Side by Side Comparison of: TCL vs Samsung

We bought the 40" Model last year for my son to use with a new XBox One since he wanted 1080p. At first I thought the picture was very pixelated but turned down the sharpening and it cleared right up (just turn it down to zero) We had a plasma in the living room so I never really thought much about this budget television. Recently we had to replace the plasma and picked up a very highly rated Samsung KS8000 4K UHD model. Yes, it does 4K, Sure, it's got a lot of great smart features. But this TCL handles angle viewing BETTER, handles cable broadcast motion MUCH BETTER and sounds almost as good as the bells an whistles beast we paid close to 4 times the amount for. It doesn't have all the adjustments as the Samsung, can't do smart functions or UHD etc, but as a pure method of watching cable or basic gaming I would say it is superior. I don't see judder, the image colors remain reasonably consistent looking at angles. We literally unpacked this thing, plugged it in and took half a day to adjust it and were happy. the high dollar screen in the other room is a constant headache. 5 stars, not because it does it ALL, but 5 stars because it does what it's meant to do as well as anything at a fraction of the cost.

I recently bought a Samsung Smart TV J5205. I was disappointed in the Samsung's woefully limited number of Internet TV channels. So, I looked at the TLC TV with internal ROKU. But the WiFi capability of the TLC Roku TVs is relatively weak. So, I opted for this 'dumb' TLC TV paired with a new ROKU 4 (which has state-of-the-art dual-band WiFi technology). It was a perfect solution for an Internet TV.
PROS:
1. Picture-quality is good. Audio from TV speakers is loud and perfectly fine for TV shows and movies.
2. The TLC brand works like a dream with ROKU devices, especially the new Roku 4.
3. THIS TV HAS A HEADPHONE JACK...which means you can EASILY connect old 'analog' speakers to this TV...AND the TLC remote control still controls the volume. New Samsung TVs only have a plug for digital audio output--that severely limits what speakers you can connect! My old Pioneer speakers sound great connected to a TV via the TV's headphone jack or RCA component audio output. SO, a digital audio connection pretty much kills using Oldie Goldie speakers. BUT THIS TLC TV OFFERS EASY, EFFECTIVE CONNECTIONS TO OLDER SPEAKERS...which is why I gave it 5-Stars.
4. $260 for a very decent 40-inch TV is a great value.
CONS:
1. Admittedly, a Samsung TV has a better picture.
2. Audio from TV speakers is not meant for playing music..though sounds OK...but not great by far.
VERDICT:
If you want a bleeding-edge ROKU TV, this TLC TV is 1/2 of the equation. If you pair this TLC TV with a new Roku 4 device, you will end up with a kick-azz, smoking-fast Roku TV system. PLUS, the Deal-Maker is this TV's Heaphone Jack that allows connecting Oldie-Goldie Speakers for a totally awesome sound experience to boot.

We are using it as a monitor. TCL makes great products, this is my 3rd TCL TV and can't be happier.

I was lucky enough to get this bad boy during the prime day sale. For how cheap this TV is, I am extremely happy with how it performs. The speakers are nice and the screen is crisp. The TV has 3 HDMI ports on the side for easy access. I am very happy with this purchase.

The hardest part was attaching the legs to the TV and from there everything else was a breeze. Set up is pretty much self explanatory and you have a minimal amount of selections to make and the TV does the rest to set itself up. The color is very good, especially on HD channels and the sound is crisp.

I started to get a known name brand unit for about $80 more, but I am glad I took a chance on this model/

We replaced a Sony 32" Bravia (720p) that cost over $ 700.00 six or seven years ago. This TV weighs maybe 15 lb. compared to the Sony which was 50 lb. or more. The Samsung has a better picture, built in WiFi, and reasonably good sound. The picture quality is excellent and the colors are vibrant and lifelike. In my experience Samsung makes excellent products which are durable as well. My only complaint is the stand (?) that is supplied. There are two silver colored plastic "feet" that screw into the bottom of the TV. They are designed so that they can only be mounted one way, and as a result they actually extend beyond the edges of the TV screen, causing you to need a very wide mounting platform (more than the 29" width of the TV). You would need a table top at least 32" wide to stand this TV on. We wall mounted ours, so that was not a problem, but be aware that you need a wide space to stand it on. Also, as light as the TV is, tipping or knocking it over could be a problem with big pets or little kids. The mounting feet give NO stability at all. Samsung should modify the stand to fit under the center of the TV and be larger to give the TV more stability and a smaller footprint on a table. The WiFi works very well, but the input thru the supplied remote is slow and tiresome. Be sure to Bookmark your favorite websites to cut down on the time required to input web addresses. Otherwise we are VERY happy with the TV and are glad we have it.

