Nearly two weeks ago I replaced my 10 year old 42″ LG LCD TV with a 55″ 4K TCL P605. The LG had served me well and good for most of those 10 years but an annoying backlight issues had degraded the screen image and it was time for something new.

The TCL is a 4K television providing a resolution nearly double of current HD standard and it comes with HDR, High Dynamic Range, for better contracts and black levels.

I paid the extra money to not only have the television, and its news stand, delivered, but also to have everything assembled and put into place. The savings in frustration more than made up for that extra cost.

The TV is working beautifully. The picture is sharp, clear, and with great color and detail reproduction. I have watched everything from native 4K content all the way down to 480i broadcast signals of classic programming. The classic programming is fuzzy and it is amazing that we watched that content at all. My Blu-rays look fantastic, Sunday Night I watched my copy of the 1973 The Wicker Man and it was the best I had seen outside of a cinema. Sitting about 9 feet from the screen the apparent size is great for an immersive experience, making late night movie watching a pleasure. The thin black frame of the Tv vanishes in a dark room, so there is the illusion of an image simple hanging in the void.

The P605 is also a smart TV, meaning it has a number of apps and this model uses the Roku system for streaming content, either through a direct connection or via a wireless network. I use a wireless connection and here again the TV works great.

It has been more than 8 years since my wife and I subscribed to a cable TV service, and now everything we watch is either streamed or on disc. The built-in Roku works well with our streaming services, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. (Though I found the Hulu interface not as user friendly as the one on our Apple TV.) Streamed the 4K content plays perfectly and we’ve enjoyed a lot of cool programming on our new television.

I have also connected my new Xbox One to the TV and again it passes all expectations but of course no product is perfect.

The set lacks component inputs making it difficult to connect older devices such as my region-free DVD player. That’s going to have to go through my AV receiver. Also the screen has a bit of gloss to it so you’ll need to be aware of light sources and their positions to avoid glare. However, those are fairly minor issues.

In short I have no regrets buying a ‘budget’ television. This monitor gives me great image, and presentation with a very affordable price.