Description
About this item Dimensions (W x H x D): TV without stand: 28.9 x 17.1 x 3.2 inches , TV with stand: 28.9 x 19.2 x 7.2 inches Smart functionality offers access to over 4,000 streaming channels featuring more than 450,000 movies and TV episodes via Roku TV 720p HD resolution for a crisp picture. 120V to 60Hz 50W Direct lit LED produces great picture quality Diagonal View : 31.5 inches 60Hz refresh rate allows fast moving action scenes to be seen with minimal motion blur.USB File Format Compatibility:Video: MKV (H.264), MP4, MOV (H.264), TS (H.264) Music: AAC, MP3, WMA, WAV (PCM), AIFF, FLAC, AC3 Photo: JPG, PNG, GIF Compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant › See more product details
32-inch class HD Roku smart TV. Roku TV personalized home screen. Dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. 3 HDMI inputs, analog video input, USB port, digital and analog audio output. Digital television tuner. 720p resolution. 60Hz CMI. HDMI Ports: 3 (1 ARC); Resolution: 1366 x 768; USB Ports: 1
J. Bevan –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Happy customer, great value !!
OK, so I just received my ROKU TV from Amazon and set it up. I upgraded the TV in the my Master Bedroom from 32” to 40” and ROKU is built in but it was significantly cheaper than Samsung, Sony, or LG. The TV itself is very lightweight and the picture is beautiful. It has a very narrow frame, so most of what you see is picture. My Apple TV is hooked up to it and has it’s own named icon on the menu, BUT (thanks to PLEX) I’m not sure what I’ll be using the Apple TV (3) for. Everything I want to watch or listen to is available through the Roku tuner…again, thanks to PLEX where I can see all my movies and listen to my audio collection. The only exceptions, of course, are the movies I’ve bought from iTunes which won’t come through…but I can still watch them through the Apple TV port on the TV (they just don’t come through PLEX). It’s all very clean looking. On my old Vizio 32” I had to use an external A/D converter to connect the sound to my amplifier/speakers because the Vizio (surprisingly) did not have audio out or a headphone jack. So this cleaned up the cabinet some since the A/D converter is gone and all associated wires. This TV is also brighter than the old one (LED vs. whatever). So TV in Bed is now going to have much more selectivity and be both brighter and larger. And the price was CHEAP…what a value !! I was able to download all the apps that I use on my Apple TV 4 (elsewhere in the house) from Roku and the menu is extremely easy and visual to negotiate.===============A few hours later…. I am REALLY IMPRESSED by this TV. The menu is so straightforward compared to my Sony Bravia for which I paid 4 times as much (of course the Sony larger AND 4K….but not really easy from a menu standpoint). This is terrific!! (and, no, I’m not affiliated with TCL — whoever or whatever that is — I’m an old retired techy who is simply extremely happy with this purchase.
2 people found this helpful
Rodney P. Burdick –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great TV for the price.
After reading all the reviews I purchased the TCL. I had limited options since I needed the 32 inch for my bathroom. The stand is horrible, but I guess all manufacturers are moving to the legs instead of the center platform style. It doesn’t seem as sturdy with the legs. I am mounting it on a wall so it doesn’t matter anyway.The picture is good and clear and I haven’t noticed any lag. I wish it was 1080p but at 32 inches it doesn’t matter.The sound is good especially since it is being used in a smaller room.The ROKU is great. I get a ton of free content. There are too many options to go through and you can spend days figuring out what you want. I only plan on having a few channels listed on mine, but I was definitely impressed by the amount of free quality stations.I have experienced some lag while navigating the menu. It is slow and is a bit annoying. The TV doesn’t have the processing power of an xbox or other device and it is to be expected. Completely useable still but you will notice the lag while clicking around on the screen.The only bad thing about the tv is the remote. It is a horrible design. The volume buttons are on the side of the remote and hard to find. The buttons are in bad positions and the quick menu buttons are a waste of space. One or two buttons that were programmable would be perfect, but they over loaded it. My guess is they have an agreement with those companies and get paid for it. You will hate this remote.Overall the TV was perfect for my needs as a bathroom tv for news in the morning or a nice movie while in the bath. I would not buy such a cheap tv for the main room or as a gamer tv. But for 150 bucks it was a great buy. 🙂
2 people found this helpful
Bill –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can’t beat the quality for the price!
For the price, this TV is amazing! I picked it up on a Cyber Monday flash sale for $180, but even at its regular price ~$250 you’d probably still be hard pressed to find better value for your money. It’s only 1080p, but unless you’re stilling pretty close to it, your eyes can’t tell the difference between 1080p and 4k (if you’re in to all the nerdy comparisons, definitely check out RTings.com). The biggest drawback of this TV I had read about was that it is very dim compared to most modern HDTVs. But I was pleasantly surprised that I could see it just fine in my living room, which has windows, a sliding door, and skylights. Unless you’re watching this thing in direct sunlight, I don’t think anyone would have an issue seeing the screen. The viewing angle seems fine, too. Almost every LED screen is knocked for poor viewing angle, but I can tell you that walking around in my medium sized living room I don’t notice much degradation of the picture.The features of the TV itself are fine. 3 HDMI inputs including one that can be used as an Audio Return Channel (ARC), optical out that passes through Dolby surround (supposedly DTS too, though RTings says it didn’t work even when they set it up that way), and probably some other stuff too that I’m not using. The Roku interface is nice. I have an AppleTV that I used with my last TV, but if you don’t have a streaming box you really don’t need one with this TV. It has all the native streaming apps you would expect (including one for Tablo!), and the menu seems pretty responsive, though admittedly I’ve only streamed through my AppleTV so I can’t speak to the watching experience through Roku. It was also easy to set up, and despite what I saw some other people say, there is no cost to get everything started up and updated (though some of the Roku streaming channels do have cost associated).The only thing that would make me change my rating would be the longevity of the set. So far so good. As long as it doesn’t meet an untimely demise I’ll be a happy camper!
2 people found this helpful
Maria Golder –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brand New Remote in the box DID NOT operate the TV!
Long story short: If you have an issue with this TV call AMAZON’s customer service. NOT TCL. TCL’s customer service is garbage. If it had not been for Amazon’s great customer service, I would have mailed the whole TV back!Let me start by saying: Yes, the TV works completely fine. HOWEVER, when I ordered this TV for my son’s bedroom for our new home, the remote DID NOT operate the TV whatsoever. I tried everything: new batteries, holding the power button, etc. The remote was absolute trash. Fortunately, the TV worked when I would manually power the TV from the button on the bottom of the unit, but I could not proceed pass the language options screen without having the REMOTE! There are no short cuts (you absolutely need THAT remote to get started)! So, I called TCL’s customer service. The customer service agent tried to run through all of these methods to see if the remote will “start” working. Nope! So, the woman said that they will ship me a new remote….Two…weeks…later. No remote from TCL. I called them back. The gentleman stated that I should receive a remote in 2-3 business days. 10 days later….I was ready to send the whole TV back (at this point, I had the TV for about four weeks and could not use it). I ended up calling Amazon’s customer service line, and Amazon purchased a remote from a third party and had it mailed to me. I actually timely received that remote. Thanks to Amazon. NOT TCL. Still waiting on the one remote that was supposed to come in 2-3 business days from TCL. Terrible.UPDATE: TCL’s Director of Advocacy reached out to me directly to apologize for the experience that I had with TCL’s representatives. I greatly appreciate TCL reaching out to me to discuss and resolve this issue. I love to see a company that is committed to customer satisfaction. Thanks for the call. TCL is alright in my book.
15 people found this helpful
Galdor –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic TV
I’ve had this TV for about a month now and I am loving it. I use it primarily with Amazon video, youtube, a couple of the free movie apps, and regular digital tv bunny ears. It’s been perfect with all of these, super easy to use, and was super easy to setup. I really like the simple remote that comes with it, although a version with a keyboard could be nice. It’s not really necessary though, since you can use a phone or tablet with their app as a remote. I sometimes use my windows 10 tablet as a remote and the app has worked flawlessly for me. I have not tried it with Android or Apple, although those were supported even before Windows was.I was going to report that Mirror Casting to the screen wasn’t working with Windows 10, but I updated the very latest Windows 10 patch a couple days ago and now it seems to work fine.The only gripe I have now is very minor. It’s that the auto power off timer isn’t very convenient. I like to watch tv before going to bed and I like to set the auto timer incase I fall asleep watching. There are two small problems with this. The first is that the auto timer is not in a very convenient place in the menus, and you have to go a few menus deep to set it. The larger problem is that there doesn’t appear to be any way to set it to turn off at the same time every night. This means that I have to set it each night that I want to. Now this only takes maybe 10 or 15 seconds, it’s just a minor annoyance. It does seem like a feature that can be added with just a software patch, so I hope they get around to this at some point.In any case, for the price I think this TV was a steal and I would highly recommend it.
One person found this helpful
Amazon Customer –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good enough bedroom TV
Great bedroom TV. Especially if you like to stream. It’s a RokuTV so this is your best bet if you want to watch Amazon prime or shudder. Previously, since I only had a Chromecast, I would have to just cast the tabs when using those streams. This is a much more elegant solution. Only thing is, it only has WiFi, so a range extender may be necessary if it’s going to be far from your hotspot. It has a USB hookup but I’m unsure if you could use it with an USB Ethernet adapter. Speaking of that USB port, you can play video or pictures or music through it, but the video decoders are pretty limited, so keep that in mind.As far as picture goes, it’s fine. It’s of comparable quality to other hd TV’s in it’s price range. It doesn’t have component video or vga unfortunately, so you may have to get some convertor boxes for some older game console hookups.Also, and this may be a bit nitpicky, but I wish it had a center mounted stand rather than the flimsy plastic feet that are set about 2 feet apart. This TV was a replacement for a bedroom TV and I was unable to set it in my previous TV’s place due to it’s wide table surface requirement. I don’t really have a good place to wall mount it so it’s a bit annoying.Overall, I was looking for a budget TV, and for a budget TV, I actually think I ended up much happier with my purchase than I expected. I can understand why TCL is doing so well. If you need a cheap bedroom TV for streaming and some video games, I would absolutely recommend this one. Just be sure you keep it’s limitations in mind.
One person found this helpful
Norman Davis –
4.0 out of 5 stars
I really like this television.
Unfortunately it has problems. First, I’ve order this exact TV twice. One 14 months ago and it arrived with a broken screen. Not a problem with TCL television that it was damaged. Amazon is excellent with issues like this and immediately resolved the issue by replacing the TV.. The replaced TV lasted maybe 366 days before it started acting up. That was a TCL problem. After a failed Seagate back-up drive 18 months ago (never happened before in 30 years) I’ve always purchased the longest extended warranty available. The warranty I purchased was excellent as well (SmartGuard). They provided me with an exact same make and model TV, which ALSO arrived with a broken screen. Again Amazon was again excellent with this issue and I had a new TV in two days. I again purchased the longest warranty available. With the actual TV and its performance, I do sincerely really like it. I want to recommend you buy it but I wouldn’t buy anything these days without the warranty. In the last two years I’ve not purchased an electronic device that has not failed after the initial warranty expired. So, I’m not sure I would say this is a bad TV just a bad trend in electronics manufacture. This TV originally replaced a Samsung TV that lasted barely a year. I’m no longer hesitate to buy brands I’ve never heard of because they are less expensive. They work as well or better than I expected and broke down at the same rate as “name brand” products. Always buy the warranty, you’ll thank me some day. A note to TCL, with my experience with TCL, I could have given one or five stars legitimately.
