I'm loving both of my TCL TVs. One is a 2019 55" 5 series and the other is a 2020 65" 5 series. Both have been excellent! As much as like the RokuOS interface, I kinda want to try out the Google version.
I totally agree with you. If oled continues to fail on getting brighter. Mini qled is going to own the war. Oled is winning the battle because of people refusing to admit the brightness levels are a real problem for people with a little more than regular lit living room. This tv here will literally hurt your eyes if your aren’t careful in the evening or at dark 😂😂 hell even day time it’s extremely bright as well beautifully accurate. I love mine so much man it’s a tank.
I have a TCL 5 series powered with Roku and the ARC works nearly flawlessly with my Yamaha sound bar. There's about half a second of lag pressing the volume button, but both the bar and TV shut off and turn on with the remote. My only gripe is that you can't change sound bar listening settings with the limited remote.
I like my tv dumb. I HDMI in all my sources like streaming sticks, an old apple tv and an old Chromebox. Optical audio out to my stereo system. My phone is my controller after I get everything turned on. Multiple remotes is the bugaboo I live with .
I’m not really interested in getting a “smart” TV. I’m old enough to remember my old tube TV with just two cables - one to the outlet and one for my cable. I want that simple plug and play experience back. Plus everything I currently watch is done through a cable box, my Xbox or my AppleTV. Having to set up yet another device to stream content I already have access too is not high up on my list of things to do. When my current TV dies I just want to move my devices over to the new TV and go.
I’ve had the 648 for two weeks. Came from a Vizio PQ65-F1. I’m running e-ARC to a sHARC e-ARC converter which runs to my Denon 11.2 channel Pre/Pro. It cost me $218 for the converter but saved me over $5000 on buying a new 11 or 13 channel AVR as mine is limited to HDMI 2.0. So far I’ve had zero issues passing native lossless Atmos & DTS:X from my Panasonic UB-9000 via e-ARC. As far as gaming on a Series X being a 120hz native panel I turned VRR off and have had zero issues, with it on I ran into a few bugs here and there that can be attributed more to software than the panel itself. In terms of PQ it’s excellent, my previous Tv was the Vizio flagship and I paid $1500 for it on sale and got over 3.5 years out of it, on paper it has double the maximum nits output in HDR and much more coverage of BT2020, however doing a side by side A/B comparison of the same native HDR10 source the differences are subtle which goes to show you that this obsession with maximum nits is only useful to a degree.
U cant control volume with just one remote because u are using the optical cable...if u use the HDMI eARC cable and turn on CEC in the settings u will be able to use just one remote
@@SomeGadgetGuy FYI of you use Roku try to pay for your services through a browser because some channels adds a Roku tax on top of they're monthly fee if you go through Roku
Very good video and you touch on lots of things other reviews missed not knocking anyone i dont think any one person has time to catch every detail lol But this has been my experience pretty much also. With this TV it really has less picture issues than most tvs under 1500.00 its that good..but buggy interface lol
What u had with Samsung, I had with TCL when it comes to life. Worked flawlessly for 2 years and just when the warranty was passed my backlight starts to work worse, first top row of backlight leds quitted after a little less then a year the second row quitted. Since then I’m angsty about tcl, but on the otherside, i know people who have the same type of tv and works even after 5 years. (I had a dp600 tcl tv) and i’m leaning towards giving them one more try, 450 usd for a qd-led tv is just really cheap
Unfortunately, with more players ending their manufacturing of LCD, and that consolidating under a couple Chinese manufacturers, it kinda doesn't matter what label is on the box, the panels are all coming from the same sources.
I'm with you on just using the TV as a monitor. Fortunately I can get about 1/2 the LA stations OTA. I use a Fire Stick for streaming. Built in "smart" interfaces are buggy and don't get updates. I have a 5 yr old Vizio I won in a raffle! 😃
How would you recommend streaming to a TV? I've tried using the wireless display feature in the past but it's locked at like 1080 @60 (my TV sports 4k 120)
@@TheTheShizzler I think steamlink for in home streaming is an app on Google Play which can be loaded onto Google TV but Juan also has the hometheater PC. Steamlink between the app and between PC supports higher resolutions and frames (up to 8k and up to 120 HZ).
