Compare LG OLED G6 (G64LW, G66LS) vs TCL A400 PRO

There’s no doubt the LG G6 is outstanding in places. Thanks to the new 2nd-generation Tandem OLED panel it does something no other glossy-screen display on the market has managed so far: it suppresses reflections brilliantly while keeping perfect, untouched picture quality. Add record brightness and the panel’s unique characteristics, and the G6 can produce images that at times literally knock you off your feet. The excellent webOS and gamer-oriented features only reinforce the impression that this is a worthy successor to the G5. But that’s only one side of the coin, since expectations for a device in this class are as high as they get. During detailed testing we ran into an issue with digital image processing in near-black scenes. We’re talking about overly aggressive grain (dithering) and slight flickering of details in dark sequences. While during normal couch viewing this flaw isn’t dramatically noticeable and doesn’t negate the overall wow factor of the contrast, a trained eye will readily see that LG’s engineers stumbled at the final stage of panel tuning. When you buy a fairly expensive flagship product right now, you simply expect perfection out of the box.

Despite this obvious slip-up, the LG G6 is still at the absolute forefront of the market and one of the most interesting TVs of the year. It has a solid foundation to become the ultimate display. We firmly believe the manufacturer will quickly diagnose the issue and release an appropriate software update. If that happens, the competition won’t stand a chance. We promise to monitor the situation closely, and as soon as a patch appears we will verify how well it performs.

The 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 regard 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. It's the first TV of this type that actually delivers an image built on solid blacks and high contrast. A full Mini-LED backlight combined with a VA panel allows the A400 Pro to show a depth that has simply been missing from lifestyle TVs until now. Of course this is not Mini-LED that you would put side by side 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. Crucially, it doesn't stop at blacks and contrast. The A400 Pro produces very good color, supports Dolby Vision and runs Google TV, so day to day it's simply a convenient, fully functional TV for movies, series and streaming. On top of that it has very strong gaming capabilities, so it works well with consoles and PCs too. And I think that universality is 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.

Paradoxically, the biggest reservations are not really about the picture itself. Sure, the number of local dimming zones could be higher and the upscaling is nothing beyond the norm. Given this model's character, though, we're more bothered by decisions tied to the very concept of a picture on the wall. The lack of a slim mount in the box is an odd choice, because that kind of installation should be the default here. On top of that, the wood-effect frames are permanently attached, so they don't offer the same freedom for personalization as other models of this type. And because the housing is thicker, the A400 Pro doesn't always achieve as flat and subtle an effect as one might expect from a TV in this category.

And that's the biggest paradox of the TCL A400 Pro. In terms of image it can be one of the strongest lifestyle TVs on the market, yet it loses a bit where this kind of product should charm the most. Still, the overall balance is very positive. If the design choices mentioned above don't bother you, the A400 Pro makes a lot of sense. It's a TV for people who want something prettier than a classic TV but don't want to pay for looks with a big compromise in picture quality. That's why the TCL A400 Pro is one of the most interesting models in its class.

Since the LG G6 is based on OLED technology, specifically the 2nd generation WOLED TANDEM matrix, we are talking about perfection in terms of blacks and contrast, which is confirmed by our lab measurements – in every test scenario, the television achieved an absolute infinity mark. The ability to control each pixel independently gives it a powerful advantage over any LCD panel on the market. This translates to a brilliant, plastic depth of image that immediately draws you into every possible viewing experience. This is clearly visible in the example of a dark, demanding scene with a helicopter from the movie Sicario 2. While traditional screens with local dimming (including Mini-LEDs) can generate annoying "halo" effects in such moments, lighten black bars in films, or lose details in shadows, the LG G6 handles it flawlessly. Black where it should be black remains pitch-black and perfectly separated from bright points.

*A small note: during this test, a fairly strong grain and flickering of the image stands out. However, we do not take it into account when evaluating the contrast itself and this part of the review – we will describe this specific problem in further detail in the section: "Smoothness of tonal transitions".

Moving on to image quality tests, it’s immediately clear that the biggest change compared with typical lifestyle TVs is what the TCL A400 Pro brings to black levels and contrast. This is all thanks to a full-fledged Mini-LED backlight placed directly behind the panel. That allows the TV to locally dim selected parts of the image instead of relying solely on the native contrast of the panel. In the 65-inch unit we tested, we counted 180 dimming zones. That number is not impressive compared with traditional Mini-LED TVs, which can have many times more zones, but for a lifestyle TV this is already a very large step forward. Especially since competing models often either lack advanced local dimming or use a much simpler edge-lit backlight.

