The TCL 5 S535 is one of several new budget-friendly 2020 television sets. So, how good is this TV for gaming on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X as well as other consoles?
You can find out in this Seeking Tech guide for the 2020 version of the TCL 5 Series.
Quick Summary
We don’t recommend getting the TCL 5 S535 for the PS5, Xbox Series S or Xbox One X due to the lack of HDMI 2.1 ports, which means that you will be missing out on 120 frames per second as well as variable refresh rate.
The TV also has poor HDR brightness levels.
With that said, the new TCL 5 has exceptional input lag reduction when you enabled its game mode. So, it is a pretty good television to play non-HDR games on the older HDMI consoles like the PS4, Switch and Xbox One.
As for legacy consoles, the TCL 5 S535 includes a RF adapter as well as a singular composite cable, which you need to purchase a separate adapter for if you want to plug in systems that uses the yellow, white and red composite plugs.
Does TCL 5 S535 have HDMI 2.1 ports?
The TCL 5 S535 has four HDMI 2.0 ports but zero HDMI 2.1 ports. As a result, this television set is not capable of playing PS5, Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X videogames at 120 frames per second.
The TV also won’t take advantage of variable refresh rate, a new feature that help smooth out inconsistent frame rate and screen tearing.
TCL 5 S535’s HDR Capabilities
In terms of high dynamic range features, the S535 version of the TCL 5 supports a wide color gamut, HDR10 as well as Dolby Vision (both the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X will be using Dolby Vision).
The TV is not compatible with HDR10.
As for brightness levels in HDR, the TCL 5 S535 is unfortunately too dim to take advantage of high-dynamic range.
We recommend TVs that have at least 500 nits of brightness in HDR. According to RTINGS, the S535 model can only reach 247 nits at HDR Real Scene Peak Brightness, 337 nits at HDR Peak 100% Window and 335 nits at HDR Sustained 100% Window.
You can take a look the HDR test results for the new TCL 5 below (via RTINGS):
- HDR Real Scene Peak Brightness: 247 cd/m²
- HDR Peak 2% Window: 214 cd/m²
- HDR Peak 10% Window: 376 cd/m²
- HDR Peak 25% Window: 432 cd/m²
- HDR Peak 50% Window: 358 cd/m²
- HDR Peak 100% Window: 337 cd/m²
- HDR Sustained 2% Window: 213 cd/m²
- HDR Sustained 10% Window: 375 cd/m²
- HDR Sustained 25% Window: 429 cd/m²
- HDR Sustained 50% Window: 356 cd/m²
- HDR Sustained 100% Window: 335 cd/m²
- HDR ABL: 0.040
TCL 5 S535’s Input Lag
The TCL 5 S535 has excellent input lag reduction when you used its game mode.
According to RTINGS.com, the lag is just 11.2 ms at 1080p/60Hz, 10.9 at 1440p/60Hz in addition to 10.8 ms at 4K/60Hz and 4K/60hz/HDR.
If you want to use the S535 as a computer monitor, the latency is 10.9 ms at 4K/60Hz/4:4:4. This TV can’t use the FreeSync feature from AMD video cards or the GSYNC feature from the GSYNC video cards.
You can take a look at the input lag tests for the TCL 5 S535 below (via RTINGS):
- 1080p resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate (Game Mode Enabled): 11.2 ms
- 1080p resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate (Game Mode Disabled): 111.1 ms
- 1440p resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate (Game Mode Enabled): 10.9 ms
- 4K resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate (Game Mode Enabled): 10.8 ms
- 4K resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate + 10-bit HDR (Game Mode Enabled): 10.8 ms
- 4K resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate (Game Mode Disabled): 110.9 ms
- 4K resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate With Interpolation: 111.0 ms
- 4K resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate and 4:4:4: 10.9 ms
Is the TCL 5 S535 good for PS5, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X?
The TCL 5 S535 is a poor choice from playing PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X videogames due to the lack of HDMI 2.1 ports in addition to the poor HDR brightness levels.
Is the TCL 5 S535 good for Switch, PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox One S and Xbox One X?
The TV does have stellar input lag reduction when you used its game mode, however. So, it is more than capable enough at providing a great experience when playing older HDMI consoles like the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Like we stated above, the HDR brightness performance is poor so you won’t get a quality picture with HDR-supported games on the PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One S and Xbox One X.
Legacy Consoles Support
If you are looking to connect older consoles that use a composite input, you need to purchase an adapter that covers the yellow, white and red plugs into a singular yellow composite plug.
The TCL 5 S535 does come with a RF input, so you will be able to simply connect retro systems, which include the NES, Super NES and Sega Genesis.