TCL 42" 4k HDR

[ZixteE]

I'm planning to buy a smart TV which is TCL 43P8M - 43" P8M SERIES. This is my first time buying a smart TV 4k UHD, so I have questions before buying it.

 

1.)  What is the video format applicable for this model for 4k movie?

2.) The CPU of this TV is (64bit A55x4 900MHz~1.1GHz) how many cores does it have?

     2.1) Can this CPU really plays 4k UHD movies without stuttering or frame lag?

3.) My friend also owned TCL 50" smart TV he said sometimes when he play some movie on his TV the sound of it is too weak he cant even hear the people talking on the movie even thou the volume on TV is maxed. However some movies comes with great sound when he plays it on TV. But the movies which are the volume is too weak on TV when he plays it on his laptop the sound quality is good. 

 

[ZixteE]

.

[emosun]

30 minutes ago, ZixteE said:

What is the video format applicable for this model for 4k movie?

the format? any that can send a signal it supports I suppose.

30 minutes ago, ZixteE said:

The CPU of this TV is (64bit A55x4 900MHz~1.1GHz) how many cores does it have?

Probably one but a tv's cpu isn't.... really ever important

30 minutes ago, ZixteE said:

Can this CPU really plays 4k UHD movies without stuttering or frame lag?

yeah otherwise they wouldnt sell the product

30 minutes ago, ZixteE said:

My friend also owned TCL 50" smart TV he said sometimes when he play some movie on his TV the sound of it is too weak he cant even hear the people talking on the movie even thou the volume on TV is maxed. However some movies comes with great sound when he plays it on TV. But the movies which are the volume is too weak on TV when he plays it on his laptop the sound quality is good. 

most tvs have bad sound , it's very uncommon for someone to actually use the speakers built into a flatscreen

[ZixteE]

15 minutes ago, emosun said:

the format? any that can send a signal it supports I suppose.

Because some TVs here doesnt support like MKV format etc. 

[emosun]

1 minute ago, ZixteE said:

Because some TVs here doesnt support like MKV format etc. 

you can just play the mkv file on a device that does support it and output to the tv.

you don't actually ever have to use the built in apps the tv has. most people dont

[ZixteE]

2 hours ago, emosun said:

you can just play the mkv file on a device that does support it and output to the tv.

Yea gonna put that on flashdrive or external hard drive but I'm hoping that the TV itself supports other format other than .mp4 thank you!

[circeseye]

1 hour ago, ZixteE said:

Yea gonna put that on flashdrive or external hard drive but I'm hoping that the TV itself supports other format other than .mp4 thank you!

honestly your asking a lot from a tv, especially a low/mid end tv like tcl. like others said better to use a device and send it to tv

[SpikeSpiegel]

I used to sell a lot of HDTVs back in my days in Retail.  Basically I'll give you a list of brands to stay away from or try to get a sound bar.

 

HiSense - Poor picture quality (But good tech support + Local drop off and repair service where I live)

TLC - Bad Audio (But good quality HDTV's)

Element - (Avoid it at all cost) *High Failure Rate*

RCA - (Terrible brand avoid it) *High Failure Rate*

Magnavox  - (Terrible brand avoid it) *High Failure Rate*

Philips - ((Terrible brand avoid it) *High Failure Rate*

Emerson - (Extremely low end)

Sansui - (Made by Emerson but extremely low end)

ONN - Wal-Mart Brand (Terrible I would not recommend it) *AVOID*

Sceptre - (Very high failure rate & getting a RMA is impossible due to the company being in China)  *AVOID*

Olevia/was the property of Syntax-Brillian (Went out of business) Sometimes retailers will resell these HDTVs when they're cheap (Avoid it!!!)

Westinghouse (This company is not the true Westinghouse company anymore.  They were bought up by other TV companies)

Insignia (High failure rate before the warranty date)

LG (Good screen quality but the speakers are terrible) - Get a Sound Bar

Samsung AAA+

Sony (They have some issues but it's a good brand)

[circeseye]

13 hours ago, CalintzJerevinan said:

I used to sell a lot of HDTVs back in my days in Retail.  Basically I'll give you a list of brands to stay away from or try to get a sound bar.

 

HiSense - Poor picture quality (But good tech support + Local drop off and repair service where I live)

TLC - Bad Audio (But good quality HDTV's)

Element - (Avoid it at all cost) *High Failure Rate*

RCA - (Terrible brand avoid it) *High Failure Rate*

Magnavox  - (Terrible brand avoid it) *High Failure Rate*

Philips - ((Terrible brand avoid it) *High Failure Rate*

Emerson - (Extremely low end)

Sansui - (Made by Emerson but extremely low end)

ONN - Wal-Mart Brand (Terrible I would not recommend it) *AVOID*

Sceptre - (Very high failure rate & getting a RMA is impossible due to the company being in China)  *AVOID*

Olevia/was the property of Syntax-Brillian (Went out of business) Sometimes retailers will resell these HDTVs when they're cheap (Avoid it!!!)

