there's often a reason TCLs are very cheap, however, the 55" 4K for sale at costco for $280 right now is fine if you only ever use it in a dark room, but even when cranked up to 100% brightness is near unusable in a sunny room when a samsung at 70% brightness is just fine.
I’ve got a 55” 4k set and I definitely don’t have that problem - I live in the Oregon high desert, where we get a ton of sun, and with my set located about 8’ from a 9’ x 16’ picture window I have never had trouble seeing even dark movies, a la Blade Runner, midday.
I was in the market for a TV a few years ago and after doing some research I concluded that quite a few of the best/bang models were from TCL. Of course, they weren't the bottom of the barrel models, and you have to do your homework ahead of time.
If you haven’t yet, try turning on (or up) the micro contrast feature in the picture/display settings. Won’t solve everything, but can make a lot of dark scenes in a bright room a lot clearer to watch.
