TCL 32-inch 1080p Roku Smart LED TV – 32S327, 2019 Model

The picture (1080p) is very good, tested it with streaming video (YouTube 1080 HD), Amazon Prime and MP4 (1080p) file. Purchased primarily as a computer monitor, still getting used to the larger display. Set the video to low power and dark due to sitting closer than if watching a movie and this made a positive difference (default is brighter — not good as a computer monitor). Yes, the set up asks for credit card, can ‘skip.’ Set up is easy, the navigation on the home screen is well done. It found the WiFi and updated quickly. Can set it to power on to the computer screen, skipping the home screen. Did a test of the ATSC antenna; Found channels quickly, and picture was good on signals that had good strength, even shows the strength of the channels it finds. (note: used a simple indoor antenna that was not suited to get all the local channels) Did not test the pause feature – though could see its value for those viewing over the air channels. Was able to add YouTube app easily. Very smooth HD video over my WiFi. Even loaded the Roku/TCL remote app on android phone; worked fine; have not gone through all the features, but see a keyboard icon which might make navigating streaming channels a bit easier. Sound is very good for this size TV – tried on several genres of music videos; not sure what folks are expecting. It has headphone and optical sound out if you want better sound (have it on desk with good bounce from the desk and wall, probably helps a bit). It is not perfect, but nearly so. The back lighting can vary slightly depending on scene. Only noticeable on static images with areas of light colors like browser and windows desktop, not an issue with any moving video and not distracting. A lot of features for the price – highly recommended. (note: this is after 1st 24hr of use and wanted to test as much of every feature possible)

Update 2/10/2022- The TV is still amazing and Roku actually released update 10.5 a few months ago that added AirPlay and improved the slowdown issue I was having over time. I have only had to reboot the TV once since the update- it is about as perfect as I could ask far! Highly recommended and my 5 star review would now be 6 stars if it could! Bravo to Roku for ADDING features for existing devices!Original review: Roku TV’s are awesome and this TV is a great package in a small chassis! It’s hard to beat the price. I specifically bought the 1080p 32″ version as I wanted the better image quality over the 720p set. I have three complaints, two are not the fault of TCL, but of the Roku implementation itself. AirPlay is not supported on non-4k Roku TV’s as they essentially use the Roku Streaming Stick hardware to power the set and you only get AirPlay support when at least using hardware like the Steaming Stick+ (since it has 4K support). The other issue is just general laggyness of the OS and hang-ups during use- generally after powering on the TV after a couple days of Stand-by. Roku uses a stand-by profile for quicker boots, and I’m assuming the optimizations are just poor given the hardware. I normally remedy this by going into settings and Restarting the TV from there. The TV then is responsive and functions properly. The third thing could be remedied by TCL and that would be the remote. It includes an IR only remote which is not nearly as responsive as the wireless remotes Roku normally boasts, and it has to be aimed at the TV (First world problems, I know) but I ended up buying the $20 Roku wireless remote and pairing it to the TV. It is functionally identical, but is much more responsive and a joy to use, with voice searching capabilities if you’re into it. Oh, and no more line of sight requirements!I only wish manufacturers would incorporate better hardware into smaller TV’s. I would love to see a 32″ OLED Roku TV :)All in all, I still recommend this TV- it gets the job done and I don’t hate using it after a reboot.

Positives: Great TV for the price! Picture quality is excellent for me, and likely for any person who isn’t a professional TV reviewer. The fact that it has built-in Roku is also great, because that means you can easily navigate to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, or whatever other app you use to view content. This is the second TCL Roku TV I’ve purchased (the first is a 55″ 4K) and I have zero regrets. I’m using this 32″ model as an external 2nd monitor for my workshop laptop and it works great for that.Negatives: The remote control is just awful. Don’t get me wrong, the button layout is great and when it works it’s super-easy to use. But it requires a very careful line-of-sight between the remote and the bottom center of the TV for the remote to actually work. Many times I’ll be clicking a button on the remote and nothing happens on the TV and I’ll realize I’m not aiming it precisely right, which is darned irritating. The TV can also take a bit (30+ seconds) to connect to the WiFi, and it isn’t particularly usable until that happens. Basically you have to wait until the “Not Connected” or whatever at the top of the screen switches to showing the current time. Then you can navigate your content apps.

