chromecast, voice search and Google Assistant. The system itself runs smoothly and is convenient, although, as with Google TV, the home screen can be heavily filled with recommendations and promoted content. Some will like that, others might find it a bit annoying. Functionally, however, it’s hard to seriously fault it.

Digital art gallery

The most interesting part starts with the digital gallery, because this is what is meant to set the A400 Pro apart from ordinary TVs. TCL provides access to over 80 artworks that can be displayed when the screen isn’t being used to watch movies or series. That way the TV doesn’t have to hang on the wall as a black slab but can actually look like a painting. An ambient light sensor, which adjusts the screen to the room’s conditions, helps with this. And here’s some good news compared with the older NXT Vision A300: the annoying brightness issue in art mode has been improved in the A400 Pro. Gallery settings are now separate from normal viewing, so you can set a lower brightness for artworks without disturbing the settings for films or TV. It may seem like a small detail, but in practice it’s very important, because it helps the screen look more like an artwork and less like a glowing TV. TCL also adds the option to create your own images using artificial intelligence. The maker talks about over 100,000 available pieces and variants, so there’s plenty to choose from. You can stick with the ready-made gallery or pick something more in line with your own taste and room decor.

Traditional features

The traditional TV features are much less exciting. The A400 Pro doesn’t stand out here. You get standard broadcast TV, a channel guide and basic options, but no major extras that would change the way you use conventional TV.

The basic file player in Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 performs its task for simple video materials. However, a noticeable drawback is the lack of support for Polish characters, which can be problematic for individuals using subtitles.

Fortunately, the presence of the Google TV system provides a way to easily work around this limitation. It allows for the installation of alternative file playback applications that handle Polish characters and offer significantly more advanced options. As a result, the limitations of the built-in player are not as burdensome as they may seem.

Playing files from USB is one of the strong points of the TCL A400 Pro. The built-in player performs very well and can easily be counted among the best. It handles popular video, audio and photo formats without any trouble, so in most cases you just need to plug in a USB stick or external drive and play the content. That's good news, because you don't have to install third-party players straight away. The A400 Pro natively supports a really wide range of files and in our testing it had no major problems playing them.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 sounds really pleasant, and even offers a light bass, reminiscent of the sound known from the lower model, the A Pro 2025. The sound is well balanced, making watching movies or listening to music comfortable, even without additional audio equipment. Interestingly, the television seamlessly supports audio formats like Dolby Atmos and the less common DTS:X. This allows you to connect a home theatre system or soundbar and enjoy spatial sound without any difficulties. A nice addition is also the presence of a standard speaker jack connection.

Sound on the TCL A400 Pro is fairly average. The most important bit of good news is that the TV can play loudly. It easily reaches around 83 dB, so volume itself isn’t much of an issue. It’s also a plus that it supports formats such as Dolby Atmos and the increasingly rare DTS in TVs. But that’s about where the praise ends. The standard 2.0 speaker setup has its limits and it’s hard to squeeze much more out of it. What’s mainly lacking is bass and a sense of space. The sound is fine for regular TV or YouTube, but with films, series and especially music it quickly becomes too flat. For that reason we would definitely recommend buying at least a simple soundbar or a traditional home cinema system. Especially since the TV itself supports Dolby Atmos and DTS, it practically begs to be connected to external speakers that will actually use those capabilities.

Xiaomi S Mini 2025 vs TCL A400 PRO

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our verdict

TV appearance

Where to buy

Contrast and black detail

Number of dimming zones in the TCL A400 Pro

HDR effect quality

Factory color reproduction

Color reproduction after calibration

Smoothness of tonal transitions

Image scaling and smoothness of tonal transitions

Blur and motion smoothness

Console compatibility and gaming features

Input lag

Compatibility with PC

Viewing angles

Daytime performance

Panel details

TV features

Classic features:

Smart features:

Sound connection options

Supported audio formats (external HDMI eARC audio):

Senior accessibility

Google TV

Digital art gallery

Traditional features

Apps

Playing files from USB

Sound

Sound Quality Test

Acoustic Measurements