TCL 65DC748 65" Smart 4K Ultra HD TV with HDR Freeview Play and built in JBL Sound Bar

n0chex

I have just Ordered the TCL 65DC748 65" Smart 4K Ultra HD TV with HDR Freeview Play and built in JBL Sound Bar from Costco which Includes a 5 year warranty.

As the set is new on the market and not much information on it but looking at what reviews there is it looks promising. I was originally going to buy the Hisense 6100 but purchased a 6200 instead and when it was set up it had pretty bad banding and clouding and something that I thought I couldn't live with so I sent it back ( Currys ).

Looking at what I could buy next I come across the TCL brand which I had never heard of before but looking on what you get for your money it looks a good buy on paper.

It will be with me in the next 10 days and I'm hoping it will be ok and not looking for perfection just acceptable in terms of picture quality uniformity and banding and so on.

AO.com was the cheapest till I came across it for sale @ Costco £799 minus the £15 Black Friday Discount Code so £784 Including Delivery and a excellent Costco 5 year warranty.

On Display Specifications it states a 8 bit Panel  FRC but other places say its a 10 bit Panel.

My friend purchased a Sony 65" 9005 series from JL Yesterday and I went to look at it last night not impressed the REDs was Orange no matter what setting you changed and the blooming was quite bad also. I must say Zero Banding or clouding though which is always welcome in a screen that size.


http://www.mediacenter.tcl.eu/uploads/documentdetail/fbbbd1743e0454ea91b5d6c632e074b8075266df.pdf

EndlessWaves

Going for a budget brand like TCL isn't the best way to get great quality control. You want to be looking at the other end of the market, a TV that is a bit more expensive for the features it offers compared to the competition as the chances are better they'll have spent extra money on weeding out the dud panels.

n0chex

it remains the third-largest television manufacturer by market share so wouldn't say Budget Brand and when you read the spec and materials used for all their televisions it sounds impressive.

Correct me if I am wrong they are the Number 1 selling brand in America and coming to UK now to make a name for themselves so I doubt that they will be putting out rubbish more like better build and quality control over the other well known brands who have gone down the pan in my books when it comes to materials used and quality control.

We will see anyway when it arrives it could be rubbish or there again I could like it very much , either way I have a 5 year warranty for peace of mind.

EndlessWaves

And Vestel are the second biggest selling manufacturer in Europe. Most of the TV market is at the bottom end, so claims like that don't mean anything when you're interested in consistency.

If you look at rtings reviews who are based in North American then the TCLs they've tested are clearly budget models that are less well rounded than the likes of Sony.
TCL TVs - 2018: Reviews and Smart Features

And if you look in the review for the highest TCL model up the range that they've tested they comment:

"We have received many reports of gray uniformity issues with the TCL 6 Series. The results of our TV seem typical of this model, but many people have received TVs with worse uniformity. Gray uniformity results will vary from unit to unit."
TCL 6 Series 2018 R617 Review (55R617, 65R617) - RTINGS.com

New manufacturers do often reach a point where they're as almost as good as established brands but still pricing aggressively to build their brand. I reckon Hisense are pretty close, but TCL still seem some way off.

It's an attractive narrative, but the TV market is competitive and mid-range and high end customers don't have much brand loyalty. You just have to look at how Samsung's market share has plummeted in the last couple of years because they backed the wrong horse and focused on colour gamut rather then contrast improvement for HDR support.

If there was any significant drop in quality of one manufacturer then people would desert them rapidly.


Hopefully the one you get will be a good one.

n0chex

Thanks for the reply and it's the 7 series I have ordered so hope that they have improved over the 6.

It can't be any worse than the Hisense 65" Model 6200 I have returned this week after selling my Hisense 5510 for which annoyed the hell out of me because of screen uniformity and banding.

If the 6200 Hisense did not have the screen uniformity and bad banding I would have kept that as the picture was perfect much better than my 5510 series.

n0chex

TCL C76 wins EISA's Best Buy LCD TV award, will launch 55" and 65" models in Europe

Source - TCL’S C76 SERIES TELEVISION WINS THE “BEST BUY LCD TV 2018-2019” FROM EISA

Not sure what panel is in this as above it states it's an IPS panel but look under TCL and that set says its a VA …..confused.