After three tries (including one panel defective out of box, a first in my history of buying TVs), I was able to finally get an LG C1 working--but LG's support for its own soundbars (like the SP8YA), frankly, sucks (hope you don't actually expect an LG television to turn on an LG soundbar connected to it by any method; or control the volume on anything other than eARC); it's nonexistent for other manufacturer's soundbars, unsurprisingly. I only mentioned that because, before the C1, I paired a Samsung Q70R with a Vizio soundbar (over Optical out) which worked flawlessly (excluding the times I wiped the TV completely, which required setting it up again). "Well, you should really be using a dedicated receiver." Yes, because LG is incompetent when it comes to soundbar support. That's really not something to praise. I'm absolutely keeping the TV (the LG C1 is one of the most accessible four-port HDMI 2.1 options--a receiver capable of the same thing would cost a comparable amount to the TV), but it's a hilarious deficiency compared to televisions nearly half the price.
Google tv interface is the bane of my existence. Roku tv interface is just so simple and smooth. I got the new Chromecast with Google tv as a gift. I hardly ever use it . The 4k playback is so studduery it's unusable for me. The built in Roku on my TCL is what I use the most.
What year is your tv? I upgraded from a samsung 55 inch curve 4k back in 2014 tv when 4k first came out and before hdr came out with the old samsung software. Now I use a 2017 Samsung 65 inch qled TV and mine does not have ads on my TV. I also have a Harman Kardon sb16 sound bar. I was looking for speakers that have a neutral sound signature for my TV but I could find any. I just decided to get the harman kardon sound bar since you can adjust the frequency from the cross overs and I have lows, mids and highs settings in the middle. I try to tune it to make my sound bar with a flat frequency response. I don't have alot of space to put speakers, receivers and amplifiers. I like 2 channel stereo so I tried to make it sound like my sennheiser hd 600.
Funny I've watched a lot of your videos agreed with you a lot when you would talk about how good lg phones were, but I have to completely disagree with you on this I personally had both the TCL 75 r646 and those panels are crap at least mine was I also got the Sony 75 x90jc and it is hands down the better panel I don't know if it's true they cherry pick the panels they give to Costco as thats why the warranty is 3 years standard vs the 1 year you get on the x90j sold everywhere else but my x90jc was so damn nice barely any noticeable DSE or black light bleed, Dolby vision isn't broken on the x90jc vs the TCL 75r646. The r646 is for sure bright but it's too bright it ruins or washes out the color accuracy at least to the human eye in how its perceived, I looked at both of them side by side even after calibrated to ratings settings and the sony was just better it handled motion better than the r646 and even only having 70 dimming zones vs the 300+ on the r646 the sony algorithm is just better on how it handles the local dimming, and as noted the Dolby vision looks way better on the even a calibrated r646. Then 1st and the most important issue for me was the the crappy quality panel with DSE and screen uniformity on the r646 was a deal breaker. Right now the 75 x90j/x90jc at $1600 is the better deal vs the 75 r646 at $1300. Even the the TCL 65 r646 at $900 vs the sony x90j/x90jc at $1200 is the better bang for your buck, plus the 10 tickets and 24 months on sony Bravia core is a damn nice perk. It's nice you got a decent panel but it's an issue that has plagued the 75 inch version those panels are a crap shoot ATM. And side by side the Sony lived up to the name of why you pay little more for a Sony on the x90jc at least
I got the 75r646 and I absolutely love the panel and I'm coming from AN LG OLED. it's clean very little blooming if any, tcl has been very responsive over phone and email about the tvs lag/cec issues.
Not sure how the color compares etc but we have 2 of these tcl 6r46 and can say no DSE at all or dark corners and its the fist tv ive ever had out of 8 lcds and led tvs im pretty impressed.
