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BEST TV BARGAIN : TCL L40FHDF12TA 40-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV with 2-Year Warranty (on Amazon.com)

SETUP *** (3 stars)
The TV was well-packed in the shipping box (43.5″ x 31″ x 10.5″) with 2 yellow nylon straps holding it together. (If your straps are missing, the shipper might have broken them while carrying and dropped the TV.) For wall mounting, you need a VESA 400x400mm compliant mount such as this, this, or this. I used the glass stand. If you’re trying to fit it into a shelf, the dimensions with stand are 38.5″ x 27″ x 9″ (without stand: 38.5″ x 24.5″ x 4″). The power cord doesn’t have a power brick attached which is a plus. I’m using a learning universal remote which did find codes for this TV. Try ‘RCA’ if ‘TCL’ didn’t work for you. I suggest using an universal remote since it’s much easier to replace than to replace the original remote if you break it.
Some remote codes gathered for reference:
DirecTV: 11447
Comcast: 11447
Dish Network: 503
AT&T U-Verse: 1000
There might be a problem with the “TV powering on unexpectedly.” If your ‘SW Version’ reads V8-0RSC801-LF1V041, you’re OK. Otherwise, download the firmware update at TCL’s website onto any FAT-formatted device. (I used my phone.) Remember to wait at least 10 seconds after it says “Completed” before unplugging the USB cord. (I waited 30 seconds to be safe.) I’m guessing this is where some people might have messed up and broke the TV.

PICTURE ***** (5 stars)
The LCD panel is made by Samsung with their logo visible in the back (picture posted). As with most LCD TVs these days, the screen is glossy and not matte, so you do have to watch out for glare. After powering up the TV which took about 15 seconds, I changed the preset picture setting from the default ‘ECO’ to ‘Cinematic’. Cinematic/Movie mode is usually the setting that comes closest to a professional calibration. (If you’re interested in doing your own TV calibration, check out the Disney WOW blu-ray, search “AVS HD 709″ for a free one, or try my “quick picture calibration” below.) It has 5 zoom modes, with ‘No Overscan’ being preferred. If it isn’t available, choose ‘Full’ for the least amount of cropping. I watched the TV from an Amazon recommended distance of about 7 to 8 feet. After hooking up my video source with HDMI (not included) and making sure it’s 1080p, I tried watching some dark movies as a stress test. I didn’t notice any obvious picture defects. The viewing angle is very good for an LCD. The contrast is good, with listed 4000:1 contrast ratio. I compared it to my living room LED with 10 million:1 contrast ratio. The LED has slightly better contrast with deeper blacks, though definitely not 2500 times better, so I wouldn’t read too much into contrast ratios when shopping for TVs. There are a few nitpicks. There’s a slight motion blurring due to its slightly-slow 8 ms response time and 60 Hz refresh rate. There’s a slight uniformity problem in the upper corners, noticeable in an all black picture. The yellow color is a little off. None of these are major problems; I’ve seen much worse at this price range, so no stars are deducted.

AUDIO *** (3 stars)
The two 8 watt speakers are passable for a bedroom. It has a nice equalizer menu with presets and 5 manually adjustable bars. It has Dolby Digital sound, but you definitely need to add your own speakers to take advantage of it. You can hook up your speakers via coaxial digital audio out, RCA out (white/red), or headphone out. There’s no optical digital audio out (Toslink) and no ARC (audio return channel). I hooked up a Sony bookshelf system via RCA out which did improve the sound dramatically. The headphone out wasn’t working on my unit, but I’m ok with it since I don’t use headphones.

GAMING ***** (5 stars)
I hooked up my Xbox 360 via HDMI and changed the Xbox ‘HDTV settings’ to 1080p and ‘Reference Levels’ to Expanded. I tried a couple games and didn’t notice any input lag. By the way, never hook up your gaming system with yellow composite RCA cables. LCD/LED and plasma TVs can’t natively display interlaced video, so they’ll need to spend time deinterlacing and therefore create additional input lag.

PC **** (4 stars)
I connected my PC with a VGA cable. (Results should be similar with DVI or HDMI.) I had to change my Windows monitor settings to “unhide modes that this monitor cannot display” in order to get the native resolution of 1920×1080. For testing, I opened a Word document set to Times New Roman 6-point font and had no trouble reading it with ‘Sharpness’ at 0. You can use it as a big monitor as long as you don’t expect it to have the clarity of a 22″ monitor when viewing within 3′. (It’s got the same amount of pixels spread across 3.4 times the area.) When viewed at 5′ or more, clarity won’t be a problem.

MEDIA *** (3 stars)
The USB port accepts pictures and music but not videos. There’s no internet streaming, which I preferred. I have plenty of devices capable of streaming, so I don’t want to pay extra for a feature I don’t need.

RELIABILITY **** (4 stars)
The TCL FHDF11TA series has over 1000 reviews on Amazon with an average rating of 4 stars, which is probably as good as it gets for a generic brand. I also like the fact that it has a 2 year warranty instead of 1. The only concern is that the warranty is being done by A & D Electronics (the company that TCL has outsourced for its warranty claims) which has an F rating on BBB. The poor rating is a result of, I think, a shortage of personnel. If you’re lucky and catch them on a low volume of repairs, you’ll get prompt service; otherwise, you might need to be patient and persistent to get your TV repaired. (FYI, their number is 877-470-7766, 9AM-5PM PST, M-F.) If all else fails, try contacting Amazon. Some people did have success even after the 30 day return period. You can also add 1 extra year of warranty by purchasing with Mastercard or AmEx. And if you have Costco membership, you can purchase SquareTrade to add 3 extra years of warranty for a total of 5 for $30 (cheaper than Amazon).

PRICE ***** (5 stars)
Free shipping, free 30 day return, delivered to your door in 2 days for under $300 is hard to beat. Amazon also lets you do a price adjustment if the price drops within 14 days.

OTHER TVS
Here are 2 TVs I considered before settling on the TCL:
LG 32LK330 – This is a good basic name-brand 32″ LCD TV suitable for a bedroom. It only has 64% of the TCL’s viewing area though.
LG 42LK450 – This 42″ LCD TV has good all-around performance and is suitable as a primary TV in an apartment, albeit at a price premium.

MISC – QUICK PICTURE CALIBRATION
1. Change preset to ‘Cinematic’. After checking out some calibration patterns, I find both the default ‘Brightness’ of 50 and ‘Contrast’ of 80 to be spot on.
2. Change ‘Sharpness’ to 0. With a clear HD source, you shouldn’t need to artificially boost the sharpness. If words look blurry, you can play around with it.
3. Change ‘Noise Reduction’ to low. Similar to Sharpness, you don’t need much image processing with a clear source.
4. I find the default ‘Backlight’ of 60 to be suitable for a dimly-lit room. With most lights on, 80 looks about right. If sunlight is present, boost it to 100. Adjust it according to your room lighting and eye comfort level.
5. (optional) For adjusting colors, you normally need to use filters with a calibration disc. I like to do it by eye using my own pictures (preferably scanned studio pictures). We should all be able to pick out the nuances of our own skin tones. Alternatively, play a familiar movie and pause when you have a clear shot of a face, then adjust. I find the default ‘Color’ of 40 to be satisfactory. If you can’t get ‘Color’ to look right, try changing ‘Color Temperature’ by 1 and then go back to changing ‘Color’.