TCL 43S305 43-Inch 1080p Roku Smart LED TV (2017 Model)

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Well, this certainly started out as a 5-star TV. Great price, and our family is a big fan of Roku boxes, having owned two already. Setup was easy and the picture was surprisingly good! All in all, I was very pleased. Until about a week in, I look up while my son is watching a show and theres a vertical line of dead, blue pixels about 7" long running through the middle of the screen, about 5" from the left side. I was hoping it was just a streaming issue with his show, but nope- it was the screen. Really disappointed as a return of a 43" TV, even if they foot the bill (and they should), is going to be a pain. I was hesitant to buy what I consider to be an off-brand, and now Im wishing I had followed my gut and bought an LG or Samsung. In all fairness to TCL, minus the vertical line its a really nice TV, and I will update my review accordingly when I hear back from their warranty/service department. UPDATE: TCL tried to pawn the warranty return off on Amazon after I had already started the process with TCL. I told them to stay the course of getting this TV repaired or replaced, and two weeks after the last conversation, NOTHING. Zero communication from TCL. Im going to give them a couple of more days and then start the process with Amazon to get this replaced. What a hassle. If they turn a corner and make this right I will update this review but as of now I HIGHLY recommend you consider another brand of TV given the quality of this set and, more importantly, the lack of good customer service from TCL. UPDATE #2: I finally emailed TCL at another address and, to their credit, a US-based rep (Larry) showed some interest in making this right. He shipped me a replacement unit and said I could ship the original/defective unit back. After setting up the SECOND unit (wall-mount), updating the software, etc., sat down to watch a movie...more dead pixels. Yep. On the replacement unit, in approximately the same location, there were two lines of dead pixels not unlike the first unit. So again I emailed Larry, and we agreed at this point TCL would just take both units back (on their dime) and refund me my full purchase price. Which they did, and very promptly at that. Before anyone accuses me of sour grapes, TCL-bashing, blah blah blah: Listen, its a NICE TV! I really wanted to like it! I ended up getting an LG and frankly I like the user interface better on the TCL. But to send me two similarly defective units? Something is horribly wrong with their quality control. Also in fairness to them, their customer service really picked up when Larry got involved (out of CA, I believe). So if you have the time and patience to navigate a return if something goes wrong, I say go for it. Its a nice TV for the price. I just dont have the time to be messing around with returning multiple televisions.

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I loved this television when I first got it, but it failed after about a month. Okay, these things happen. I returned the tv for repair, and a few days later I got an email saying my tv had been repaired and was on its way back. When I got it back it still did not work. I phoned the company and was promised a replacement. I later got a call from TCL to say that they had lied to me for a second time. They had not repaired my tv and they were not going to replace it. They claimed that there was a "biological hazard" in the tv. I spoke to several members of their staff, and the upshot is that they feel empowered to tell lies whenever it suits them, that their promises mean absolutely nothing. I opened up the worthless tv and found no evidence of a "biological hazard. I believe I could repair it with one of the small boards at the back. Interestingly, that particular board appears to be unavailable. My conclusion is that this might be a good buy if you also buy insurance for it. DO NOT rely on just TLC.

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Okay, I installed this TV 3 hours ago and so far good! The picture, clarity, color are all better than my 28" Sharp which this is replacing. The Sharp worked fine for 6 years, about as long one should expect it to. SCAM ALERT I did run into a situation and I want to warn others about it. When I was setting up Roku, I could not get it to activate and it gave me the number of Roku support to call. I phoned and was told by a Jerry Maxwell I would need to purchase a license. There was a standard for 3 years 3 device for $79.00 or a deluxe licence for 5 years unlimited devices (dont have cost). I was angry that I had to pay 79.00 for Roku since I had a Roku stick already but I thought what the hell I want Roku. I told the guy this is bull****!. He said he would call back. In the meantime I tried activating through my roku account and it went through! So maybe Jerry did something but when he called back, I said its working and I m not paying $79.00! He hung up. So SCAM ALERT

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This tv has stopped working about 2 weeks in. It has no picture and we have tried all troubleshooting. We will have to return it, which is a total pain as we recycled the box.

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OK, so right off the bat I will say "WOW". For about $170, I was not expecting a lot of bells and whistles, which is fine for a newly converted "exercise room". Upon delivery I was amazed at how light this TV was. While mounting on an articulating arm mount, I actually held it in place with one hand while I screwed it into the mounts. I was fearing it to be a "toy" quality because of its light weight, but once I turned it on, I was pleasantly surprised. The colors are great, it is rich in features and has some very intuitive interface design qualities. -- Its a smart TV, and happily the features work great. It connected to my WiFi with no problems and the connection is strong (meaning the internal adapter is well made). Previously Ive had issues with Vizio TVs connecting, so this was a great relief. The integrated Roku works flawlessly and the set up was easy and intuitive. It quickly walked me though my Roku, Hulu, Amazon and other accounts. Since this TV is in a room not served by cable or satellite, I connected it to a very handy Winegard FL-55YR FlatWave Indoor Antenna and VIOLA! I had 40 channels of OTA TV to augment my Roku. The remote is small and is just like a normal Roku remote with the addition of channel and volume controls plus a handy mute button. And as a fantastic BONUS - by adding a thumb drive to the TVs rear USB port, you can pause live TV for up to 90 minutes. That was totally unexpected and a really nice surprise. (NOTE- they suggest a 16GB drive or less. Anything more wont extend the 90 minutes and would be wasted space). Bottom line: Great little TV, lots of features; great interface, Smart TV that works -- and it has an earphone jack if you need it.

