Opinions please on a TCL 4k TV and Costco price

I want to replace my 10 yr old Sony rear projection tv sometime this year. I really want to spend as little as possible without sacrificing the size of my current tv, which is 70 inches. I would like to buy the new tv from Costco as it appears they have the best pricing and because of their reputation for service. I was looking at a Samsung and LG tv in the 70-75 inch range and they seem to run in the mid $2000 range. I really shouldn't spend that kind of money on a tv, it may not be possible. So browsing the Costco site I see this tv which seems to be around a thousand dollars less than the Samsung and LG. Here's the link

Costco Wholesale

I don't know anything about this brand but it seems to be well reviewed both by Costco customers and around the internet. If anyone has any experience or thoughts, I'd sure appreciate it.

My other question is that this tv is available at the current price until 2/4/18. What happens after that, I'm not certain. Presumably the price goes up after that, but maybe that's simply a tactic to encourage buyers. I'll feel pretty bad if I pull the trigger now and the tv price goes down later in the year. It seems like I always here that you can get good tv deals around the time of the Super Bowl, and then again later on Black Friday.
If there's any history of Costco's "price good until..." strategy I'd be interested.

I've always been a sort of top-of-the-range, mainstream brand kinda of guy when it comes to electronics. I can't afford to be that guy this year.

Thanks for the thoughts!

 

I've installed one, and was very happy with the picture. The best part of it is that Roku functionality. Unlike most TV manufacturers, who don't have any reason to keep updating their smart TV capability, Roku supplies the smarts and that's their only business. So you get access to the best set top box, and the thousands of "channels" available for it, and save a lot of money. Scott Wilkinson of AVS Forum likes the TCL sets as well.

As far as price, you can wrap yourself in knots second-guessing it, but if the price drops significantly inside of 90 days, you can return it. 3 months is an eternity in consumer electronics.

 

Best buy has 24 months 0% financing CC. Can't beat that.

4k in my future.

 

I know that's attractive to a lot of people but I'll be paying cash. Thanks for the thought though. A benefit of buying at Costco is a 2nd year warranty.

Thanks Chris! That's what surprised me that the TCL sets are getting some favorable remarks at various videophile and electronics sites.

 

TCL is a good value proposition. They may not be the best panels, but the Roku interface is miles better than any other manufacturer's. When you combine that with the price, it's hard to beat. Hell, I have a Samsung smart set but I use my Roku for all the apps. Plus the Costco 2nd year. Instant buy.

 

I don't have any direct experience with that model, but I can see one potentially major limitation, which may or may not be of concern to you. It's an LCD panel with edge backlighting, which puts it in the lowest category for HDR rendering. Typically these sets don't have 'zones', or if they do, they're poorly controlled (unlike back-lit displays with Full Array Local Dimming). This means that black areas of an image won't be as black as they need to be for proper HDR handling. The same goes for bright areas - there will be light bleed in the surrounding areas (even extending to the edge of the display).

Now, none of this may matter to you in the least, but I just thought I'd point out the technical cons with that type of display (compared with an OLED, which is superior both in picture rendering and expense!).

 

Who would have guessed that TCL and Vizio would have started out as "value brands" and are now highly regarded (Vizio especially.)

The thing I liked best about the TCL sets is that they tie into other home theater especially well. For instance, if you get a Logitech Harmony remote (VERY highly recommended) the TCL set appears on the network, and installs as a Roku. Which means bidirectional communication between the set and the remote - you get the Roku channel icons on the Harmony screen.

I'm biased because I watch virtually everything via a Roku, and love my Logitech Harmony remote. I built three home theaters in one house, all of them with Harmonies, and I can troubleshoot and control them remotely - so if my client has an issue, I can fix it from anywhere via my phone.

 

Good point. There are good, solid reasons the TCL is a lot cheaper than some of the other sets.

 

Or any other hacker!

 

I have a 43" TCL (Non 4K) that I bought last June for $199 at Costco. I love it! In many ways it is superior to the 32" Sony Wega Trintron that it replaced that was about 5 times the price in 2000. It has the built in Roku too.

 

The TLC is, for the money, a good looking TV. Is it perfect? nope. For perfection, you'll be paying a hell'va lot more.