Before I bought this tv, i did lots of research to see what would be the right tv for me and for the right price. I love the size of this tv, it allows me to watch with great quality. I also love the smart tv aspect of it, i am able to binge watch all of my netflix shows, and I can also downloads 'apps' like pandora and the game snake. i would highly recommend this tv for someone else

Love it for the price. Stunningly crisp picture. Use for bedroom and even the sound is good for movies and gaming. My husband uses it for his PS4 but uses a cable as he says it doesn't lag for certain games. Note you can't use Apple TV with it or use Apple AirPlay. However it has Netflix, YouTube, HBO Go and Amazon in the app section plus others ...which for our bedroom is fine. I think it functions with the Android but read specs. No lag at all in streaming videos from any sites so far. You have to get used to the arrow pointer without a mouse but once you get the feel it isn't a problem. Since We are a primarily an apple family probably wouldn't use for main TV in media room but that is just a personal preference.

This was a great price and I'm very, very happy with my decision to purchase a smart TV. If you're on the fence, spend the extra dollars for the smart hub. You will not be sorry. The options to watch Amazon Prime TV shows and movies as I am a prime customer are wonderful and you also get Netflix and internet browser. I'm thrilled with my purchase!

I bought this TV before there was any feedback and found the negative feedback before it was delivered. I must admit that, based on the prior feedback, I was concerned about the feet as I tried to assemble the TV. They seemed very flimsy, at first. However, it was not until I had fully screwed in the feet that I realized they were more than ample to support the television. In fact, the TV is quite secure. Yes, the feet are plastic, but the TV is very light and it does not require very much support at all. The picture is perfect. The sound quality is great. I am delighted with how easy it is to navigate between cable/netflix/hulu/internet. It was a great buy and I am very pleased.

Additionally, be smart and don't be influenced by reviews from people who are not "verified" purchasers of the product.

Purchased in early 2017, this is a great deal on a 48" LED. For those who care about such things (or like me only care about when researching TV's), this TV has full Overscan control; i.e. you can disable it. It also is one of the few TV's still available that has Component hookup (even TCL's 2016 Roku replacement for this set ditches it).

The only thing keeping it from having five stars is that Color Saturation and Tint settings are greyed out on HDMI inputs. This is a long-standing problem in TCL and Insignia TV's that people complained about in 2012; it is due to the TV being confused by legacy RGB signals being sent by game consoles, etc through HDMI. They evidently still have not discovered a solution, meaning that the picture is slightly over-saturated and reds looks slightly pink, with no way to compensate. Otherwise many settings to tweak.

** UPDATED from 2 to 4 Stars **

My original review is below, and I have the same impressions after a few months as I did up front. I was disappointed by the quality with the first one I was sent, but I must have gotten a lemon. I had a pretty hassle free exchange from Amazon and have been using the TV ever since. The sound is probably the worst part of it, but again, this is a good price for a larger TV. I've had no new issues so far with the replacement, it's been holding up nicely. I've been using it for TV, Movies, and Video Games.

==========

I had this TV all of one night and now and the screen has these green pixelish color. I thought at first I had a bad connection to my cable box, but then tried to watch a movie from my game console and it's the same thing. Not sure what happened from last night.

I bought this on prime day for a discounted price. The TV and box is very light weight. When I picked up the box it flew up because I was expecting it to be heavier.

What comes in it?: TV, power cord, a remote (with batteries), 2 leg stands (one for each side) and screws, a quick start guide, and a manual. It took all of 10 minutes to get it unboxed and hooked up. You'll only need a philips-head screwdriver if you plan on putting the leg stands on.

Inputs: TV, Component (GBR,WR), AV (YWR), 3 HDMI ports, 1 USB, and 1 VGA.
The USB is right above the HDMI, so it's nicely placed for HDMI accessories that are powered by USB.

The picture is very nice. The HD looks crisp.

The sound is not very good. I'm not a huge audio person either. It was noticeably bad when I turned on the TV. I have a 9 year old TV that sound a lot better than this TV. The sound is going through the HDMI input.