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0:00 0:00 This video is not intended for all audiences. What date were you born? January February March April May June July August September October November December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 1901 1900 Submit Adobe Flash Player is required to watch this video. Install Flash Player Unfortunately, I guess you take a chance at buying this model. I have ordered three of these tvs and 2 out of 3 are still working. The one just keeps rebooting and will not allow you to reset. I have tried everything to no avail! I attempted to get help from the manufacturer and they simply stop responding after I gave them all of the information. The seller refused to do a return because it was after the date. So I had it working for about 45 days and then it died. I honestly would have been happy if it lasted at least a year for the price I paid but less than 2 months is unacceptable. It is sad that a reseller wont step up and even worse when the manufacturer wont stand behind their products. I hate to give bad ratings but they deserve it. I have 2 other 32" and 1 43 and a 49, lets hope they keep playing.

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I have had it for 6 days, and now every few minutes I get kicked out of Netflix and put back onto the main tv screen. Its very annoying.... UPDATE... 2 months in, and I turn It On to find lines across the screen Updated again, saw that it is a year later, and I havent heard from support about a replacement or any sort of help. I regret spending 299 on this TV, especially seeing as its 219 now

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This is what happens to it i bought In April and this happened today

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I am thrilled with the TV. It is terrific for my purpose. Surprisingly great picture quality. I am not using a cable, satellite or antenna feed of any kind. I have my WiFi connection for the Roku channels, a Google Mi TV Box, a Chromecast unit and an Android TV Media Box with KODI app installed. It is fabulous! Just cant praise it enough. I do have one minor gripe .. the light on the front-bottom of the set that blinks to tell you when some command is being received from the remote. The only time this light turns OFF is when there is a picture on the screen or when the set is unplugged. My usage is in the bedroom .. that is supposed to be dark at night. I do not want to get up and unplug the TV at the end of an evenings viewing. There needs to be a way to use the remote to turn this light OFF. (update: TCL has responded to this review and has solved this problem. The light goes off when the TV does. Success! Thank You TCL.) The only other problem I had was not TCL, Roku or Amazons fault. It was the transit company who did not deliver in two days by 8 PM as they committed to. They were a day late but that will happen if you let the package sit on the floor at the airport freight terminal for 27 hours without it moving. Doesnt make much sense to pay the high price to expedite it out of Atlanta and then have it sit for two days at the receiving airport. It was a day late. The family was so excited with the anticipated arrival of the new TV .. only to have the celebration quashed by the freight delivery company. Unfortunate.

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Ive had to update this review a couple times, ultimately ended up returning TV. Heres the saga: Got the TV about 4 days ago. Had issues connecting to WiFi while setting it up, contacted TCL customer support. While on the phone, the TV connected. All is well. The next day, it lost the WiFi connection again and could not get back on. Called customer support. They had me turn off the network pings and said said this would resolve the connectivity issue permanently. Two days later, TV lost the WiFi and could not get back on. Network pinging is still off. Call customer support. Tech tells me to do literally the opposite of what the guy told me last time, TV still doesnt work. He is out of ideas of what to tell me (asked me if my password was correct a thousand times). Finally said it must be something else, call your internet provider. Called the internet provider. Nothing on their end. Could be the router but the router is mine. Went to return the TV and tried Amazon tech support as a last ditch effort. He was SUPER helpful and helped me change my router settings to match what the TV wanted. This seemed like it was the issue, and the last thing left to try. That worked....for about two hours. Then it lost the WiFi again and there was no explanation. Instead of calling tech support for the 5th time in 4 days, I decided to return the TV. I followed every instruction given from tech support, even when they contradicted each other and issues were not resolved. I am ultimately not sure if the TV was defective or if there was a mystery issue that was left unresolved, but it was not worth figuring out. Watching TV should not be this hard. Update 1/318: I wanted to add that I purchased Best Buys brand Roku TV (Insignia Roku TV, basically the same thing as this one), and have had no issues with it AT ALL. So I do think the TV was the issue with the TCL. Highly recommend the Insignia - was a little cheaper and Ive had this brand before with no complaints. I dont know why I didnt think if it when I first bought a TV!

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