I got myself a new TV. yey!
I’ve been wanting to get a 4K TV (max resolution of 3840×2160) for the past few years now, especially when I got back home from working in Cavite for many years. For 2 years, I used a ChangHong 24-inch LCD TV (max resolution of 1280×720) as my alternative monitor and TV. Now, after talking to friends and asking for recommendations, I ended up with a TCL 43-inch P735.
Just to be clear, this is not a review where I can compare it to any similar device. This is my first 4K UHD HDR TV. Anything that I’ve used before pales in comparison. So, I’m just judging this based on my personal experience on its own.
Why did I need the big TV? I write a lot nowadays because that’s what I do now for work. Looking at a 24-inch TV or my 15-inch laptop or 16-inch Wacom Cintiq whenever I write is giving me headaches. With a big display I don’t squint as much when working on writing documents.
My friends did ask me why not go bigger. Two things:
- Bigger needs a bigger budget.
- Bigger needs a bigger space. Personally, even if I can afford it, I don’t have a place for it. I want it for my office as a monitor. At the same time, I need it as my main TV for the Xbox Series X.
At first, I posted a TV price on social media just to get my friends to suggest ideas. I didn’t know what to buy at the time. I wanted something lower than P20,000 but I’ve seen a lot of TV sets with a higher price. I looked at reviews online and the stores didn’t have the brands that were listed.
Later, friends told me about TCL, which I had no problem with. One of them even told me that it’s their most reliable brand just next to Samsung. Then, one of them suggested the TCL 43P635 another one suggested the TCL C735. The TCL C735 is more expensive, and an SM Mall exclusive too. The C735 has Freesync, which I wanted, but it went beyond the budget I have. Also, the minimum size of the C735 is 55 inches, which was way bigger than what my setup can accommodate.
What attracted me to the TCL 43P635 is the price. It was 17,000. It was P3000 lower than my expected cost. Although, I didn’t want to buy online because it takes a few days. I was wondering if I can find the same model in a store.
Specifications
- Series: P735
- Year: 2022
- Flat
- 4K HDR TV
- LCD
- Google TV:
- Google Assistant
- Voice Control
- App Store
- Speakers:
- 9.5 Watts (2x)
- DTS-HD
- Dolby
- Stereo
- Display
- 4K
- 3840×2160
- 16:9
- 60Hz
- Dolby Vision
- HDR10
- Smart Service
- Hands-Free Voice Control
- With Google Assistant
- Game Mode
- Online Video
- Video Chat
- Mirroring
- Magiconnect
- TV Dashboard
- Connectivity
- BlueTooth 5.0
- Wi-Fi Connectivity 2.4G/5G
- USB 3.0
- HDMI 2.1
- eARC
- ALLM
- CEC
- Additional Features:
- PVR/Timeshift
- DTV EPG (without IP EPG)
- Subtitle
- Dimensions & Weight
- Length 1100mm x Width 128mm x Height 665mm
- Weight with Stand: 6.3Kg
- Weight without stand: 6.2Kg
In terms of specs, my main complaint is it still being an LCD and it has no Freesync. But I can’t find a model that offers those features at the same price.
Buying The TV
I went to an appliance store and just hoped for the TCL 43P635 to be available.
It was.
Not only that, but it was also offered at P16,000 (estimated). Of course, as salespeople go, they offer the higher model. Low and behold, they have the TCL 43P735. The TV was priced at P17,600 (estimated). It was still below my budget. They even offered to sell it to me at P16,500 because I wanted to pay in full.
Slight note, based on the specs that I’ve seen, the only main difference between the two models is that the 735 has Dolby Vision. Which dynamically changes the brightness depending on each scene.
The TV was tested before I bought the unit. I wanted to take a video of me buying it, but I was shy about it. But still, it was a big moment for me. It feels like it’s been years since I bought anything for myself again.
Rushing for Work
As soon as I got home, I had a big task ahead of me… how in the world would I set this up on my small office desk? It already was lifting a small TV, the laptop, Wacom Cintiq, keyboard, mouse and what not.
The stand was not attached yet. So, I had some help getting it done while I clear up my worktable. It’s not a complicated thing to attach though. The box actually provides 4 screws for the stand provided.