There are some features to note such as
eco mode
smart sound
dynamic backlight

The TCL 48FD2700 is not the slimmest TV nor is it the sharpest and no it is not a smart TV. What it is however is a great TV for those like me who don't need the best TV or the most expansive. I paid $319 for a 48" TV, that's a pretty good deal. The TV is pretty crisp as long as your not watching super action packed movie scenes then it does tend to get a bit choppy. The TV came well packaged and was not damaged in anyway. The remote is simple and easy to use and setup was a breeze. Overall I am very happy with my purchase and I would recommend to anyone looking for a basic TV at a good price.

For $159, this TV is perfect. Needed something for my guest bedroom, but didn't need all of the bells and whistles. This is just the product. The picture is clear, and it's super lightweight, making it easy to move around. The bezel around the screen is extremely thin, which makes the TV look pretty sleek. The only complaint I have is the sound is very tinny. While it doesn't have the look of a cheap TV, it definitely has the sound of one.

Overall, this is a great TV for the price, and I would definitely recommend for anyone who needs a basic, no frills TV.

I'm super pleased with this tv!
I got this on sale from Amazon and was unsure how the quality would be.

I did expect it to be larger vertically, but at least it is a lot bigger horizontally than the 32 inch we had before this one.

I am impressed with the resolution and clarity, since this is a brand I haven't heard of. Visually very impressive, good clean resolution.

The menu on the tv is easy as pie to navigate, with a nice sized remote with a clean simple layout.

The sound quality is just so-so, but I did expect that with a lower price range tv, so I was not surprised.

It has all the slots you would generally expect on a basic LED tv, and fits all our family needs just right.

Easy to set up on the stand also!

Overall great tv, and I would definitely buy another one in the future!

So far so good. I think its a great picture and TV for the price. My only two beefs with it are this. 1st the legs are plastic and feel like they could break at any moment when your moving it. 2nd when you first turn it on, you have to wait 2-4 minutes roughly for the internet connection. This is a small beef but still a little frustrating when I just want to turn it on and get it going, I guess am a little impatient.

First the bad. The only reason this tv didn't get 5 stars was because of how long it takes to connect to the internet. If we want to watch Youtube, Netflix or Amazon prime we turn on the tv, go do something for 5 minutes then come back and its connected. I am not kidding, my 14400 modem could connect to the internet quicker. I have never seen a device take so long to connect to the internet.

The picture quality is great, no complaints with any type of movie. We love how clear and sharp it is.

I would recommend you get a tv that you can connect a blue tooth keyboard. IT would make this tv great!

I really like this TV. Good picture and the built in sound is better than most but I still run in through my stereo system most of the time. The smart TV hub us a little clunky to navigate and slow but works. It did not have an app for Amazon Prime music so I also purchased an Amazon TV stick so I could get that. In getting the stick I use is most of the time as it is faster than the TV's "smart" hub. Over all I am very happy with the purchase and would recommend it.

Great TV with excellent picture and perfect size for my side desk. Setup is easy and painless. Just plug in the Ethernet cable and follow the instructions onscreen. Has 2 HDMI and 1 Component inputs, which is more than enough for my Android TV box and cable box.

Smart TV function has plenty of apps, including Youtube, Nextflix, Hulu, Amazon Video Prime, and many other apps. As a matter of fact, I'm a bit surprised to see so many apps available, although I'm sure I will probably just use a few of the most popular ones, ever.

Remote control is not a traditionally big remote but rather petite in size. Plenty of options and it's rather intuitive. I have absolutely no problem with it and after popping in the included batteries, it worked right out of the box. The TV is very responsive with the remote, switch between Smart Hub and TV is very quick, almost no wait time. As a matter of fact, if you mistake Return with Exit key, you will be kicked out of Netflix back to TV mode instead of just one screen back. Takes a bit of getting used to but not out of this world difficult.

The only reason for this deduction is the 2 silver legs that came with the TV as "stand". These sorry excuse of a stand is made with plastic, not at all sturdy, but since the TV is extremely light, I guess it is just enough. I would prefer a bit more weight for stability, but then again Samsung decided to go in another direction, but it is my primary reason for giving it only 4 stars.

All in all I am satisfied with the TV. It is meant as a second screen for my array of screens and for that purpose, it is doing a superb job.

