My partner and i purchased this kind of TV available for sale in December. 2011 for under $300. It’s an updated type of TCL L40FHDF11TA. It’s put in a master suite. I’ll rate each group in Amazon’s system of just one to 5 celebrities. My rankings are in accordance with how this kind of TV stacks facing other Televisions in its price range.
SETUP *** (3 celebrities)
The TV was well-packed inside the shipping box (43. 5″ by 31″ by 10. 5″) together with 2 yellow-colored nylon connectors holding this together. (In case your straps are missing, the shipper could have broken these while carrying and dropped the tv.) With regard to wall increasing, you require a VESA 400x400mm compliant mount such as this, this, or this kind of. I utilized the cup stand. If you’re attempting to fit it right into a shelf, the dimensions with endure are 38. 5″ by 27″ by 9″ (with out stand: 38. 5″ by 24. 5″ by 4″). The cord doesn’t have a power large rock attached which is a plus. I’m utilizing a learning common remote which did discover codes for this TV. Try ‘RCA’ if ‘TCL’ didn’t meet your needs. I suggest utilizing an universal distant since it’s much easier to replace than to change the unique remote should you break this.
Some distant codes collected for reference:
DirecTV: 11447
Comcast: 11447
Dish Network: 503
AT&T U-Verse: 1000
There might be a problem with the “TV powering on suddenly. ” In case your ‘SW Version’ says V8-0RSC801-LF1V041, you’re ALRIGHT. Otherwise, download the actual firmware update at TCL’s web site onto any FAT-formatted system. (My partner and i used my own phone.) Make sure to wait a minimum of 10 mere seconds after this says “Completed” just before unplugging the actual USB wire. (My partner and i waited 30 seconds being safe.) Now i’m guessing that is where many people might have messed up and broke the tv.
PICTURE ***** (5 celebrities)
The LCD panel is made by Samsung with their logo visible inside the back (photo posted). As together with most LCD TVs nowadays, the screen is glossy and never matte, so you need to do have to take into consideration glare. After powering up the TV which took concerning 15 mere seconds, I changed the preset picture setting from the default ‘ECO’ to ‘Cinematic’. Cinematic/Movie mode is generally the setting that arrives closest to a professional calibration. (If you have in mind doing your own TV calibration, check out there the Disney AMAZING blu-ray, search “AVS HD 709″ for a free one, or attempt my “quick photo calibration” below.) It has 5 focus modes, with ‘No Overscan’ getting preferred. If it is not available, choose ‘Full’ for the least quantity of cropping. I watched the tv from an Amazon suggested distance of about 7 to 8 ft. After starting up my video source together with HDMI (not necessarily included) and making sure it’s 1080p, I attempted watching several dark movies being a stress analyze. I didn’t notice any obvious photo defects. The viewing angle is very good for an LCD. The contrast is excellent, with listed 4000: 1 contrast ratio. I compared it to my family room LED together with 10 thousand: 1 contrast ratio. The DIRECTED has a bit better contrast with further blacks, though not at all 2500 times better, so My partner and i wouldn’t read too much into contrast ratios when shopping for TVs. There are a few nitpicks. There’s hook motion blurring due to its slightly-slow 8 ms response period and 60 Hz invigorate rate. There’s hook uniformity problem inside the upper edges, noticeable within an all african american picture. The yellow-colored color is really a little off. None of the are major problems; I’ve noticed much worse only at that price variety, so no stars are deducted.
AUDIO *** (3 celebrities)
The 2 8 watt audio system are passable for a bedroom. It has a nice equalizer food selection with presets and 5 personally adjustable pubs. It offers Dolby Electronic digital sound, but you certainly need to incorporate your personal speakers to take advantage of it. You can hook up your audio system via coaxial electronic audio out there, RCA out there (white/red), or headphone out there. There’s no optical electronic audio out there (Toslink) no ARC (audio return funnel). I hooked up a Sony bookshelf system via RCA out there which did enhance the sound dramatically. The headphone out there wasn’t taking care of my device, but Now i’m ok with it since I avoid headphones.
