I'm looking at getting a new TV and I've narrowed it down to the Samsung Q6 or the TCL 6 series. Looking at picture quality and all that they seem almost identical and with the cheaper price the TCL seems like a no brainer. My question is how durable is the TCL. I had a Samsung that I bought in 2007 that lasted 10 years until I got a line of dead pixels. I replaced that with a Vizio because it was cheaper and now 3 years later I've having issues with it turning off for a second and clicking back on. My concern is do I buy the TCL and end up in this same place in a handful of years, or is it a good product that will hold up?

Thanks, my main concern was the durability. Will I be buying a new one in 5 years if I do the TCL? The difference is price is $500 but if the tcl bums out in 4 years I might as well have bought the Samsung.

I don't know about TCL but I've had to deal with the service department of another discount tv company, Vizio, and it was a nightmare. I was without a working tv for 3 months.Once this one dies, I'm never buying a discount brand tv from a company that doesn't make the panel themselves.

I don't know for a face if Samsung is better, but one of the things you pay for with higher end brands is better service.

In all likelihood, you'll never have to service either if it makes it through the first year or so, but it might be worthwhile to look into the reviews for the service department.

I bought a TCL from Best buy about 18 months ago. Nothing fancy one of their lower-end models, and it crapped out after 2 weeks. At 10:30 at night I hopped on tcl's website to see what my options are and was actually able to speak to a live representative via their chat system, I sent him pictures of what it was doing and they offered to mail me a new one right then or I could take it back to Best buy since I was still within the Best buy warranty window. I realize it's anecdotal but my one contact with them was very easy, I've had no problems at all with the TV since.

mrp_84 said:

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Thanks, my main concern was the durability. Will I be buying a new one in 5 years if I do the TCL? The difference is price is $500 but if the tcl bums out in 4 years I might as well have bought the Samsung.

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I can tell you from first hand experience with both companies that TCL has far better service (at least on their higher end models like the 6 series).

I've had a TCL for 5 years with no issues. If you buy a TV without Dolby Vision support you may be forced to upgrade in a few years anyway.

There is a format war going on between between Dolby Vision and HDR10+ (think VHS vs betamax). Dolby Vision is the superior technology, but that doesn't always guarantee a win. It is best to buy something that supports both formats or plan for a possible upgrade in a few years if you pick the wrong one.

AggieGunslinger said:

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I bought a TCL from Best buy about 18 months ago. Nothing fancy one of their lower-end models, and it crapped out after 2 weeks. At 10:30 at night I hopped on tcl's website to see what my options are and was actually able to speak to a live representative via their chat system, I sent him pictures of what it was doing and they offered to mail me a new one right then or I could take it back to Best buy since I was still within the Best buy warranty window. I realize it's anecdotal but my one contact with them was very easy, I've had no problems at all with the TV since.

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I didn't even contact me when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with mine and had posted pictures on AVSforums. One of their reps that was monitoring that forum (as its one of the biggest AV forum sites) saw the post and PM'd me directly that it appeared to be physical damage (partial delamination due to the wonderful service of FedEX). The rep sent me a direct email and phone number for a person at their US service center in California and had already briefed that person about my situation. I called that person, was on the phone for less than 10 minutes and then had my replacement delivered to my house by a tech weeks before Amazon would have been able to send out a replacement due to them being on backorder. The tech even helped me take the original TV off the wall mount and put the new one back up.

Zero issues with the replacement TV (and the original issue was on FedEx) and a great customer service experience.

rbcs_2 said:

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mrp_84 said:

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Thanks, my main concern was the durability. Will I be buying a new one in 5 years if I do the TCL? The difference is price is $500 but if the tcl bums out in 4 years I might as well have bought the Samsung.

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I have a 10 year old Samsung 62'' TV and I've replaced the caps on the power supply twice in that time. At my old office we had 12 LED Samsung TVs of various sizes and 4 of them went out in the first 3 years. If you aren't comfortable with DIY repairs, I'd say expect about 5 years out of any brand. If you go beyond that then it's gravy.

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This should get more blue stars. I paid extra 3.5 years ago to get a Samsung over a TCL. About 6 months ago I got a dead line of pixels. I purchased a TCL 3 years ago for my oldest and that TV is still going strong and I wouldn't feel as bad if it died given the price.

In short, pay for the features you want and understand TVs don't generally last for 10+ years anymore. If you are really concerned about the longevity of the TCL, buy it at Costco and get the square trade warranty.