One person found this helpful
Colton –
2.0 out of 5 stars
You get what you pay for, and you don’t pay much
When I purchased this TV, my main deciding factor was the low price. After owning it for approximately 1 year, I can say it definitely is NOT worth it. We have been plagued with numerous problems which have become so common after the six month mark that we are once again in the market for a new television. So basically I wasted $200-300 just to learn that I should have stuck with a more reputable or premium brand.The pros:- It’s really cheap for its size and picture quality.- It’s fairly thin, I was able to mount it on the wall with a standard size mount with no issues.- The UI is simple enough, and the ports are all accessible with no weird design decisions in that department.That’s about it for the good things about this TV.The cons:- The picture quality fluctuates between too dim and too bright. We regularly had to manually adjust contrast and brightness halfway through movies.- The TV crashes. That’s right, you’ll be using a peripheral or running Netflix, and your TELEVISION will STRAIGHT UP CRASH. And then it becomes unresponsive for a good five minutes while it cools down.- The wifi cuts out. This has become a recurring issue and happens every other day now. While watching a show or streaming something, the wifi will just completely conk out and the TV requires a full shutdown and reboot to get it back up and running. Ironically enough, usually watching movies on Netflix is enough to crash the wifi without fail, usually 30 mins to an hour into the movie.- The UI is the laggiest garbage I have ever used. The interface is simple, but the delay from pressing a button and launching various menus and apps is a full five second delay. Scrolling through apps like YouTube and Netflix is even worse, and moving UI elements and overlays often cause the UI to become unresponsive for 10-30 seconds.- The entire Roku app selection and functionality has this weird bootleg quality to it, like nothing was actually licensed for this piece of hardware. I don’t know, maybe it’s just a bad design decision.- The TV overheats, loses wifi, or experiences some random issue and just shuts off. Happens about once a week.- The Roku app for your smartphone is meant to integrate with the television itself, but just displays a picture of the remote with clickable buttons. There’s really nothing charming about it.- Audio imbalance all over the place. Sometimes the UI is absolutely silent and you need precision military surveillance to pick anything up, other times launching an app will blow your ears out and set off car alarms down the street. It makes no sense and you really just have to put in some earplugs and roll the dice.- Customer service was obviously unhelpful and I don’t want to go through the pain of mailing an entire TV back for a refund or repair. At this point I have learned my lesson and I’m just going to stick to a different brand instead of buying Roku again. Thanks for teaching me a lesson in the cost-quality continuum.I would rate this TV one star given the issues I have had with it, but since it technically worked for some time and for all my use cases, I am giving it two just to be generous. It would have gotten more, but any more stars than that and my review would have overheated and shut down.UPDATED EDIT:- I thought my wifi was bad because the picture on streaming services kept dropping to like 480p at times, but it turns out the TV is just bad at wifi because getting a casting stick fixed the latency immediately.
4 people found this helpful
enero30 –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great screen, but Roku is really slow
Let me first say that the screen is gorgeous! Seriously, it’s mesmerizing. We’ve been living with a Sony 32″ with a massive bezel for far too many years. The Mrs. just isn’t into big TVs and I’m pretty much the same, just more forgiving. To me, nothing over 40″ is necessary for our living room. To her, nothing over 32″. This TV fit the bill perfectly, at least in size. The tiny bezel was perfect! It’s pretty much the exact same size as our old TV! So we both win! My only gripe is with Roku. It is SLOOOOOW! It takes forever to turn on, forever to switch apps and forever to connect, forever to do pretty much anything. There’s also some major lag between pressing buttons and the TV reacting. And it only seems to get worse as time goes by. We have this connected to an HTPC, and Ruko has taken much of the load off the PC, but sometimes its sluggishness is just too much to deal with. Another annoyance is the remote, it’s got a really weird line of sight. We sit about 7 feet away from the screen and you have to hold it up and aim it at a weird angle for the TV to respond (there’s nothing in between us and the TV). It would be nice if I could get our Harmony remote to work with this TV, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to do it. I’ve tried everything, but no go. It’s not TCL’s fault. It’s Logitech. But still would be nice to go back to a more responsive remote for this TV.
4 people found this helpful
UNyque BUNyque B –
5.0 out of 5 stars
It came at a good time and well packaged
This was brought for my mom for the holiday. It came at a good time and well packaged. I opened it and found that I had to do extra things just to watch the TV.You have to connect and set up a lot of things to us this TV to the Roku system. You have to decide if you want to add the extra channels. You have to connect the internet and other things. The TV stays on the home screen which was confusing for her. For the first couple of days, she could not just turn on the TV and go to a channel. She had to use the actual TV remote to turn to the cable section on the menu before she could reach the live TV. This was frustrating to her which made me upset. I had to google to find out how to set the TV so that she could actually watch TV verse being on all the applications on the screen. I finally figured it out with the help of Google search a now she can turn to just the TV.On the flip side, this TV has a beautiful color. The sound is great. The size is perfect. Changing channels works get. It works well with my cable box. It is light so lifting it was an ease. It fit great on my stand and the legs came so that you could attach them either straight or at an angle.This is good for a younger more computer savvy person but please be mindful when buying for the much older generation unless they are computer Tech savvy. Since I am much younger, I was able to watch Netflix with no issues. I may have to switch with her and place this TV in my room since it works better for me (the computer geek).I hope this helps.
3 people found this helpful
Chuck & Karen –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smart TV for a smart price
OK, so right off the bat I will say “WOW”. For about $170, I was not expecting a lot of bells and whistles, which is fine for a newly converted “exercise room”. Upon delivery I was amazed at how light this TV was. While mounting on an articulating arm mount, I actually held it in place with one hand while I screwed it into the mounts. I was fearing it to be a “toy” quality because of it’s light weight, but once I turned it on, I was pleasantly surprised. The colors are great, it is rich in features and has some very intuitive interface design qualities.– It’s a smart TV, and happily the features work great. It connected to my WiFi with no problems and the connection is strong (meaning the internal adapter is well made). Previously I’ve had issues with Vizio TV’s connecting, so this was a great relief. The integrated Roku works flawlessly and the set up was easy and intuitive. It quickly walked me though my Roku, Hulu, Amazon and other accounts.Since this TV is in a room not served by cable or satellite, I connected it to a very handy Winegard FL-55YR FlatWave Indoor Antenna and VIOLA! I had 40 channels of OTA TV to augment my Roku.The remote is small and is just like a normal Roku remote with the addition of channel and volume controls plus a handy mute button. And as a fantastic BONUS – by adding a thumb drive to the TV’s rear USB port, you can pause live TV for up to 90 minutes. That was totally unexpected and a really nice surprise. (NOTE- they suggest a 16GB drive or less. Anything more won’t extend the 90 minutes and would be wasted space).Bottom line: Great little TV, lots of features; great interface, Smart TV that works — and it has an earphone jack if you need it.
1,448 people found this helpful
Elizabeth S –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent quality for the price
I bought this tv for my bedroom to place on top of my dresser at the foot of my bed. I was hesitant in buying this tv after reading some previous reviews, however I decided to take a chance and I’m SO happy I did. The price can not be beat for this quality. I have another larger size TCL tv in my living room and it’s great quality as well. This 49 inch TV arrived safely in double packaging without damage. The tv stands for the bottom of the tv were very easy to set up. I was able to set the entire tv up within just a few minutes. It was light enough for me to pick up and place on top of the dresser on my own. There were no Roku requests to add my credit card information as previous reviews stated. I signed into my established accounts normally and without complication. The remote came with batteries, however one of the batteries was corroded which was fine since I had extra AAA batteries on hand. The remote is easy to use and works as expected. The picture on the tv is clear and vibrant. The sound is clear. I recommend this tv 100%. I will update if anything changes.
Abegail Fuller💕Abegail Fuller💕 –
5.0 out of 5 stars
It’s a Dream🥺💕
I don’t think I need to say a lot about this product, already by looking at it you can tell it’s great quality I did not regret getting it. The sound quality is outstanding. The color on the screen is very vibrant and sharp. Sometimes it feels like I’m at the movies but less talking LOL 😂❤️
Mike BlakesleeMike Blakeslee –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best bang for your buck!
Upsides:I love these TV’s. I already owned the 2016 model and actually purchased this one, the 2017 model for my sons’ bedroom but after I found out that a Roku Enhanced Remote with the ear phone jack could be paired with it and no matter if I was watching one of the Roku apps or watching our X1 service thru the HDMI, I could hear it, I quickly switched ours into their room and theirs, this one, into our room lol.I had previously been able to pair an Enhanced Remote with the 2016 model but could only listen thru the headphone jack when I was in one of the apps. If I was to use one of the HDMI outlets then it wouldn’t work. For some reason on this one, the 2017 model, I’m able to use it no matter what.Also a plus, the remote finder feature works like a charm. To activate it you must select it using the hard buttons on the bottom of the TV by pressing the center button then scrolling using either left or right buttons till you reach Remote finder and then select it using the center button again.*See Picture*The TV also has a cool feature in the picture settings within the advanced settings when you press the * key when you’re in an app or in one of the HDMI outlets, is that it has a smart contrast feature that helps give you the most clear picture automatically. You have to turn this on manually for each picture profile (Normal, Sports, Vivid, Low Power, Movie) in the advanced settings screen.*See Picture*They changed the footprint where the mount attachment attached to the back of the TV. They actually used to have this blown out footprint that made no sense because you always had to tinker with the mount to get it to attach to the TV. So you’d buy a mount and then have to almost MacGyver something so it would attach and then be good to go. Now they made to footprint the smallest, actually a lot like the default pattern of any mount (It’s 4x4x4x4). Either way they made it better and no more MacGyvering anything lol.Downsides:For me personally there is 2 downsides with this TV (when compared to the previous year)DOWNSIDE #1: From what I can notice is the sound quality isn’t quite good. I’ve tried changing the sound profile to each and every one to no avail. We would normally have the profile set to either SPEECH or THEATER with the volume set to 30 MAX and that would suffice. However once I switched TV’s with the boys we noticed that we’ve had to have the volume up way more than we normally would’ve with the 2016 model.**See Picture**The speakers are still located on the bottom of the TV just like before. Only thing I can think of is maybe somewhere within the equalizer settings deep in the OS is maybe where the problem lies…**See Picture**Also they changed where the hard buttons to control the TV are placed. On the 2016 model it was on the back right side, where the power cable is now located. Now the buttons are placed on the bottom in the center in between the speakers.They also changed the status light, also in the center both currently and previously, however they changed the colors from RED (2016) to WHITE (2017)**See Picture**DOWNSIDE #2: They changed where the cables come into the TV! **See Picture**The 2016 model was conveniently located along the back towards the bottom and was easily able to get to, especially if the TV was mounted flat on the wall, like it is in our sons’ room. Whereas in our room it’s mounted on a swivel mount it doesn’t really matter but I personally do not like that everything EXCEPT the power cable is located along the left side and the power in on the right. It screws up having the cables move when you move the position of the TV. Before it wouldn’t matter because with them along the bottom they wouldn’t move because they were in the center. Now if I have the TV facing towards the left and want to move it to the right I need to loosen the cables up prior to moving the TV. It just irks me that they would need to mess around with a design feature that worked…Other than those two things I find this TV to be both a high quality item and a good bang for your buck. It’s definitely worth it, even if you don’t use the Roku side of the TV it’s still worth buying, since you figure you’re more than likely going to drop around the same price for a normal 32″ TV might as well just get this one and you know you always have a Roku device if you need it. When we were cord cutters we exclusively used FireTV’s to stream with, but I got this TV (the 2016 one) because of the price and knowing there’s a Roku device built in if I ever needed it and I’ve yet to have a problem (*KNOCK ON WOOD!*)
3 people found this helpful
Donna Loves ReviewsDonna Loves Reviews –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Made a great wedding anniversary present for my parents. They love their new Smart TV!