So far so good! I like the features of the TV and it was pretty decently priced for the size. Only small complaint is the sound isn't as loud as what my old TV was.....I'm sure you could solve that problem easily with a sound bar or speakers but for us, that isn't an option right now due to finances. Overall a great TV

Being hearing impaired and using wireless earphones I was disappointed to find that
Samsung was too cheap to keep the RCA audio output jacks on this model. Now I have to buy separate speakers and a digital audio toslink cable and receiver to get my earphones working. The TV does not allow the internal speakers to work in conjunction with the digital audio output. I'ts either 1 or the other.Just a bit stupid as far as engineering goes. One thing is picture quality is great but I'll be sure next time to check the outout ports.

Good TV on the price, has all kinds of connections, and elegant design, unique problem encountered it is that sometimes scenes presents a red ghost light, sometimes impeceptible, but other uncomfortable

Certainly there are pro's and con's . The set does provide 1080i/p but there is no "smart TV" features and adjustments as well as built in tuner for OTA or over the air signals are only as good as the manufacturer providing vs. what other manufacturers install to bring in signals from further away. If you are buying this HDTV and have cable then this will be a great TV.

TL;DR, it's okay but not great.

For the price, I don't think I could've done better, not in this size. The set is lightweight, has a buttload of HDMI ports, works like a charm. I can run my WiiU and my X1 box and my Fire TV and my Chromecast in 1080p at 60hz. My main gripe with the set is the color balance. Via HDMI, I don't have access to the Hue slider, so the colors are off. I spent a week messing with this thing to do whatever I could to reconcile the color but it's still just not...quite there. It's most obvious just how off it is when I'm playing something on the WiiU. Using the gamepad screen as the baseline, I can see that the greens are just too, too bright, and my attempts to ease the greens have thrown everything else off just slightly.

Does this interfere with my normal use of the set? Absolutely not.
Can I play very colorful games without significant distortion? Yeah, but only after messing with it for a long time.
Did the colors settle in a bit better after letting the set run for lengths of time after I bought it? No, not in the least.
Do I consider TCL a poor brand based on this? Hell no, not at all. I'd buy another TCL product, but I'd spend a bit more for something a bit higher quality.

I received two broken units from UPS before finally getting one from FedEx that was in good order. That was frustrating but I really had no problems returning them- Amazon handles everything. I paid about $135 for this TV during prime week. It is okay but I'd never pay full price for it. My biggest complaint is that when paused a whining noise that sounds like the wind whistling can be heard. It's significant enough to be heard through out the house if it's quiet. I do not plan to buy another TCL in the future.

Got this TV for an amazing price on Prime Day 2016. Packaging was fine and it arrived intact, which I was nervous about. Set up was simple, but keep in mind if you are not mounting this TV, it is a fairly wide base for a stand. Picture quality is subpar for a 2015 model LED TV. It is very pixely and not very high res for 1080p HD. It serves its purpose for a spare room/kids TV but would not recommend this TV for a main TV unless you are on a budget (again you can't beat the price even its full MSRP)

The most annoying thing with this TV is according to the manual, the TV doesn't fully power down - it goes into a standby mode (TCL claims this speeds up startup which still takes 10-15 seconds). So the TV is still using power after you turn it off. Also when the TV is off, there is a very blinding white standby light. Not sure why they thought this was a good idea as it is very bright and distracting when trying to sleep. The light goes away when the TV is on so again - not a great development idea.

For the price paid these small issues are small potatoes, but keep in mind if paying MSRP, I would spring a few more bucks for a better brand name TV. It would be much worth it in the long run.

I would not recommend buying this Samsung Smart TV. You come out so much better just buying a good quality flat screen and then purchasing an Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick for your streaming. Samsung limits you to their app store which is minuscule compared to Amazon's. My TV also came pre-loaded with HBO Go but the app doesn't work. I contacted both HBO and Samsung and they blamed it on one another. I finally just hooked a Fire TV up to this Samsung so that I could stream anything my heart desired.

I very rarely post reviews, and rarely so soon after using a product (just used it for a few hours today) but I thought I'd at least make a note of my thoughts over time.

The set up was pretty smooth, and since I don't have an aerial I went straight to the smart apps. I was able to get Netflix up and running pretty promptly, although the Netflix app was fairly sluggish. I managed to watch an episode without a hitch. Picture quality is pretty good, but the text is not extremely sharp. As I say in the headline of the review though, the Smart TV experience was disappointing as I expected it to work a bit more smoothly than a Fire TV stick I bought a few years ago, which it doesn't.