In practice this yields very good results. In simpler scenes where bright elements are clearly separated from a dark background, the A400 Pro can effectively dim black areas of the picture and produce truly deep blacks. That’s one of those things that immediately sets it apart from many conventional picture-focused TVs. Of course, this does not mean TCL completely avoids the limits of LCD Mini-LED technology. 180 zones is still relatively few, so in more complex scenes, for example those with small bright elements on a dark background, a halo effect can appear. It also happens that blacks in such conditions take on a more navy-violet tint, because the TV can’t turn off the background with the same precision as OLED TVs. Despite these limitations, we believe the A400 Pro brings a real breath of fresh air to this category. For a lifestyle TV that is primarily designed to look good on the wall, the level of black and contrast is a very strong selling point.

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

Number of local dimming zones in the TCL A400 Pro

Screen size	Backlight type	Number of local dimming zones
32"	PFS LED	No zones
43"	PFS LED	No zones
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

The LG G6 is currently one of the brightest OLEDs on the market. Its peak brightness reaches nearly 2500 nits, and best of all – this has a direct impact on real film scenes. The television flawlessly pulls out details in the bright parts of the image. And this is regardless of whether we are talking about very small points like stars in the sky or slightly larger elements on the screen. Naturally, with full-screen, uniformly white scenes, the brightness of the G6 decreases due to the panel's protection system (ABL). However, in real, varied film shots, this value still hovers around 2000 nits, which can be considered an outstanding result. The coverage of the color palette also deserves praise. The new 2nd generation Tandem OLED panel brought only a cosmetic change, but still an improvement. The DCI-P3 color gamut coverage reaches nearly 99.5%, while the ultra-wide BT.2020 is around 84%. These are very good results, although one must remember one thing: at extremely high brightness levels, the volume of colors will be lower than in QD-OLED panels from Samsung Display due to the use of a white sub-pixel (WOLED). However, in everyday content and most films, detecting this difference will be very difficult.

The TCL A400 Pro is a moderately bright TV. Its peak brightness reaches about 600 nits. That level already allows for a real HDR effect and in many movies it does produce a noticeably more attractive picture than SDR. However, it is not a level that overwhelms by brightness alone. The A400 Pro is not one of those TVs that "attack" the viewer with a powerful flash in every dramatic scene. The biggest limitation is visible with small bright elements on a dark background. Due to rather aggressive control of the dimming zones, 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. That said, this is not done without reason. The A400 Pro does this to keep blacks as deep as possible and to limit haloing around bright objects. It's a deliberate compromise: the TV more often chooses deeper blacks over maximally bright, point-like highlights. On one hand this is understandable, especially with a limited number of dimming zones, but on the other hand you should be aware that the HDR effect will not always be as strong as the peak brightness alone would suggest.

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

We tested the LG G6 in the best factory mode for color fidelity, which is FILMMAKER MODE. For our test unit, this mode was fairly well-tuned right out of the box. In SDR content, the only thing we could nitpick was the white balance, which leaned towards warmer tones. As a result, the image could sometimes appear slightly yellowed; however, overall, it wasn't a bothersome issue. The G6 performed a bit worse with HDR content. There, we noticed too much blue component in the white balance. This caused the image to take on cooler shades, resulting in quite noticeable errors. As can be seen in our ColorChecker chart, colors were indeed shifting towards these cooler registers. Nevertheless, for factory settings, the television displayed a completely decent level. However, we know that OLED screens – especially those from LG – respond wonderfully to professional calibration, which is why we immediately proceeded with it.

As standard, we carried out color measurements in the best-calibrated mode, Filmmaker Mode, the one that is supposed to be closest to the creators’ intent. The A400 Pro, of course, also offers other picture modes, but in practice they suffer from much larger color errors and alter the image character more strongly. We won’t go into those modes in detail in this part of the test. So how does the factory color reproduction perform? In short: really very well. In fact, looking at our measurement results, it’s excellent. Both the white balance and the luminance response were set surprisingly precisely. The errors were so small that during testing we genuinely rubbed our eyes in disbelief. Such good out-of-the-box settings don’t happen often, even in TVs operating in Filmmaker Mode. All the more reason to praise TCL, because the A400 Pro right out of the box can produce an image very close to how the source material should look. The results were so good that you could easily think someone had already paid extra attention to that unit and tried to calibrate it.

