4 ms·

This. I have a TCL TV which has great picture and nice-enough audio but the "smart" part isn't great at all. Slow, random ads, etc. It was my first smart tv so

This. I have a TCL TV which has great picture and nice-enough audio but the "smart" part isn't great at all. Slow, random ads, etc. It was my first smart tv so I was curious to try it. Then I went and factory-reset the thing, unplugged the ethernet cable, and now it works like a dumb TV. I'm very happy with it. It still shows a popup when turned on that I don't have internet, but that's about it. It'll automatically switch to the latest used input when starting up. The two things that bother me is that it takes ages to boot up if the "quick start-up" is disabled (basically it needs to boot the whole google tv os), and the LED is quite bright at night (but it can be disabled, just not dimmed). It also seems to have no battery for the RTC, so if I unplug it, it will forget the time when I turn it on again (since it doesn't have an internet connection, it never gets to sync).

toomuchtodo 3y ago
I recently had to have some warranty work done on a TCL TV due to a failed board and the process was absolutely horrendous. Just a heads up.
- somehnguy 3y ago
  I think that may be a universal experience with TV repairs, based on a friends experience with a name brand. He had to bring it to a local repair shop where they then held it for over 6 months. Maybe he was just unlucky.
HWR_14 3y ago
Does that time the TV believes it is matter? I don't have a great use case in mind. I wonder when (or if) an alternative OS project will start that dumbs down TVs like yours. Primarily to fix the boot time issues.
- addandsubtract 3y ago
  The TCLs already run AndroidTV, which you can customize, sideload, root, etc. and isn't really the issue. There's also a "fast on" option that will put the TV in standby, so turning it on is almost instant. A full boot only takes 10-20 seconds. But you still, kinda need the firmware updates, because sometimes issues with HDR are only fixed years later.
  - vladvasiliu 3y ago
    According to the man, it pumps a lot of power in the fast-boot mode, and since I don't use the TV that often, I prefer to wait. However, the time between pressing the power on button and the TV being ready is closer to one minute than 20 secondes.
- vladvasiliu 3y ago
  > Does that time the TV believes it is matter? I don't have a great use case in mind. It does if I want to see what the time is and I don't have my watch on.
  - HWR_14 3y ago
    If you are using everything coming through HDMI from a (presumably smart) device, why would you care to get that info from the TV?
    - vladvasiliu 3y ago
      Because the smart device doesn't give me that info, at least not in a way that I've found. I don't consider this a huge issue, for years I'd been using my PC's monitor instead of this TV; it never had any idea about what time it was.

toomuchtodo 3y ago

I recently had to have some warranty work done on a TCL TV due to a failed board and the process was absolutely horrendous. Just a heads up.

somehnguy 3y ago
I think that may be a universal experience with TV repairs, based on a friends experience with a name brand. He had to bring it to a local repair shop where they then held it for over 6 months. Maybe he was just unlucky.

HWR_14 3y ago

Does that time the TV believes it is matter? I don't have a great use case in mind. I wonder when (or if) an alternative OS project will start that dumbs down TVs like yours. Primarily to fix the boot time issues.

addandsubtract 3y ago
The TCLs already run AndroidTV, which you can customize, sideload, root, etc. and isn't really the issue. There's also a "fast on" option that will put the TV in standby, so turning it on is almost instant. A full boot only takes 10-20 seconds. But you still, kinda need the firmware updates, because sometimes issues with HDR are only fixed years later.
- vladvasiliu 3y ago
  According to the man, it pumps a lot of power in the fast-boot mode, and since I don't use the TV that often, I prefer to wait. However, the time between pressing the power on button and the TV being ready is closer to one minute than 20 secondes.
vladvasiliu 3y ago
> Does that time the TV believes it is matter? I don't have a great use case in mind. It does if I want to see what the time is and I don't have my watch on.
- HWR_14 3y ago
  If you are using everything coming through HDMI from a (presumably smart) device, why would you care to get that info from the TV?
  - vladvasiliu 3y ago
    Because the smart device doesn't give me that info, at least not in a way that I've found. I don't consider this a huge issue, for years I'd been using my PC's monitor instead of this TV; it never had any idea about what time it was.