Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

So I'm in the market for a new TV. Nothing wrong with my TV but I want a bigger screen and a smart TV with the ROKU OS. Currently I have an Emerson and its 720p.

I've been looking at this TCL. Loaded with features.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TCL-55-Class ... om=/search

Any thoughts or comments on TCL? The reviews look mostly good. Some of the not so good reviews are troublesome but the TV still rates 4.2 out of 5 stars. Plus for some reason, the reviews are identical with the 50" model so it makes me question if the bad reviews are accurate.

No specific advice on TCL, but in my experiences with smart TV's, I hate them. I was in the market this year for a new non-smart TV after my experiences with smart TV's, but I guess those aren't made anymore. I've resorted to disconnecting the TV from wifi and plugging in a Roku stick or similar and skipping the TV's built in smart features, as the 2 year old TV is now just a slow ad machine that doesn't run Paramount or Prime apps. Easier and cheaper to update and replace a Roku stick when necessary instead of the whole TV every 2 years.

For Roku TV's at Walmart, I see TCL, Hisense, and Onn. These would probably be considered throw away TV's. But damn, the price point is spot on for my budget. I think if you got two years out of those sets you'd be doing pretty good. My brother has an Onn TV, a 55" model and hasn't had any real issues with it and has had it for a few years. From what I can tell, Vizio, Samsung, LG's, and among others have other platforms like Google TV or FireTV, but not Roku. I think most TV's nowadays are all smart TV's. I have a Roku Ultra box but at least having it built into the TV would save an HDMI port.

2 years is good? My standards for product quality must be too high.

ZenithCKLW wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 27, 2023 1:42 pm

2 years is good? My standards for product quality must be too high.

I just mean that from the negative reviews I have seen, 2 years would be good. But of course having it last for 6-7 or more years would be ideal. At the end of the day, I have to realize that every item, no matter what it is will have negative reviews.

Taco wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 27, 2023 9:48 am

So I'm in the market for a new TV. Nothing wrong with my TV but I want a bigger screen and a smart TV with the ROKU OS. Currently I have an Emerson and its 720p.

I've been looking at this TCL. Loaded with features.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TCL-55-Class ... om=/search

Any thoughts or comments on TCL? The reviews look mostly good. Some of the not so good reviews are troublesome but the TV still rates 4.2 out of 5 stars. Plus for some reason, the reviews are identical with the 50" model so it makes me question if the bad reviews are accurate.

You can always buy a Roku stick for $35 or so.

I'm not a fan of the Roku remote. The keys tend to stick, and it sucks using that remote with the YouTubeTV app.

However, if you're dead set on a budget TV with Roku built-in, this is a good deal.

You may want to cross shop this TV against a 55" Insignia. I have a seven year old Insignia 40" TV in one of my bedrooms, and I find the picture quality to be pretty good overall. The OTA tuner is also above average. When I bought my Insignia, Roku was the native smart TV app. I am unsure if that's still true today.

I have been really happy with my 32 inch Hi Sense and just picked up a Philips 32 inch that was also ROKU ready...running Direct TV stream, over the air antenna, and PLUTO TV..I am a simple man LOL caus thats all I want and need...will agree the keys seem to stick as they jump over channels from time to time and have to skip back.....

I do have a Roku box but it would free up an HDMI port plus a bigger screen would be nice. I also have a full HDMI port expander.

I bought a 32" TCL TV about a month ago, to use in my living room as a secondary TV. I'm happy with it so far.

Taco wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:24 am

I do have a Roku box but it would free up an HDMI port plus a bigger screen would be nice. I also have a full HDMI port expander.

How many HDMI ports do you need??

teetoppz28 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 28, 2023 11:57 am

Taco wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:24 am

I do have a Roku box but it would free up an HDMI port plus a bigger screen would be nice. I also have a full HDMI port expander.

How many HDMI ports do you need??

I need them for Dish Network, Roku, FireTV stick, Chromecast, and Blu-Ray player.

So I picked up the TV I linked to above yesterday. It's really great! Coming from a 720p TV, this is a massive upgrade. All that said, do HDMI cables really make the difference? Mine are old. I just ordered an HDMI 2 cable.

there are cheap , remote controlled HDMI switchers available that would solve your HDMI capacity issues.

I have a tv with only 2 HDMI, and I have cable box, blu-ray player , chromecast, and a trusty old DVD recorder -
This has worked wonders:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VW ... UTF8&psc=1

Well, I decided I am returning the TV and get a non 4K TV, such as the Hisense 43" Full HD TV. I mostly watch older content and it looks like shit on 4K. There just isn't enough 4K content out there and I think it's a long ways off from being mainstream.

It's not the fact the TV is 4K compatible that is causing the old content to look poor; it just looks poor on the particular model of TV you purchased (it's a budget model, so you're not going to get high end performance).

I have a 4K TV in my living room, and old content looks better than any prior TV I've owned.