Our nitpicking really comes down to just one thing. In SDR content the image was slightly brighter than the reference for a dark room, because the factory gamma was set closer to 2.3 than to 2.4. It’s not a big error and most viewers probably won’t even notice it.

However, it should be noted that we’re talking about our specific review sample. With factory colors there can always be some variation between units, production batches, or screen sizes. So we don’t assume that every A400 Pro will look identical straight out of the box.

After conducting a professional calibration, we gained complete control over the panel, and we were able to adjust all parameters to nearly zero. We managed to perfectly tune the white balance, which made the factory-cool and warm tints disappear from the screen. The effects are clearly evident in the ColorChecker test – the average color reproduction errors dropped below the critical value of 1-2. And what does that mean? PERFECT colors, with no distortion whatsoever! However, from a reviewer's obligation, we must comment on how the LG G6 autonomously manipulates brightness, for which the EOTF curve is responsible. When we look at the standard synthetic graph, it may seem that the line is quite straight. The situation changes, however, when we turn on the measurement filter, which shows how the television interprets brightness in real, moving film scenes (EOTF in MOVIES). At that point, it becomes clear that some of the smallest fragments on the screen are slightly over-brightened by the algorithm. Of course, for the average viewer, such a deviation will be practically unnoticeable, but in the test of such an expensive screen, it is worth noting – especially since we are talking about a model that has huge aspirations to be the best television of the year.

Despite its excellent factory tuning, we couldn't resist checking how the TCL A400 Pro would respond to a professional calibration. Since the starting point was so good, we were even more curious whether we could squeeze even more out of this TV. And here we have to boast: we managed to bring our unit to absurdly low color errors. Results below 1 are something you don't see every day, even on very good TVs. Such results are more often associated with professional reference monitors than with a lifestyle TV for the living room. In terms of white balance and color reproduction, the A400 Pro after calibration simply performed outstandingly. The only thing we can pick at after a deeper analysis concerns the brightness behavior. The TV can manipulate luminance levels depending on the content being displayed, and quite often the image is a bit darker than it should be according to the standard. This most likely stems from the way the Mini-LED backlight and local dimming algorithms work in this model. However, that doesn't spoil the overall impression, because in terms of color precision alone the A400 Pro after calibration reached a level we really didn't expect.

Unfortunately, this is where we come to the least cheerful part of this review. If we were to evaluate solely the smoothness of the tonal transitions, the G6 would score high marks. The color blending is at a very good level, and at times it resembles what we know from Samsung's QD-OLED panels. This is great news because up until now, ugly, banding artifacts in dark shades have been the bane of WOLED panels. In this category, we would easily give it a strong 8.5 out of 10.

Note: Unfortunately, the final rating in this section drops significantly, and the culprit is very aggressive dithering. In dark scenes, the image literally “shivers,” and in areas close to black/dark gray, the television can be annoyingly flickering. We do not know exactly what this is due to, but looking at the tests from other reviewers around the world - everyone has encountered exactly the same problem. We hope that LG will fix this as soon as possible with an update. We know that LG can respond quickly to negative user feedback, which can already be read online. We will keep an eye on this issue and will inform you in case of improvement.

The TCL A400 Pro handles tonal transitions very well. Gradation in most content is smooth, and any imperfections are visible only in extreme cases, mainly in subtle gray transitions. It’s worth noting that the vast majority of TVs struggle with such scenes. Another very good point is the lack of gradation issues in Dolby Vision. The A400 Pro did not produce additional banding or visible artifacts in that format, which lately is not a given. This is another factor that improves the viewing of movies and TV series in HDR.

No matter what one may say about the G6's problems with near-black signal, it must be fairly acknowledged that it handles highly compressed material and lower resolution content brilliantly. All unwanted, ugly tonal transitions are effectively reduced here by the “Smooth Gradation” feature. On the “Low” setting, the algorithm operates flawlessly – effectively masking the artifacts resulting from strong compression, without destroying the sharpness and details in the frame. Higher levels of this feature indeed smooth the image even more, but they start to blur the real texture elements of objects, which is why we recommend keeping this slider at a low level. As for the upscaling to 4K, the processor does an excellent job – edge sharpness and detail reconstruction are at the highest level, and in this respect, the G6 does not lag behind the world's best.

