Talib—December 1, 2019
Over a great TV, So far I've had zero issues with it so far. PROs: Set-up was fast and easy. Wide range of content found on TV itself. Wide range of settings (gamemode, display settings, etc). Great customization options too. Wireless connectivity is great (avg. 80mpbs). Picture quality is amazing for a budget TV (there are better lol), responsive remote (sometimes) CONS: for the price range there aren't too many. BUT! I've had play around with the settings straight out the box. Game-mode is good on SOME games (just play with the settings and you'll find what's right for the game). DO NOT play fortnite with gamemode on or else The frames will jump and drop repeatedly making fortnite almost unplayable. For the other games I've played I've had zero issues with game mode, it's only made my gaming experience better. For some reason the only app the remote can never keep up with is Netflix but thats only if your a fast tapper looking for a fast response. You should really take your time with Netflix (it might honestly be Netflix tho, I haven't experienced it anywhere else) Overall I would definitely recommend this TV. It's a great bang for your buck. Marvel movies look AMAZING 👌 on it. And I had no issues with shipping it came in ok (I was really scared it might be broken on delivery) -P.S unpaid review (wish I got paid for this lol) Read more
Christopher Valencia—September 21, 2020
I have an older Insignia Fire TV that I loved, but when my wife and I decided to get Spectrum TV streaming we found out the DVR was only compatible with Roku. It left us feeling immensely frustrated, but we went out and purchased a Roku stick. That's what eventually lead us to buying this TV. The TV worked out great and is easily the best 4k TV we've owned so far. The picture is perfect and all the movies I've watched so far look amazing. We even upgraded to 4k Netflix because of it. For me there are only 2 things wrong with it. First is the remote control which seriously feels cheap. Things this small are going to fall at some point which of course mine did and eventually the rubber buttons got misaligned. This meant I had to take the remote apart and realign the buttons which was a pain to do. To avoid this I'd recommend you purchase a replacement remote as soon as you can. The only other problem is with Roku itself. The interface is clean and easy to use, but coming from a Fire TV I realized how limited it really is. HBO Max for example isn't compatible with Roku. I know I already mentioned how Spectrum TV wasn't compatible with Fire Stick, however, I haven't tried it for awhile now and I wouldn't be at all surprised if DVR is compatible with it now. Highly Recomment this TV Read more
DM—March 27, 2020
I'm writing this review from the perspective of someone whose last TV was 11 years old (40" LCD flat screen) That means absolutely everything is better than my last one. I'm not a pixel peeper, so instead I'm going to talk about the value and address some concerns from the point of view of someone who isn't comparing this TV side-by-side with like-priced models. Let's get one thing straight: I gave this TV 5 stars because it is a terrific value. I honestly don't know how this level of experience is delivered for this low of a price and I can only hope its durability is such that it will last many years. Display: If you're looking for your friends to be absolutely wowed by the picture on your TV I hope you don't think you can get away with spending $350. More likely is they'll be shocked when you tell them it was only $350! I was concerned because I saw a bunch of reviews say the viewing angles were terrible. I honestly don't know what they're looking at or what their expectations are, but I wouldn't want to watch a whole movie at more than a 45 degree angle from the screen, anyway. (A note: I have a 500sqft apartment so the 55" TV is dominating in size and there's limited seating) Sound: It's not offensive, but it's not great. However, I suspect that anyone buying a 55" TV for a living room already expects to provide supplementary speakers. I will say I have an old set of computer speakers w/ sub-woofer and they provide great sound even just plugged into the headphone jack on the TV, so this needn't be an expensive or high tech endeavor. Remote: This is the worst part of the whole experience. Prior to buying this TV I had a Roku Streaming Stick+ and the TV remote is made of cheaper plastic, it's a flimsier build, the play/pause button is smaller, and it doesn't have the rubberized coating of the SS+ remote. It may also be IR(?) whereas the SS+ remote is all RF, so you have to point the TCL Roku TV remote at the TV for it to register input. I strongly advise spending the $20 or so to replace the default remote but it's not as high of a priority as the speakers, probably. (Personally I was able to pair my Roku SS+ remote with my new TV so that is what I use) Roku: As a smart TV platform this is the best I can imagine. It's the most widely supported TV/OS platform on the market and therefore nearly every app will be developed for and available on your TV. This means you'll likely not need to buy or install any additional streaming devices in your HDMI ports (I have a Chromecast installed but I already owned one). Antenna use and Live TV Pause: The antenna reception is excellent. There may be a sizable internal antenna helping out here because I get way better reception on this TV even when using my old antenna Live TV Pause of antenna use is available. I haven't tried it, but it says if you put a 16GB or larger thumb drive in the USB port the TV will provide up to 90 minutes of buffer for pausing live TV over antenna. That's neat and something I didn't see advertised. In summary: Whatever shortcomings there are here are appropriate and acceptable for a $350 55" TV in 2020. Those shortcomings are overcome-able and for minimal additional cost. All of the structural things that you can't change or upgrade are solid (mainly the display and TV platform). Read more
