I bought a 50" TCL Android TV around Black Friday to replace a dumb 40" on our covered patio that had a Roku and 2nd gen Chromecast attached to it. Obviously, I no longer needed either of those peripherals with an Android TV—or so I thought.
While I've been generally pleased with the operation of apps, the built-in Chromecast has been terrible. Streaming almost always freezes for a split-second every 5 seconds or so. The problem is definitely w/the built-in CC because I'm always able to stream the same thing to the CCWGTV in our living room w/o any kind of freezing. And it happens no matter what device I cast from—phone, tablet, or PC.
On top of that, the Google Photos ambient mode on the built-in CC won't let you get rid of the dark shading on the bottom of the screen, on which is highlighted on the left portion "Chromecast built in" or something like that. (Yeah, thanks for letting me know, duh...).
I've since reattached the old 2nd gen CC, and have been able to stream w/o the split-second freezing problem—and see my photos w/o the annoying garbage at the bottom of the screen. Because that all works fine now, it's not worth putting in a warranty claim. But part of the point of getting an Android TV was to have casting built in. Is this an issue that anyone else has had, specifically with TCL?
Google makes the software for Chromecast available for free, and there are very few (if any) restrictions on usage, especially in terms of hardware.
No offense, but here's the kicker: You bought a (by today's standards, small) TV on Black Friday (which means the model is most likely made custom for Black Friday, and even cheaper than it's non-Black Friday counterpart), which (pre-Black Friday model) was probably already cheap.
The hardware in a TV has to run the TV software and whatever other software, such as Chromecast, Roku, or whatever.
Worse yet, the frequency of TV updates is poor, it's even poorer in cheap TVs.
To recap:
Anyway, this sounds harsh, but most TVs, even expensive ones, are fairly crappy with their built-in software, and an external device will almost always give a better experience.
I'd replace your CC with a CCGTV or something similar and ignore the built-in software altogether. That's what I do, and I paid $2500 for my TV (so, at a price where you'd expect the built-in software to be worth a damn.)