I love a 32-inch TV. I appreciate it's not going to blow anyone away or wow friends with its monster size, but when you're tight for space or need a TV for the bedroom, there's nothing better.
If that's what you're looking for, you'll be glad to hear that you can pick up the 32-inch TCL SF540K at Amazon for only £119.
One of the main reasons to buy would be the full feature set that includes the Fire TV smart platform. And, as our expert team concludes in our review, “achieves a thoughtful and easy-to-enjoy balance between all the key picture elements.”
It might be £10 more than its record-low price, but that's still a ridiculously low price for a four-star TV that performs pretty well.
While expectations need to be tempered at this price (and because this is a ‘small’ TV), the TCL SF540K offers a surprisingly stacked feature set and a very likeable picture performance.
The headline is the inclusion of Amazon's Fire TV operating system, which means the whole user experience is rather like that of a Fire TV Stick.
It's colourful and intuitive, and it grants access to pretty much every streaming app you are likely to need, including all of the major UK-specific catch-up apps, which are neatly wrapped up under the Freeview Play banner.
You can use the mic built into the remote to chat to Alexa, too, essentially turning the TV into a big Amazon Echo device – albeit one that requires a button press to operate.
Unlike most TVs at this level, which have an ‘HD Ready’ 720p resolution, the SF540K has a ‘Full HD’ 1080p resolution.
It also boasts VA panel technology and a direct LED backlight, and it supports HDR in the HDR10 and HLG formats. And while the TV isn't packed with gaming features, it does offer ALLM switching and a low input lag of 15.3ms, so it's a good option if you need an affordable gaming TV.
In action, the TCL SF540K isn't super-bright or vibrant, but it is balanced and controlled, which is more than can be said for most rivals.
Black levels are reasonable and there's plenty of shadow detail, bright highlights are free of nasty ‘clipping’, and colours are fairly warm and natural. It’s sharper and more detailed than the other 32-inch TVs we have tested recently, too, and motion is handled well.
Our only real criticism of the picture performance (taking into consideration the price, of course) is that it has fairly limited viewing angles, which means those sitting substantially off-axis from the TV will find the picture looks a bit washed out.
The sound quality is, unfortunately albeit not unexpectedly, worse than the picture. The thin and limp delivery won't be a huge problem for daytime TV, but it will be a frustration for movies and games. Luckily, excellent cheap soundbar Prime Day deals are also available…
Ultimately, this is a very solid-performing and smart TV. We awarded it four stars at £149, but it actually launched for £179, making it a real bargain at the new price of £119.
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