I was very disappointed with the YouTube app though - it didn't work at all on the first boot. After I restarted the TV it worked, but I couldn't stream from my device, so this was disappointing.

More to follow, especially with my experience of using it as a monitor for my macbook pro

As with many other users, I have been experiencing a 'slow' TV. My allegiance to this brand stemmed from our recent purchase of a larger, albeit more expensive, model for our family room. The larger model works very well and has a very reasonable response time when powering on (~5 seconds to launch an app), but this smaller model seems VERY slow to process anything within the first 1-2 minutes of power up. Our intention when purchasing this TV was to place it in our children's playroom and use it's 'SmartHub' feature to connect to our favorite shows via Netflix, Hulu, etc. We do NOT have it hooked up to cable, satellite, or antenna. It's sole purpose is to connect to Wi-Fi! When starting the TV, the common static appears along with the channel. Once you attempt to select an app through the SmartHub, it states "Preparing TV. Please try again later". This message continues to occur regardless of the app selected for a time that is very unreasonable (over 1 minute). You have to sit there, staring at static... Because of our situation (no cable), I would consider this a poor purchase for anyone who wished to use it as we intended.

I have owned and used this TV for about a month now. The picture and sound quality are very good, and overall it is an attractive unit. It was easy to install (I wall-mounted it; it's very lightweight) and set up. Best of all it was an excellent value. I would rate the TV itself 5/5.

However, the SmartHub features are almost useless. It takes a long time for the SmartHub to open, and it was impossible to stream Netflix—the video buffered every few seconds, and never fully loaded. It was impossible to watch video. When I exited Netflix, the TV would become unresponsive to the remote and took a long time to turn off. After troubleshooting, it was obvious that the problem was with the TV and not Netflix or my internet service. This is a known problem with these units, and another reviewer on Amazon offered a solution—to disable the security feature on the TV, and auto updates for the apps. This allowed video to quickly load and play, but it had to be done every time before watching videos. My solution was to invest in a Google Chromecast, which I absolutely love. It works so much better than SmartHub, and I like to use my phone or tablet as the remote.

Between the excellent TV and horrible smart features, I would give this TV a 3/5. If you're willing to purchase Chromecast or a similar device, I recommend it, but if you want to use the smart features right out of the box, consider a different unit.

Overall I like it. I does have all the smart TV features I wanted. What I don't like though is something that seems almost unbelievable to me. You can't to a free text search in their app store. So you have to scroll around the categories to try and find an app. What's also frustrating, is the smart hub is not very intuitive. Picture is great.. the small-ish border is nice, sound is ok. It does have netflix, amazon prime, hbo go, hulu, youtube. I probably would have gotten an LG had I not heard about Samsung's interface being good. Which it's not great in my opinion.

I would have rated this TV 5 stars, however it took two hours to get the Netflix app to work without constantly freezing and locking up the TV's OS.

Symptoms we experienced: Launching Netflix and attempting to watch a show would cause the show to repeatedly buffer and get stuck at 99%. After this occurs, the TV's OS becomes incredibly sluggish and it becomes nearly unresponsive, forcing a full reboot of the TV.

Disabling "Smart Security" feature completely resolves this issue, and gets rid of the sluggishness and freezing experienced within the TV's OS. We also disabled auto-update as we saw this was recommended by other owners as a potential fix.

To disable Smart Security: Menu button on Remote> System > Smart Security > Off

Pros:
TV is incredibly light and thin.
Picture quality is great.
Once Smart Security is disabled, navigating the menu and apps are responsive and quick.
Easy to use.
Price

Cons:
TV is not ready to use "Out of the box".
Smart Security feature completely cripples the TV and makes it unusable with built-in default apps.

3/5 stars. 5/5 once the Smart Security feature is disabled.

When this TV is working, the picture is quite nice and there are a good number of inputs for a TV in this price range. However, right at the one year mark my TV has started showing bizarre red swirl marks on every channel and on every input. I was notified by the tech support on the phone to send in an email with pictures of the problem. I have done that...three times. As of yet I have not heard back from anybody. It's been a week.

I will give the telephone support people high marks for talking me through a different issue I had with this model.

Attached is an image that shows the artifacts I am experiencing. Poor George Costanza has enough to worry about!

