I’m looking at replacing an 8 year old Samsung with a TCL Series 6 Google TV. TCL comes with 2GB of RAM and 8GB storage in a MediaTek MT9615 processor. Reason I’m intrigued by TCL is the integrated Google OS seems to give it integrated PC-like functionality. For example I’ve read that the TCL integrates with Google Drive in the cloud, making it simpler to store and play media on the TV from Drive vs go through the hit-n-miss configurations we find in Troypoint to add USB storage to say the new ONN dongle. The TV comes with multiple USB ports, so I could plug and play that way also.
Most of what we do/read in the TP Insider deals with 3rd party devices hooked up to TVs. I’m interested in user’s experiences with integrated TVs. Do I buy the TV, or just replace the 4K Firestick on the Samsung with the new Walmart dongle?
If you want to dig into your TV you can use it just like an added streaming device as it appears to have a full GoogleTV OS installed. I also remember someone adding a 128 GB USB drive into one of the USB ports. Now I don’t know all the precise clicks you’ll need to do, but I have read these TCLs perform similar to a stick or dongle so no need to add one to your hdmi port. If you decide to give it a go I suspect you’ll be able to get instructions for your specific model from TCL themselves. Wouldn’t hurt to explore this option. Let us know how you make out please.
Built in smart TVs with the android or Google is is always the better option for at home viewing plus no cords or wires. Plus there’s about 12 GB of storage on built in Smart TV with Android or Google OS
The biggest problem with that is they often have poor processing power as well as sound and you are quite often far better off to have an attached streaming device IMHO. With huge TVs these days it’s easy to hide cords in properly designed cord tunnels. Most ppl don’t even understand that you no longer have to plug say a Firestick, directly into a tv’s HDMI port.
Oh ok strange I’ve had the QLED Dolby Vision HDR Amazon fire Omni smart TV and has very high end sound and picture quality and my friends have the Sony bravia Google tv OS and his is great watched sports and movies and it was high quality but I can’t speak for the other ones but those two built in smart TVs had high quality sound and picture. And was just as snappy as any of my streaming devices for streaming purposes. And for sound quality sound bar probably best solution over any Smart TV or streaming device alone
I guess high end is a matter of opinion. You can’t get high end sound out of a thin TV. Just simulated. Hard to build a sub into a TV. IMHO a TV is designed for visuals not audio. I am a component believer. A good home theater requires individual components built and designed for one purpose. That’s why I believe in a good streaming device to supply the source and then a good TV for the picture and a sound system for sound. Some even go as far as to have seperate audio receivers for sound production. I also have the latest high end Samsung TV. Great pic. My streamer is a Shield Pro, excellent configuration options.
After I posted this thread last year, I purchased the TCL 6-SERIES 4K MINI-LED UHD QLED Google TV. I’ve now had 9 months use, and these are my observations:
Google integration is well worth it. Having the Google Play Store built in makes app downloading a breeze. The TV came with a browser that enabled me to connect to my Google Drive, so I can store large media files there for play on the TV. No more need to configure a USB thumb drive storage and cables. Linking to the Troy site via Downloader to get other apps works just as easily as on a FS. We’ve all been trained for years on FS, so overall configuration of Google TV is similar and simple.
The integration allowed me to junk all the hardware and cabling hanging off the back of the old TV. Yes it’s easy to store the junk out of sight, but when it came to fault finding with the old setup you had to check every cable, dongle, splitter, USB etc to be sure there was no connection issue.
I watch all local TV with an OTA antenna. So no more toggling between the FS for streaming and the TV set for live OTA with 2 controllers (yes I can buy an integrated controller but why??). On the home screen I see all the services in app form, with just one controller to move about.
There is no issue with sound quality. I used a sound bar on the old TV and I use it on the Google TV as well. The old TV did not allow me to use an optical connector cable, the new one does, so ne sound is a bit better. However, even with the sound bar off, the TV quality is fine for me. No tinniness etc.
Casting/screen sharing works better than casting to the FS. I cast downloaded movies/shows from my tablet using the Google Home app on the tablet. No need to turn off the VPN on the tablet, like I had to do with the FS.
The only issue I have encountered is the use of a USB thumb drive. Plug it into the TCL and the TV set formats it. Then when I plug it into the PC to copy a media file, the drive is not recognized. Not sure how to fix it so I can copy files from the PC.
This is why we’re fortunate to have a huge variety of options. Some have more draconian standards than others for their viewing and are some are satisfied with good enough. The myriad of options and devices satisfy every palate. This is a great time for our hobby. Have fun and STREAM ON!!!
I get it but I was coming from an affordable pov not everyone can afford to build the ultimate entertainment system and maybe the person who posted this can but just giving an affordable opinion.