My parents wanted a new 32inch TV and since it was their wedding anniversary, we purchased this item for them. They are more than happy with it and it has exceeded their expectations of a TV. This is actually their first Smart TV and they are enjoying all of the great features it offers. They love to watch movies so, we purchased them a Netflix subscription and now they get to watch their movies in Style. It has been easy for them to switch back and forth between cable and then to the Smart TV. My mom loves watching YouTube videos and now she gets to enjoy it on this TV instead of her computer. Best Anniversary gift ever!When the TV arrived, the box itself was light and when my husband took the TV out to install it, it was very light for him to carry. Setting up the TV was simple and straightforward. My husband did it for them and it did not take very long. He also programmed the cable remote to this TV so they only need one remote to turn the TV on and off. The HD picture is very crisp and the colors are vibrant not to mention the quality of the sound. Wifi is very easy to connect just as easy with any other device they have.The remote has been very easy for them to use, it is not big and bulky but, small and light and fits perfectly in their hand. They are both learning how to use their phone to work the TV, very impressive feature. This TV comes packed with many Apps and they are so happy with their TV that they are learning how to use all of them.Impressive TV with many features at a great price to boot. We own several Smart TV’s but, none of them have features like this one offers. Very happy that we purchased this TV for my parents and would recommend this Smart TV for sure.
114 people found this helpful
Rich W –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good TV, Lacking in somethings … but quite happy with my buy.
Well i must say that I’m quite happy with the TV. I’ve been thinking of cutting the cord. Even tho I have cable, I don’t think that I will have it for much longer. I’ve been watching all the free shows that you can get with this setup. I bought this for Sling and Netflix, still haven’t made a account for ether. But as for the TV the picture is really good. Not as good as my last TV But for the price very nice. Settings in the TV are lacking, from what I can see there is NO WAY to set the IP address to static. So I had to change another device that I have had on the same LAN IP for over 5 yr that was a bit of a bummer. Sound on the TV also good however there are pointing straight down. I am trying to figure out how to add a wireless system to it. Because my wife is slowly going def in one ear. And it’s harder for her to hear my TV then hers. Setup for the TV was way easy, It dose a step by step walk through and has small video to get to know your Roku. Knowing that I was going to get this TV I also bought a Roku Streaming Stick (3600R) for my wife’s TV and earlier this week my Bro / roommate bought the same TV as I Streaming in 3 rooms is wonderful. The TV is lighter that I though it would be. but over all I’m quite happy with my TV. I do wish I knew what chip set the TV has in it. 2,3,4 probable not a 4 but it would be nice to know the specs would I buy this TV again? Yes, yes I would however I hope that when that time comes I will be able to get a 40 something or bigger. If your thinking of cutting the cord and or just want a good yet cheap in price TV this is the one I’m quite happy with .. I hope that this helps someone find what there looking for …. (( To whom that read this. May you have a wonderful day / night ))
113 people found this helpful
J. C. Westervelt –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great value!
Just got it today. Got it set up. Easy as pie. I bought this TV to replace a 20 year-old SamsungTX-R2735 Dynaflat CRT Color TV. I cut the cord 10+ years ago. Been living off Broadcast-Antenna TV, Netflix, Amazon, DVD player and various other streaming services ever since. Quite happily, too. To get broadcast TV on the old Samsung I use a window antenna and a RCA digital to analog converter- with its own remote. Streamed the streaming channels through my high-speed DSL router/modem using a little Roku box- also with its own remote. And played DVDs and such on an old Panasonic VHS/DVD Recorder/Player- also with its own remote. With my new TCL 32S305 32-inch Roku Smart LED TV all this has changed. First of all, the size it great. The screen height is exactly the same as the height of the old Samsung but now I have a beautiful 16×9 aspect ratio so no more top/bottom letter boxing- except on extra wide movies. The only letter boxing I get now is the side/side letter boxing on 4X3 aspect ratio broadcast shows. Mostly those are on MeTV and other such re-run intensive broadcast channels. Reduced my remote count to 2 from 4. So, I am very happy with my purchase so far. I’ll keep putting it through its paces. One thing I have noticed that migh be a deal killer is when playing DVDs this TV hasn’t got a clue what the correct picture size it supposed to be. When leaving it on Auto a 16×9 aspect ratio movie shows up as a four sided letter box image. The TV doesn’t even get it stretched all the way to the edge. The image turns out to be smaller than what it was when viewed on my old Samsung CRT TV. Every time I pop in a different DVD I need to fool with the image size to get it close to what it should look like. I need to keep fooling around with the picture size to get it to come out right. It never gets the size right. Like I said. Probably gonna be a deal killer. Never, ever had this issue with my old Samsung CRT rig. It just automatically presented with the correct aspect ratio with the image touching whatever side of the screen it needed to touch in order to present the fullest image with the correct aspect ratio. I am wondering if this had something to do with the fact that I had the DVD player hooked to the Samsung through a “Component” hook up. Something this TV doesn’t offer.
9 people found this helpful
The EE –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very happy with this purchase!
This was the first new TV I ever bought. Up until now, it has been hand-me-downs and used TVs for cheap. I was extremely dismayed when the first unit I received was broken. However the return and replacement process was easy, free and only took 2 days before the replacement arrived. It was shipped in the original box which is very well packaged, so I think the first TV was just a fluke. It is a brightly colored TV box though, so the delivery person will probably not leave it at your door. I had to be present for UPS to drop off. But they didn’t make me sign anything, so it might be hit or miss in your area. Keep that in mind when ordering.Actual product review. Wow. I. Am. Impressed. I’ve only had Netflix up until now, so this was a major upgrade for me. I am now jacked in to Roku and have added many channels to my TV to start my transition away from cable TV. I have not tested the OTA tuner yet, but will get to it eventually. If it has problems I will update this review. If it works I probably won’t bother. There are 3 HDMI inputs (one is ARC enabled). It has a SPDIF output which I connected to my stereo. It also has an old school composite RCA input which I connected to my SNES. I’m really happy that they kept 1 old input like that.Now for the only downside. I am very tech savvy, just not very interested in most new tech. I design and program computers for a living. I understand the guts of hardware and software. I had no trouble at all with the setup of this TV and I was impressed by the level of integration with various web services. However, I think of my parents with a TV like this. If they could not get me to come set it up and train them how to use it multiple times, it would be returned. For an “average” person who is minimally savvy with their IPhone, this TV would be a challenge to set up. Maybe this is just the state of modern consumer tech, because it seems like TCL and Roku put a lot of effort into making the options well presented and organized. But there is a LOT in there. Don’t buy this TV for your aging parents unless you want to be fiddling with it on every visit. But otherwise, its a solid purchase and you will not be disappointed.Oh and since it is a “TV” the picture quality is excellent. Not the best I have seen, but very very good. Especially at this price point.Update: I’m old enough to clearly remember the days when advertisers suddenly discovered that they could record their ads at higher volume so that the networks would play them at a higher volume and ANNOY THE HELL OUT OF ALL THEIR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS! I’m new to smart TVs. Maybe it’s this one free station. Maybe it’s just a mistake with this one show. Heck it could even be a software bug. But it could also be that the laws written in response to the loud TV ads somehow don’t apply to streaming content. Doesn’t really matter though. I’m still happy with it and just like the good old days of analog TV the MUTE button works great when the ads come on.
44 people found this helpful
Steve –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Happy Purchase
I loved the TCL Roku Smart TV that I bought my wife so much that I decided to buy a second one. My wife’s TV has cable input and is the sole monitor for her Lenovo desktop. Mine uses antenna input and is the second monitor on my Asus desktop. In both cases they replaced 5 year old 26” 1080p TVs. Her old TV was an Emerson, mine was an RCA.First the things I don’t like:■ The legs, not only only a bit of a pain to attach, they are too far apart and the TV sits too low. Since the speakers face downward this effects sound quality. I replaced them on both with universal VESA legs. Her TV is now 6 inches off the surface and mine is 12. Sound quality and volume is much better, as is viewing angle. Also, the wide spacing of the legs may mean you will need to replace them, as I did, if the table or stand they will sit on is narrow.■ Input Switching. Since Input Switching takes place through the Roku menu you lose where you were when you switch. If you are watching say a YouTube video, a Netflix or Amazon movie and want to jump over to the Computer to check on say a long running update, it exists those channels rather than leaving them paused on what you were watching. This is especially a hassle on a sole monitor system when setting up those channels or the Roku itself. The same goes with using Pause Live TV.■ No VGA input. Only a problem if using an older desktop/laptop that only has VGA output. The HDMI works perfectly, even with a Display Port to HDMI cable. Audio transference is flawless.■ Antenna Tuning. Not all TV tuners are the same. I have worked with about 6 different brands all connected to the same antenna. The number of OTA channels have ranged from 28-46. The RCA being the best. The TCL sits in the middle with 34. If I wasn’t missing the local PBS I wouldn’t care. A second antenna on a splitter improved the signal enough for the TCL to find it, I now have 36 OTA channels. Unlike every other brand there is no way to manually add/delete individual channels.■ Channel Switching on Antenna. No number pad. Up/down only.■ Line of Sight Remote. This may be a bit of nit picking as 99% of all remotes are LoS. The remote that comes with the standard Roku is not. It uses 2.4tghz so you don’t have to point it at the device.If you are used to that you will need to adjust.Things that I really like:■ Low Power usage. Mine is in my “man cave” which is powered by Solar, so this is a big thing to me. When turned off it uses less than 5 watts. Other brands are in the 10-15 watt range. I had those on a separate switch, now at 5 watts I don’t bother. When on it ranges 20-25 watts. Half of what the RCA used.■ Physical Size. Being newer I knew that it was going to be thinner and lighter than anything 5 years old or more. What pleasantly surprised me is that it is the exact same dimensions as my previous 26” models. Just less edge, more screen. If you are replacing an older 26” inch and placing it in a cabinet it will fit in the same space.■ Picture quality. This is 720p but unless it is sitting right next to a 1080p you will probably not notice the difference. My wife insists that it is a better picture and sound then any previous model she has used. When compared side by side to my 1080p monitor when watching a 1080p movie, I can see the difference, but it is very slight, and it is the only time I can see any difference. Of course I don’t play high-end graphic intense games on it.■ Excellent Monitor. Not all TV’s work well as a computer monitor. Screen flickers, few resolution choices, to name two issues. The TCL doesn’t have those issues and functions fine as a monitor for daily use. Probably not for gaming though.■ Turn off LED indicator. If it is in a room where you sleep being able to turn that off is a great feature it has.■ Antenna TV. I mentioned two issues I didn’t like in this area, but these two areas make up for those two. ▪ Live Pause TV. I love this feature. Watching a sporting event, can’t wait for the commercial break, hit pause, come back and start up where you left off. You’ll need a 16gb USB stick and if you switch channels or input you’ll lose the saved programming. I’ll adjust. This feature is amazing and was an unexpected bonus. ▪ OTA Programming Guide. This is fantastic. Up to now I’ve had to use an online Programming guide like TV Guide. Now it looks just like Cable TV. The “More Ways to Watch” feature shows if that same program is available on a Roku channel as well. Another unexpected bonus.In case you are wondering, it is the legs that I took a star off for. I had to spend $20 to remedy that.If those are not an issue for you than you should consider this a 5 star purchase. I highly recommend.