[Update] I never did hear back from TCL, therefore I had to make an attempt to resolve my issue myself. After disassembling the TV and checking for loose connections, my picture is back to normal and I can once again enjoy this TV without artifacts all over the screen. I don't think the typical owner would expect to disassemble a one-year-old piece of electronics to tighten internal components.

Horrible. But dirt cheap, so decide for yourself.

Two major issues: 1) it makes a background squeal. So bad I called tech support. They gave me a new one, free of charge, and let me keep the original. Now I have 2 40" monitors with a bad squeal. Obviously a mfg issue. So bad that I can't use monitor in bedroom - high pitched keeps me awake.

2) The "standby" light on the front of it - blinding white light. Can not be disabled. It's "on" when the monitor is "off" - so if you think you could deal with the squeal in the bedroom, how about also the bright light when the tv is off in the middle of the night?

Oh, black levels kinda bad. I see pixelation ive never seen before (DirecTV HD DVR) on other sets. But again, dirt cheap and if you just want a dirty little gaming monitor and dont care much, it's a nice little monitor to have. just know what you're getting, that's all.

Terrible quality picture and sound. HD video is pixelated, overly sharp in some parts and then most text is blurry as well. Lots of visual noise. Our 6 year old TCL 720 LCD has better quality picture than this. Sound is also terrible, I'll have to buy external speakers or something because everything sounds awful. Again our older 32in has much better sound, I have no idea how this is possible. I wish I had spent the extra couple hundred on a nicer TV. I don't know if I can recommend TCL ever again.

I've only bought two TVs in my life, both TCLs, I'm very frugal about TVs but in this case it was false economy. I thought I was getting a deal but it's clear the cost was much too high. If you're not picky or this is going in your playroom then you're in luck because this is the perfect kind of cheap TV to put somewhere you won't have to look at it. I'm going to have to either return this or save up and buy a better one in person.

Got for a low price on Prime Day, but immediately noticed that the power-supply emits an unbearable high pitch whining noise. Plastic legs are flimsy (I'd say they're designed to be thrown away so the TV can be wall mounted, but the power-supply connector comes straight our of the back of the set, limiting wall-mounting options -- I'd need to cut a hole in the drywall for the power cord since I have a 1"-thick wall mount). Exchanged the set due to the annoying power-supply squealing sound (it also causes our pets to run and hide under the bed).

UPDATE: Contacted TCL tech support and they confirmed it was a defect. Amazon sent four replacements of the same model (exchanged one at a time), the first had a smashed screen (Thanks USPS), the second & third replacements had the same high-pitch squealing/wining sound. Now I guess I know why they were on sale on Prime Day.

The fourth replacement was finally a winner, with no high-pitch squealing sound, and it actually had a 2015 production date as in the product description!! The other four had a 2016 production date, and had a while LED on the front (the 2015 version has a red LED).

I had to return it. After reading all the reviews and doing some research, I was excited to open this and get it all set up. Unfortunately, mine came with a large oval shaped gray discoloration which seems permanent. It's mostly noticeable when the screen is all black, but it is always present and should not be. This happened new out of the box.

I did have a pleasant experience with their support who had me go through some hidden menus to try to reset some things to no avail. The fact that I could get directly through to support, receive help and get a case number is why I gave it two stars instead of one. I do believe TCL is trying hard to increase market share, but they aren't going to do it with the lemon I received.

Amazon is taking it back and refunding my money, so no issues there.

TV worked fine for a few months. After about four months the picture started going bad. I have submitted a claim . Waiting for a response.

Believe the bad reviews. The TV takes forever to turn on. It might as well not be a smart TV. I had to also buy a roku to stream. This is either a fake, or a dud.

If you are getting this as simply a TV the setup and display runs well although it does truncate some images. If you are getting this as a web enabled TV. Look for another TV. The user interface l is not very intuitive and things are hidden. Just try loading an app. The screen keyboard and moving arrow takes a little getting used to and you may even get to a word a minute. The support pages are just as cumbersome . Very aggrevating even if you just need a simple answer.

not bad for price, but speakers have slight vibration at mid- high volume. the netflix app doesnt always open. sometimes have to open browser then netflix. also samsung smart tvs have issues with vevo app fully functioning. outside of these its not a bad product.

update: i removed the rca cords so i can wall mount it. the video prong came right off with the cord. hdmi is my only option now. i was switching to it anyway or else i would've returned it. i love samsung, but they are eing made cheaper every day.

