Customer Ratings & Reviews

My husband and I just rearranged our living space and couldn't get our LG 55" TV to fit where it needed to be. So, like anything that costs a chunk of my hard earned dough, I started researching TVs in my price range that were 4k with smart features. I watched a lot of reviews on rtings.com, and I was heavily comparing other TCL models to Hisense H8F and Vizio M Series. However, I was on the fence about TCL after I went to Walmart and randomly browsed the TCL models on display... I was not satisfied with how they looked. TCL just looked dull compared to Vizio and other cheap Samsung models. I had no intentions of buying a TCL after seeing them in the store. Then, this TV was released late August. No reviews or videos were posted regarding the quality, except for the other review here on Best Buy. The TV went on sale for $330 and I couldn't resist that price, plus it appeared to be a different series than the other TCLs I had seen, so nervously bought it sight unseen. I LOVE this TV, and I didn't think that would happen. I use it for gaming, blu ray on my Xbox, "antenna" tv, and typical streaming services. Pros: Interface - I prefer this to the Vizio smart tv I have in my bedroom. It's fast and has many apps to choose from (even though many require paid subscriptions). I have used Apple TVs as well and greatly prefer this interface. I've never used Fire TV so I'm not sure how it compares to that. Picture quality - Contrast looks AMAZING! Blacks are so deep. Colors are vivid and bright. There's many settings to calibrate the picture quality and even more options on the Roku phone app. $330 TV... and it looks the same if not better than other Samsung models. Not as good as a LG OLED, but enough that I am beyond happy. I really didn't expect anything near this good for this price. I have basic standard HDR streaming and it is STILL crystal clear. The refresh rate on this is excellent. My husband said football games on live TV broadcast feels like you're there, it's so good. I don't know specific details on the refresh rate but literally everything just pops on this TV and there's no lag when gaming. Viewing angles are also excellent. My living room has lots of natural light, and this TV still manages to be bright enough. Appearance: I love how the TV button lights up when you hit the remote buttons. Just a nice touch. Also this TV has the smallest bezels ever. Such a clean, minimal design, it looks way more expensive than it is. And it's light weight! Winner winner. Cons: Remote: I feel like I'm doing yoga with this remote for it to respond appropriately. First world problems but I don't want to raise the remote above my head for long periods of time when my husband/me is being indifferent about which show to watch! I also expected the remote to have voice capabilities but it does not. I downloaded the Roku app to use as an alternative remote and it's way more responsive. Glare: In super bright lighting conditions, there is a noticeable glare on the screen. It's a very glossy screen so I expected something like this, but it's easily corrected by changing the picture settings. Soundbars: This TV must need a bluetooth only kind because I have a soundbar that needs connected to the optical port and it won't work with the provided RGB cable. So that's been a pain, since my sound bar apparently isn't compatible and it's an insignia model. The TV settings to switch to a soundbar are also very confusing. The TV's audio is like any typical flat screen; kinda puny but could be worse. Overall this is the best purchase I've made in awhile. It's better than any other 50'' model TCL makes let alone what other brands have on the market.

When I bought this tv, it looked better then many of the more expensive tv’s at the store. Up to this point I have ever only bought Samsung Tv’s. Given this was just going in my bedroom I had little to loose. Pros: Great picture quality. Smart tv ready. Apps load fast. Light weight. Easy to mount. Cons: The glass is very reflective to ceiling light. So I never watch with my ceiling lights on, only bed side lights on. I use Amazon cube and when ever I am using it the tv always recommends I can start over watching on its roku set up. This just seems unnecessary. It’s chunky. Tv audio is poor, but honestly I can not fault them. All tv’s have horrible audio. That’s why sound bars exist. All and all, this is a really good tv for the price and I would buy again.

What really caught my attention was the increased processor speed! It is lightning fast compared to my other Roku smart TV which seemed to lag a bit when switching menus and channels. No lag with this one. ...and for the price, you really can’t beat this 4K picture. Oh, and the speakers are actually pretty nice for a thin TV! I replaced my 40” Roku with this new 50” Roku smart TV. These new TV’s are lighter than ever, allowing me to use the existing mount from the previous TV!

Beautiful picture. Sound is great without having a sound bar. It doesn’t reflect the light with open window. Easy to use with phone app.

