Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat TV for content without cable subscription
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2021
This is a nice, cheap TV that doesn’t require a cable box or cable subscription to watch plenty of content. It will help if you already have a subscription to a service like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime (which comes with Prime Video), Disney+, ESPN+, Paramount+, Peacock or anything else. But there is a good selection of free offerings as well. Pluto TV has lots of random free channels and just airs ads, like normal TV, and I've watched it quite a bit. There are other similar free services I haven’t tried, like Vudu (for movies), Crackle (TV and movies), and Xumo (movies and TV) that should work. And then you always have access to everything on YouTube.
But if you are not using traditional cable service, then this TV is only going to be as good as the internet connection you provide, since all this content is streamed. You can connect it to wifi, but this TV has an ethernet port, so I plugged a line directly from my modem to the TV, which gives me a stable connection and nice picture quality. When I tried to use wifi, I did get buffering, so unless you have pretty good wifi speeds, use an ethernet cable.
The sound quality is good, and there are the necessary ports if you wanted to add a sound bar or some other audio device. Picture quality is decent enough as well. This is not a pristine HD TV, but you should've expected that from the price. My TV arrived with one dead pixel toward the top of the screen, but for me that wasn’t a deal breaker.
As far as usability, if you already own an Android phone then you’re probably familiar with how everything works. This is basically a modified version of the Android operating system designed for a TV. To get apps, whether it’s Netflix or Pluto TV, you go to the Google app store and download them there. Any app you can download and use with your phone to watch stuff will probably be available for this TV. If you aren't good with modern technology and smart phones, you may struggle to use this TV - I've been an Android phone user for years.
The remote is a minimalistic design, so there are no dedicated rewind/FF buttons or “back” buttons, etc. Like you would with your cell phone, you just intuitively figure out whether the back arrow will rewind when you’re in a show or take you back when you’re in a menu, etc. (I saw someone in another review complain that the TV didn’t come with a remote - mine came with a remote, two new batteries, a power cable, and an A/V adapter cable.) Again, some people who aren't used to modern user interfaces for phone apps and that sort of thing might find the remote confusing at times.
Overall, I think this is a useful TV for less than $200. For the room I wanted to put this TV in, the monthly cost for another box from my cable company would’ve been exorbitant. Watching the streaming services I already subscribe to on this TV is a better idea to me.