[Final update: read to bottom to see how I "fixed" this problem, because Samsung wouldn't.]I've had (and still have) several other Samsung TVs, and have liked them. This one has the same good picture quality as my previous units, but I must say that it is the least satisfying TV that I have ever owned. Why? Because it is ...... slow.How can a TV be slow?* It's slow to turn on. Remember picture tube TVs that used to take time to warm up? Not quite that bad, but takes time.* It's slow to change channels. You press a button on the remote and then wonder if the TV heard you, or not. Eventually it responds, but you are not sure if and when it will do that.* The "Smart TV" feature is *excruciatingly* slow. Many times when trying to start viewing Netflix, this TV will put a pop-up on the screen that says "Preparing TV". This goes on and on. Even that might not be so bad if it automatically started Netflix once the "preparing" was done, but it doesn't work that way - you have to just keep trying until the pop-up doesn't appear. And then wait ... for ... Netflix ... to ... start.* But WORST of all, once the TV has been "prepared" for watching Netflix, it will go into an endless cycle of showing a few seconds of a show, then freeze while a spinning counter slowly goes up to 100%, shows a few more seconds, then repeats. Again, the only solution seems to be turning the unit off then on again and try one more time.This TV is just like having a big, bright monitor that is hooked to an old, really slow computer - that needs to be re-booted over and over again to correct problems.Very, very disappointing![Update 12/29/15]:Several people have reported that they have "fixed" this problem by doing various things like waiting for all software updates to be downloaded or by turning security options off. My TV is at the latest available software version, and I've tried making all of the changes that others have suggested - but none of the fixes work very long, and then it's back to the same maddening behavior.I do appreciate the various suggestions and reports of apparent success, and I keep hoping that a real solution will emerge (Samsung, are you listening???). But I have found that there are things that you can do, or specific sequences of operations, that *appear* to fix the problem. But then try again later, and the problems are still there. I have been down that path many times.One interesting thing I have found:Sometimes Netflix will play reliably if I let it "auto-play" a program from the beginning. By this I mean that I did not press any button to have the program start playing (it seems to start playing automatically after the menu is displayed a few seconds), and I was not trying to resume an episode that I had watched part of earlier. That is great, but just too complicated. I shouldn't have to do that. And it doesn't work all the time. But what this does suggest is that it IS possible for Netflix to work on this TV under the right conditions, if only Samsung would fix this.I keep hoping that someone (Samsung would be the obvious source) will come up with a solution for this whole problem.[Update 1/2/2016]:The Netflix issue with this TV is a serious problem that needs urgent attention from Samsung. It is affecting many people. As of this writing, there 691 reviews of this TV here on Amazon, of which 98 have reported the same or similar issues with unacceptable slowness or constant buffering that makes Netflix unwatchable. So if you have this issue, you are not suffering alone.This TV also has a suspiciously large number of 5-star reviews that say nothing more than things like: "it is great," "cool," "working good" [sic], "excellent," - many of which are concentrated on a few certain days, so will leave it to others to decide if the large number 5-star reviews are the result of any ballot box stuffing to improve the overall rating.I would have returned this TV by now if I hadn't recycled the box it came in. Lacking that alternative, it looks like the only way I will be able watch Netflix on this TV without going crazy is to buy a Roku stick to provide Netflix access.Samsung is a well-known global company. If they truly cared for their customers and their reputation, I would expect them to: A) make a reassuring statement here (because someone representing Samsung has answered a number of the questions about this TV), and B) deliver a fix for the problem. But so far, we have seen neither.[Update 1/22/2016]:Having suffered with the maddening slowness along with an unusable Netflix application that Samsung still has not fixed, I took action on my own that finally allows me to watch Netflix reliably and pleasurably on this TV.The solution is to buy a Roku 3500R Streaming Stick (HDMI) which plugs into one of the HDMI outlets on the back of the TV. Like all Roku devices, it provides a user experience that is far better than Samsung's "smart" feature. I also added a TVPower Mini USB Cable for Powering Roku Streaming Stick for a very tidy installation.The only downsides to this solution are having to spend an additional 50 bucks to provide what I thought I was getting with the "Smart" TV, plus having an additional remote (although the Roku allows you to set up your smartphone as a remote).

