TCL - 55" Class - LED - 5 Series - 2160p - Smart - 4K UHD TV with HDR Roku TV

Let me start this review by giving you a summary of the other 4K TVs I have owned, as well as my use case. I think that will inform you as to why I think this is such an amazing TV for the $$$. I have a 65 inch Sony XBR 750D 4K HDR TV, which cost me $1000, and a 40 inch Samsung MU6300, which cost me $399. The 55 inch TCL S515 that I am reviewing fits between these two TVs, but it is easily the best bang for the buck. I am using it in our bonus room upstairs, where it is primarily used by my son for video games on our Xbox One X PS4 Pro and by me for watching cable TV and movies. The S515 works very well for all of these uses, but I would not recommend it for a large room where people will be watching it at an angle, nor would I recommend it for a bright room. Here are my pros and cons, followed by a summary as to why I think this is a phenomenal 4K HDR TV. Pros: -Roku TV Interface - best TV interface out there, hands down, makes it very easy to access the devices connected to your inputs, as well as your streaming apps. -Includes VESA mounting holes in decent location on back of the TV, was relatively easy to wall mount. -Powers on quickly. -Very good picture quality, not quite as good as my Sony XBR 750D, which cost more than twice as much, but as good as my Samsung, which cost almost as much, despite being much smaller (Samsung cost $399, this cost $404.99 on sale). -Good connectivity, has 3 HDMI 2.0 ports, as well as Toslink Optical and Ethernet, and so you can hook up your cable/satellite box and two of your gaming consoles. The Roku software will automatically label your devices but you can edit as well. -4K looks amazing, HDR is better than I expected given the limited peak brightness, just make sure you crank it up in the settings as the out of the box setting is too dark. -Viewing angles are better than expected from a VA panel, but not nearly as good as my Sony XBR 750D, which has an IPS panel. -Micro contrast setting works very well, it brings out the blacks very nicely. -Did I mention the blacks? They look amazing, watching Jumanji in a dark room, for example, illustrates how well this TV does blacks, better than my Sony. -Decent build quality -Price - The price for this TV was $404.99, which is am AMAZING deal considering what you get!!! No other TV gives you this kind of price-performance ratio in my opinion. -Includes HDR 10, but also the higher end Dolby Vision HDR feature. I use the VUDU app to watch many of the movies in my collection with Dolby Vision enabled. -Good selection of options to adjust picture to your taste, including Brightness, Contract, Color, Dark/Normal/Bright HDR, etc. -Works with the Roku iPhone or Android App if you prefer to control the TV using your phone. -Remote is good, its the standard Roku TV remote. No complaints. -Programs on cable TV look very good, the upscaling engine does a good job. The colors are deeper than my Sony. -4K and HDR video games look amazing. -55 inch size is a nice middle ground as far as size, it will work for a wider variety of areas than a 65 inch or 40 inch TV. Cons: -This is not a great TV for a bright room, as it lacks good peak brightness. I keep the blinds up in our bonus room and so I don't need higher peak brightness. -Viewing angles are not great and so I would not recommend this TV if you are going to have lots of people watching it from sharp angles. -Football and other sports look OK, not great like my Sony. -Overall specs are mediocre and so if you are a spec hound, don't buy this TV. Go OLED if you want to have specs to brag about. -A little heavy and wide, you might need two people to wall hang it. -Needs some calibration out of the box, but you can get good starting settings from rtings.com, and then just crank up the HDR settings. They have them too dark. The bottom line is that this TV will do very well for many use cases, including console video games (I don't like using TVs for PC gaming, but that is another story), movies, cable TV and sports. Yes, my Sony is better for watching football but as I note above, it cost more than twice as much. If you can only spend $400-$500, then this is a very solid option. Buy with confidence!!!

