TCL reliability

[Auditor55]

In many ways, I am a "bottom feeder" when it comes to TV's.
I had a Panasonic Plasma and it was great, but when it was time to upgrade to a larger screen (by over 50% if you calculate area of the screen - which is what matters),I have no regrets. Unless you are too close to the screen, bigger simply outweighs refinement (although we would all prefer both). My ex got the Plasma - aside from the furniture, our deal was everything upstairs aside from audio gear was hers and the basement (my woodworking shop) was mine.
In the last decade I have bought (or advised people who bought) Sceptre, Sharp, Element (these three qualify me for my bottom feeder comment),TCL, Vizio, and Samsung. I have never had a TV reliability problem in my life aside from a Mitsubishi CRT! It was a relatively advanced/expensive unit.
My thinking on this is if you are buying something like a TCL or Vizio (or Element or Sceptre or Sharp) they are not pushing into the "bleeding edge" of new technology and you will be fine for reliability. That said, the Sharp used Roku (which is why I bought it),but they did a poor implementation where after a few firmware upgrades the connection between the modem and the Roku took too long to connect and I ended up adding an external Roku. But the TV works fine!
The big advantage of the TCL is that it uses Roku (and implements it well) which is superior to any other Smart TV interface I have seen. If you plan to use an external streamer (which I would recommend),this is not a big factor. With TCL, I would plan on adding a Roku (or Fire Stick) in 2-3 years. Historically, for me, that is when buying a new one has yielded enough performance/feature improvement to justify the upgrade. Obviously you would not upgrade your TV after 2-3 years, so that is why I don't really like the idea of smart TV's (and the fact that it doesn't cost much to upgrade the streamer).
I guess I should add that I do not watch too much TV. My GF does and she has had Element, Sharp, and TCL. These have all seen steady use (they have migrated to her kids/grandkids as she up-sized) without any issues!

I had a Mitsubishi Diamond RPTV, that thing was awesome. I sold it and purchased a LCOS set, one of the worst purchasing decisions I ever made.

 

[3db]

I have gifted my 47" Vizio to my daughterr and son-inlaw. Despite have water flow in through the top and out of the bottom in a freakish accident, the TV remains solid and reliable. I bought that in 2007/2008 at Costco. Not the last word in black resolution but its picture in general is really quite good with no motion blur.

I have a TCL 1 series that came with a travel trailor I purchased. It does the job for a trailer. Not investing i any upgrade there.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I had a Mitsubishi Diamond RPTV, that thing was awesome. I sold it and purchased a LCOS set, one of the worst purchasing decisions I ever made.

Really? The LCoS TVs were generally considered to have a significantly better image than the DLP models. As is the case, this is typically due to the black levels which Sony could deliver with their units.

So, was it due to image quality, or due to reliability? For sure, I don't think Sony was on point with the overall reliability. My brother got one years ago and he still uses it to this day in his bedroom. When we upgrade his Panasonic plasma (soon) to something larger like an 85" Sony, we will likely finally ditch the Sony LCoS model for the Panasonic.

 

[Auditor55]

Really? The LCoS TVs were generally considered to have a significantly better image than the DLP models. As is the case, this is typically due to the black levels which Sony could deliver with their units.

So, was it due to image quality, or due to reliability? For sure, I don't think Sony was on point with the overall reliability. My brother got one years ago and he still uses it to this day in his bedroom. When we upgrade his Panasonic plasma (soon) to something larger like an 85" Sony, we will likely finally ditch the Sony LCoS model for the Panasonic.

I was talking about a Mitsubishi Diamond CRT RPTV. I also had Mitsubishi DLP, I loved it but had to return it because I couldn't stand the rainbow effect. I had a JVC LCos and a Sony Lcos SXRD, did not have a good experience with them.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I was talking about a Mitsubishi Diamond CRT RPTV. I also had Mitsubishi DLP, I loved it but had to return it because I couldn't stand the rainbow effect. I had a JVC LCos and a Sony Lcos SXRD, did not have a good experience with them.

Was it something about the image quality, or was it something else? I don't remember the JVC units, but the Sony units I definitely remember, and I remember a deep lake of excellent reviews. But, I put my hands on a dozen or more of the Mitsubishi units back in the day as well and thought they all looked great.

I'm really interested in the specifics of what you didn't like about the LCoS units. Thanks!

 

[Auditor55]

Was it something about the image quality, or was it something else? I don't remember the JVC units, but the Sony units I definitely remember, and I remember a deep lake of excellent reviews. But, I put my hands on a dozen or more of the Mitsubishi units back in the day as well and thought they all looked great.

I'm really interested in the specifics of what you didn't like about the LCoS units. Thanks!

They couldn't produce black, more like purple tinted blacks, very inaccurate colors. They had a defect that was known on the AVS forum as the " green blob". In fact there was a class action lawsuit against Sony over their SXRD Lcos displays.