My TCL UHD P8 55" TV issues

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Just got my TCL P8 55" TV installed today.

The picture quality is good.

Here are some of my issues :-

1) Prime Video is flaky as hell. It's slow, takes a lot of time to load andni am unable to play 4k videos. All videos Play in 1080p maximum.

I had problems signining in to prime video. I had to reinstall it multiple times for it to actually show the login screen so i could login.

2) Bluetooth issues. My Xiaomi Bluetooth audio earphones are having a lot of issues keeping sound connected. If i switch to another app or let the TV idling for a minute or two, I lose the sound. I have to reconnect by going to Bluetooth settings of the tv.

3) The TCL android remote app to control the TV is super buggy and very unreliable. i am unable to enter text using the remote. I have to use the physical tv remote to enter text which is a giant PITA.

I have been spoiled by firestick remote app and now realize how slick and polished the firestick app was compared to this joke of an android TCL remote app.

I've ordered a firestick 4k as it is still in discount today. I'll see if i can sort out these issues with the TCL android tv in the next few days. If i can sort them out, I'll return the fire stick.

Moral of the story - These new budget Smart TVs have lousy software experiences
 
@Neeraj0272
I checked for system updates. There were none.

all my apps are updated.

4K HDR works fine on youtube, Netflix, Kodi. Whenever I play 4K, the TV shows HDR10 on top screen for a second. Also, whioe playing 4K videos, if you click on settings button on the physical remote, you can clearly see HDR option on Picture tab.

This doesn’t happen while playing Prime video. Also, the Prime video is slow to load videos.

i never had issues with my Xiaomi Bluetooth audio reciever With firestick. But, on P8 it is a different issue.

As for the TCL Tcast android app remote, try entering text. If you are successful, then I guess my Xiaomi Phine has issues.

I will report back after using this TV a bit more
 
Go through this thread,it may be that TCL does not have the certification for Amazon prime HDR:
 
But I think HDR is working on Prime Video. How to be sure?
Also how can we see what this tv is displaying like there is an option in youtube 'stats for nerds' or like 'o' button in Kodi where all the details about video and audio is shown?

AFAIK, 4k and HDR go together. When prime video play, it shows 1080 at bottom left when play bar comes up. It should say UHDor HDR, I think.

I have no idea how to show stats on prime video though.

4K on YouTube is not as good as on Netflix.maybe because YouTube has more compression or the amatuer videos, I'm not sure

The best way to experience the power of 4K is via Kodi. Play a 40 GB Captain Marvel movie and the experience is dazzling!

I've no problems with picture quality on this tv.

The problem is the Bluetooth audio connectivity, software and user friendliness that i had become used to on fire stick.

Does your Bluetooth audio hold if you change apps or let the video app laybidle for a minute or two?
 
AFAIK, 4k and HDR go together. When prime video play, it shows 1080 at bottom left when play bar comes up. It should say UHDor HDR, I think.

I have no idea how to show stats on prime video though.

4K on YouTube is not as good as on Netflix.maybe because YouTube has more compression or the amatuer videos, I'm not sure

The best way to experience the power of 4K is via Kodi. Play a 40 GB Captain Marvel movie and the experience is dazzling!

I've no problems with picture quality on this tv. It so happens that most HDR shows are available in 4k. HDR can be available in 1080p also

The problem is the Bluetooth audio connectivity, software and user friendliness that i had become used to on fire stick.

Does your Bluetooth audio hold if you change apps or let the video app laybidle for a minute or two?
4k and HDR is entirely different thing.
 
TCL android OS do hangs sometimes, once I did factory reset it was fine. You are in noida .. contact their senior managers, their whole office is here.
 
Sony Bluetooth headphones mdr-Xb650bt is working ok. I changed apps from voot to youtube and then back to voot and there was no bluetooth connection drop.

I'm assuming you played the voot video for a couple of minutes and THEN switched app to YouTube.

I also do not lose Bluetooth. The Bluetooth is maintained but What is lose is audio when I switch apps.

Ok thanks. I guess my Xiaomi earphones are not compatible with TCL. I'll get another Bluetooth earphone.
 
I have connected my stereo amp to the TV via analogue inputs. if I don't want to power up my amp then how to do use only TV speakers?

I really have no clue as to how tondo that since I've never used external speakers with TV.

I prefer to listen to my tv mostly via bluetooth earphones.

Also, the P8 tv has HDR but doesn't have 10 bit, so it's not HDR10 just simulated HDR 10.

I think only Mi 4x Pro has true 10 bit in that price range.
 
Amazon Prime uses HDR10+ while TCL uses Dolby Vision,both are 10 bit but different HDR standards so I don't think TCL/iffalcon will be able to play any 4k amazon prime video. Of course I may be wrong also. @superczar should be able to clear this though.
 
Amazon Prime uses HDR10+ while TCL uses Dolby Vision,both are 10 bit but different HDR standards so I don't think TCL/iffalcon will be able to play any 4k amazon prime video. Of course I may be wrong also. @superczar should be able to clear this though.
If the HDR standard is not supported either by the display or the rendering device, you will not get HDR.

However the same content will play in 4K SDR just fine

Having said that, I am unsure about the specific model in question but TVs that support DV also do support HDR10 too.
In either case, playback in 4K will still work fine
 
@Neeraj0272

The prime video not being able to play 4K/HDR is a big deal for me as I watch it quite a bit.