Thanks, I think this just made my decision.

How is the Roku interface on the TCL? I've used Roku TVs on a temporary basis and wasn't a big fan of it, but I could learn to live with it if it isn't a giant pain in the ass and worth the trouble.

Jackal99 said:

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How is the Roku interface on the TCL? I've used Roku TVs on a temporary basis and wasn't a big fan of it, but I could learn to live with it if it isn't a giant pain in the ass and worth the trouble.

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It's as snappy as the newest Roku 4K boxes and I haven't run into many issues with it, though I rarely use it anymore since Amazon streaming is finally available on my Apple TV 4K. If you don't like it and want to use something else as your primary source, you can set the TV to select a specific input whenever your turn it on rather than just booting to the Roku interface.

I bought a TCL in 2011 before they were "huge". Thing still works and I've had no complaints. My LG that I bought in 2015 is having backlight issues now. My next TV will be a TCL love the Roku interface on my current Roku can't wait till controls my TV.

I also bought a TCL back in 2011 and it is still going strong. Picture quality on that one isn't the greatest but it is just an office TV. I think I paid less than $200 for a 32" which I thought was a steal at the time. Worth it.

mrp_84 said:

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Thanks, my main concern was the durability. Will I be buying a new one in 5 years if I do the TCL? The difference is price is $500 but if the tcl bums out in 4 years I might as well have bought the Samsung.

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Consider this: if the TCL craps out in 5 years you'll be able to use that $500 in savings to by a significantly better TV than either of them with the latest tech. The way prices have fallen you be able to get a 4k (or 8k) OLED with tech that hasn't been invented yet for $500 in 5 years. If it lasts 10 years, free money.

I use a 55" TCL 6 series as a computer monitor and have run some good 4k content on it. The picture is beautiful. As good as anything else short of OLED. The Roku interface is the best I've used on a smart TV.

You won't be disappointed with either, save the money.

Bought a 6 series as my second TV upstairs and I absolutely love it.

The question about the Roku, it's fantastic on this TV. Super fast, no loading or slow down. Much better smart interface than my more expensive Sony. A great way to stream 4K content!

Jackal99 said:

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How is the Roku interface on the TCL? I've used Roku TVs on a temporary basis and wasn't a big fan of it, but I could learn to live with it if it isn't a giant pain in the ass and worth the trouble.

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I came here to post about this. I bought a 43" TCL for my office this summer to watch the World Cup. Absolutely LOVED the Roku interface. It's great.

I've also heard people suggest that you shouldn't buy the most expensive TVs these days because the technology is still moving so fast. I've put that $300 TCL next to my "best TV ever made" Panasonic Z65 for watching two games at the same time, and the fact is that they both look good to my eye. Maybe I just don't have a refined palate when it comes to picture quality, but most modern TVs look pretty great to me.

The issue with the TCL is that the corners are dark creating a vignette effect. I tried talk to product support and they said it's normal and all of them have them.

in Sept. 2018 I bought a 49" TCL Roku TV for $299 and it is great - roku interface and all

jr281 said:

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The issue with the TCL is that the corners are dark creating a vignette effect. I tried talk to product support and they said it's normal and all of them have them.

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Mine doesn't. It also doesn't make sense that they would say that "all of them have that" because the different kinds of backlighting (edge lit vs full array local dimming, which can vary significantly on it's own) alone would make having something like that on every model very unlikely.

My 55P607 (which has a much higher number of FALD zones compared to the cheaper models) doesn't have anything like that, though the first one I received did have some issues with lighting in one corner due to delamination caused by FedEx apparently using my TV to compete in the shot put. TCL replaced that first TV without any issues.

Buy the TCL or Vizio P series. When it breaks in 3yrs, throw it away and buy a new one.

Btw, Vizio announced Apple Airplay2 support is coming in 2019 for all their SmartCast enabled TVs. I believe LG and Samsung had similar announcements, but Vizio will support 2018 models too

WoMD said:

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I wish Panasonic still made plasmas. Mine is 5 years old now and the picture still looks as good as what's available now. Subjective, I know, and largely based on the lack of 4K signal options, making it look better than my new 4K TCL. That being said, I've been pleased with the TCL as a dirt cheap bedroom tv.

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+1 About to hit 10 years with mine.

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. The TCL just dropped down to $799 at Best Buy. Looks like I'll be headed out later today to buy it.

bco2003 said:

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WoMD said:

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I wish Panasonic still made plasmas. Mine is 5 years old now and the picture still looks as good as what's available now. Subjective, I know, and largely based on the lack of 4K signal options, making it look better than my new 4K TCL. That being said, I've been pleased with the TCL as a dirt cheap bedroom tv.