Westinghouse (This company is not the true Westinghouse company anymore.  They were bought up by other TV companies)

Insignia (High failure rate before the warranty date)

LG (Good screen quality but the speakers are terrible) - Get a Sound Bar

Samsung AAA+

Sony (They have some issues but it's a good brand)

scepter is in china?
Sceptre (pronounced 'septer') is a privately owned American consumer-electronics producer headquartered in the City of Industry, California. Sceptre is best known for its affordable LED, LCD, and 4K displays. Its other products include audio, car cams, and car batteries.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

16800 Gale Ave
City of industry,CA 91745

i can drive to that address with a failed tv and get it exchanged. rmas are not impossable
 

hisense and tcl eeeehhh they go back and forth depending on tv

everything else i agree with

[SpikeSpiegel]

3 hours ago, circeseye said:

scepter is in china?
Sceptre (pronounced 'septer') is a privately owned American consumer-electronics producer headquartered in the City of Industry, California. Sceptre is best known for its affordable LED, LCD, and 4K displays. Its other products include audio, car cams, and car batteries.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

16800 Gale Ave
City of industry,CA 91745

i can drive to that address with a failed tv and get it exchanged. rmas are not impossable
 

hisense and tcl eeeehhh they go back and forth depending on tv

everything else i agree with

Originally when they first were built in China and I'm shocked that they have an HQ in California.  Wal-Mart would hire a 3rd party TV repair company "Norman Electronics" to repair the broken or RMA TV's for Wal-Mart.  And the guy I always dealt with Norman Electronics told me everything about each brand.  He said that Sceptre was one of the highest failure rated TV's compared to Westinghouse and Element.  Before I left the company we started carrying ONN brand TV's and it's terrible.  

 

You would not believe how many broken Sceptre, Westinghouse, and Element TV's we had to claim back to those companies.  99% were those brands.  And our TV repair guy from Norman's said it's not worth a dime to buy those brands.  Even my HDTV the Olevia is terrible.  The first year I got it the speakers kept crackling and died.  So the only way to get sound is from the headphone jack to my old Sony CD/Tape Deck System.  Which has better audio quality than the original speakers.  And Olevia went out of business right before I was going to RMA back to them.  Emersion was taking RMA's for it. But they said since Olevia went out of business.  They couldn't repair it just send me a replacement which was an Emersion.  Which I rejected the RMA.  Because my Olevia HDTV has a great picture but the speakers sucked.

 

As for HiSense they got a HQ and RND Office a few miles away for where I lived.  We had to go to the main HQ to see the newest models coming out for the next year.  I've seen good products from HiSense.  Even the first gen Tablets that came out were better than any other cheap Android tablets.

 

I bought a HiSense 50" inch HDTV last year and it's been good.  Except for the picture quality and the built in app controls.  The newest models have the worst menu remote system I have ever seen.

 

HISENSE USA

7310 MCGINNIS FERRY ROAD
SUWANEE, GA
30024
USA

 

 

[ZixteE]

3 hours ago, circeseye said:

TLC - Bad Audio (But good quality HDTV's)

So I just need to buy soundbar if they have a bad audio right? 

[ZixteE]

3 hours ago, circeseye said:

scepter is in china?
Sceptre (pronounced 'septer') is a privately owned American consumer-electronics producer headquartered in the City of Industry, California. Sceptre is best known for its affordable LED, LCD, and 4K displays. Its other products include audio, car cams, and car batteries.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

16800 Gale Ave
City of industry,CA 91745

i can drive to that address with a failed tv and get it exchanged. rmas are not impossable
 

hisense and tcl eeeehhh they go back and forth depending on tv

everything else i agree with

So with all of these TV's listed what are the things should I considered when buying 42"~50~ 4k UHD Smart TV?

[SpikeSpiegel]

1 hour ago, ZixteE said:

So I just need to buy soundbar if they have a bad audio right? 

Pretty much or a good surround sound system.

[circeseye]

3 hours ago, ZixteE said:

So with all of these TV's listed what are the things should I considered when buying 42"~50~ 4k UHD Smart TV?

this site is top notch for reviewing tv's
https://www.rtings.com

 

but as was said samsung and lg are best
then hisense and tlc are next in line if the top 2 are out of price range
when looking at tv's its really the need...like i game on my samsung. both samsung and lg have pretty low ms. hisense and tcl depended on tv
lg has better hdr then samsung in my opinion. samsung has noticeable soap opera effect but then samsung has "their" way of doing hdr.

sound wise i cant comment. i never use tv speakers. i always use a external set up

 

oh one last thing. local dimmimg. some tvs local dimming SUCKS. so like its really noticeable in a dark room

[ZixteE]

37 minutes ago, circeseye said:

this site is top notch for reviewing tv's
https://www.rtings.com

 

but as was said samsung and lg are best
then hisense and tlc are next in line if the top 2 are out of price range
when looking at tv's its really the need...like i game on my samsung. both samsung and lg have pretty low ms. hisense and tcl depended on tv
lg has better hdr then samsung in my opinion. samsung has noticeable soap opera effect but then samsung has "their" way of doing hdr.

sound wise i cant comment. i never use tv speakers. i always use a external set up

 

oh one last thing. local dimmimg. some tvs local dimming SUCKS. so like its really noticeable in a dark room

Okay thanks how about operating of smart tv's does it matter? Because the TCL 43P8M - 43" P8M SERIES is Android P 

[circeseye]

eeeehhhh to each there own with that.

looking i see tcl has all the normal streaming apps that samsung and lg has. but how os performs im not sure. i just know samsung and lg os