I've had some wifi issues. There was a powercut and after that when i switched on the tv, it wouldn't connect to the internet. I had to forget the network and re-enter my network details.

As for the Bluetooth issues, it's slightly better when I'm playing content on my Apple tv 3rs gen. The audio doesn't drop when i switch apps in Apple tv but the audio does drop when i leave the Bluetooth headphones idling for a few seconds.

I've ordered a firestick 4k as I'm not confident that TCL will address these software bugs.

If these problems are sorted out by TCL in the future, I'll selll the firestick. I got it for a discount for 3600, so it ain't too bad.

When I'm having a better experience software wise on a 6-7 year old streaming device than the android tv OS, it says something about the state of the software on the TCL tv.

If the apple tv 4k weren't so dang expensive I'd have bought that instead of the firestick 4k but i aint Mukesh Ambani.
 
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@Neeraj0272

I've no problems with the quality of Picture. For the price, the picture quality is great.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that i don't have any hardware issue for 2-3 years as I'm pretty sure that the after sales service is going to be awful for this TV. If this TV lasts 3 years without any issues, I'll be satisfied.

The software is the issue for me. Firestick 4K should take care of it. I need my prime video in UHD. I'm pretty sure that if Prime video ain't UHD, other upcoming streaming services like Apple tv+, Disney+ content on hotstar won't be UHD either. Hotstar video doesn't have UHD but I doubt it will provide UHD content in the near future. I guess we'll be watching The Mandalorian in lousy 1080p.

Apple is notoriously picknicky about maintaining user experience. I have zero confidence that Apple tv+ app in UHD will ever come to this TV OS. I'm pretty sure it will never come to Mi TV either because of their beef with Apple.

I think firestick 4K is the way to go if one wants to have a better experience. I shoukd recieve it today. I'll report back on how the experience is after using it for a bit.
 
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@Neeraj0272

Got my firestick 4k today.

When my tv switched on it shows HDR10 pq16. Anyone know what pq16 means?

Prime video is now playing 4k and Netflix plays Dolby audio which it was not doing in TCL OS.

This firestick is noticeably snappier than the firestick 1080p.

So far, my experience has been good with firestick 4k.

Will update as i use it more in the coming days.
 
When my tv switched on it shows HDR10 pq16. Anyone know what pq16 means?
Too much technical info for me to understand clearly but from whatever I could understand it seems to represent 16 bit container with PQ non-linear encoding so basically just a technical term.
 
Whats the brightness of the panel in nits? For e.g. I dont think a mere 300 nits TV can do justice to HDR which we are so obsessed with these days.
 
Is there any advantage of Dolby Audio if I'm connecting only 2 channel stereo amp?



I am getting frustrated with my 1080p firestick. But if your experience is good with 4k firestick then maybe I will also buy one.
How is your experience with Smart Hdr on this tv?[/USER]
[/QUOTE]

I don't think there is any advantage of Dolby audio on 2 channel stereo.

I'm not an expert on pixels and hdr and stuff.

All i know is prime video is playing in UHD and the quality is noticeably better than prime video app on TCL.

My bluetooth issues have been resolved on firestick 4k.

I can control my tv via firestick 4k remote like changing volume, switching on/off tv.

I'm very happy with firestick 4k.

But, if you don't use prime video, apple tv+ much, I'm not sure if you are going to have much benefit by buying firestick 4k over TCL Android OS.

If prime video UHD, apple tv+ come to TCL Android OS in the next few months, the firestick 4k might become useless even for me.
 
If TCL had wanted to, it could have already provided prime video in 4k. So chances are few that it would come out in 4k.
What's the use of Appletv?

Maybe tcl reaches a licensing deal with Amazon and then it could provide full support like mi tv. The mi tvs released last year now have full prime video support via system update.

same could happen with tcl.

Apple tv plus is launching on November 1 for ₹99 a month. It will have original tv shows made by Apple. The app is coming on Apple tv, Roku, fire tv, some high end smart TV's like Sony, samsung

 
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This tv is more than enough bright for all tv viewing. Can't say about hdr. But my understanding of hdr is that it give all details of a shot whether it is shadows or bright area. And according to me shadow detail is more important and for that tv brightness above a minimum level doesn't matter. Where peak high brightness is needed is where bright objects are to be shown and this is where this tv will be lacking. But according to my layman wisdom hdr isn't only about brightness but it's about all the details and like I said shadow details are much more important than brightness details.

HDR increases the contrast of the given on-screen image by increasing brightness. Contrast is the difference between the brightest whites and darkest blacks a TV can display. This is why the brightness of the panel matters when it comes to HDR coz its all about the high dynamic range. Even in case of blacks, VA panel scores good than LCD. I own a plasma and that thing just shines in the pic quality, sad the tech is discontinued and the OLEDs are so expensive. Anyways thatnks for your inputs :)
 
@Neeraj0272

i think the search limitation is there in 4K version also.

I use JustWatch app to keep track of streaming content.

I thought when it was said that prime video was supported by smart tv it meant UHD content availability as well. Does that mean Mi TV won’t have UHD content on prime video? Bummer if that’s true.
 
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