New Products

TCL’s New Entry-Level 98-Inch 4K TV to Sell for $5,000

Bob Ankosko  |  Aug 24, 2023

The gloves are off in the battle for super-big-screen dominance with today’s announcement that TCL will sell its new 98-inch 4K TV for $5,000, giving projection TV a serious run for its money.

The latest addition to TCL’s entry-level S Class series of LCD TVs, the 98S550G is available for presale, though the official press release made no mention of when the TV will actually ship. The expectation is soon, considering the brand is the Official TV Partner of the NFL and the 2023-24 season opener is only two weeks away.

To give you an idea of how big a 98-inch (diagonal) screen is, TCL points out on the S5 product page that in terms of square inches it’s bigger than a queen-size mattress.

The TV is built around the voice-controllable Google TV smart platform and TCL’s third-generation AIPQ Engine in addition to embracing gaming with auto low latency mode (ALLM), AMD Freesync Premium Pro technology to ensure low input lag, and TCL’s Game Accelerator 240 that effectively doubles the native 120-Hz refresh rate.

The S5 supports open HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG high dynamic range (HDR) and employs a standard “high brightness” LED backlight in addition to featuring motion enhancement, wide color gamut, and Dolby Vision IQ, which optimizes the picture according to ambient light to improve HDR performance.

On the audio side, Dolby Atmos, DTS Virtual:X, and Dolby Digital+ is supported along with Bluetooth streaming for listening through wireless headphones.

TCL says the new set’s “super-sized value proposition” is made possible by “massive investments” in big screen LCD panel development and vertically integrated production. The China-based brand claims to be the second best-selling TV brand in the U.S. four years running.

As the Official TV Partner of the NFL, TCL is sweetening the deal by offering $200 off NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV to buyers of the 98S550G; the promotion is good through September 19th. For details on how to redeem the offer, click here.

The company also announced TCLtv+, a new online streaming service for TCL televisions with Google TV that provides direct access to more than 200 free channels and 1,500 on-demand movies and TV series. The service is expected to make its way to TCL sets featuring the Roku TV and Fire TV platforms in the near future.

For more information on TCL’s new 98S550G TV, visit tcl.com.

COMMENTS
Billy's picture
Submitted by Billy on August 26, 2023 - 9:44am

My Sony 1080P projector in my theater is 13 years old. Hard to believe, but its true. Didn't bother me for a number of years because of my bad knee, I really couldn't get down there very easily because of the stairs. This spring I had that knee replaced and my theater room and I are friends again. Unfortunately the picture just can't compete with the 4Ks upstairs but the 123 inch diagonal is hard to ignore. I have thought about replacing it with a modern 4K projector but a direct view screen just shines so much better. 5K for almost 100 inches is amazing to say the least. Not an OLED, but still going to make most projectors cut and run away in shame. I really want at least 120 inches in my fairly large theater with the multi level seating, so for now, still thinking about it. Come on TLC, make me a 120 incher! Of course, not sure how i would get that downstairs. A very big problem. This TV, even at this size would be awesome to turn a spare bedroom into a theater. Might be just the thing for an empty nester like the missus and I. That might be the way to go.

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