Customer Ratings & Reviews

Just two months ago, bought TCL - 43" Class - LED - 5 Series - 2160p - Smart - 4K UHD TV with HDR Roku TV and the screen already has a black shadow as if it is partially burned out. It looks like a black stripe running vertically from the top to the bottom of the screen and obstructs that portion of the picture as well as any subtitles.

The picture was not great. My old projection screen had a better picture.

While waiting for the new TCL 6 series to arrive, I came across the TCL 43S515 for $349 with HDR and Dolby Vision. I've been wanting an affordable 4K television for a bedroom that could replace a 12 year old Samsung plasma. The new TCL 5 series line definitely delivers! While not perfect (no dimming zones, remote is not great), it looks great in the room, easy to set up, the Roku interface is excellent, and it has a clear, crisp picture. I have an Xbox One X hooked up to it, and the games look beautiful! For $349, it's an absolute steal, and no surprise that it's currently sold out. Now I'm eagerly anticipating the 6 series for the living room!

As an enthusiast in all things display tech I have heard lofty promises and to good to be true specs before, but the TCL delivers something I didn’t think possible with very little compromise. Let’s get the “bad” out of the way. The 5 series won’t be winning any awards for its design. This doesn’t mean that it is an unattractive display by any stretch, but little thought was likely put into it’s design. Simple black brushed metal frame, glossy black crows feet stand and a simple Roku remote to navigate it’s smart hub and semi-limited picture setting menu. My first suggestion if you have calibration tools or like to really tinker and fine tune your display the Roku app for Apple/Android is a must. You will have calibration tools to adjust noise reduction, gamma and complete control over the color management system. If you aren’t interested in tinkering than the Movie preset is the most accurate out of the box. It may be a little dim and two reddish orange for some, so the normal mode is likely a better option that prefer a cooler image without being overly blue. I currently own the Sony X900E and Samsung KS8500, so I have a baseline for what near perfect motion, excellent HDR and low input lag gaming can be. I don’t own any meters or pro calibration gear, but comparing the three models in my home here are a few observations. 1: Static contrast is likely around 2000:1-4000:1 2:Peak brightness 300-400nit (KS8500 can reach 1000+nit) 3:Input lag is imperceptible across any picture setting in and out of game mode (15-20ms) 4:Motion is some the best I have seen for a VA based panel showing little to no unnatural blur, no judder (30-60hz content) and no smearing/overdrive trailing during panning shots in game in darker areas. 5:Uniformity is great for an edge lit display, while not perfect. White slides will reveal some vertical banding and minor dirty screen effect, but very little during normal content. 6:This is likely am 8 bit panel w/FRC (dithering) to simulate a 10 bit panel, but there is no color banding normally found in 8 bit panels. Color gradation and transitions are smooth and pleasing to the eye. I shopped for over a month for a new display since I was downsizing due to size restrictions. I had considered 32”-40” monitors that offered some of features and display size I was looking for to take advantage of the Xbox/Pro, but for almost double what I paid for the TCL they weren’t as appealing to me. TCL: Wide color gamut:check HDR10 and Dolby vision support:check Low input lag for gaming:check Great motion:check Plenty of calibration options:check If you are interested I can recommend checking out the TCL 5 series and if a little unsure of a relatively unknown brand it is less than $40 for a 2 year geek squad warranty.

This was the worst mistake I have made in a long time. This TCL TV is a piece of crap. It freezes up and shuts itself off. I thought buying from Best Buy I would be getting a good product. I was wrong.

The picture doesn’t work anymore after less than 6 months. The audio still works but the picture turns black or green or gray. I guess I should have bought a Korean brand instead of this Chinese trash.

Broke after 1 year now sits in my closet. Glitchy the whole time it worked and then just wouldn't turn on one day

First time purchasing a TCL TV and was a little hesitant but I wanted a TV for a small 3-season room and didn't want to spend a ton. After reading reviews, glad I took the leap. Love the Roku integration and the ease of use compared to my other smart TVs. Plus the picture quality is fantastic, especially for the price and it is comparable to my other HDR TV. Highly recommend.

