There’s really no question which budget TV to consider. While previous 5-Series models were already solid performers, the 2022 TCL 5-Series is even better, with more vibrant colors, a brighter picture, features to satisfy anyone gaming on the Xbox Series X or PS5, and a streaming platform that’s intuitive and fast.

It's an impressive TV for watching movies in a dark room thanks to its superb contrast, fantastic black uniformity, and decent local dimming feature. It looks good in a bright room, with high peak brightness and decent reflection handling, but it's not a good choice for a wide seating arrangement, as the image fades and looks washed out when viewed at an angle. It delivers a great gaming experience, with low input lag and a very good response time, but it's a bit limited by its 60Hz refresh rate and lack of HDMI 2.1 bandwidth.

On the other hand, the TCL S555 has lower input lag across its supported resolutions, and to me is a less flickery TV. And I’m not sure the brightness differences between the two are going to be super meaningful for most viewers. So, I guess I’d say if you are a nit nerd and want the most brightness for your money and want the 120Hz panel and HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, well, the U7H may be a better choice, at least on paper.