I only had an hour to set up to work mode. So, I just cleared everything up and cleaned the work area. Hooked up the TV and connected my laptop to the TV. I tried to display my work laptop on the TV with a 4k resolution.
Unfortunately, my computer struggled. While it can display on 4k, there is a slight delay with the audio. Also, when I look closely, colors seem to have been dithered. In other words, it’s not displaying the colors properly. It seems obvious that my laptop is not equipped to work on 4k displays.
Even though I wanted to try this setup, there was no way for me to use the Wacom Cintiq.
But I had no way to fix this at that moment. For 8 hours straight, I was using this setup for work. Personally, I really liked working on a big TV. My eyes were relaxed, I didn’t have any headaches. One half of the screen is set for my document, another half for research. And my laptop is used for communication. I love the setup!
Getting it connected
After work, which was like 3am, it was the only time I was able to get the TCL 43P735 to set up Google TV. Yes, this is a Google TV. I connected it to my wifi, I could attach an ethernet cable, but the TV is literally just beside the Wifi router. I added my Google account to the TV for getting Google services started. After that, I think it took 10 minutes to do its initial installation setup thing. Note that I did eventually hook up the ethernet port for faster performance.
Some internal apps worked almost immediately. It remembered some of my passwords because of my Google account, so it was actually very seamless when I used Netflix and YouTube. Disney Plus uses the local Philippine version, so I was able to use my account without any issue. I was also able to set up Plex which can access video files from my local computer.
Instructions on how to fix the icons though, I couldn’t find it in the manual. But the app itself did eventually show me how to fix it. So, I arranged my icons accordingly. I really didn’t need Apple TV on my new TV. But I did install Spotify and Plex. I might try testing NordVPN and see how that works.
The Remote App
I installed the TCL Home app on my POCO X3 Pro (Android) which should control any TCL device that I have in my home. So far, I only have one. I used my Google account for the TCL 43P735, so I did the same with the TCL Home app. It did list down immediately that I have the TV in my list. But to connect the phone to the TV, I need to turn on my phone’s bluetooth. And so far, it’s a good alternative.
The actual remote is also not bad to use, but since the TV is based on Android, there are times that you feel a delay in response. It’s pretty much the same as the TCL Home App.
The only advantage of the TV remote included with the TCL 43P735 is that there are convenient shortcuts which can make watching or switching devices a lot faster.
I also installed Google Home to be able to set up other features which any Google TV has. Those features like Ambient mode which is pretty much just a photo slideshow.
Setting Up My Work Area
My setup is not perfect yet. I’ve set up my work area to focus on typing, and my laptop can’t connect to 2 external displays. So, I had to do a work around.
I used my Vention HDMI splitter to display on both the TCL 43P635 and the Wacom Cintiq. I was not sure if this would work or if there would be any problems. So, I was just hoping there won’t be any issue.
It worked. So, my new TV is displaying the same thing as what I can see on the Cintiq. This is helpful for me. While I like working on the Cintiq, sometimes I need to look closer at things and there are times that I have to squint to see things. With the 43 inch, I didn’t have to squint anymore. When I draw, I use the Cintiq, but when I need to look at something close, I just look at the TCL 43P735.
The only issue so far is that this connection won’t transmit sound. So, I had to connect a separate speaker for this to be usable.
The TV won’t replace my Wacom for sure. The quality is very different. The Wacom Cintiq, while it’s small, the 16 inch display is crisp and clear. While TCL 43P735 displays some pixelation, which feels like I’m looking at a very small JPG image and resized into a 4K resolution. It’s not pretty. But then again, if I wanted real crisp quality, I wouldn’t have gotten a TV. A monitor would have been more expensive which is definitely out of my budget at the moment. And I rarely see a monitor that is beyond 30 inches that is sold here locally.
What about Video Editing?
I use Davinci Resolve when working on my videos. And I was really looking forward to actually taking advantage of the 4k resolution to improve my workspace. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier my video card is struggling to display 4k.