Digital video processing is unfortunately one of the weaker points of the TCL A400 Pro. That doesn't mean the TV performs badly, but it's hard to call it anything clearly above standard. The upscaling itself is adequate: edges are smoothed fairly well, the image doesn't look overly sharp or pixelated, and lower-quality content can be watched without major discomfort. At the same time the overall look is slightly soft and it lacks the precision that the best image processors in more expensive TVs can deliver.

Much worse, however, is its handling of tonal transitions caused by heavy compression. TCL equipped the A400 Pro with a "Gradual Smoothing" feature that in theory should reduce visible color banding and artifacts in lower-quality content. In practice its effectiveness is very limited. It does not improve tonal transitions in any noticeable way, and at higher settings it can also smooth out image details, giving the picture an artificial, slightly blurred character. For that reason we think it's best to leave this feature off. The A400 Pro handles basic image scaling decently, but if you often watch heavily compressed content with visible posterization, this model won't be one of the best choices.

The LG G6 is an OLED television, so in the category of motion fluidity, it traditionally deserves the highest ratings. The television supports a very high refresh rate of up to 165 Hz in 4K resolution, but most importantly – you will not see any signs of blurring on the screen. The response time of the panel is incredibly fast, ensuring that dynamic images remain perfectly sharp.

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 used by most consoles today, as well as many sports broadcasts and high-frame-rate content. In this range the TV performs quite well. Motion clarity is really good, especially after properly configuring the motion smoothing. The "Motion Clarity" feature improves smoothness. Its settings include two sliders that let you tailor the motion smoothing to your preferences — separately for lower- and higher-frame-rate material. That way you can achieve either a more cinematic look or a noticeably smoother picture. If you don't want to tweak settings manually, you can use presets such as low, medium, high, cinema, or nature.

LG G6 is a true monster for gamers and one of the best-equipped TVs in this regard on the market. The manufacturer did not seek compromises and equipped this model with as many as four full HDMI 2.1 ports with a maximum bandwidth of 48 Gbps. This means that no matter which port you plug your PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or powerful PC into, you will extract the absolute maximum from them.

The TV supports a full suite of gaming technologies: from VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), through AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, to Nvidia G-Sync Compatible. Let's add to this the remarkably low, almost imperceptible input lag and a brilliantly functioning gamer panel (Game Optimizer), which allows you to continuously monitor the signal parameters. Gaming on this screen, with the perfect black of OLED and powerful refresh rates, is pure pleasure.

When it comes to features for gamers, the TCL A400 Pro performs excellently. The TV has practically everything you can expect from a gaming TV today: 4K support at high refresh rates, VRR, ALLM, correct implementation of HDR formats in games, including Dolby Vision, and HGiG. Because of that it works well with both next-gen consoles and PCs. Another plus is the inclusion of a Game Bar, a special panel with the most important settings for gamers. From it you can quickly check basic signal information, refresh rate, and active features, and also adjust the look and behavior of some settings to your own preferences. This is 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 complain about 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 functions as eARC. In practice this means that if someone wants to connect two next-gen consoles and a soundbar, they may hit some limitations. In that scenario you'll have to either swap devices or use extra equipment, for example an AV receiver or a soundbar with HDMI inputs. Despite this, it's hard not to rate the A400 Pro very highly as a gaming TV. The gaming feature set here is really powerful.

When it comes to signal delay, the results are remarkably low. For a standard 120 Hz signal, the Input Lag is just 5 ms. At 60 Hz, this value increases to 13 ms, which is still an excellent and completely imperceptible delay. The only thing we need to point out is the television's behavior after receiving the Dolby Vision Gaming signal. In this format, the Input Lag nearly doubles, reaching 13 ms for 120 Hz and 22 ms for 60 Hz. Despite this jump, we believe that these values in games are low enough that absolutely no one will feel any discomfort during gameplay.