11 people found this helpful
Michael T. DoyleMichael T. Doyle –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just About Perfect
We bought this unit during the cyber Monday sales in 2017 because we wanted specifically to have a 40 inch, 1080p smart television to replace an older TV in our living room. We did not want 4K because we are cord cutters and very little cord cutting/streaming content is 4K, our Apple TV 4 is not 4K, and because we sit far enough back from our living room TV that 4K really is not a benefit to us. We did not want a larger screen because it would be oversized for our living room. We wanted a smart TV, and specifically a Roku TV, as a back up to our Apple TV 4 and digital over-the-air antennas, both of which we intended to connect to the unit. We wanted a budget television with a low price that was surprising for its capabilities, similar to the way Vizio televisions used to be a decade ago when they first entered the American market. And we wanted an LED backlight system since they age much better than the older CFL systems.The unit met all of those needs perfectly and was exactly what we wanted. It is also surprisingly thin and light, has robust picture settings, will let you pause live antenna TV for up to 90 minutes if you attach a cheap USB thumb drive to the unit, and thanks to Roku OS 8 which recently came out, offers a live TV program grid.Three caveats to be aware of which were minor or easily surmountable for us (your mileage may vary.) First, there is very little memory contained in the TV for running the Roku interface, so the Roku interface is slow, especially compared not only to our Apple TV but also to the Roku Streaming Stick that we use with our bedroom TV. If we were using this TV primarily via the built-in Roku interface instead of via our Apple TV that would be annoying and I could see how that might be a dealbreaker for some people. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean the interface doesn’t work perfectly–it does.Second, TCL’s non-4K TVs have uneven white values because of back-light bleed-in around the corners of the screen. It is really only noticeable in commercials, and we don’t care about it at those times. Others who find that annoying should choose PCL’s 4K televisions, instead.Third, the TV sits barely more than 2 inches above whatever surface on which you place it. So if you are not wall-mounting the television, you’ll need to be careful about buying a sound bar system. Some sound bar systems, and unfortunately especially Vizio’s (which we used to prefer), badly missed the current market of very low-sitting televisions and will block a solid inch of this unit’s screen because their center channel speakers are 3-inches tall (or taller!) So if you intend to set the TV on a surface with a sound bar in front of it, make sure you choose a low-profile sound-bar system. We originally bought one of Vizio’s current sound-bar systems to use with the TV, but we immediately had to return it because of its massive height. We eventually paired the TV with an LG system which has worked very well, and Samsung’s current sound bars seem to be similarly low-profile as well.So all in all we are very happy with the television and would purchase it again, and would consider TCL should we ever upgrade to a larger or a 4K display. This is essentially the sense of goodwill and satisfaction I had 10 years ago when I bought my first Vizio HDTV, which may make sense to you if you are a legacy Vizio TV owner. It’s clear to me that TCL now owns the quality budget end of the market.
5 people found this helpful
MissiMissi –
5.0 out of 5 stars
I feared the Horror Stories but Found a Simple Culprit
I have always wanted a Roku TV as I love my Roku and I liked the idea of having my Roku and not losing my only HDMI port to it. This TV having 3 HDMI ports was also a major plus for me. I almost bought this TV on 4 different occasions (had it in the cart and almost clicked buy) before being scared off by yet another horror story review.I ended up taking the plunge by accident and I didn’t notice it was in my cart when I checked out until I saw how much came out of my account 6 hours later and I figured I may as well see if it is like the 5star reviews or the horror stories.At first it was a dream come true. It was super simple to set up and I registered it from my phone. I was able to trade My Roku account from my current streaming stick to my TV and the streaming speed, the picture and the sound qualiry were gorgeous (my satellite, DVDplayer, gaming console and bluetooth streaming from my phone are equally great).About a week after I set it up my picture suddenly cut out and I was horrified that all of those “it was great until it died” reviews were now coming true and that I would also experience the warranty horror story reviews as well for additional punishment.In a panic I quickly checked all of my cables, checked the power strip, flipped the power strip off and on, unplugged every cable from the TV and plugged them all back in and even unplugged the power strip from the wall and plugged it back in for good measure. I then powered my TV back up and maybe 15 minutes of glorious streaming later it cut out again.I will be honest I nearly freaked out but after a frantic Google search on my phone I found someone who said their cat playing with a toy behind their TV stand turned out to be their culprit because if the plug isn’t firmly seated it can shut off randomly. Given that not only does my cat love to hang out behind my dresser but I have it plugged into a power strip that just hangs out on the floor behind my dresser with my other device cables I simply screwed my power strip into the back of my dresser to reduce the possibility it could be tension or a feline playing and it has been beautifully smooth sailing since.As for this TV’s ability to hold up to power surges, I unfortunately found out the hard way when a car took out the power substation to my rather rural village. Turns out this Roku TV can hold up to a sudden loss of power and sudden return of power as it happened 6 times in 2 days and no issues what so ever. There were also brown-outs and, while the power strip failed, my TV held up strong. However, as I’m not one to push fate too far Amazon did get another sale from me for a much stronger surge protector.
2 people found this helpful
Elkin M. –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Low Price
This Televison lasted for 6yrs before going bad on me and I loved everything about it. Hopefully now Alexa is now an added feature.
Anonymous123 –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Watching prime video on the roku while I write this review.
Great TV for me. I have a FIOS internet connection and the tv only took a moment or two to run its updates when I first powered it on and connected it to my wifi. Since Amazon Video is the only place I have an existing account right now, I tried it with that first. It was unable to connect initially and told me to try from within the channel, so I skipped that to revisit later. Next, I went ahead and plugged an hdmi cable from my computer to my tv and hooked up my computer. (Remember to change monitor display settings from extend desktop to duplicate desktop if you just want the tv to show what’s on your monitor, then turn off your monitor.) Arranging my furniture and peripherals was the most interesting challenge, but I got it done. I finished off a james bond movie from my amazon prime via the computer display on the Roku tv yesterday. Warcraft on a 40-inch screen tv is awesome as well. I revisited the Amazon Prime app in the Roku tv today and it simply worked, so maybe it just needed time or some kind of activity to initiate itself. I have an old episode of STNG running off my prime video to the Roku tv even as I type this review on my computer now. I didn’t have to create a new prime account. I’m looking into spectrum, vudu, hulu and such now, but see those interesting mixes of paid and free so will see. I have a digital antenna hooked up as well, but my building is a cell/tv signal black hole, so I only get a few channels. The Roku TV actually has many free channels of its own, coming over my excellent wifi connection I presume, but most are news (ABC, CBS, FOX, some weird ones, but no CNN or RT that I can see – I try to watch multiple news stations and guess what’s really happening :)), or fringe sports/music/documentary, or maybe an odd beta-test tv/movie service here and there.Also if you lose your remote, you can get another for ten bucks: https://smile.amazon.com/Control-Replacement-40FS3750-40FS4610R-65US5800/dp/B01J3UF9P8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496615739&sr=8-1&keywords=replacement+remote+for+roku+tvMight go ahead and order a spare now if you live for tv. But I suppose if you live for tv, you’re not careless with your remotes. :)Lastly, it’s a pretty menu-driven tv and doing things like searches or entering your login credentials to get various apps setup will be a bit tedious if you have numerous accounts to setup all at once. HDMI cable from your computer is the quickest way to just slam everything into it all at once at the start, then you can circle back and connect various of your online accounts to the Roku at your convenience later. So your TV can get back to being a tv and you can type reviews while watching your amazon prime videos. 🙂
3 people found this helpful
John Werner –
3.0 out of 5 stars
High Value With Caveats As Far As I’m Concerned
This is a purchase that I’m going to go into hoping for the best as I have never seen a TCL HDTV before. I think by reading a number of reviews I know enough of what to expect and I must say the reviews played into my decision as there were almost all pretty positive.This HDTV replaces a Sceptre I have had for about six years. Last week it just turned itself off never to come on with any amount of coaxing. Could it be an internal fuse? My wife said it happened as there was a small thunderstorm. Nothing else in the house was affected so I’m inclined to think it was something internally wearing out more than being weather related. I have got to say it’s hard to be excited about a 32” TV HD or otherwise.. It’s mostly just the only size that can fit into a bookcase cabinet which was designed when TVs were all tubes as in when a huge TV was a 4:3 aspect 35” tabletop model. In other words a 16:9 ratio HDTV will only fit if it’s 32” or smaller. That brought me to looking a Amazon’s choices.I think I would rather have a $300 Sony but I’m a realist and knowy that at a small 32” size any differences will be lessened just by the size I will only compare this to the previous Sceptre. Out of the box it is noticeable brighter and the picture is sharper to the point of a small amount of residual grain (i.e. noise). I do not find this better yet it is acceptable. The next thing is the TV, more or less, forced me to connect to the internet. Perhaps I could have worked around this, but I was in a hurry and I went with it. The TV said it was updating. I selected most of the smart TV features and I admit it was nice to be able to connect to Netflix on this one as the Sceptre wasn’t so equipped. To me it’s a quirk that each time I turn the TV on I have to select my input choice (surely this can be corrected?). I feel it should auto default to the last used input. The other thing I’ve notice is that my Uverse remote would control my former Sceptre’s on/off and volume as expected so I could store that remote which was good. On the TCL I”ve had trouble finding an the appropriate program for the Uverse remote. Finally I found one though it worked it worked only partially. The on/off isn’t working for the TV on the Uverse remote as expected, and the volume requires that you use the TCL’s remote to “pre-set” the TV’s volume at about 80% and then the Uverse volume will work kind of indepenttly of this – adjusting the volume whilet not actually changing the set’s 80% volume – strange!I think my set looks OK with decent detail and blacks are somewhat detailed so they’re not simply a black blob. Out of the box it’s too bright and is too sharp. I will later bother to actually read the instruction manual with hopes to tame these parameters. This set isn’t any kind of close to “state of the art” and at $170 I wouldn’t expect it to be. it is good enough to do what I need most and for that I give it 3-stars. If the input defaulted and the remote codes worked it would bump up to a 4-star set due to low cost and acceptable performance. It could never, IMHO, be a 5-star 32” set however. As it is though it’s a decent set at a strong value price with the smart and wi-fi features of ROKU TV being built in thus I’m satisfied enough at the price.