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+1 About to hit 10 years with mine.

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+ 2. My Panny will hit 8yrs this summer and the picture looks better than my Vizio Pseries 4K.

That said, go get yourself one of the LG OLEDs. You won't regret it. Bought one about 1.5yrs ago - B7 model. Picture is amazing and their price pout is basically where Panny plasmas were 8-10yrs ago. You can find the 55" B8 for $1500.

Knock on wood.

I have a 10+ yr old Samsung 46" LCD (the one with the maroonish colored frame) that still works perfectly. I think it has an extremely thin verticle bar that is black but I can't really see it unless the entire screen is white. Never thought it would last this long.

I got the LG 65" from Costco for $679 right before Christmas and loving it.

Well, I went out Sunday and bought the TCL 6 series for $799 at BestBuy. I haven't watched it a ton yet but so far it seems great. Watching Planet Earth 2 was amazing. I watched a little bit the Duke/Syracuse game the other night for about 5 minutes and it seemed like there was a little judder on the fast action, but I also haven't played with the settings much either.

I will say the biggest difference has been going from the 50 inch to 65. The size of the picture alone makes a ridiculous difference. I'm excited to see how it handles the NFL games this weekend.

WoMD said:

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I wish Panasonic still made plasmas. Mine is 5 years old now and the picture still looks as good as what's available now. Subjective, I know, and largely based on the lack of 4K signal options, making it look better than my new 4K TCL. That being said, I've been pleased with the TCL as a dirt cheap bedroom tv.

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My Panasonic plasma from 2006 is still running. I don't know if it will ever die.

WoMD said:

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I wish Panasonic still made plasmas. Mine is 5 years old now and the picture still looks as good as what's available now. Subjective, I know, and largely based on the lack of 4K signal options, making it look better than my new 4K TCL. That being said, I've been pleased with the TCL as a dirt cheap bedroom tv.

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I have a final generation Panasonic Plasma. At the time, it was the best TV you could buy. It's a great TV.

But, I just had a new LG OLED put in yesterday and that Panasonic doesn't even hold a candle to this LG. I mean, it's not even close. I moved the Panasonic to the bedroom and threw a Roku stick on it because I didn't want to get rid of it. This LG has a god d@mn incredible picture.

WoMD said:

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I wish Panasonic still made plasmas. Mine is 5 years old now and the picture still looks as good as what's available now. Subjective, I know, and largely based on the lack of 4K signal options, making it look better than my new 4K TCL. That being said, I've been pleased with the TCL as a dirt cheap bedroom tv.

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10 years on mine. Thing is a tank and still going strong. also acts as a great source of heat on cold days...

I've had so many issues with Samsung products that I'm writing them off. I don't know what brands are considered good anymore but I'm staying away from Samsung for my next tv.

Fenrir said:

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WoMD said:

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I wish Panasonic still made plasmas. Mine is 5 years old now and the picture still looks as good as what's available now. Subjective, I know, and largely based on the lack of 4K signal options, making it look better than my new 4K TCL. That being said, I've been pleased with the TCL as a dirt cheap bedroom tv.

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10 years on mine. Thing is a tank and still going strong. also acts as a great source of heat on cold days...

I've had so many issues with Samsung products that I'm writing them off. I don't know what brands are considered good anymore but I'm staying away from Samsung for my next tv.

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LG is currently king. And the TCL's are getting great reviews as value buys.

YouBet said:

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Fenrir said:

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WoMD said:

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I wish Panasonic still made plasmas. Mine is 5 years old now and the picture still looks as good as what's available now. Subjective, I know, and largely based on the lack of 4K signal options, making it look better than my new 4K TCL. That being said, I've been pleased with the TCL as a dirt cheap bedroom tv.

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10 years on mine. Thing is a tank and still going strong. also acts as a great source of heat on cold days...

I've had so many issues with Samsung products that I'm writing them off. I don't know what brands are considered good anymore but I'm staying away from Samsung for my next tv.

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LG is currently king. And the TCL's are getting great reviews as value buys.

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Yep, LG OLED's are the cream of the crop, Sony has some solid mid-range offerings, and then TCL and Vizio are the kings of budget TVs that still offer great performance.

The problem for Sony are these crazy sales on LG OLEDs that are squeezing them out at the mid-range pricing.