You know, I have a TV/movie question for you. I bought a blue ray copy of one of the avengers movies that came with a digital download option but the download was only in 24fps. When I search the same movie on RUclips, they're almost all at 60, do you know how to get the higher frame rate movie digitals? (Legally of course, though I'm no stranger to ripping my own movie collections from old disks and sticking them on my NAS)
I'm loving both of my TCL TVs. One is a 2019 55" 5 series and the other is a 2020 65" 5 series. Both have been excellent! As much as like the RokuOS interface, I kinda want to try out the Google version.
Good review have had a similar experience switching from Samsung to TCL I am very impressed with the similar quality with less intrusive ads
The clarity of this Tv comes very very closed to Oled or AMOLED Tv! This mini-led tech will definitely take over.
I totally agree with you. If oled continues to fail on getting brighter. Mini qled is going to own the war. Oled is winning the battle because of people refusing to admit the brightness levels are a real problem for people with a little more than regular lit living room. This tv here will literally hurt your eyes if your aren’t careful in the evening or at dark 😂😂 hell even day time it’s extremely bright as well beautifully accurate. I love mine so much man it’s a tank.
I have a TCL 5 series powered with Roku and the ARC works nearly flawlessly with my Yamaha sound bar. There's about half a second of lag pressing the volume button, but both the bar and TV shut off and turn on with the remote.
My only gripe is that you can't change sound bar listening settings with the limited remote.
Nice tv. Good review
I like my tv dumb. I HDMI in all my sources like streaming sticks, an old apple tv and an old Chromebox. Optical audio out to my stereo system. My phone is my controller after I get everything turned on. Multiple remotes is the bugaboo I live with .
I’m not really interested in getting a “smart” TV. I’m old enough to remember my old tube TV with just two cables - one to the outlet and one for my cable. I want that simple plug and play experience back.
Plus everything I currently watch is done through a cable box, my Xbox or my AppleTV. Having to set up yet another device to stream content I already have access too is not high up on my list of things to do. When my current TV dies I just want to move my devices over to the new TV and go.
I’ve had the 648 for two weeks. Came from a Vizio PQ65-F1. I’m running e-ARC to a sHARC e-ARC converter which runs to my Denon 11.2 channel Pre/Pro. It cost me $218 for the converter but saved me over $5000 on buying a new 11 or 13 channel AVR as mine is limited to HDMI 2.0. So far I’ve had zero issues passing native lossless Atmos & DTS:X from my Panasonic UB-9000 via e-ARC. As far as gaming on a Series X being a 120hz native panel I turned VRR off and have had zero issues, with it on I ran into a few bugs here and there that can be attributed more to software than the panel itself. In terms of PQ it’s excellent, my previous Tv was the Vizio flagship and I paid $1500 for it on sale and got over 3.5 years out of it, on paper it has double the maximum nits output in HDR and much more coverage of BT2020, however doing a side by side A/B comparison of the same native HDR10 source the differences are subtle which goes to show you that this obsession with maximum nits is only useful to a degree.
Really good review.thanks
Why do I hear Inspector Clouseau saying, "The old mobile browser disabled punctuations in passwords ploy."?
LOL omg because we're old and have fantastic taste in classic film/tv?
@@SomeGadgetGuy LOL, I will agree with that statement. 🤣🤣🤣
U cant control volume with just one remote because u are using the optical cable...if u use the HDMI eARC cable and turn on CEC in the settings u will be able to use just one remote
Just got my 6 series TCL but I wanted the Roku. I’m happy so far.
I think for MOST people, I would probably recommend the Roku. It seems easier to use.
Hey i have a question
Have you had any problems with your tv so far?
I'm a fan of TCL with Google tv over Roku. I currently have both and debating on getting an onn Android TV for my TCL Roku tv.
Oh I prefer the google tv too, especially for adding apps, but it's definitely a bit more complicated than the Roku.