4 people found this helpful
Jacques Frechet –
1.0 out of 5 stars
the gift that keeps on giving
I got this as a gift for my sweetheart. The day after I set it up, it wouldn’t turn on. Eventually I did a factory reset and it started working again. It was annoying to have to go through the entire setup process again. Then it did the same thing again a day or two later. I should have returned it to Amazon right away, but I was in the wrong place and I didn’t realize how bad it was until it was past the 30 day return period. No problem, I thought — it has a 1 year warranty, right?Well, it totally does, and they actually honored it, and boy has it been a slog. It could have been worse! I was able to contact them by email instead of having to sit on hold. Actually I’m not sure if that was better — it wound up being a long series of emails, over a period of weeks. After the third time I sent them a screenshot of my Amazon receipt with all six pieces of information on it that they’d requested, they finally sent me a thing explaining which other screen they had secretly hoped all along that I would send them a screenshot of. Which was super helpful! I wished they’d done that sooner! They asked a bunch of questions in each round, and some of them would be the same questions they’d asked before, and some would be different questions, but they were all very generic questions — it wasn’t clear why they couldn’t have asked them all up front. I mean it felt like they were stringing me along.Eventually they asked me to email them a video showing the problem — again the instructions for what they wanted were very generic, they clearly could have led with this, but they waited until like the third or fourth email. I sent them the video and then they’re like, okay, we’re going to send you a box with a pre-paid shipping label etc in 2-4 business days. Sounds great, I thought!Well, the box didn’t arrive. This was over the holidays, so I was away after that, and then I got in touch to ask what was going on, where’s the box… no reply… waited another week or so… sent a more forceful email asking what was going on with the box… and that got a pretty vigorous response, actually, they almost immediately sent me another email with a different case number but otherwise identical, saying that they were sending a box… and then another email a few minutes later, again saying they were sending a box, with a third case number in it. And then a few days later a fourth identical one? And so on. To their credit I wasn’t even doing anything at this point, they were just spontaneously generating new emails with new case numbers and new broken promises of empty boxes periodically, without me even having to poke them. I have to admit that was pretty convenient.Finally about seven or so of the box-promising emails and zero boxes actually showing up… they sent me a different email, with an actual tracking number in it! And sure enough the box arrived, the same day as the email in fact. I only ever got exactly one box. Which is good! That is how many boxes I wanted! You can see how this could have been so much worse, right?I packed up the TV in it as instructed and stuck the label on it and it went off to Texas, which took another week… this whole process has taken months at this point, which is partially my fault I guess, I mean if I’d taken more time away from other things to deal with this situation I probably could have cut that in half at least, right?Anyway I just got another email yesterday saying that they’re going to send me the repaired TV in another week or so. Which sounds great! I can’t wait to find out what happens next. Maybe they will send me a working TV! I have no idea what I’ll do with it. I got another TV for my sweetheart like two months ago (because I felt horrible), from a different manufacturer, similar size/price/features/etc, and it’s working great so far. So neither of us is really in the market for a TV at this point. Maybe if I sell the repaired one, I can get some fraction of my money back? I mean I think it’s illegal to throw these things in the trash or set them on fire, they’re e-waste or something, toxic, also it would feel like a huge waste, even though the fire thing does sound like it might be cathartic. Anyway. Probably someone needs a TV.I have this horrible fear that the repaired TV is going to arrive and I’m going to try it out and it’s going to be fine and then I’m going to turn around and sell it or give it away to someone who needs a TV and they’re going to take it home and the next day it isn’t going to turn on. And I’ll hear about it, and I’ll feel really bad about it. Or maybe I won’t ever hear about it, but I’ll carry this fear with me in the back of my mind until the day I die.In summary, everything is going great, the warrantee process could clearly have been way worse, honestly it’s probably better than I should have expected, I don’t know what I’m even complaining about. I would give it zero stars if I could.I guess I might try to update this review later, to say how it all comes out, but I mean at this point I’m not sure what could possibly happen that would influence my opinion about this whole TV-buying experience, you know?
10 people found this helpful
R. Kleinman –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just what I needed
Update:Still 5-stars for me. I’ve had the tv for about a year now and it works fine for me. It doeslose wifi signal more often than i like (acoule of times a week, probably) but usually resolves itself within a few minutes.Improvements I would like to see in future versions… Ethernet hook up tp hardwire with router. The tv is a bit slow to start upand then has to connect to wifi. My other tv, with a roku premiere+ has a ethernet port and stream is definitely more reliable and quicker startup.I REALLY wish that the buttons on the bottom of the remote were customizable. I use youtubeTV most of the time and there is no shortcut. I have to go to the home screen first, then select YoutbeTV. there are 4 shortcut keys and they should be cusomizable to launch apps that we choose, but this is a Roku issue, noy TCL.For the price, this tv was a great deal and i wouldn’t hestitae to recommend.originsl review…I purchased the 32” to replace a 10 year old LCD tv in my bedroom that finally died. This was by far the best economic choice. The quality is way better than my old Samsung, came with Roku built in, and I got in on sale for $149 on Amazon. My old non-smart tv cost me just under $500 when i bought it new. Unlike many of the reviewers, I like the remote. I mostly watch Sling, Netflix, and amazon prime on my tv through Roku, and most of the have shortcut buttons. It’s really easy to operate, even at night with the lights off.The only things that bother me are the tv stand, i really dislike the two separate stands, since i can no longer sit the tv on top of my dvd player and i need a MUCH larger cabinet to sit the tv on, than my previous tv with the single center mounted stand.Also, i wish there was an on/off timer function built in the tv software. I often forget to set the sleep and wish the tv would automatically shut down at a preset time each night. and some people like to have the tv turn on at a specific time, as an alarm. That would be cool too.I’ve had the tv for about 3 months and so far no issues. It’s rebooted only a handful of times since i’ve had it. I do notice that it only seems to connect to my 2ghz wifi, and no longer connects to my 5ghz. but, this may be a recent Roku issue, since my Roku premiere on my other tv also stopped connecting to the 5ghz wifi around the same time. Neither seem to recognize it anymore.
Amazon Customer –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reliable
Great for close viewing – no complaints – Thumbs up for Roku – thanks! 🐜
Athleisure Ninja, Sandrine! –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Third Replacement is A Charm – Seem’s Fine Now. TCL Customer Service Seems Lacking
UPDATED REVIEW:Pros:Very nice picturePriceCons:TCL CUSTOMER SERVICE – THIS ALONE TAKES THE REVIEW DOWN TO FOUR STARS.Buggy behaviors (screen brightness/power management)Slow appsTiny remoteOccasionally freezes and reboots (more buggy behaviors)No Prime Music content supportAmazon replaced the TV, but the replacement had stuck (white) pixels.I guess that this kind if stuff happens, even with the pricier stuff, so no complaints, since Amazon didn’t hesitate to send another replacement.In my previous posting, I stated, “display goes full-bright every other time it powers on.”This issue is an idiosyncrasy with the power management. It seems to happen if you shut the TV off and then restart it before the power goes into standby. If you wait ~ 10-15 minutes after shutdown (after the status light does its blinking routine) everything is fine: if not, it goes into full-bright (beyond brightest) mode, then you have to manually go into the picture settings and to get the brightness under control again.I also stated that I find TCL’s customer support confusing.Regrettably, I think that is an understatement. I spent hours on the phone trying to resolve this issue–to no avail. The language barrier and overall support are in need of major improvement; the rep. stated that TCL had sent me several emails, which never showed up. If the TCL service environment were like Amazon’s, I’d give another star. 12/14/2017: I have emailed their customer service department and they just don’t reply…customer service like this does not inspire confidence in my purchases.The Roku interface:It is sluggish, but it gets the job done, but many of the apps seem poorly developed (YouTube is completely frustrating). I think that the Amazon Fire Stick might be a better upgrade in the future.Overall, this TV is fine, but the display goes full bright every other time it powers on.I now constantly have to cycle through the brightness settings to get it to respond and display at the “darker” setting…bummer.I liked it enough to buy a 49″ version of this TV on Prime Day.In my opinion, TCL Customer Support was confusing, and did not help me resolve the issue…I’m glad I bought it directly from Amazon!Generally, the picture is very nice, so no complaints about that.The Roku interface is slow, but serviceable; I’m considering Amazon Fire Stick, since Roku’s Amazon Music app does not support Prime Music content.Thanks to Amazon Customer Service for supporting this product.
6 people found this helpful
John Moss –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Satisfied with this TV
I purchased this to replace the secondary TV in our home, it was replacing an older plasma set. Since this is not the primary TV in our home, I had made the decision to cut the cord and stop paying DirectTV for the second receiver box, having had good experience with Roku as an accessory on my primary TV, I was happy to give a Roku powered TV a try and I have not been disappointed.As a Audio Video industry veteran of 20 years (previous career) I have set up many Televisions and seen many interfaces in my day, and this was one of the more pleasant experiences I have had. The setup was intuitive and guided on screen, and the ability to customize the inputs make use by the less tech savvy member of my household simple. Performance wise, I have very happy with the picture quality of the set and would say it is very good, yes there are better pictures out there but at this price point, I am not expecting top tier performance. When it comes to sound, the TV is a bit anemic. This is generally the case with these thin TVs, they have small speakers and … well… physics. This TV has the speakers mounted facing down under the TV screen, this causes sound to reflect off the table the TV is setting upon, then some comes toward you, then some goes to the wall, reflects, then comes back causing a muddying of the sound. This is exacerbated in my setup, where the TV is in a corner so the sound bounces all over the place. I will be adding a sound bar to resolve this.One final thing, If you are familiar with standalone Roku boxes, then this may be an issue for you. The remote on this TV is a traditional line of sight remote, I say this as it is the normal Roku shape and layout, whereas the Roku box remotes are Bluetooth. I keep catching myself trying to control the TV without pointing the remote at the TV expecting Roku behavior that isn’t present on this TV, its a minor issue.
6 people found this helpful
Epic_Maus –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for the price (PS: TV size is measured on the diagonal)
First, and quickly: I’ve seen a number of 1-star reviewers complain that the TV literally does not measure up. So, before you take those ratings to heart, keep in mind that electronic screens are measured on the diagonal (the measurements listed for each TV are the height, length, and width, and don’t include the diagonal measurement). I ordered a 32″ TV, and that’s what I got.I’ll address a couple other complaints as well. I’ve had no issues with connectivity with this TV, nor has it gone through constant updates. I think it’s key to have a strong router, and to have your TV relatively close to your router, if possible. That being said, I live in a basement apartment, and the router is several floors away, upstairs in the main house, and again, I’ve had no problems. I also had zero problems with set-up, which was another issue I noticed in the reviews – no weird requests for money, just a simple case of activating my existing Roku account by going to the Roku website, and entering the code on the TV, much as you would do when linking, say, your YouTube account to another device. I’ve only had the TV a couple of days though, so I’ll add an update if that changes.I think the picture quality on this TV is very good (not great) considering I paid $150, though I do think that my old Samsung had better on-board sound (which isn’t saying much). I replaced the Samsung, however, because it didn’t have an optical jack for a sound bar/speaker system (WHAT?!). I think if you buy this TV, be prepared to supplement the sound; I don’t understand why folks expect a TV under $500 to have Bose-quality sound (I didn’t). I did email TCL in advance to ensure that my specific sound bar model would be compatible, and found their customer service to be relatively quick and helpful.I’ve kept my old Samsung, just in case, but this brand was recommended highly by a co-worker, so hopefully it’ll live up to that recommendation. Overall, I’m very pleased with it so far.
One person found this helpful
JaJA –
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good secondary or apartment TV. This is not a centerpiece, main TV.
This is a pretty good deal for a 40″ TV. Here is my review.Price: It has a good price for it’s size and being an LED Smart TV. It is competitive.Picture: In standard low definition the picture is not too good. It is passable, but if you are used to like me years of watching 1080p and then look at this TV’s standard non 1080p you will know what I am talking about. The picture is not good. But, if you view this TV in 1080p then the picture is very good. It is not as good as my 46″ 1080p more expensive TV, but it is a fraction of the cost. Also I got this for a female friend who does not play any video games so I cannot say if this TV is good for that use. She likes the picture on it and in the end I guess that is the most important thing.Sound: It’s normal TV sound. For the apartment that it is in it is fine. This is not a TV I would have as my main TV to watch something that needs great audio, but as an apartment TV or bedroom TV it is fine.Apps: It comes preloaded with apps, and you can add all of the popular ones.Internet: I wired this with an ethernet cable to make sure it always had the best bandwidth available. Occasionally the picture will degrade from low bandwidth and I do mean occasionally. This does not happen that often.Overall I am happy, and the recipient of this gift is happy with this TV.
6 people found this helpful
Daniel B. Curran –
5.0 out of 5 stars
This TV is Exactly What it Claims to Be
I have 3 TCL Roku Tvs – 2 Years ago I had no TV.Started with a 55″ for my office. HD -picture amazed me. Bought this one for the bedroom, cheap, lower resolution (720) and it was fine. Thought my 55″ was broken, bought a 65″ Ultra-HD to replace it. The Ultra-HD is weirdly crisp. TV shows look like plays – almost too crisp.Turns out 55″ wasn’t broken. Of Course. So that goes to the bedroom and is obnoxiously big for the room but cool to have HD (1080i, HD)Put this one in the garage because – why not.So, sitting in the garage watching a movie and I found myself thinking “Damn this is crisp! Great for a 480p TV” then a little later I thought “Damn, this is REALLY crisp. Picture looks great. is this 480p?” and decided to check my Amazon order.Turns out it’s 720 – so as someone who has an Ultra-HD TV, this one is a steal for the price. Picture s as good as it needs to be for 90% of people. IT IS WHAT IT CLAIM S TO BE and better.Audio? People, Audio is always subpar on any tv regardless of what they claim. You will need to buy a surround sound system, use a receiver, or get sound bars. I have a mixture of all of them. The sound on this tv is EXACTLY WHAT IT CLAIMS TO BE – adequate to surprising depending on your ear.The only shortcoming of the Roku TVs is that they are not in the Google, Cortana, Alexa world. “ASSISTANT: Turn On, Switch Plex, Play Netflix, etc…”All said, I AM getting a $50 soundbar because I AM an audio nerd.If you are looking for a great 32” TV and reading this – Buy Now.
