TCL is in damage-control mode after Best Buy abruptly pulled the manufacturers latest Google TV-powered sets from its store shelves following complaints about the TV’s buggy operating system.
As 9to5Google reports, Best Buy has nixed the listings for TCL’s 5- and 6-Series Google TV models, which have been plagued by reports of crashing apps, buggy or unresponsive screen settings, random power cycling, and other issues.
TCL has confirmed that the sets were yanked from Best Buy due to the Google TV performance issues, and it promised to issue software updates to fix the bugs.
Reached for comment, a TCL spokesperson offered this statement to TechHive:
TCL is committed to delivering premium products with world-class experiences and the new product featuring Google TV is certainly no different. However, it has come to our attention that some are facing challenges with the stability of the user interface featured on TCL sets with Google TV. Our high-performance TVs are constantly evolving and recent software updates have allowed us to make significant progress, but we are continuing to refine our products featuring Google TV. Our customers will see marked improvements in the weeks to come and their patience is appreciated.
TCL says that it expects its Google TVs to be available again in the “coming weeks,” and that sets already in the wild should install any upcoming software fixes automatically. Users can also manually update their sets by following these instructions.
Primarily known for its Roku TVs (read our review of the TCL 6-Series 8K UHD TV), TCL released its 5- and 6-Series Google TVs earlier this year.
The 6-Series Google TV line offers a 4K panel with mini-LED backlighting, while the step-down 5-Series 4K TV comes with a more traditional LED display with local dimming. Both lines support Dolby Vision and HDR10+, along with VRR (variable refresh rate) for gamers.
Users of those TVs have reported a wide range of interface bugs, including sluggish performance, aspect ratio settings that refuse to work, crashing apps, color and contrast glitches, and even random power cycling for the TV itself.
TCL also makes lower-end 4- and 3-Series TVs powered by Android TV, and those models remain on sale.
Updated shortly after publication with a comment from TCL.