Sounds trivial to most people but I've been without a tv for like a decade or more now. I last bought a rinky dink 32" Sceptre LCD hdtv in November 2006. $599 for 720p! I gave the tv to my parents in 2008 or so since I barely used it. Believe it or not, that thing is still alive to this day. I made another tv purchase in Dec 2014 for a $350 plasma samsung tv for my parents as a christmas present. And few days ago, I bought a TCL 6 series for myself. Specifically the 55R617 model. It replaces the 55P607 model from last year. Price was msrp at $650, but I had $141 credit card points to deduct from it. I can't believe how much homework I had to do to understand what I was looking for spec-wise.. local dimming zones, types of HDR, hdmi arc, wide color gamuts, etc. I was able to resurrect some old gadgets I wasn't using anymore. My old creative speakers I used to use with my pc are now connected to the tv. The nexus player I scored for like $20 a few years ago is in use now.. except not really. The built-in roku software on the tv supports 4k and the nexus player doesn't. The nexus player doubles as a chromecast and supports bluetooth, so I'm using it as such. That, in turn, had me resurrect my old plantronics backbeat pro headset. I'll have an apple tv in a few days to mess around with. I'm thinking that I'll probably ressurect my old haswell system as an htpc at some point.
Looks like a great TV. The TCL TVs with Roku have excellent reviews. I’ve read they have great picture quality and a good interface, and the prices are very competitive. They seem to be giving Vizio a run for their money in the value segment. I'm still using a 10 year old 52" LG TV that refuses to die.
I've read the image quality and HDR of the TCL TVs are superb for the price range and outperform many TVs until you get up to the high end range. According to rtings.com, which I use to research my own TV purchases, you'd need to spend over $1400 on a TV to outperform the P607 in HDR gaming. If your TV replaces that one, you've probably got a very nice television. The main criticisms of the P607 were the mediocre sound (easily fixed with speakers) and limited viewing angle. Everything else looked great, especially for the price. https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/tcl/p-series-2017-p607
Sounds like an awesome TV. I'd like to get a 4K TV myself, but I really really want an OLED, but they're so pricey. Right now I've got a 5 year old Sony 70 R550A (or something like that) which is 1080p and still looks great.
@khaid Which devices/ available content do you have that are compatible with HDR besides Apple TV? I could probably make some recommendations depending on what you have available. All the consoles except Switch can do HDR. Certain PC games have good HDR implementations, although Windows can be a pain in the ass. Netflix and Amazon Video also have some very decent HDR content. HDR in games typically has an extremely low computational cost (even the Xbox One S can do it without a problem) but can make a massive difference in visual quality when it is implemented correctly.
I don't own any consoles and I don't plan on gaming on the TV. I dropped $1100 on my acer predator x34 gsync monitor and the main computer is in a different room from the TV so I'll just be doing movies/tv shows strictly. Streaming is going to be my primary source for 4k hdr/dolby vision content for now. I signed up the 4k netflix plan and will be splitting it with a buddy of mine. I just did a bunch of reading on the current situation of hdr in the htpc space for local video playback.. I guess I'll be holding out on that for a while.
Hey my man, I've also got an ASUS PG348Q which is the same panel as yours, once you go big FPS, hard to go to any kind of TV. I think in about 2 years or so, I may consider upgrading if they release that new 34" Ultrawide with 200Hz and HDR (assuming it's any good and also around $1000).
i just grabbed an nvidia shield tv on friday and been messing around with it. this thing is probably the best thing to replace an htpc for now. or even those old media players like the wdtv. i downloaded the kodi app for it and it has played all sorts of formats thrown at it (most importantly x265 hdr mkv's). and of course, i tried geforce now with quantum break and was pleasantly impressed with how flawless it ran.
I didn't realize they were still selling those. I like the idea but it was always marketed in an odd spot. Too expensive for a steaming device too cheap to be a gaming console.
The shield was $139 during Prime Day. One of my HTPCs is on the verge of death, and in retrospect, I'm wishing I had grabbed one at that price. The game consoles are useless for HTPC duty these days because they have Cinavia DRM that mutes pirated content. And building an actual HTPC kind of sucks at that moment because DDR4 prices are through the roof. 16GB DDR4 is like $200+. That means you'll prob end up spending $500 to build an HTPC, which is just too much. The whole point of an HTPC is to save money by stealing content.
@khaid Did you get the regular shield or the Pro? The Pro has 500GB storage and looks like it could legit totally replace an HTPC.
I just got the 16gb with game controller bundle. best buy has a streaming device recycle promo right now for $30 off the shield. the controller bundle shield was already on sale for $179.99 and I brought in my first gen Chromecast for another $30 off. you can use USB storage in it which is what I do. people are also using their nas with it too. the price of it is pretty good where it stands since it supports 4k, hdr10, and Dolby Atmos. it may or may not support Dolby vision in the future. also, its super flexible compared to 4k stb's since it uses Android os.
What qualifies towards that promo? I have a shitty old blu-ray player that does streaming that I will probably never use again in my life.
Ok cool. The shield looks like it might be perfect for what I need. More capable and powerful than a streaming box/stick. But not clunky and cumbersome to use from a couch like a HTPC.
yep, and since it's a mobile os and ARM chip, it barely uses any power (normally only consumes 5-10 watts) and is instant on compared to an htpc. it uses 802.11ac 2x2 mimo and also has a gigabit ethernet port and has 2 usb 3.0 ports.
Does it have a fan? Fan noise is one of my biggest complaints with HTPCs. Even my Gigabyte Brix has a little fan that can get a bit noisy when it's under heavy load.
It doesn't. No need for a fan with these ARM chips. As a matter of fact, it still uses the same exact Tegra x1 chip in the original 2015 shield tv.