Friends who have a certain concern about the color TV industry, in recent years, the brand of Thunderbird must not be unfamiliar, as a sub-brand of TCL, Thunderbird relies on the ultimate cost performance, attracting the attention of many young consumers. In 2020, Thunderbird launched the S535C, which devolved the technology of checkerboard partition backlight, which is only available in high-end TVs, to TVs in the entry price segment, causing quite a stir.
In 2021, Thunderbird launched the S535C's upgraded S545C, increasing the number of partition backlights from 45 to 80 (55 inches), while equipped with a 120Hz high-brush panel and the latest HDMI2.1 interface, which can be said to be the highest configuration TV that can be bought at this price point.
Today, our PConline evaluation room also got the Thunderbird S545C (55 inches) performance monster, let's see how it can bring us a leapfrog experience.
Actual measurement of sound and picture quality
Color representation
Thunderbird S545C uses a 4K 120Hz VA panel, according to official data, the color gamut coverage can reach 94% DCI-P3 color gamut, the color level average △ E≈2.
We also simply tested the color gamut coverage performance of the Thunderbird, and according to the measured data, the average color gamut coverage of the Thunderbird S545C can reach 93.63%, and the overall performance is quite good.
Of course, compared to the color gamut, we think that the color accuracy of a TV is actually more important, there is a good analogy on the Internet, the color gamut is like the measuring range of a ruler, and the color code is like the accuracy of the ruler, if the accuracy of the ruler is not good, how long the energy is white. In addition, the color accuracy can also more intuitively reflect the manufacturer's tuning ability.
In the movie mode, the average color △E of the Thunderbird S545C is only 1.73, which is quite surprising to us and has reached the standard of professional monitors.
It is worth mentioning that the Thunderbird S545C is also equipped with the original color temperature of D65, compared with the 9000K color temperature commonly used by most TVs, the D65 color temperature perception is not gorgeous enough, but it is closer to reality.
We used a set of demo samples to visualize the overall color performance of the Thunderbird S545C.
It can be seen that the overall color performance of the Thunderbird S545C is closer to the real, the look and feel is very comfortable, and there is no such tacky feeling. The layering of the color of the picture is also very good, and the overall performance is higher than that of the TV at the same price. I have to affirm the great progress of Thunderbird in the aspect of picture quality tuning, and the previous software tuning dragged hardware hind legs has been well improved on this S545C.
Brightness performance
After looking at the color, let's look at the brightness, according to official data, the peak brightness of the Thunderbird S545C screen can reach 750nits.
The global brightness of the Thunderbird S545C can reach about 490nits, and the brightness performance of 743nits can be achieved in the case of 25% window, which is in line with the officially declared peak brightness of 750nits. In the same price segment OF TV, this brightness performance can be said to be quite good, can provide a good HDR effect.
At the same time, it can be seen that in a totally dark environment, the peak brightness of thunderbird 750nits can still show a good sense of sunlight.
Light-controlled performance
Of course, the most anticipated nature of the Thunderbird S545C is this 80-division checkerboard partition backlight. We measured that the Thunderbird S545C's tuning of the partition backlight is still relatively good, the response speed of the backlight partition is good, and in the case of white-point high-speed movement, although there is still a certain smear, the overall performance is still relatively good.
The white blocks move at a uniform rate
White dots move at high speed
We also played the actual video. Simulate the light control performance of the Thunderbird S545C during daily movie viewing. From this Demonstration sample of the Las Vegas night, it can be seen that in response to daily movie viewing, the Light Control Expression of the Thunderbird S545C is very good, and the dark field performance brought by the 80 backlit partitions is also amazing enough, even in the case of camera overexposure, there is only a certain halo near the light sign, and the overall night sky still shows a deep black. Without talking about the brand and price, it is really hard to believe that this is a TV that costs less than 4,000 yuan.
Exercise compensatory performance
In addition, in order to match the 120Hz screen, the Thunderbird S545C has also upgraded the 120Hz MEMC motion compensation. We turn on and off motion compensation separately, and use 240P slow motion to intuitively shoot the smoothness of the picture before and after closing and opening, and everyone can intuitively feel it.
Turn off MEMC Turn on MEMC
Sound quality performance
In terms of sound quality, Thunderbird S545C is equipped with dual 8W speakers, the overall sound quality performance is quite OK, we recorded a few pieces of audio to give you an intuitive feeling.
The Thunderbird S545C supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and can still show a relatively good surround sound effect in the living room after opening. If possible, make up a soundbar, and the sense of presence of the overall sound is estimated to be greatly improved.
The game experience is measured
As a TV equipped with a high-brush panel and HDMI2.1 interface, game performance is naturally also a focus of everyone. We also had a simple experience with the gaming performance of the Thunderbird S545C.