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

As we mentioned earlier, the LG G6 is an amazing screen for gamers but also for those using computers. With full support for Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync technology, as well as a high refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, this TV will work brilliantly as a giant gaming monitor. On the other hand, everyday office work with text looks a bit worse (although in our opinion still very well), which is a typical feature of every WOLED screen. Due to the specific arrangement of four subpixels (with an additional white subpixel), rather than three as in traditional computer monitors, system fonts can sometimes have an additional, in this case red glow around black or white letters. This is directly due to the new structure of the 2nd generation Tandem OLED matrix, which now operates in an RGWB arrangement (last year's first generation Tandem OLED used a BWRG arrangement). In our opinion, the sharpness of font edges has slightly worsened because of this, but it is definitely not something that will immediately catch your eye when occasionally working with documents or browsing the web.

The TCL A400 Pro also works quite well as a large PC monitor. Helping with that is, of course, the full suite of gaming features: VRR, FreeSync, G-Sync compatibility, refresh rates up to 144 Hz, and very low input lag. If someone wanted to connect a PC and play from the couch or at a desk, the TV is perfectly suited for that. Importantly, it also performs well for regular computer work. At 120 Hz fonts are very legible, so using a browser, documents, or the OS doesn't strain the eyes. It looks a bit worse when switching to 144 Hz. Then the horizontal parts of letters become slightly darker. However, this isn't something that seriously interferes with everyday use. Overall, text legibility is very good.

As befits an OLED panel, the viewing angles on the LG G6 are really good. When viewed from the side, the TV does not drastically lose brightness or color saturation. In this regard, the picture quality is infinitely better than in any LCD TV – and this applies to both IPS panels and even more so to VA panels without special wide-angle coatings. In this matter, the only better screens on the market remain QD-OLED panels from Samsung Display, where the angles are simply perfect, as well as older WOLED panels with MLA (microlens) technology, which LG abandoned in this series two years ago. Unfortunately, we assess the viewing angles in this year's model as slightly worse than last year's. We noticed that the 2nd generation Tandem OLED panel has a tendency to take on more greenish hues when viewed at a steep angle, while last year's model maintained greater neutrality in this regard.

Viewing angles are not the strongest suit of the TCL A400 Pro. This is mainly due to the use of a VA panel, which has advantages like better contrast but naturally performs worse when viewed off axis. Just move farther from the screen's centerline and you'll notice a drop in brightness and color saturation. So it's not on the level of IPS/ADS panels, and even less so compared with OLED displays, which in this regard remain beyond the reach of traditional LCDs. The A400 Pro is simply best viewed straight on. That's when its picture looks by far the best.

The LG G6 will perform exceptionally well as a TV in a brightly lit room. Thanks to its powerful peak brightness, the television can easily cut through most external light sources. Best of all, the new generation of Tandem OLED panels has brought significant improvements in terms of reducing glare. Although the screen coating is still shiny (which helps maintain well-saturated colors even in difficult conditions), it effectively suppresses reflections. It does this significantly better than classic OLED screens with standard glossy coatings. We could confidently compare this level to that of shiny QD-OLED panels, but with one key advantage for LG. Unlike the competition's technology, the deep black in a bright living room remains intact in this model. There is no sign of grayness or purplish tints due to incoming light – the black in the G6 during the day is simply perfect, just like it is at night.

The TCL A400 Pro handles a bright living room quite well. The matte screen coating does most of the work here, very effectively reducing reflections and meaning you don't have to battle every window or lamp reflecting off the panel during the day. There's also decent SDR brightness, reaching around 600 nits, so in terms of daytime image readability it's really good. You should remember, though, that the matte coating comes at a price. In a heavily lit room the image can lose a bit of depth, and colors don't look as punchy as they do in the evening. Reflections are far less noticeable, but at the same time color saturation clearly drops. It's still a good TV for a bright living room, but it performs best when you care primarily about viewing comfort rather than the most dramatic picture.

webOS System and Smart Features

The TV runs on the latest version of the webOS system. Although it is a closed platform, it supports absolutely all the key streaming applications on the market. You can also easily access useful wireless connectivity features, such as built-in Chromecast, AirPlay, or classic screen mirroring. However, the biggest distinguishing feature of LG's platform remains the brilliant Magic remote. Although it is quite compact and lacks a physical numeric keypad, it does something that competitors still can't replicate – it works like a wireless mouse. It is equipped with a gyroscope, allowing us to move an intuitive cursor across the screen, which drastically speeds up password entry and navigation through the menu. Additionally, LG has one of the best voice assistants for device control, and this combination with the Magic remote offers great possibilities for smoothly navigating the system. The only thing that can be quite annoying here is the intrusive ads and sponsored tiles that LG increasingly clutters the main screen of the system with. Nevertheless, the absence of Google TV is no drawback for the G6 – given the smooth operation of webOS, it can even be considered an advantage.