I so wanted to like this TV. The first one we ordered came damaged but Amazon true to form had the damaged one picked up and a new set in our greedy little hands in under three days. But why the one star? Well, the set would turn on without any reason. It wasn't a problem with other remotes or neighbors remotes, for we live in the country. Had problems getting to customer service but when we did get them tech was nice and very helpful. He had me do a Hard Reset. It worked....until six hours later and it went back to turning on by itself. I really wanted this set but in the end it was too much of a hassle. I read many reviews and chose it for cost and star ratings. We must have gotten one of the few lemons. I would only recommend this set if you are buying from Amazon as they were great with return.

I really am very annoyed as I ordered this televison twice and twice got broken screens?? At first I thought it must have been a fluke, then I read the reviews and realized it didn't happen to just me. TCL should really do something about its screen quality because I will always tell my friends to stay away from this brand. I honestly will just request a refund and take my business elsewhere as it is apparent that the TV screen is unable to sustain a delivery and probably wont last very long.

I purchased this set on Prime Day, for what I thought was a great deal. The first one I received had a hole smashed through the screen, something that probably happened on its journey to me. Amazon quickly sent a replacement set that looks great, but whenever the TV is on it emits a high pitched shrieking noise that is clearly audible during gaps/pauses/silences in the shows I'm watching. It sounds like a dog whistle and is really annoying and hard to ignore. This TV has proven to be a huge hassle and I would not recommend it.

As soon as it was plugged in, it started making a high pitched electrical whistle, like when a laptop charger craps out. It's a leaking capacitor. Can't comment on the picture since I just packed it up to go back to Amazon. We'll see if the replacement is any better.

UPDATE: New TV came today. No high pitched wine. We'll see how long it lasts. Will update in a couple weeks.

It met my expectation of how big it would be and how well it would fit in my room, but what really bothers me is the constantly whistling noise it makes when it's on. I mean it's always making this noise when on, idle, and while i'm watching a show. Sometimes it's even louder than the show itself. I've contacted support a month ago and to this day they have not solved my issue. Either they never seem to care to try to help, give me the usual reset it to factory settings like it'll help which it didn't. Overall it was disappointing when I turned it on and ever since then I heard that whistling noise.

So far I can't give this more than one star. We don't have cable, antenna, or dish. Just streaming and sling TV. Everything looks great until we go to stream a show and then the aspect ratio is a tiny cube in the lower left hand corner. When going into the menu and trying to fix the picture ratio, it says "it's not an option." We've done all the troubleshooting in the manual including resetting to factory settings, updating to the newest software, changing the DLS to the correct number and it still doesn't work. My boyfriend is so upset he can't speak right now. For $300 this is proving to be one of the worst buys we've ever done.

I would gladly update this review if there were a way to fix the problem, otherwise I'm sending this right back and expecting a full refund.

just received the TV and half of the screen shows white and cannot see any pictures. someone wrote the same review, so i think its a problem with this particular TV.

Pros:
- Nice tv picture quality. That's where it ends.

Cons:
- Significant delay with basic tv/remote functions including power, volume, menu settings
- Volume had to be up to 80 (?!) to be able to hear throughout the room
- SmartTV took a good 5 minutes to connect to the internet, so don't plan on streaming anything right after turning on. Would get the message "Preparing TV check back later"
- Netflix and other apps were constantly crashing the Smart TV software in the middle of a show (software was up to date)
- Significant remote delays in all Smart TV functions - trying to get back to the menu, in between shows, pausing shows, etc.
- The glossy frame created circular patterns of dust, very noticeable, even wiping off daily - very annoying and unattractive

This was a great TV, for 2 days after it was opened. It then decided to fail spectacularly and began bleeding colors in the form of vertical colored green, blue, red, and white lines.. I ordered a replacement and am crossing my fingers this doesn't happen again after the warranty period is done. The smart tv features were a little slow but they worked and the picture was pretty good. But this 1 star review will remain until I get a replacement and it prooves to me that it can work for a month or two.

My 50 inch samsung plasma tv is 5.5 years old and still going strong and this one lasted only 48 hours. Disappointed.

I've been waiting for the TV for weeks. It finally arrived and item is defective. It repeatedly turns on and off. Called customer service and told there's nothing they can do and to have it replaced. I looked online and it's a common problem. Had I known, I would have NEVER bought from Samsung. Very disappointed and will have to wait another two weeks for the replacement and hope that it's not defective out of the box again. If it is, I will simply request a refund and spend my money elsewhere. Buyer beware.