The TCL 5-Series Google TV (S546) improves on a value-priced favorite, adding premium smart features to an already excellent affordable TV.

Part of the problem may be that Google TV is still a new platform, though it still is strongly rooted in Android TV, which TCL has offered for a few years now. TCL was one of the first companies to adopt Google TV after the Chromecast’s release, and certainly the first to put it in an affordable mid-range panel. It’s possible that the many quirks of the 5-Series will be outgrown in the coming months, but they make it hard to recommend in the short term.

TCL once again makes a strong argument for itself as the budget leader, as the 5-Series offers outstanding picture quality that usually costs a lot more.

It's great for gaming because it has VRR support, a quick response time, and low input lag for responsive gaming. It's very good for watching movies in SDR or HDR because it displays deep blacks and has a full-array local dimming feature, but the local dimming isn't anything special. It's good for watching sports and decent for TV shows because it gets bright and has decent reflection handling. However, it has narrow viewing angles and doesn't properly upscale 480p content like from DVDs.