2 people found this helpful
Dixie Lee –
5.0 out of 5 stars
So far so good. This thing has been streaming for 16 hours …
So far so good. This thing has been streaming for 16 hours a day for an invalid since we got it last week. Other than being a bit clumsy to search on, (compared to having a keyboard) it is absolutely wonderful, and ESPECIALLY considering the price. I was very concerned about the sound because the patient is quite deaf, and the tablet we had set up over his bed was just not able to get enough volume. Also, its computer would decide to pause itself once in a while, and he has no idea how to get it back on track, let alone the thing getting bogged down from his interfacing the touch screen. THe remote that comes with this smart TV is NICELY simple! I was more concerned about this TV having a rumble like young people go for, as that would just make the words impossible to understand. Anyway, it is clear as a bell, and other than the fact that if you prefer head banger sound, you probably wouldn’t get a thumpy bass out of it, (thank GOD) what more can you ask for? I have it sitting on about 45% volume and can hear it clearly in other rooms. Oh, the oddest thing is that if you want to see closed captioning (a MUST for us) on Netflix, you have to DE-select captioning on “älways” and instead select captioning “on mute only” and you’ll get the captions. While it’s NOT on mute. HAHAHA. Took me a while to figure that one out, and only after unplugging everything etc. I wouldn’t have even TRIED it on that setting except that it HAD been working before, so I was going through every possibility in case its computer had gotten stuck. (You never know- he has a lot of fun with the remote) We also bought the extended warranty so feeling very contented.
kim-berly –
5.0 out of 5 stars
got it in 2017 and still loving it in 2020!
This TV just a great value for what you’re getting. I can’t believe I got a 2017 model (new at the time) at this price. The 32 inch is perfect for my bedroom.I finally figured out how to get the tv to use the 5ghz wifi (it was so simple). Been having problems with the connection. Hope that helps solve the problem. It could be our net provider (usually an awesome connection speed), FuboTV (they just made an update to the gui) or MSNBC (this is during the CoVid-19 pandemic). More people using the net and shows broadcasting from their hosts homes. Been having lost of buffering and dropped signal issues. Never had problems like this before. It’s been a great TV.I purchased a ROKU 4 media streaming box at the same time. I’m glad I did. I moved it to the Samsung TV.We purchased a Samsung TV a couple of years ago (around 2015) for the living room and I was disappointed with the interface. They made a huge change to it and it wasn’t an improvement. It’s slow and just irritating.ROKU is so much better I just can’t believe it. Got a SideClick to use with the Roku 4 remote. Can turn the Samsung tv on and off with it. And it has other buttons. You use your tv’s remote to set the buttons the way you want them on the SideClick. A nice addition.I’ve seen reviews that have negative things to say about Roku customer service. I used them when I first set up SlingTV and DirecTVnow. I tried them both. And had problems with SlingTV. They figured out the problem was with SlingTV and they gave me the SlingTV customer service number and were very helpful. Sorry others have had a bad interaction.
One person found this helpful
E. MCDONOUGH –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent value
I bought the 32″ 2017 model sold by Erwin. It arrived in two days, even though it’s not Prime eligible. All the ports on the back are really easy to access, even the earphone jack which I use sometimes late at night. I didn’t like the preset picture quality, so I played with it a bit to choose a different setting. The picture now, to my satisfaction, is very sharp and clear with good color. (Didn’t do anything sophisticated; just normal vs sports vs movie, brightness, color saturation, etc.)This TV replaced a 32″ JVC TV purchased back in January 2009. The old TV was larger and heavier but the actual screen size, the picture size, is almost identical. The difference in the case size is due to advances in the technology.Very easy to set up the Roku. We have a separate Roku on another TV and like it very much, and that is why I considered buying this TV. The only “problem” I had setting up the TCL was in following the initial prompts for activating the Roku — not knowing how to add this product to our existing Roku account. The prompts do not account for the customer already having another Roku. Got through it though. If you can’t figure this out, I think you’d have to call their customer service number because the “help” link during setup doesn’t help at all. ;-)This TV is connected to an outside antenna, which I added to the Roku menu so I can access those channels along with the Blu-ray player. Very easy to search for channels and set up on the antenna menu. I imagine if you have cable it would be just as easy.One nice feature on the remote is a button that’s been added to the standard Roku remote to turn the TV on and off. I don’t understand why Roku never put that button on there in the past. Definitely an improvement.I’ve had this TV about 10 days and am really happy with it. If I’d waited another week I’d probably be even happier because I notice the price has come down about $10.
105 people found this helpful
Sanc33647 –
5.0 out of 5 stars
MY THIRD TCL TV
I now have three (3) of these. I have a 65″, a 55″ and now this 49″.This TCL model is absolutely great. I cannot say enough about how well they have worked for me and how well programmed they are.All of my units have been packaged with great care and they are all incredibly lightweight which makes installation much easier.(For reference I replaced a 2007 edition of a 42″ Plasma with this unit. The old Plasma unit weighed 95 lbs. and you should try putting one of those beasts on a wall mount to appreciate my comment about lightweight)The installation and startup including putting in the wall mount took me only an hour. When I turned it on it looked for an internet connection, asked me for a password to connect and immediately began it’s own setup.It identified what I had connected to the HDMI, it identified my BOSE Soundbar, and reminded me to insert a USB so it can do the Pause and hold of live TV.I already have a ROKU account so it just asked me to sign on and it integrated this TV into my existing account. Mind you that this activation process can be done from your smart phone, iPad or tablet while you are right in front of the TV so it’s as convenient as it gets.I particularly like that it has AMAZON and NETFLIX integrated as those are my two largest streaming sources.The image quality is the best you can get at this price point.Although TCL was a new brand for me last year and I was a little leery trying them out; I have to say this has been an excellent experience.Bsed on what I have experienced to date … TCL is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
4 people found this helpful
Cush –
3.0 out of 5 stars
Calling this a “Smart” TV is a stretch
This TV isn’t that “Smart”. If you use other inputs such as cable, Apple TV, PS4, etc. then those work as they should and are completely fine. But the tv based apps are not great. – Sling TV: This is the one I use the most. I’ll experience random issues such as when I try and delete a DVR’ed item, it won’t delete so I have to go deeper into the Manage DVR settings to the page that lays out all recordings and delete from there, but the way they have it laid out, if you have multiple recordings of a show it can sometimes be difficult to tell which you’re deleting because of the way they have it setup. Other times, it’ll get some error message so I’ll have to fully close out and go back into the app. Experienced several other issues as well. I’m literally watching an episode of the Office right now and it stopped suddenly and started buffering and then the screen went black for a minute so I had to close out of the app and go back in and watched a few more minutes and it’s buffering again for the past 5 minutes or so despite my internet speed being at 57Mbps download. – Netflix App: this app frequently crashes or buffers for a few seconds, then plays for a few seconds and then buffers again. I’ve given up using this app and just use it on PS4 or Apple TV – HBO App: they recently updated this but for a while, the interface was HORRIBLE. Now it looks more like PS4/Apple TV but haven’t used it much so don’t know if it works fine or has same issues as Netflix. – Hulu: This has been the only reliable app that hasn’t had any issues as far as I remember.Those are the main apps I use and don’t really use any of the others. Maybe the others are better, but it gets pretty annoying how often it gets buggy. I also don’t think the video quality is that awesome. It’s fine but nothing to rave about.Ultimately, you get what you pay and for $350 (when I bought it) it’s definitely worth that value. I’d be much less happy if this TV had been priced at $500 or more.
Brandi Z. –
5.0 out of 5 stars
SO FAR SO GOOD! (FOR THE PRICE)
Pros:I Just hooked up my TV along with the wall mount(PRICE $179) I’ve only had it for two days and its perfect for my little studio apartment. I love how you can use the digital remote on the Roku app( its so cool). you do have to make a Roku account if you do not have one but its free. you are required to put in your debit or credit card but you wont be charged unless you rent a movie or show. but Roku provides GOOD FREE movies and I love how its movies we actually like!. also hooking up my Netflix and Hulu was so easy! i can either log in through the TV or connect it through my smart phone. I love how it can connect to antenna TV and to your smart phone or laptop. I would recommend this for people who only want to stream movies and videos. I currently do not have cable and do not plan on getting it.Cons: Brightness of TV is BRIGHT! (even on the lowest setting)-there are no putting for the settings on the actual TV except for the volume button and a middle button. To get to settings it is literally through the Roku TV (Which is not bad but kind of difficult to find, unless you search or read instructions which i didn’t feel like doing)-The actual size of the TV, it looks more like a 28 in than a 32 in. its kinda small. I wish I would of ordered a 42 in but I am okay with my 32 inch it fits my home.(I will update in about a month or so, if anything changes that I have stated in my Review) BUT SO FAR SO GOOD!
Amazon Customer –
2.0 out of 5 stars
Slow apps
I have had this TV since 2017. It had been working well for the first 3-4 years. After that, it started lagging on some of the apps, restarting on its own, losing internet connection suddenly and it’s been really hard to navigate in the apps. This happened first in HBO max, I cancelled my subscription because of that and then later the same thing happened with Netflix, Prime video and now peacock as well. I don’t think all of these apps have problems as it doesn’t make sense at all. I can barely watch any show on it. All of these apps work fine on my laptop too so it’s not an internet problem at all. I am just not sure what to do to fix the issue.
Grey Tiger –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still works great, no issues
Purchased Nov 2017 as a cheap buy. Still works great, no issues. Image quality is average. You’ll see banding and some pixilation depending on what your watching but it’sHaving said that I can’t ask for much more from a $130 TV. I subscribe to a mix of to SlingTV, Amazon Prime and Netflix and also some of the apps available. This keeps my bill to under $40 (not including internet bill) and I switch up my services every few months. You don’t get much live broadcast stations but a Digital Tuner should give you the basics. No online Browsing (so no free online movies). But on the free side you get: CBS (live news), Fox Now (movies, tv shows), FX now (movies), weather channel and some other random channel apps on the tv. Which is enough for random movies and TV shows.Best suited for people who watch a mimimim to average amount of TV as entertainment, or current Netflix/Prime subscribers. Also great for people who BINGE WATCH shows like Game of Thrones since you can always subscribe to the apps (HBO now/$15/mo), binge watch, then cut the cord.If you’re someone who has specific shows, watches a lot MOVIES and LIVE TV, or wants a web browsing TV this might not be the best option. But it will give you some basic viewing options with a choices to expand.Very pleased. If the TV lasts 5 years I’ll be happy. Even more pleased I can say bye-bye to Cox Communications who have done nothing but increase cable prices every year ($280, Tele, cable, internet with expanded basic cable). Bye Felicia!!