@@SomeGadgetGuy FYI of you use Roku try to pay for your services through a browser because some channels adds a Roku tax on top of they're monthly fee if you go through Roku
Wow that's great TV for TCL,great review as always.👍
Ahaha great timing. I have been looking for a new tv. And TCL and LG have been the main ones. Although LG was OLED screen. But was the A1. Thanks Juan
Hi Juan I've been super busy lately hope ur doing good
Never seen this channel before but dude you got the best speaking voice ever.
Been ripping off voice actors for years now 😉
Very good video and you touch on lots of things other reviews missed not knocking anyone i dont think any one person has time to catch every detail lol
But this has been my experience pretty much also. With this TV it really has less picture issues than most tvs under 1500.00 its that good..but buggy interface lol
What u had with Samsung, I had with TCL when it comes to life. Worked flawlessly for 2 years and just when the warranty was passed my backlight starts to work worse, first top row of backlight leds quitted after a little less then a year the second row quitted. Since then I’m angsty about tcl, but on the otherside, i know people who have the same type of tv and works even after 5 years. (I had a dp600 tcl tv) and i’m leaning towards giving them one more try, 450 usd for a qd-led tv is just really cheap
Unfortunately, with more players ending their manufacturing of LCD, and that consolidating under a couple Chinese manufacturers, it kinda doesn't matter what label is on the box, the panels are all coming from the same sources.
Planning on getting an Hisense hopefully I don't have that problem.
I have 4 TCL Roku tvs and 3 Roku streaming devices.
I'm with you on just using the TV as a monitor. Fortunately I can get about 1/2 the LA stations OTA. I use a Fire Stick for streaming. Built in "smart" interfaces are buggy and don't get updates. I have a 5 yr old Vizio I won in a raffle! 😃
Same! I keep a BEAT UP old Vizio in my office. It refuses to die LOL.
I Just Wanna Say I Love You To Everybody Out There!... Just Passing Through, and it's a Thing! Lotsa Love!
I was able to connect my soundbar fine and my TV controller can also control the volume..
Nice i got a tcl 65” 5 series looks decent but its not my main tv it doesnt compare to my lg c1 but for the price its alright
Great review.
Is it worth getting the google tv or the roku cuz I can't decide which one to get
Real talk, have you tried steam in home streaming to it? I feel like with your media center PC it would be a slam dunk for single player gaming.
How would you recommend streaming to a TV? I've tried using the wireless display feature in the past but it's locked at like 1080 @60 (my TV sports 4k 120)
@@TheTheShizzler I think steamlink for in home streaming is an app on Google Play which can be loaded onto Google TV but Juan also has the hometheater PC. Steamlink between the app and between PC supports higher resolutions and frames (up to 8k and up to 120 HZ).
@@davidburns8113 thank you. I'll have to see if it works for me
Do you have the calibration settings for the 75 inch? Thanks
After three tries (including one panel defective out of box, a first in my history of buying TVs), I was able to finally get an LG C1 working--but LG's support for its own soundbars (like the SP8YA), frankly, sucks (hope you don't actually expect an LG television to turn on an LG soundbar connected to it by any method; or control the volume on anything other than eARC); it's nonexistent for other manufacturer's soundbars, unsurprisingly. I only mentioned that because, before the C1, I paired a Samsung Q70R with a Vizio soundbar (over Optical out) which worked flawlessly (excluding the times I wiped the TV completely, which required setting it up again). "Well, you should really be using a dedicated receiver." Yes, because LG is incompetent when it comes to soundbar support. That's really not something to praise. I'm absolutely keeping the TV (the LG C1 is one of the most accessible four-port HDMI 2.1 options--a receiver capable of the same thing would cost a comparable amount to the TV), but it's a hilarious deficiency compared to televisions nearly half the price.
I'm REALLY over these "so simple" audio solutions in general, but the teething pains here SPECIFICALLY are painfully real.
My lg c2 and sp8ya work fine together. Might want to update the lg tv
Google tv interface is the bane of my existence. Roku tv interface is just so simple and smooth. I got the new Chromecast with Google tv as a gift. I hardly ever use it . The 4k playback is so studduery it's unusable for me. The built in Roku on my TCL is what I use the most.