Bought this TV without seeing in store, before any reviews came out. I couldn’t be happier. Beautiful picture, easy to connect and use. Love the frameless screen. So many features for such a low price.

We have bought 4 TCL Roku TVs for our home and my mom's home. This the 5th. They are all working great! This 5 series has a beautiful picture and works pretty fast. We cut the cord some time ago and I love that I have options with Roku. I truly enjoy the benefit of being able to control all my tvs from my Roku app and and added benefit is that I have some control with Alexa and Google Home as well. I am totally pleased with my purchase!

Purchased this TV to hang on a wall in the kitchen. Selected the Roku TV so I could download content and access Xfinity Cable without a box. The picture quality is great for under $400, good viewing from side angles and a nice sleek look with additional accessories hanging from the wall. Only thing I don’t like, xfinity beta live TV has a slight delay vs the content received from the cable box. If I have the Super Bowl on in the family room, it would be slightly ahead of the game viewed in the kitchen

You can’t go wrong with TCL. The price for the quality is unmatched. TCL is the only brand I own, and all series are superb.

This Tv has an excellent crisp clear picture I love it .

I want to start this review with the tv's purpose in my home so that you understand the use it is getting which is going to play a factor in my review of the tv. My fiancee` kicked my gaming setup off the living room tv and said I had to move to the office. I have a 60" Samsung KS8000 that is Edge Lit and has been my favorite tv in the past few years to game on. Having to downgrade to a tv was quite a cumbersome process for me as I am a bit of a psychopath in researching for the next best thing within my budget. I started my search for a tv that cost less than $400, was around 50" in size, had a low input lag for gaming, HDR, 4K and smart tv functionality. Researching between the Hisense H8F and the 5-Series, I stumbled upon the newly releasing 5-Series from TCL. Bought it sight-unseen and set it up with my Xbox One X in my office. I have only used it for about a week no, but I couldn't be happier with my purchase. The below are my experiences with the tv and should not be confused with an actual expert opinion like what can be found on rtings.com, which has not yet rated the new TCL 5-Series tv's. Pros: -Roku TV Interface - I have not tried the Amazon interface, but I do have an Apple TV and a Chromecast. I much prefer the Roku experience to the other two. It's seamless integration and apps all.... just work. -VESA mounting holes are in a decent location on back of the TV, was relatively easy to wall mount. -Powers on quickly. (Has eco mode which takes longer or the instant ready mode, which is the quickest option). Can tell the tv which input to load to upon boot, if you don't want the Roku Home Screen. -Picture... The initial research I've found is that this tv is now backlit, instead of edge lit compared to last years 5-Series model. It makes all the difference. Contrast is much better and the colors are really bold. The picture is much better than the $350 price tag warrants. I would rank it just below the Vizio M508 as it has full array dimming with significantly more dimming zones. - Input Lag on Auto Game Mode. I don't have a tool to measure this, but I've played Apex, Fortnite, FIFA, GOW, and Call of Duty on the tv. It just works really well. I have not noticed any issues in this area, although I am not a trained eye and mostly casually game online after work. I would put it up there with my Samsung KS8000. -Glass Screen and TV Design. The tv is super thin, super light, and the new design is really nice. It is very sleek and is a joy to look at. -Handles upscaling Youtube TV content pretty well. I haven't spent a lot of time watching tv on it, but so far it's handled what I have thrown at it. Will be intrigued to see how it handles fast action sports. Cons: -Remote. The remote on the 50" model is an IR remote and it doesn't exactly respond to every button click so far. Even turning the volume down quickly can be a task. I much prefer the bluetooth remote on our Roku 4K device that responds to every button click. -The Picture Setting menu interface is all over the place. On my Samsung once you go into the settings you can change whatever you need all within that menu interface. Not on the Roku. There are settings you must go to on each input and then there are general picture settings for the tv. Then there are expert settings built into the Roku App that you can download as well. It took me a while to figure out when I was changing an option what all else it affected. For those less comfortable with technology, this might cause a headache to finding the best picture. The bottom line is that this TV will do very well for many use cases, including console video games, movies, cable TV and most likely sports. If your budget can stretch to $350, then this is a very solid option for you in the 50" tv range.