IronicOrryIronicOrry –
3.0 out of 5 stars
3 TVs with the same issue
I bought this TV based on the Wirecutter review and the fact that my older brother owns a larger version by the same company. When I turned my TV on though I noticed that the image does not extend to the edge of the screen on the right and bottom sides, to a noticeable degree (about 1 cm, see image 1). The weirdest part about this problem is that it is only on two sides of the tv and far too large to just be a purposeful gap. I contacted Amazon for a replacement and the second TV had the same problem (see image 2). I contacted TCL directly and they (without confirming with me through email or over the phone) sent me a third TV (with no information or slip to send back the other one) with the SAME PROBLEM! When I asked TCL what the deal was, they simply said if I wanted to send the 3rd TV back I can get a refund. I asked if this is a structural problem with their company, and they dodged the question.It is not terribly noticeable, and I will give the TV 2 stars because it is decent for my playing games on my PS4, but in the end I am going to go for the refund because on top of this weird issue with the screen gap, the picture quality suffers heavily when any fast movement or action happens (my experience watching Netflix). The picture also struggles with scenes with dark shadows. Overall, this company seems to not make a very good product, I would go elsewhere.Edit: 10 months later I am increasing the item to 3 stars. Once you get over this gap the TV is pretty decent, I just think it is falsely advertised including the promotional photographs included on this page. Based on one of the comments below it seems this large gap is by design, well it is not a great design at that.
8 people found this helpful
Daniel T. Phelps –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Value, Minor Issues if you are Picky but also some Unique Built-In ROKU Perks
Great for the price. I have both Netflix and Amazon Prime and Plex Streaming Server on my iPhone and PC, between those and the various ROKU channels and other apps, it actually stands alone, without a cable-box or satellite dish or a Chromecast or Amazon FireStick dongle hanging off an HDMI port and requiring their own USB or other power source. If you add a high definition digital antenna, you could easily cut the cable cord. Just plug it, sign into your network and use a browser to activate your Roku account. The complaints I heard about it always starting up in SmartTV mode rather than defaulting to Cable, is to me a non issue. The remote has one tiny ergonomic hitch, it’s easy to hit the sound buttons on the side inadvertently when using it. I have only one real complaint considering what I paid and the value I received. This set has a tendency to overkill, seriously, certain shades of yellow, and it’s distracting because you really can’t tell if the President’s hair has really gone electric yellow or is it something much more subtle. And there seems to be no setting or combination of settings which fixes the problem. Oh, and silly stick out, chrome feet which act as a stand, are just an aesthetic and functional design OOPS!
One person found this helpful
WB IN CC. CA –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Needed new TV for back deck purchased TLC 49” Roku Smart TV = $299
“use this for a review if you like” Four in one product revue for DIY project.Needed new TV for back deck purchased TLC 49” Roku Smart TV = $299.99Wanted to mount it from above purchased Loctec CMI celling TV mount = $37.99Wanted ability to move for protection when not in use purchased 100PD sliding door Hardware = $32.06Needed to protect it form weather purchased outdoor TV cover 47” = $25.99Total project cost $$396.06. project time 2 to 3 hours# 1. TLC TV, very satisfied, nice unit, good picture, easy to use, great price.#2. Loctec celling mount. Very satisfied, 360° rotation and much more. I mounted it to wheels of pocket Door hardware. This allowed it to rotate and roll flat against the wall when not in use.#3. Johnson Hardware 100PD sliding door Hardware. I mounted the track beneath upper deck with Screws, attached the wheels to the TV mount. I left the end screw out far enough to keep the Wheels from rolling out of track, remove screw to take off for winter.#4. Mount Factory outdoor TV cover 47”. It is made to be removed each time you use it, I cut it on each End and attached velcro so it can be opened the front rolled up and placed on top of TV when viewing.SEE VIDEOALL PRODUCTS FROM AMAZON
2 people found this helpful
Zola Jones –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to Set Up, Love the Roku App as a Remote Control
We’ve had this TV for a couple of months now and it’s been really great. It was easy to set up and the included feet keep it standing on a table nicely. Since it’s a smart TV, we first had to connect to it our wifi – which was really straightforward. Once the TV was connected to the internet, we started connecting all the subscription services. We didn’t have a Roku account but that was easy to set up. And then it was a matter of logging in to various accounts – Netflix, Amazon, HBO Go and so one. There’s an option of downloading additional channels from the Roku store. I immediately downloaded all the major networks and then used my cable provider’s log-in to watch shows on demand. Being able to use the Roku app as a remote control is also really convenient when I can’t find the remote that came with the TV.My only complaint about this TV is that it doesn’t always automatically connect to the wifi after it’s turned on. Sometimes I have to go through the process of selecting my wifi network in settings and then logging in again. Fortunately, the TV does remember my wifi credentials so I don’t have to type them every time.
TCL 40S305 40-Inch 1080p Roku Smart LED TV (2017 Model)3 people found this helpful
40 year old gamer who loves old school nintendo –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple remote = great for seniors
I bought this for my parents (ages 75 and 68) to replace their 15 year old Samsung flatscreen and it’s perfect.What makes it perfect? The remote!The remote has a very simple design with few buttons. With this one remote, my parents can switch between and control Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and a bunch of great local channels from the digital antanaee (btw, get the digital antanaee).This might not sound like a big deal to those comfortable with modern technology but for my parents it is huge! What used to require 3 different remote controls with a total of over 100 buttons can be done with just 1 control with just 20 buttons.In the past, my parents would constantly stop using Netflix or Hulu simply because they couldn’t remember how to access them with their old set up; now they switch between local news, PBS, and their streaming channels effortlessly. This television is very empowering for them and relieves me of having to constantly teach my parents how to use their entertainment center.Bonus: I was able to hook up my Nintendo Switch to the television and it looks great! My mom was transfixed by Zelda: Breathe of the Wild and kept pointing out shrines for me and even helped me with some of the puzzles! She has never expressed an interest in video games but is now asking me when I’m going to play it again…
4 people found this helpful
James WAmbold –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great TV
Easy to set up and connect to the wifi. I got my smartphone set up as the remote, so I can’t lose it, and any smart device will be able to hook up. My roommates like to play their video games a little loud for my taste, so upon taking a nap today, I could hear that video games from the other room, and just turned down the volume from my bed, without having to bother them, and they didn’t say anything when I entered the room.Overall it is very straight forward with how to use it, and has a great picture. It’s fantastic audio for a TV, but we still had to plug in a better surround sound system, since the speakers aren’t better then a good sound system, but still a great quality for the price.The main menus is easy to deal with, and with that pesky “how do I alter the inputs” question we all have, has been fixed by the fact that you can just go in and name your inputs, and switch them based off what they are called, not just hope and a prayer that HDMI 1 is the right input.It has a good selections of apps that can be helpful, since we are young Mid 20’s males living together, we like showing each other youtube videos, and with the youtube app right on the TV it helps show videos quickly and painlessly. Overall, a purchase that was worth it.
2 people found this helpful
chris simpson –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic tv
I bought this a few years ago and am just now reviewing. So far this tv has not let me down. It always does what it should and the remote is super user friendly. Suitable for a child or elderly person who does not need or want a ton of remote options. The remote does what you need it to but does not have any extras that could confuse elderly or children. It also makes it easy to remember which buttons are which when it’s dark as I have this tv in my bedroom. As of right now, it’s outlived my Vizio even thought the Vizio has fewer hours of use on it. I have since bought another tv like this but in a 50″.The only thing I would like to see is a remote that lights up.Also, the two remotes work on both tv’s so I don’t need to remember which one goes to which tv. They seem to be universal that way.
Todd Kerr –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quality Product.
Good buy for the money. Easy to set-up.
Adam Smith –
4.0 out of 5 stars
~~~ Excellent Picture, but Limited if Used as an Antenna TV
For 2 weeks I have been using this TV as a “regular” over-the-air TV, and to play DVD/ Blu-ray discs. (My internet is so slow I cannot stream.) As with every product there is the good and the bad.GOOD: easy setup. Excellent, bright picture.BAD: the remote control is missing many controls, and feels very wimpy in my hand. (Note there is no keypad to quickly go to different channels. The workaround is to set up a small “favorites list” and then you can scroll forward or backward to the desired channel.)I purchase a new TV every 1-2 years. Why do the remotes get worse? I’d guess the concept behind this “internet TV” is you are using a cable box which is controlled by a separate remote.My second criticism is the onscreen menu feels awkward. It took me several days to feel comfortable with the way I use the TV. Every time I power it on I get the Home screen; then I must choose Antenna TV or my Blu-ray player.Finally, the user guide is extremely brief and has few details. In sum, this is a good value buy, but I’d check others if you’re only using if for an Antenna TV.
6 people found this helpful
J. Gates –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great picture, easy setup and price!
My first impression of this 28” TCL TV is much better than my expectations. I thought the relatively low price might be an indication of performance and picture quality, but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of both. I replaced a dying Samsung 22” 720p with this for my office that was just OK, and happy that I did. Even though the screen is larger, the picture is much more clear. The screen on the Samsung had a dulling Mate finish, where the TCL is a clear somewhat glossy finish which I prefer.Setup was simple, guide through every step with on-screen guidance. After 20-30 minutes I had all things configured; Wireless connection to router established, OTA channels (61) found and logged, connection to both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and functioning Live TV Pause. The Remote is Quite Functional, but not Fancy. There are not a lot of options for picture control except Brightness but the normal setting alone provided me with an overall picture quality close to my beloved Panasonic 1080p Plasma that I fine tuned with Brightness, Contrast,Gama, Viewing Modes etc.UPDATE 10-11-18! After watching a few movies on Netflix and Amazon, I found that there are a lot of picture controls available when pressing the ” * “. So I learned a bit more and to be fair and decided to share.
6 people found this helpful
Maxwell Barjuca –
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great pic/features/navigation…BUY EXTENDED WARRANTY!!
Everything about this TV is as good as expected or better…at first. BUY AN EXTENDED WARRANTY PLAN!! bought this 40in for my bedroom summer of 2018. I like the roku format bc it is a lot more simplified than most smart TVs in terms of “smart hub/apps/navigation etc”. I am a cable technician by trade fyi so I am a little more experienced than most with smart TVs. I stand by my first claim; as good or better than expected picture, navigation, wifi connectivity, and simplicity. I knew before purchasing that TCL roku TVs are a bit lacking in the sound department (bass, treble, specific adjustments and fine tuning, and overall sound quality); but for the price, that is no big deal, buy a soundbar. Unfortunately, I did not purchase any extended warranty, and two or three months after the manufacturer warranty expired (1yr standard)…the TV speakers are crackling and cutting in/out; rendering the set almost unusable on it’s own. Purchased a mini soundbar (small bdr TV mounted on the wall) and no big deal, not a dead set. That said, I reiterate, I literally work with/troubleshoot/fix/install TVs 40+hrs a week and the realistic expected life of a TV these days is 4-6yrs (6 is really the ABOLUTE MOST you could expect) before the HDMI ports start going out; usually the first thing to go. I liked this bdr 40in so much I bought a new 65in for my living room a few months later; thankfully I was smart enough to purchase a warranty ($75/4y warranty seemed like a no brainers for an $800 TV vs a $40/4y for a $240 TV. In conclusion, disappointed in the life cycle of my purchase, at least 3yrs under what can be reasonably expected (speakers only). BUY AN EXTENDED WARRANTY WITH ALL ELECTRONICS PURCHASES, in that way I cannot blame the manufacturer entirely. Which is why I still rated the TV 3 stars.
