2018 TCL 4K HDR Roku TVs Get Dolby Vision, Roku Assistant, Contrast Zones

As expected, TCL has unveiled a bunch of new Roku-based products at CES 2018, not the least of which is the new TCL Roku Smart Soundbar that Roku recently teased in its own announcement. The new lineup includes refreshed Roku smart TVs for the 2018 year, including models that pack Dolby Vision HDR support and the new iPQ Engine. The TVs span two different series: the 6-Series and the 5-Series.

In recent days, Roku announced plans to develop its own voice assistant, one simply called Roku Entertainment Assistant; it also announced Roku Connect. The company said TCL would be making a related announcement, which it has: the upcoming TCL Roku smart TVs will support Roku Assistant once Roku rolls it out to its Roku OS platform. Assuming everything goes according to schedule, that will be happening closer to the end of this year.

Chief among the announcements is the TCL Roku 6-Series TVs, which offer 4K resolution and HDR, as well as Contrast Control Zone Technology, which includes 96 zones on the smaller 55" model and 120 zones on the larger 65" model. The 6-Series models offer feature HDR Pro Gamma Control and the iPQ Engine, the ability to control zone contrast for better light-to-dark areas, and optimized DCI-P3 color space coverage.

Similar in many ways is the new Roku 5-Series 4K HDR TVs, which have HDR Dynamic Contrast for optimizing scenes to show accurate details within the dark and bright areas of a picture. These TVs likewise feature the iPQ Engine, but also bring with them 240 Natural Motion Technology, assuming you get the 55" or 65" models.

Other features that span the series include 802.11ac WiFi, Ethernet, a trio of HDMI 2.0a ports, wide color with NBP Photon tech, and what TCL describes as an "advanced remote." The 5-Series has television sizes ranging from 43" to 65". All the above TVs will be available this spring season, while the soundbar will likely launch later on this year.