We use a PC host equipped with RTX30 series graphics card as a test machine, after the PC host is connected to the TV, after the advanced HDMI option is turned on in the settings menu, you can turn on the 120Hz refresh rate in the system display settings.
It can be seen that the system successfully recognized the Thunderbird S545C with a resolution of 4K, a refresh rate of 120Hz, and a color depth of 10bit. It is worth mentioning that after turning on 4K 120Hz, the system font does not appear blurry.
In addition, the VRR variable refresh rate can also be turned on in the system settings menu, and the TV can also be recognized by NVIDIA's G-SYNC after turning it on. Therefore, we can be sure that the Thunderbird S545C uses a full-blood version of the HDMI2.1 interface, and there is no castration bandwidth.
We actually ran the game, and the game chose Red Dead Redemption 2. I have to say that with the blessing of 4K resolution, the look and feel of the game screen is quite delicate. At the same time, excellent brightness performance and color performance, coupled with the excellent light control effect brought by 80 backlight partitions, the overall game screen is quite colorful, and everyone can intuitively feel it through the sample.
We directly used 240P slow motion to shoot the character movement scene in the benchmark, so that everyone can intuitively feel the smoothness of the picture.
Through slow motion, we can see that the overall smoothness of the picture is very good, thanks to the high refresh rate of 120Hz, the picture is almost invisible, and thanks to the variable refresh rate, the overall picture does not appear to tear the picture.
In terms of latency, according to official data, the Input Delay of Thunderbird S545C in game mode is only 13ms, and we can hardly feel the delay in the actual experience project, and the overall operation is quite followed.
In general, thunderbird S545C is definitely a game machine, the 55-inch large screen brought by the screen impact is indeed not comparable to the computer monitor, the sense of immersion is directly full.
System experience
Next, we come to the system experience section. Regarding the problem of poor optimization of Thunderbird software, I have indeed heard about it on the Internet, but the Thunderbird S545C we experienced, whether it is system logic, fluency, ease of use and other performance is still good. The built-in resources of the system are also very rich, basically covering the film and television resources of mainstream video platforms.
In the intelligent function of the system, Thunderbird S545C also added a far-field voice function, the official claim can wake up the voice assistant without a remote control within 12m range, and we actually experience that the Thunderbird S545C can maintain an accurate recognition rate in the entire living room environment.
At the same time, Thunderbird S545C also added an intelligent scene engine, which can change the content of the movie being watched, switch the corresponding scenes, and adjust the image mode of the TV.
In terms of interaction, Thunderbird S545C also supports multi-screen collaboration functions, whether it is mobile phones, computers, tablets can basically achieve wireless screen projection.
In addition, the Thunderbird S545C also supports video calling functions, but it is necessary to buy a camera outside, which is also a choice left to consumers.
Overall, the system experience of Thunderbird S545C is still relatively good, there should be basic, you don't have to worry about system optimization.
Appearance appreciation
Finally, a brief look at the exterior design of the Thunderbird S545C, in general, the Thunderbird S545C basically continues the appearance of the previous generation of S535C, and there are not many changes.
Narrow bezel design on three sides, the bottom model has the Thunderbird "FFALCON" logo, indicator lights and far-field microphone.
The border is made of plastic material, the upper part of the back cover is a metal back cover, and the lower part of the small school bag is made of plastic material, and the overall texture is not bad.
The only change is that the tripod has been replaced with a plastic material, the surface is painted with a metallic texture, of course, the strength and stability of the tripod are naturally no need to worry.
Simple summary, Thunderbird S545C appearance is simple, workmanship materials are enough, after all, this is a main cost-effective TV, the price is less than 4,000 yuan, in the face of powerful hardware and performance, the appearance can be almost negligible.
summary
In fact, the color TV market in 2021, the overall is showing a downward trend, the repeated epidemic in addition to the panel price increase, chip shortage, so that the TV price increase is inevitable, even the shopping festival promotion price is far less than the lowest price in 2020, the new TV launched in 2021 can also be clearly seen to be significantly reduced. In such a big environment, the Thunderbird S545C still significantly upgrades the hardware at any cost, and the price is still controlled at the price that makes everyone call out the real fragrance, which is particularly valuable.
Back to the Thunderbird S545C TV itself, the hardware configuration with full specifications still did not disappoint, and the most rare thing is that from this TV we can see the progress of Thunderbird's picture quality tuning technology, and the phenomenon of hardware dragging its legs to software has been well solved on the Thunderbird S545C. Arguably, this is definitely one of the most worth buying in 2021, or even the 2022 that has arrived.