Brad Boney –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed
Bought this based on the manufacturer’s answer that the tv can mirror a pc wirelessly (screen mirroring). My 32″ arrived today and it does not support screen mirroring. Went to the website and support for this feature “Varies by model.” Wish I had known that. Huge disappointment.Update: I emailed support about their resolution but haven’t heard back yet. In the meantime, I bought an HDMI adapter for my iPhone and it works great. It added $90 to the cost and is not a wireless solution, but for $278 not bad.The 3-start rating is a mixture of the TV and my experience buying it. The TV itself is 4-stars. The picture is not fantastic. I’ve read the Visio in this size has a better picture quality and it’s easy to see how that would be possible. My experience was 1-star because I based my purchase on a manufacturer’s answer in the Q&A that did not apply to all models. I didn’t get the one feature I was looking for and that was a bummer.2nd Update: TCL did a software update that pushed the screen mirroring function to the smaller models. The screen mirroring works on my Windows laptop, but it does not support video playback. Tech support was competent and solved my problem so I raised the rating to 4 stars. After watching for a couple of weeks, there is room for improvement on picture quality. Great sound though. Set the sound mode to “Theater” for best results.
25 people found this helpful
lisavioletlisaviolet –
5.0 out of 5 stars
It works great for my purpose
I got a Pix-Star 15 inch photo frame from Amazon back in November ($199.99). Hung it on the fireplace. The husband and I both liked it. Since digital photography became so easy to use, I don’t know about other people, but I have thousands and thousands of photos taken over the past twenty or so years. But they’re all on hard drives. I don’t print them out and put them in albums, those end up collecting dust. But the Pix-Star was a wonderful way to display some of them.But, we wanted something bigger. The 15 inch frame would be okay for a shelf or desk, but when you’re sitting on the sofa, fifteen or twenty feet away, the image is pretty small. How to go bigger, affordably?I did some research and ended up buying this 32 inch television to use as a photo frame. Consumer Reports gives the TCL brand good reviews, I’m familiar with Roku (it’s what I use for streaming) . My router has a NAS system, I’d used the Roku Media Player app for music, why not use it to run the slideshow? I tested it out on our main television and it worked. I ordered this televsion. Including the mount, this was cheaper than the Pix-Star.I gotta tell ya, this is the way to go if you have the equipment. No fancy transitions, but that’s not a big problem.I haven’t used the sound and durability? It was just set up two days ago, so not much of a chance to see how well it stands up.
Barbara Moore-Peters –
1.0 out of 5 stars
DO NOT BUY!!!!!!!!!! Company will not stand by their product!!!!!
I purchased a 40 inch TCL smart TV Nov. 27, 2017, of course, their warranty only last a year and I see why. Two weeks ago the TV started blacking out constantly while I was watching it. I did not understand what was going on as I live alone and I am disabled so it’s not like I dropped a 40 inch TV or spilled anything on it since my MS doesn’t allow me to be doing things like moving large TV’s around. I contacted TCL and spoke with Rick who had me going thru all the resetting and push this button now unplug the TV etc. I feel when you sell a product you should stand behind the workmanship yet these companies get away with selling their products to consumers who work hard to buy these products they sell. I trusted the company because I bought 2 previous smaller TV’s from them, one which was stolen, and the other one is still working fine in my 5-year-old grandson’s room. My point is if the smaller TV is still working fine which I purchased 2 years before I bought the 40 inch by the same company why is the larger one malfunctioning in less than 2 years? I spoke with Rick and after the troubleshooting did not work he informed me to call Amazon which I did. Of course, Amazon stated we sold the TV and the problem lies with the company, not the seller. I purchased a 36-inch tv from Vizio and it just stopped working after 2 years. Although it was out of warranty Vizio sent someone out to my home free of charge and discovered it was the motherboard which they immediately replaced free of charge and acknowledged it was their company at fault. I will NEVER buy another TV or ANYTHING from TCL again!!! When I called back after speaking with Cara from Amazon I asked to speak with a supervisor at TCL. I spoke with Ann who at one point suggested I may have watched the tv “too much”, REALLY !!!!!! Since I am disabled this is my only form of entertainment! I informed Ann that I had a 40 inch Samsung smart TV in my bedroom I purchased in 2014 and it stays on almost constantly yet it works just fine. I paid more for the Samsung so I guess you get what you pay for. Why should we as consumers HAVE to buy extended warranties on items AFTER spending a large amount of money just to buy the item?!!!! These companies have gotten us so complacent with accepting substandard workmanship with their products that we spend thousands each year on warranties when in fact these very same companies make millions off defective products THEY make AND extended warranties to cover their poor workmanship. Well TCL will not get another dime from me that’s for sure! I am on a fixed income so the next time I am able to save up enough money to replace this TV it WILL NOT BE A TCL TV!!!!!! They should be ashamed of themselves, but of course their not because they get to sell a defective product and keep the money with no repercussions. As a disabled person struggling it’s more than an inconvenience, it hurts!!! I worked for 27 years as a nurse and could easily replace an item. I am no longer in that position. Once again I’ll be confined to my bedroom until I can afford another TV. TCL shame on you!
2 people found this helpful
BossWolf –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive quality viewing. No antenna, cable or satellite feed!
I am thrilled with the TV. It is terrific for my purpose. Surprisingly great picture quality. I am not using a cable, satellite or antenna feed of any kind. I have my WiFi connection for the Roku channels, a Google Mi TV Box, a Chromecast unit and an Android TV Media Box with KODI app installed. It is fabulous! Just can’t praise it enough. I do have one minor gripe .. the light on the front-bottom of the set that blinks to tell you when some command is being received from the remote. The only time this light turns OFF is when there is a picture on the screen or when the set is unplugged. My usage is in the bedroom .. that is supposed to be dark at night. I do not want to get up and unplug the TV at the end of an evening’s viewing. There needs to be a way to use the remote to turn this light OFF. (update: TCL has responded to this review and has solved this problem. The light goes off when the TV does. Success! Thank You TCL.)The only other problem I had was not TCL, Roku or Amazon’s fault. It was the transit company who did not deliver in two days by 8 PM as they committed to. They were a day late but that will happen if you let the package sit on the floor at the airport freight terminal for 27 hours without it moving. Doesn’t make much sense to pay the high price to expedite it out of Atlanta and then have it sit for two days at the receiving airport. It was a day late. The family was so excited with the anticipated arrival of the new TV .. only to have the celebration quashed by the freight delivery company. Unfortunate.
86 people found this helpful
SfMarkH –
5.0 out of 5 stars
TV Great! Beware of Roku Support Scam
Okay, I installed this TV 3 hours ago and so far good! The picture, clarity, color are all better than my 28″ Sharp which this is replacing. The Sharp worked fine for 6 years, about as long one should expect it to. SCAM ALERT I did run into a situation and I want to warn others about it. When I was setting up Roku, I could not get it to activate and it gave me the number of Roku support to call. I phoned and was told by a Jerry Maxwell I would need to purchase a license. There was a standard for 3 years 3 device for $79.00 or a deluxe licence for 5 years unlimited devices (don’t have cost). I was angry that I had to pay 79.00 for Roku since I had a Roku stick already but I thought what the hell I want Roku. I told the guy this is bull****!. He said he would call back. In the meantime I tried activating through my roku account and it went through! So maybe Jerry did something but when he called back, I said it’s working and I ‘m not paying $79.00! He hung up. So SCAM ALERT
415 people found this helpful
Anita –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great budget TV
Purchased about 18 months ago and have had no major issues.Super easy to set up. Even my tech-challenged mother could do it without help. Very lightweight so I could easily put it on my dresser without helpFor the price point, good picture quality. At first I thought the screen was too bright, but then I adjusted the backlight and brightness settings. I only noticed the quick preset picture options at first, so I was pleased to discover how many settings could be adjusted.Reliably connects to my wifi and has plenty of apps to download. You can even change themes for holidays, color schemes, popular shows and whatnot.Sound it kinda flat, but not bad for the price. I purchased the TCL Alto Soundbar and it was a great addition to my entertainment setup.For a total of under $300 including the soundbar, I’d give this TV an enthusiastic thumbs up for value.There is a sleep timer as well as an automatic energy saving shut off feature. I fall asleep streaming TV and don’t have to worry about setting the sleep timer because the television will turn itself off after a few hours of inactivity. I use the Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Pandora and Disney+ apps daily. They all have different defaults for auto-shutoff.I have also used a smart BluRay player and a PS4 connected to the TV but I prefer the Roku apps to the ones on the player.
Pizzaiolo –
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of all viewing worlds together in one unit.
We’re using this in our kitchen eat-in area. Setup was a breeze and both our 2.4G and 5G wifi were immediately found, as were several of our neighbors’ wifi. For just over $100 we’ve got an HDTV with a great picture and resolution, with built-in Roku and great connectivity and expandability. Add to that the ability to select my FireTV (then control Fire with it’s own remote) and 100% control of everything else built-in and connected using my Harmony 650 universal remote, which had the model number in its database. I don’t need to use the Kindle remote at all. That’s a lot of options and combinations all from one HDTV and one remote!I set my Harmony remote up so we can either use the TV’s Roku home page to select the function/input/channel or use the “Watch TV” for cable input, or “Watch a Movie” to select our FireTV streaming input, or just use the Kindle home page to watch as a native Roku streamer.I really can’t rate the durability fully, other than to say this seems to be a quality HDTV with good fit and finish. As to the sound quality, it’s pretty tinny as you might expect for a small and cheap tv. I set it to add base, which makes the audio adequate. The sound volume range is very decent.I didn’t knock off a star for the sound since I have the option to add RokuTV wireless speakers if I want and the total price would still be very reasonable for the excellent functionality.
2 people found this helpful
Customer –
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you need good but cheap, this is it.
This tv is an amazing buy. It’s a breeze to set up, the roku system is really user friendly. My tv took no time to get everything put together, plugged in and updated, then set up preferences on roku’s site. Super simple. And the picture is very nice. Now that being said, it’s still only 720p so don’t expect the hd you might be used to with a phone or another tv, BUT it’s an amazing picture overall. I love it, you can’t beat the price and I am extremely happy with my purchase. If you have an antenna to get air tv, it pulls in your signal and it displays it amazing clarity. I was having problems with my picture getting choppy, freezing, having problems and now that I have this tv, I have no problems. Every channel is crystal clear. If you are on a budget, this is a must buy.Edit: I have now had this tv for 4 months without any problems. It has great sound as well as picture for those who don’t have external speaker systems. I use it with my firestick and it works great. It picks up WiFi well, connections are very fast. I haven’t had a better tv for the money. I’m going to upgrade to their 55″ 4k model because it’s affordable and extremely highly rated. Great tv’s. Plus roku on the startup is nice, but u can program it to start up from an external source like cable, HDMI plug-ins, anything. If you are questioning it, just buy it. You won’t regret it.
3 people found this helpful
iGreg –
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good budget TV with some issues
TV works ok for a small TV and is priced fairly. Why did I knock off two stars. Primarily, it is the Roku remote that stinks. Also, the sound is poor. Sure I understand that all these small TV’s have poor sound. That does not make it acceptable. Sound is thin and very tinny. You should factor in getting a sound bar (which I did).Cons in detail:1. Remote has no numerical inputs, so changing channels with a cable box will require using the cable box remote.2. I do not like the preselected inputs. I use none of them. I do use Amazon Prime Video, which (according to TCL support) does not come with the TV remotes (only their box remotes).3. One minor con is the stand. Even on this small set they are wide apart, limiting you to make sure it is on top of large enough table or sound base. I prefer the single leg stands with a flat bottom.Pros:1. Reviews here and online are very positive.2. Picture is very good for this size set.3. Price is reasonable. But do not forget, if you want more than the poor built-in sound, you will have to get a sound bar or base.Update 3/7/2018: Occasionally I have noticed a cable tv channel or streamed movie freeze up (melt) briefly and then clear in a a couple of seconds. The odds are it is the Optimum cable service and not the TV. But I thought I would mention here just in case because I see a couple of other reviews say the same thing. Also, I have seen the same thing on other (and better TV’s in my area). This all being said I am not disappointed with the TV considering the price. The picture is much better than my 9 year old Samsung HD TV was. The Roku service works great (except I remain disappointed in how limited the remote is).