Never ever worked! Never turned on right out of the box. Had to return it right away.

One of the worst 4k smart tv i bought ever. I return it after 1 week.

Did not work retuned it to the store because it did not work

Picture quality was sub par. I returned the tv within 2 days.

This TV has been a fairly solid performer and I've enjoyed it, especially for the price (on sale for under $300). But after about three years of use, while the picture quality was still pretty good for what it is, the interface became very laggy and slow. This is happening despite a great Internet connection, keeping a relatively sparse number of apps on the machine, and keeping the software and apps up to date. It seems like the processor speed is just lacking and the TV is already obsolete. I'm also starting to experience stutter (making streams unwatchable) in certain cases, and it's not clear why this is happening. The same stream will be perfect and fine on my smartphone and computer but the TCL cannot handle it.

I'm using this as a PC monitor (exclusively, though I might buy a 4K Blu-ray player at some point down the road), and thus far, though I had to return the first unit due to a dead green sub-pixel (the replacement is perfect), it's been flawless in this capacity (at 4K/60Hz/RGB [444]). Rtings.com recently posted their review (517--same television, different remote); there's not much I can add to what they wrote, except to emphasize that as they indicated, it simply isn't bright enough for HDR (content looks better, to me, in SDR [HDR disabled]). That said, there are no 4K monitors on the market, to my knowledge, that are even HDR-capable, let alone bright enough for it (300 candela seems to be standard, and it's sufficient for SDR content). (If HDR content doesn't hurt your eyes, the panel isn't bright enough. :) [I'd put that at around 1000 candela.]) Note: 28"-32" will not suffice for 4K resolution; you must buy a 40"+ panel (40-50" is where you want to be), and this one fits the bill perfectly. Give it a chance, but scan it for dead pixels upon receipt.

So a lot of people are dogging the remote of the tv and I understand because I did to at first the size the minimal buttons ect.. but the more I thought about it it’s a 43 inch tv not made as a living room tv more as a bedroom tv or computer monitor so if it’s a debroom tv less buttons are better and this is why, How many people have a tv in the bedroom that has like 30 to 50 buttons on it ? And while in bed at night watching YouTube or tv the volume fluctuation drives me insane also fumbling with the remote to figure out the volume button in the dark well with this tv I have no issues easy to find in the dark and memeory of all the buttons so for a bedroom tv Great! And also enjoy the picture this is my first 4K tv and TCL would recommend it to anyone have had it for 2 month and have had no issues.

Very good picture. Now over 6 years old and working like new.

I read the reviews, the price was excellent for a 43” tv, so decided to purchase and got free delivery too. I also purchased a warranty plan for it. My husband helped me unpack it and set it on top of the dresser in our bedroom and I set it up from there which was very easy. The picture quality is clear and I see no problem with the sound. You can change many things including the sound easily. The Roku remote is small and volume controls are tiny and on the side of the remote rather than incorporated on the face of it. Other than that I love it and my husband does too.

This has been the most remarkable purchase of a TV that I have ever made. Glad I finally "cut the cord" with this purchase, got rid of a smaller flat screen TV, planning to sell my cable-ready TiVo Roamio and saved a bundle by eliminating both my TV cable bill & monthly TiVo bill. Also, splurged and purchased the ROKIU cordless speakers and got rid of a sound bar. The new speakers modulates sound better and with the fantastic color programs from this new ROKU TV, I plan to thoroughly enjoy the action movies for a real change of pace.

Great TV, works really well. Cheap tv works really well for what it is.

I reasearched this TCL model 43s515. It is not even in the TCL website. I contacted TCL and they stated this is a new model. Not a bad typo for Best Buy. I confirmed it does have ARC. The vesa mount changed to 200 by 200 and they added Dolby vision HDR. I ordered it immediately for less than 400! I hope it lives up to the specs. It’s for an AirBnB so looks easy to use.