Do you have to set up a TCL account if you just use the basic/dumb mode?
Nope! In basic mode, it's just a screen with inputs and speakers and I love it.
What year is your tv? I upgraded from a samsung 55 inch curve 4k back in 2014 tv when 4k first came out and before hdr came out with the old samsung software. Now I use a 2017 Samsung 65 inch qled TV and mine does not have ads on my TV. I also have a Harman Kardon sb16 sound bar. I was looking for speakers that have a neutral sound signature for my TV but I could find any. I just decided to get the harman kardon sound bar since you can adjust the frequency from the cross overs and I have lows, mids and highs settings in the middle. I try to tune it to make my sound bar with a flat frequency response. I don't have alot of space to put speakers, receivers and amplifiers. I like 2 channel stereo so I tried to make it sound like my sennheiser hd 600.
Funny I've watched a lot of your videos agreed with you a lot when you would talk about how good lg phones were, but I have to completely disagree with you on this I personally had both the TCL 75 r646 and those panels are crap at least mine was I also got the Sony 75 x90jc and it is hands down the better panel I don't know if it's true they cherry pick the panels they give to Costco as thats why the warranty is 3 years standard vs the 1 year you get on the x90j sold everywhere else but my x90jc was so damn nice barely any noticeable DSE or black light bleed, Dolby vision isn't broken on the x90jc vs the TCL 75r646. The r646 is for sure bright but it's too bright it ruins or washes out the color accuracy at least to the human eye in how its perceived, I looked at both of them side by side even after calibrated to ratings settings and the sony was just better it handled motion better than the r646 and even only having 70 dimming zones vs the 300+ on the r646 the sony algorithm is just better on how it handles the local dimming, and as noted the Dolby vision looks way better on the even a calibrated r646. Then 1st and the most important issue for me was the the crappy quality panel with DSE and screen uniformity on the r646 was a deal breaker. Right now the 75 x90j/x90jc at $1600 is the better deal vs the 75 r646 at $1300. Even the the TCL 65 r646 at $900 vs the sony x90j/x90jc at $1200 is the better bang for your buck, plus the 10 tickets and 24 months on sony Bravia core is a damn nice perk. It's nice you got a decent panel but it's an issue that has plagued the 75 inch version those panels are a crap shoot ATM. And side by side the Sony lived up to the name of why you pay little more for a Sony on the x90jc at least
And yet twice I mentioned I wasn't a tv or display technical reviewer...
completely agree with you 75 inch has terrible DSE in some bright scenes but the HDR 120 HZ gaming is not bad
I got the 75r646 and I absolutely love the panel and I'm coming from AN LG OLED. it's clean very little blooming if any, tcl has been very responsive over phone and email about the tvs lag/cec issues.
Not sure how the color compares etc but we have 2 of these tcl 6r46 and can say no DSE at all or dark corners and its the fist tv ive ever had out of 8 lcds and led tvs im pretty impressed.
Looks like you lost the panel lottery
Hi, do you know how to disable HDR on my new TCL google TV?
R646 model
Pls help
One thing Samsung owns at, is the remote.
You know, I have a TV/movie question for you. I bought a blue ray copy of one of the avengers movies that came with a digital download option but the download was only in 24fps. When I search the same movie on RUclips, they're almost all at 60, do you know how to get the higher frame rate movie digitals? (Legally of course, though I'm no stranger to ripping my own movie collections from old disks and sticking them on my NAS)
I honestly don't know whats happening with those versions. I don't believe they were shot natively in HFR.
Is it possible to buy dumb tvs nowadays?
When you Watch movies do get black smearing on fast moiving objects thanks
Is it still a RIP if you BOUGHT it Juan? ;-) lol
Do you donate tvs?
Wtf lol
@@jayw.1042 thats what i said when i saw ur moms
@@BA-bm4ii asked her if she donated TVs? She wasn’t in the tv business. Do better
@@jayw.1042 speak English better
@@BA-bm4ii pay me