Update: I liked this tv so much better than my dedicated computer monitors that I purchased a second one in November 2021 for $199 and now have the two paired in my dual monitor setup. I tried four different monitors to match with the first one, but the TCL 32″ 1080p was so superior to the one HP monitor and three Dells that I had previously tried along side the first one that I just bit the bullet and got another one even though the price went up significantly like so many other pandemic price increases. The display is so much brighter, colorful, and with better contrast than the dedicated monitors I had previously used that I had no idea just how bad my other monitors were until sitting side-by-side with this tv. Much less eyestrain with the two TCLs. So far the original one is working well about a year later. I hope they both last for years. You get good sound quality, a tv tuner, a great Roku streamer, and a very good 32″ computer display for under $200. I did add two of these $18 WALI pedestal tv stands to make them fit better on my work table: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B071WN24YK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_detailsEven with the additional cost of the stands, these are a couple hundred dollars cheaper than dedicated pc monitors that do not have all of the other functionality. This is a no-brainer. Caveat: I do not do any gaming so I have no idea if it works well for that.Original review:I bought this from Amazon for $129 on December 1, 2020 to be used primarily as a second display in a two monitor configuration, to use for my work while providing elder care to a parent at their house. It exceeded my expectations, as no other TV I had attempted to use as a monitor prior to this one was able to display text well enough to not produce eye strain. This one works fine for text. The only real negative I can find worth mentioning is that if viewed from very close as computer monitor (about 18 inches as I do), the viewing angles do cause the image to be a bit darker near the sides. From three feet or more away, the viewing angles are sufficient to not have this effect.Occasionally I use it as tv as well, and it works very well as a tv. I am guessing that the people complaining about the controls and set up issues apparently are just unfamiliar with streaming devices and multi-source tv settings in general. While not the absolute sharpest picture, it works better than I expected and has good brightness and contrast, and colors are rendered much better than in my Dell or HP monitors. In fact, it is mostly superior to the 25 inch 1080p HP monitor it is paired with and my 27″ monitor at work. While anything over 27 inches is a bit too big for my ideal monitor size (too much panning my head while using spreadsheets or email), it was so much less expensive than a dedicated 1080p monitor and has the dual function as a Roku smart tv that made it an easy choice. For the money and the purpose I bought this, I doubt that I could find a better deal.

This is my game room/workout room TV. I bought it to replace a (more expensive when I bought it) Vizo that had something nasty fall on it and crack the screen. After having this running for a few weeks I’m really impressed by it. Picture is great for what it is. My main TV is a 4k Sony, so I’ve seen what a jaw dropping picture looks like. By comparison this won’t be your centerpiece showoff TV (and won’t set you back nearly as much), but it has a nice color depth, doesn’t look washed out the way cheap sets usually do, and didn’t take much tweaking to get looking how I wanted. As I write this I’m watching an episode of Stargate Atlantis on Amazon vid and it looks superb.The Roku OS works far faster than the Roku stick I had for a smaller TV I don’t use any more. I like that it powers up to that simple, customizable Roku screen. The old Vizo wanted to come up to a kind of bloatware ‘look at all these different channels you can sub to’ screen, and occasionally would fall back to that if you tried to navigate to Netflix or Amazon video too soon after it powered up.I’m running the headphone line out to the input of a 2.1 speaker system I have. The volume is a little on the low side – I have to turn the volume on the external speakers up more than I had to with the Vizo. But so far I haven’t had a case where either streaming service, connected Blu Ray player, or connected PC volume output can’t go high enough for me. I can’t speak to what the built in speakers sound like.I like that the remote is nice and minimalist. The only downsides so far are that with the volume rocker on the side I’ll occasionally hit them on accident while I’m gripping it and trying to power up, resulting in it not doing anything until I change my grip. And also I can’t seem to figure out how to get CEC to work with my Blu Ray player (the set may not support it, but it’s not a burning need for me). Oh, if it’d had a dedicated button for Amazon video the way it has one for Netflix, Hulu, and ESPN would have been great, but that’s at the level of ‘would be nice if it came with an ice cream, too’ – not deducting anything for not having that.All considered it’s easily worth the mid 100s price point in my opinion. If someone broke in and stole this from me I’d replace it with the same thing again without hesitation.