So, I still used the standard 1080 resolution as it was before. I thought I might not be able to take advantage of the screen. But it turns out that I still get some benefit by using a large screen. Again, I don’t have to squint when looking at the menu. I can see much better and I am able to adjust some of the windows to make it work better than before.
I love that the preview screen while editing is so much more manageable to look at instead of looking at it using a 15-16 inch screen. I can use the preview screen without forcing myself to use the zoom in function to see things.
Playing on the Xbox Series X …and a bit of Nintendo Switch
This is where I can take advantage of the 4k resolution. And almost immediately, after setting the Xbox for the display, everything was crisp and clear. I couldn’t wait to try the games.
I tried Cyberpunk 2077 in Ray Tracing mode. I was surprised that it felt great playing it. I remember in my original review that I said that I didn’t like playing the mode because I hated the frame rate. This time however, it felt smooth. While it’s not comparable to the 60fps Performance mode, it was more playable than when I was using the ChangHong TV. Not sure what changed it, but it was very significant for me.
I also noticed that so far, all the games that I have tried activated Dolby Vision, which was great. In other words, I didn’t have to play around with the HDR settings since it was automatically set for me depending on the game.
Playing Netflix on the Xbox was terrible. But I think this is more about calibration than anything. The color feels dead, very muted. Not sure why though.
YouTube was fine though. Colors looked great.
Since the TV has its own player, I might uninstall the streaming applications I have on the Xbox. It doesn’t make any sense keeping those now. It feels redundant, and the Xbox uses more power than the TV.
The only reason for playing movies on the Xbox is for the Blu-Ray. At the moment, I have a few disks, which I did test. So far, that went well and the colors look great.
I also did attach my Nintendo Switch on the TV, but that was pretty much uneventful. Since the Switch can only display up to 1080p, it was okay, nothing spectacular about it.
Using Google TV
I’ve been trying to understand how Google TV works. While I find Google TV interesting, I do have issues with it. For some reason it keeps suggesting Prime Video. It’s installed by default. So, I had to disable it from the TV Apps settings.
Since I disabled Prime Video, now it keeps suggesting to me Google movies. A service which I don’t even use. Is there a way to disable this? So far, on my Your Service page, it shows me Prime Video, Apple TV and Discovery+ and nothing is turned on.But my home screen shows Google Movies, Spotify, Plex and TCL videos for some reason. I actually like Spotify and Plex because I installed them. But I wonder how to disable the others and add Netflix and Disney+.
I tried learning more about Google TV online. For some reason, it feels like my version of Google TV is flawed. Not sure why that is. I read about show recommendations that I should be able to add apps on Your Service settings screen. Even though I installed Disney+ and Netflix, this doesn’t show up on my TV home screen. Both apps won’t even show up on the Your Services screen. Actually, everything I installed didn’t show up on Your Services.
I also tried setting up Apps Only. But if I do this, there is a big message in the center of the home screen that the function has been disabled. This is not what I see in “How to Use Google TV” videos.
Features I can’t use
There are some features that I won’t be able to take advantage of which I’ll be listing down.
- eARC, from what I understand, is used for speakers or audio video receivers which have the same technology. It’s supposed to simplify setting up your sound system. Since I don’t have any device that uses ARC or eARC, this is useless for me at this time.
- Optical Out, again is for audio for older audio video receivers. I have an old receiver that can use this, but I still need to get my receiver checked for maintenance and I need new speakers for it.
- The TV includes a RCA to 3.5mm jack. This should be able to connect older video players and consoles.
- It also includes a metal wall bracket. It’s not adjustable, but it should be able to carry the TV without any problems.
Overall
This is my first UHDTV and my first Smart TV. As a TV, I can’t complain because this is basically so much better than any TV that I’ve used before. In general, this is a big improvement for my daily use for work and entertainment. But it is not perfect.
I have frustrations in terms of the Google TV functionality. It lacks the functionality I was expecting based on videos I’ve seen. So, my expectations were drastically hurt. Also, the Netflix colors on the Xbox was another letdown. If I didn’t have Netflix on the TV itself, I would have been disappointed watching the streaming service.
All in all, I have to give it a 4.25 out of 5.
Still a better set up! And thanks to our new job, we got this work and entertainment upgrade!
Pinoy Video Gamer 