Description
Roku or Google TV, on the same panel
This television presents an unusual buying decision, because the closest competitor to it is its own sibling. The TCL 55S446 is a 55 inch 4-Series 4K set running Google TV. The TCL 55S455 is a 55 inch 4-Series 4K set running Roku. Both are 2022 models from the same series, and the specifications TCL publishes for the two are close enough that the operating system is the real difference between them.
So decide on the interface first. Google TV builds a home screen from what you watch across services, so the top of the screen is a row of suggestions drawn from everything you subscribe to. It has Google Assistant built into the remote for search by voice, including questions like what should I watch, and it has Chromecast built in so a phone or laptop can push video to the screen without an extra device. Roku, by contrast, presents a fixed grid of channel tiles and does very little on its own.
Households that subscribe to several services and struggle to decide get more from Google TV. Households with two services and a strong preference for the television not suggesting anything get more from Roku. Nothing about picture quality turns on this choice, which is why it is worth making deliberately rather than by accident.
The physical decision, and a gap in the data
The set measures 48.7 inches wide by 28.3 inches high by 3.3 inches deep and weighs 24.7 pounds. A 55 inch 4K panel is comfortable at a viewing distance of roughly seven to nine feet, which is the depth of an average living room with the sofa against the far wall. Closer than that on upscaled broadcast content and the softness of the source becomes more obvious than the resolution of the screen.
The specification table gives no VESA mounting pattern, so if the television is going on a wall, measure the four threaded holes on the back panel before buying a bracket. At 24.7 pounds the weight is trivial for any modern mount, so the pattern is the only thing that can catch you out.
What the listing does not publish
The Aspect Ratio field on this record reads Unknown. For a 55 inch 4K television that is a data failure rather than an ambiguity, since 4K UHD is 3840 by 2160, which is 16 to 9 by definition. It is worth naming because it tells you how much of this specification table was populated automatically rather than checked.
More consequentially, the table publishes no power consumption, no refresh rate, no HDR format, no audio output figure and no port count. The sibling 55S455 listing at least gives a speaker output figure, incorrectly labelled as wattage. This one gives nothing. The bullets state 4K resolution, high dynamic range, Google Assistant, Chromecast and access to streaming apps, and TCL quotes over 700,000 movies and shows available across services, which is a catalog claim about the platform rather than a specification of the television.
If you are buying for gaming, the absence of a refresh rate and any mention of variable refresh rate or automatic low latency mode is the gap that matters. Confirm those on the manufacturer specification sheet before ordering.
Living with it
The tuner is the underrated feature on a set like this. TCL describes an advanced digital tuner for free over the air high definition broadcast, which combined with an antenna covers local channels and news without any subscription. That pairs naturally with a streaming service or two for everything else, and it is the configuration most cord cutters end up with.
Multiple HDMI inputs are stated but not counted, which is worth confirming if you have a console, a soundbar and a disc player to connect. Chromecast built in reduces the need for one of those, since a phone can cast directly.
Google TV also brings a household account structure that Roku does not. Profiles keep one person watchlist separate from another, and the recommendations follow the profile rather than the television. In a shared house that is a real convenience, and in a house where one person wants nothing tracked at all it is the reason to prefer the simpler platform instead. Either way it is worth setting up on the first evening rather than months later, because the recommendation engine gets better the longer it has been watching what you watch.
Sound is the usual compromise of a 3.3 inch deep chassis. No output figure is published at all here, which is itself informative. Plan on a soundbar if dialogue clarity matters, and check which audio return channel standard the HDMI ports support before choosing one.
The rating history is thinner than its Roku sibling. This listing records 642 customer ratings averaging 4.1 stars, a first availability date of February 2022, and a rank of 887th in LED and LCD televisions, against 4,553 ratings at 4.4 stars on the 55S455. The panels are from the same family, so the difference is more likely a reflection of relative sales volume and platform preference than of picture quality, but a smaller sample is a smaller sample.
What would send you elsewhere
If Google TV is not the draw and you want the same panel with the simpler platform, the Roku sibling linked above is the direct swap. If you want an older and cheaper 55 inch option, the TCL 55S421 is the previous 4-Series generation. If a different brand at a similar size and price is worth comparing, the Samsung 50 inch Crystal UHD and the VIZIO V-Series 50 inch are the nearest equivalents on this site, both a size step down. The full LED and LCD televisions category covers the range.
One more option is worth raising, because it applies to every budget smart television. If the panel is fine and only the software has aged, adding an external player later costs far less than replacing the set. The streaming media players category covers that route, and it is the reason not to overpay for a platform you can replace for a fraction of the price in three years.
Who this suits
It suits a household that subscribes to several streaming services, wants recommendations pulled together in one place, uses voice search, and casts from phones. Google TV is the more capable platform of the two TCL offers on this panel, and Chromecast built in removes the need for a separate dongle.
It does not suit anyone who wants a documented specification before ordering, because this listing publishes neither refresh rate nor HDR format nor audio output, and records the aspect ratio of a 4K television as unknown. Confirm the gaming specifications with the manufacturer if a console is part of the plan.