 

FWIW, I have the 55' TCL/Roku 4k model. It also has HDR 10 and dolby vision.
I'm usually a 'top of the line'/early adopter person too when it comes to televisions, but I am happy with this tv.
It doesn't have the inky deep blacks of an OLED tv or an exceptional refresh rate, but it's good value for what you pay. I like the roku interface and also use it with a harmony remote. I have an Amazon echo dot arriving in the mail tomorrow, so I look forward to testing voice control with the harmony and roku tv.

...That said, you might want to wait until later this month, before the super bowl - You might get a good discount on a higher-end model.

 

I've not heard of anyone hacking the Harmony. Logitech has been in the computer business for a very long time, and are unlikely to make the stupid mistakes that most companies new to connecting to the Internet would.

 

Wow, are you me? This is all I use. 5 remotes are gathering dust.

 

Thanks guys! I do have a Logitech Harmony remote but it's 10 years old, not sure it would do everything mentioned here. Re Roku, I'm not even sure what that is. I have Google Fiber cable and I watch my DVD/Blu-Ray discs. Not sure I even need anything else. The Google tv service is very good, and the internet is awesome, so it's not like I'll be able to drop the cable out of the bundle.

I know the TCL won't be perfect, and I guess I have 90 days if I decide I want to swap it out for something else. I'm thinking it'll still be an upgrade over my Sony rear projection--which I have loved. I'd keep this tv for the forseeable future, but the color engine (?) has failed and everything has a green cast to it. This is evidently a known issue and it seems I'm fortunate to have gotten 10 good years out of it.

You make a good point. I'm really not in a hurry, I'm prepared to stick it out through most of the year if I have to. I should keep my eyes peeled for a great deal locally.

 

I've done a few home theater installations, and Logitech Harmonies are a non-negotiable part of any of them. They were the only ones to get it right.

 

The Harmony Elite is a remote with a full color touch screen, plus hard buttons for the most used controls. But it's part of a whole system.



The remote has Bluetooth and WiFi, which means that you don't have to worry about where it's aimed. It connects with the "Hub" which also ties into your home network. The Hub had IR LEDs on it, plus two additional, individually controllable IR flashers. The hub can go anywhere on your network. The home theater I most recently installed has three Hubs, and all of them are in the basement - and the components are in the great room, the master bedroom and the office (the client is a film producer.)

The whole system can be controlled, and is programmed, with an app - iOS or Android. You could, in theory, use just the Hub and the app, but that would be stupid. You do NOT want to have to wake your phone to control the volume or channel surf - you need the physical buttons of the remote.

Like the old Logitech remotes you have, it supports every IR device you'll ever find, and it can learn any IR codes, but the main thing is that this works with anything that has internet connectivity. Like the Yamaha receivers I used. Or an Amazon Firestick. Or the TCL TV. All of those items have bi-directional communication with the Hub, so you're not just sending out IR pulses and hoping they hit the IR receiver on the device you're wanting to control.

It's currently $249 at Amazon. If you think that is a lot of money for a remote, no. It's not. Take the money you're saving on a TCL TV and buy the Harmony Elite. It is your primary interface to your home theater, and the main thing that will make your home theater system a pleasure to use.

It's a digital set top box. The competitors are the Amazon Firestick and the AppleTV. It has a very simple interface:



There are thousands of these channels that can be added and moved around in a simple grid. Each channel plays content, either free or by subscription. The Roku in the TCL TV also has a "channel" for each input like "HDMI 1" that can be renamed as "Google TV" or "BluRay Player". Tied into a Logitech Harmony, the icons will appear on the remote's color LCD.

I wish Google would add IP control to the TV Box, but the Fiber project has been starved of resources since the idiotic "Alphabet" restructuring.

I'm in Kansas City and know this stuff backwards and forwards. I used to be the chief technician at the old KC AV retailer Brandsmart, and have been doing this stuff forever. Let me know if I can help.

 

@Chris DeVoe wow you sure sold me on the remote! That def. looks like a great way to go. Thanks for the offer of help, I'll likely have some questions when it comes time to pull the trigger.