TCL 65" 4K UHD HDR Smart Google TV with 4-Series Technology (2022 Model, 65S446)

Clinton Paris: Stopped working after 14 months: woke up one day and the TV would power on, but not display a picture. TV was responding to the remote (light flicker when I hit buttons on the remote but still no picture) but no way to reset it or otherwise fix it since it was out of warranty. I was annoyed that it failed just out of warranty, but I was interested in trying to salvage it.

I went online and found a replacement board for it, installed the board, problem fixed! TV now powered on, let me go through menus, etc. Then, TV told me it needed a software update, so I let it download, then it said it needed to restart, BRICKED AGAIN! SAME EXACT SYMPTOM AS BEFORE!

The problem with this TV is completely software-based, and you cannot factory reset it, as there is no button on the side or other method to reflash it with a working firmware. It is so very sad that I have to put this (and the old board I took out) into a landfill because of a software issue that the manufacturer will not help me with because it is out of warranty.

Ridiculous and infuriating. Cannot recommend this brand, or the other brands this manufacturer makes.

United States on Nov 28, 2023

EricEric: Put it in the gym. Wife was really annoyed because the default interface is very slow, full of ads, and continually crashed. Default TV is basically unusable and had me looking for a dumb monitor.

It's fixable.

I put on flauncher, used a button remapper to make flauncher the default, and (importantly) used adb to disable the default launcher. Other developer options you can find on youtube videos (disable updates, reduce background tasks, reduce animation scale, disable diagnostics).

All good now: fast, clean interface and it runs all of the streaming stuff (amazon, plex, disney, netflix, ...) with no problems and no more crashes or ads.

United States on Nov 07, 2023

Dustin: I have the 43". I use this as a PC monitor.

I work in software development and do it as a hobby so text and image clarity is very important. This TV delivers that very well without issue, but you must not use the terrible preset PC setting which ups the sharpness to 100 making text look very rough. I recommend putting sharpness down to 30-40. And of course turning off "enhancements" like noise reduction and headache inducing motion interpolation.

This is a sweet spot for productivity monitor. The 43" size means I don't have to put scaling to 125%. It isn't annoyingly large and stretched out. The 4K resolution means I can use it like 4 1080p monitors in one with plenty of vertical space which is ideal for me.

One minor nitpick is that setting TV input to PC requires two separate actions on remote/app instead of one. And the setting to use the last know input doesn't always work and will sometime land on the Google TV home when the PC is on and active. This just a minor few seconds of annoyance every other day.

Also be aware that tape is applied to bezels stuck to the screen. You must be very careful when removing the tape.

I...

United States on Jan 01, 2023

jvb: I recently purchased the TCL 55" Google TV. It has great picture and even lighting on my panel. Sound is just OK but again it's the cheapest line of TCL TV's so I don't expect anything spectacular.

Setup was easy. I was able to connect to Wifi and then chose basic setup and didn't have to make any TCL accounts or sign in with Google. I am using an Xbox One S for streaming apps and games and it works wonderfully for a bedroom TV.

I purchased a 43" model TCL 4 series and that is still working well at this time. I use the Google TV apps on that TV and bootup is quick and streaming apps work well. I wish Google TV's had Spectrum app but that's why I use Xbox or Roku sticks for that.

All in all it's a fantastic value for a TV of this size and I am very happy with TCL products.

United States on May 16, 2022

Derek Gordon: Picture quality is great for a 350 dollar TV. For those that are saying you need to sign up for TCL TCL gives you the work around right on their site. Up arrow x5 down arrow x5 then go to skip. Packaging is not great so if you get a box that looks even a little beat up just send it back. The enclosure for the panel is cheaply made but gotta save money somewhere.

United States on Apr 28, 2022