Amazing after2 years it’s my fav around the house. Love the Roku remote and features

I was quite bummed out after purchasing this TV, since it had a lot of specs (like 120 Hz) at a really low price. Unfortunately that ended up biting me since on Day 2 of using my TV there were already streaks of dead pixels coming across it in the corner. Day 1 it looked great. Maybe it was damaged when my family moved it from the floor to its permanent spot, but either way I sent it back to return. Can’t imagine this happens with lots of this model, but figured I would point it out just so people know it’s possible!

The picture is okay. The problem with this tv is the software. It is always laggy and randomly stops working all the time. I have to unplug the tv multiple times a week for it to work correctly. I heard great things about TCL , which was the reason I bought it. All I can say is dont buy into the hype. There is a reason this brand is cheaper.

Save your money! I purchased this tv in January 2020. I go downstairs to watch a game and the screen has completely de attached from the tv itself. No one has been around it, it just separated.

The advance settings for picture and sound are missing. On the specifications listed here in Best Buy for Motion technology it’s listed as 240hz the native refresh rate is 60hz but where the heck is the action smoothing options? I’ve gone through two TVs so far. I bought a 50” Vizio V series V505-G9 didnt like how you can’t download apps but it did produce good HDR but I wasn’t impressed and exchange it for the 50” Samsung 7 series Crystal UHD this tv produced pretty good blacks the Smart TV powered by Tizen was very laggy, the colors were too inaccurate and the viewing angle wasn’t that great. Has very thin bezel Overall it’s a mediocre tv. I returned it and got the TCL 50S525 5 series 4K. By far this is the best of both worlds HDR was slightly better than the Vizio v series and the 4K content was very good, the colors are good And produce pretty deep blacks just like the 7 series Samsung it sports a very thin bezel. The roku OS feels kinda cheap but it’s fast enough and faster than Samsung tizen OS. Solid tv so far I really wanted to get the Hisense HF8 but it’s sold out. If a TCL support can read this where is the action smoothing option for this model!

Let me start by saying that this TV is an absolute steal for the features it offers- from picture quality to connectivity options. I bought this TV more than 3 years ago and it never gave me any problem. What sets this TV apart from others in its price range is its smart functionality of the Roku system and - most importantly to me - the availability of my favorite apps. Connecting was a breeze and you can totally manage to do it yourself - I am no expert and understand that tv’s tech made a quantum jump in recent years, but I will still recommend this tv for the price

This TV was my third and final attempt at finding a TV with a wonderful picture, ease of use and within my price range. The picture is amazing. The ease of setting up apps, including Amazon Prime was refreshing. Internet connection was fast and is consistent. I do not have a remote with voice control, but I did download the App for my phone. I wish I did have a remote with voice control. The volume control is on the side of the remote which is taking time to get used to. I think this is the easiest TV to navigate during my quest to find something - anything that was a smart TV without issues straight out of the box! The speed of changing from Apps to live TV etc. is super fast (compared to other TV's) I am over the moon I took a chance on this TV. I know that most smart TV's out there have poor reviews and it is tough trying to figure out what one should pay for. I will pay for extra cover and keep my fingers crossed.

This television replaced a TCL 49S405. That was a great television for the price! I bought a TCL 43S517 to replace a TCL 43S305 which is a nice 1080p television. All of these televisions are excellent for their low respective purchase prices. The 43S517 is a very fine television. The color is far and above more rich and vibrant than any other television in its price range and the picture itself is brighter than the 3 or 4 series TCL's. The 50S525 has all of the qualities of the 43 inch 5 series with a larger screen. Honestly, with the high contrast, bright picture and eye popping color; Dolby Vision movies almost look 3 dimensional! The sound is acceptable, but buy it for the picture! Stunning and then some!

The built-in Roku is great. Any movie or TV show you can think of is found with search. Even if available in multiple places, it lists them all. The remote is kind of strange, with the volume control on the side, but you get used to it after a while. The picture quality is excellent in all modes and HDR content really looks good. Sound quality with the built-in speakers is better than I expected and when connected to a sound system with external speakers, the sound is excellent. I can't think of any negatives. For the price, this is an excellent value.

Looking for a 2nd TV for teenager's room. This TV has a really great picture if you sit directly in front of it. The viewing angle isn't as good and the detail is washed out if you sit to the side. I've been really impressed with the Roku interface. It is simple to set-up and is perfect for her watching Netflix and other streaming apps. Look forward to seeing how the TCL holds up in the long run, which would give me some comfort to consider their higher end TV's when are main TV finally goes.