First off if you read this and it sounds like a deal-breaker then just spend $100 to $250 more (depending on sale prices) and get the "TCL 6-series" (55R617/55R615) which has all the same great features but also has a wider "Wide Color Gamut" greater peak brightness and Full-Array Backlight with "FALD" (FullArrayLocalDimming), which TCL calls "Contrast Control Zones", with a decent amount of "dimming zones" which greatly enhances the capabilities of the Dolby Vision Ive had 2 other TCL tvs in the last 5 years. And those two other both died from backlight/power-control issues. But I still consider them THE BEST tvs for under about $500. All were AMAZING for gaming and were all very color accurate out of the box. Now with this, TCL 55S515, I still stand by those remarks about performance but with the 5-series its got an even better picture and works with game systems even better. 4k content is beautiful, STANDARD HDR is above average just cant truly get bright enough. Now, the reason for the single star deduction, the "Dolby Vision HDR" is horrendous compared to other units ive witnessed with it. One of the reasons for tv manufacturers to put Dolby Vision on their units is that DOLBY themselves are supposed to find and adjust the "optimal picture settings" for the manufacturer and then give them continued directions on how to keep the units optimized. The MAJOR PROBLEM is that when TCL forces software/firmware updates they apparently arent recalibrating to the original Dolby Vision settings because when I first got the tv I skipped the online connection during setup then manually connected a LAN cable and began watching Netflix and VUDU content. The DVHDR(Dolby Vision HDR) enabled videos were beautiful and adjusted contrast/lighting appropriately. Now Dolby Vision in general can be a bit annoying without "FALD" to some because of the backlight reduction for dark scenes but it is normally still VERY watchable. But because of the color, contrast, and gama enhancements it still looks good. Well here comes the dumbs*#t that TCL/ROKU has done. I finally decided to run the "system update" so I could use my "Enhanced Roku Remote" and have the latest versions of all the apps(Channels). After doing this I realized that ALL of the settings I changed in the "Settings" and "System" and all the "Advanced picture settings" and the settings I adjusted using the "Expert Picture Settings" in the Roku App on my mobile device, had all been RESET TO FACTORY defaults. Which to begin with was frustrating to say the least. Well after changing everything back exactly how I had it before I then opened Netflix to finish watching a "Dolby Vision" compatible movie I had been previoysly watching. IMMEDIATELY I noticed nothing looked right. The colors were dull, sharpness adjustments had no effect any longer, "Dynamic Contrast" was now locked, "Brightness" adjustments were way too extreme(i.e. 46 was nearly what 0 was before and 55 was like 90), and the MAJOR PROBLEM was how it was now handling the scene-to-scene backlight/gama highlights brightness. Litterally within a 10 second time frame it would go from being way too bright and washed out(dull colors) to being so dark nothing on-screen could be made out in the picture about 10 times, as if it had a strobe-effect, and there really isnt any inbetween. I contacted TCL about this and was told by the person I corresponded with that, "According to our technical team this is perfectly normal and is how it is supposed to perform" yet after asking him why, he couldnt tell me anything except that same exact quoted line again and then he closed my support ticket. Oh and also in the same support ticket I also asked if it is normal for the bottom edge of the tv bezel to get so hot it nearly leaves burn marks when touched but that question was never addressed. By the way, if this is normal on the TCL 55S515 MAKE SURE TO LEAVE PLENTY OF BRATHING ROOM AROUND THE BOTTOM OF THE FRONT OF THE TV. So I began searching Reddit and other AVForums only to find about 90% of people with the 55S515, 55S517, some with the R617/R615 and even the older P607/P605 and C807 models are now experiencing the same issues that they never had before. I did find a post where one person managed to get a "private beta update" several months back that fixed the problem, at least until the next update. So if you buy this tv, or one of the other models i mention, TRY TO HOLD OFF ON UPDATING AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. But if you absolutely must update, then search google for "Roku Secret Menus" and find the menu, using the correct combination button presses, that lists "Change HDR Mode" and then select that and then select "Open HDR" which enables "HDR10" or "Standard HDR" and will prevent the tv from loading the horribly bugged "Dolby Vision" HDR mode that TCL/Roku has broken with some buggy update. You can also just click "Disable HDR" and watch movies in beautiful full-color and full-brightness 4K "SDR"(which now looks like what Dolby Vision used to minus dynamic lighting). You can always come back to this "Secret Menu" and turn either or both back on. Now if TCL/ROKU fix the problems or at least re-enable the option to manually adjust or disable "Dynamic Contrast" for Dolby Vision HDR mode then it will be nearly perfect. THIS TV DOES NOT, i repeat, DOES NOT HAVE "Full-array Backlighting" IT IS "EDGE LIT" ONLY ON THE BOTTOM EDGE so it also DOES NOT HAVE ANY TRUE "Local Dimming" capabilities which is really necessary for the way Dolby Vision is currently implemented on this model. Local Dimming IS technically still possible with "Edge-Lit" backlighting on tvs but it MUST be "Edge-Lit" along all four sides. Which, along with some of the issues people with the same model and older models experience, it leads me to believe that TCL/Roku are lazily just pushing the EXACT same software/firmware updates out to ALL their models, with and without the capability of "FALD" or any "Local Dimming", as long as they "support Dolby Vision" HDR. Think about it. The way the Dolby Vision is treating the TCL's "Dynamic Contrast" is EXACTLY the same way I have personally witnessed it treating other "high-end" TVs that have any kind of real local dimming capabilities. (OH AS A NOTE TO ANYONE WITH A ROKU TV PLEASE USE THE APP AND TURN OFF THE "Noise Reduction" FOR ALL PICTURE MODES THIS MAKES EVERYTHING CLEARER. ITS A 4K TV FOR GOODNESS. WhitePoint balance and Color Calibration is located here in the app as well)

I replaced my 4 (2017) series with this 5 series (2018) yesterday. Completely different motion ratio, brighter picture, refreshing colors, more advanced picture options, and a faster processor. Things That Blow The 4 Series Out Of The Water. Dolby Vision And HDR. Micro Contrast Allows Dynamic Contrast In One Or More Areas On The Display. Backlight Is Superior. Action Smoothing Still Leaves Very Sharp Picture. Gamma Has Higher Color Ratio. Great For Gaming, Way More Advanced Processor For Anti-Lag. Body Of TV Is A Nice Heavy Metal, Body Is Super Slim. Can’t Beat The Price Overall I would buy again for my man cave or buy the upgraded 6 series. Tcl really stepped up their game, almost on par with Sony and Samsung in 2018. It just keeps getting better at a very nice budget price point.

Tcl five series is a great tv for a good price. I was surprise the great picture quality and the sound was good..it was as good as my LG 4k tv, I think it almost had the same quality. I recomend this tv..better than the 4k igsinia fire tv!! No,no. But that's just my opinion. And it also comes with roku interface..love it!!! If you dont have DEEP POCKETS!!THIS TV IS FOR YOU!!!! MY TV BUDGETS BRAND ARE HANDS DOWN VIZIO AND TCL FOR A GOOD LOW BUDGET TV AND 4K CANT GO WRONG!!!

Great out of the box picture. 4k hdr looks amazing. Great brightness and contrast, even coming from my old Samsung 8500 ($3000 4KTV). The enhanced color is what really sticks out to me from a standard 4ktv. Very little if any "flashlighting ". Speakers aren't the best but fine for tv viewing. Highly recommended.

Bought this TV for my office after enjoying the one in my living room so far. No complaints. Great picture can’t beat the price

This tv is awesome. Fantastic picture, simple remote, tons of features. Endless streaming channels. Quality of a tv twice the price.

This TCL sets up easily and has good picture definition at an affordable price!