Features for Traditionalists

In terms of traditional television, the LG G6 also performs excellently and does not forget about traditional users. Despite the minimalist remote, there are plenty of useful solutions on board. The manufacturer has not given up on the PVR function, which allows for recording programs from built-in tuners directly to external USB storage or a hard drive. There is also an efficiently working TimeShift for pausing live television and the option to schedule recordings. These features may prove to be a perfect fit during the upcoming World Cup matches when games will be played late in the evening and we may not be able to watch them live. Of course, standard features are also included, such as the ability to connect wireless headphones via Bluetooth.

Google TV

The TCL A400 Pro runs Google TV, so on the Smart TV side it delivers a very solid package. All the major apps are available: YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Apple TV and all the other services you’d expect today. It also includes Chromecast, voice search and Google Assistant. The system itself runs smoothly and is easy to use, although, as with Google TV, the home screen can be heavily filled with recommendations and promoted content. Some people will like that, others may find it a bit annoying. Functionally, though, there’s little to seriously complain about.

Digital art gallery

The most interesting part starts with the digital art gallery, since that’s what is meant to set the A400 Pro apart from regular TVs. TCL provides access to over 80 works of art that can be displayed when the screen isn’t being used for movies or series. That way the TV doesn’t have to hang on the wall as a black slab; it can actually mimic a picture. An ambient light sensor, which adjusts the screen to the room’s lighting conditions, helps with this. And here’s good news compared with the older NXT Vision A300: the A400 Pro fixes the annoying brightness issue in art mode. Gallery settings are now separate from regular viewing, so you can set a lower brightness for artworks without spoiling your movie or TV settings. It may seem like a small detail, but in practice it’s important, because it makes the screen more like a picture and less like a glowing TV. TCL also adds the ability to create your own images using artificial intelligence. The manufacturer talks about more than 100,000 available artworks and variations, so there’s plenty to choose from. You can stick with the ready-made gallery or pick something that better matches your taste and room decor.

Classic features

The classic 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 how you use traditional TV.

The inability to install an external media player (as is the case in Android-based systems) is actually not a problem for the LG G6. The factory-installed media player works great and seamlessly supports most audio, video, or image formats that we provided from our flash drive. However, during testing, we encountered some shortcomings – specifically, a rather strange lack of support for subtitles in the popular .txt format. However, we believe that this option will quickly be added to the G6 with the next software update.

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

Despite its very flat design, the LG G6 sounds surprisingly good. The manufacturer managed to squeeze quite nice speakers under the display, capable of producing a rather "spatial" sound – if you can even call the limited physical capabilities of the TV that 😉. The sound is clear, has decent dynamics, and is suitable for everyday viewing of news programs or series without any issues. The TV also easily supports the very popular Dolby Atmos surround sound codec.

Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, it lacks support for the DTS:X format. Regardless of what one might say, it has recently become quite unpopular in streaming services, but a top-of-the-line TV in terms of price and quality simply should not limit users in handling audio formats, in our opinion. Additionally, we have to criticize LG for somewhat downgrading the audio menu. We missed more advanced settings and predefined sound profiles, which were definitely more abundant in last year's model.

The sound in the TCL A400 Pro is rather average. The best news is that the TV can play loudly. It easily reaches about 83 dB, so loudness is not an issue. Another positive is support for formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS, with DTS becoming increasingly rare in TVs. But that's about where the praise ends. The standard 2.0 speaker setup has its limits, and it's hard to get more out of it. It mainly lacks bass and a sense of space. The sound is fine for regular TV or YouTube, but with movies, TV series, and especially music it quickly becomes too flat. For that reason we'd definitely recommend adding at least a simple soundbar or a traditional home theater system to the A400 Pro. Especially since the TV itself supports Dolby Atmos and DTS, it practically begs to be connected to external audio that will actually make use of those capabilities.

LG OLED G6 (G64LW, G66LS) vs TCL A400 PRO

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our verdict

TV appearance

Where to buy

Contrast and black detail

Number of local 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

webOS System and Smart Features

Features for Traditionalists

Google TV

Digital art gallery

Classic features

Apps

Playing files from USB

Sound

Sound Quality Test

Acoustic Measurements