GAMING ***** (5 celebrities)
I hooked up my Xbox 360 console via HDMI and changed the actual Xbox ‘HDTV settings’ to 1080p and ‘Reference Levels’ to Expanded. I tried a couple games and didn’t discover any feedback lag. By the way in which, never hook up your gaming system with yellow-colored composite RCA wires. LCD/LED and plasma Televisions can’t natively show interlaced video, so they’ll must spend period deinterlacing and therefore create extra input lag.
PC **** (four stars)
I connected my PC using a VGA cable. (Results ought to be similar together with DVI or perhaps HDMI.) I’d to alter my Home windows monitor settings to “unhide modes that this monitor cannot display” in order to get the indigenous resolution regarding 1920×1080. For tests, I opened a Phrase document established to Occasions New Roman 6-point font and had no trouble reading through it together with ‘Sharpness’ at 0. You may use it being a big monitor if you don’t anticipate it to have the clarity of a 22″ monitor when viewing within 3′. (It’s got the same quantity of pixels distribute across 3. 4 times the location.) Any time viewed at 5′ or maybe more, clarity defintely won’t be a problem.
MEDIA *** (3 celebrities)
The HARDWARE port allows pictures and music although not videos. There’s no internet buffering, which My partner and i preferred. I have a lot of devices able to streaming, so My partner and i don’t wish to pay extra for a feature My partner and i don’t require.
RELIABILITY **** (four stars)
The TCL FHDF11TA sequence has over 1000 critiques on Amazon by having an average ranking of four stars, which is most likely as effective as it gets for a generic brand name. I also like the fact it has a 2 year warranty rather than 1. The just concern is that the warranty has been done by way of a & D Electronics (the business that TCL offers outsourced for the warranty claims) which has an Farrenheit rating about BBB. The poor rating is because, I think, a lack of employees. If you’re lucky and catch them over a low volume of repairs, you’ll acquire prompt service; otherwise, you might must be patient and persistent to get your TV repaired. (FYI, their quantity is 877-470-7766, 9AM-5PM PST, M-F.) If everything else fails, try contacting Amazon. Some people did be successful even after the 30 day time return period. You can also add 1 extra year regarding warranty through purchasing together with Mastercard or perhaps AmEx. And for those who have Costco membership, you should buy SquareTrade to incorporate 3 extra years regarding warranty for a total regarding 5 regarding $30 (less costly than Amazon . com).
PRICE ***** (5 celebrities)
Free shipping, free one month return, delivered to your door inside 2 days for under $300 will be hard to beat. Amazon also lets you do a price adjustment if the price drops within fourteen days.
OTHER TELEVISIONS
Here are 2 Televisions I regarded as before buying the TCL:
LG 32LK330 – This can be a good simple name-brand 32″ TELEVISION suitable for a bedroom. It just has 64% with the TCL’s viewing area though.
LG 42LK450 – This 42″ TELEVISION has excellent all-around performance and it is suitable being a primary TV within an apartment, albeit at a price premium.
MISC – QUICK PICTURE CALIBRATION
1. Change preset to ‘Cinematic’. After looking at some calibration styles, I find both the default ‘Brightness’ regarding 50 and ‘Contrast’ regarding 80 being spot about.
2. Change ‘Sharpness’ to 0. With a definite HD resource, you shouldn’t must artificially increase the sharpness. If phrases look fuzzy, you can experiment with this.
3. Change ‘Noise Reduction’ to low. Similar to Sharpness, you do not need significantly image processing using a clear resource.
4. I get the default ‘Backlight’ regarding 60 being suitable for a dimly-lit space. With many lights about, 80 seems about proper. If sunlight is present, boost this to 100. Adjust it according to your space lighting and eye level of comfort.
5. (optional) With regard to adjusting colors, you normally must use filters using a calibration dvd. I want to do this by eye using my own, personal pictures (ideally scanned studio pictures). We should all manage to pick out there the nuances individuals own skin tones. Alternatively, play any familiar movie and pause when you have a clear shot of a face, then adjust. I get the default ‘Color’ regarding 40 being satisfactory. If you can not get ‘Color’ to check right, try transforming ‘Color Temperature’ through 1 and get back to changing ‘Color’. » Read more..