TCL - 65" Class QM8L Series 4K UHD HDR SQD-Mini LED Smart TV with Google TV (2026)

I was in desperate need of a TV upgrade; we already had a 10-year-old 65-inch TV, but it had some burning in and other issues. When looking at options, I had a friend who had gotten a TCL tv less than a year ago and was thrilled with the quality of it as well as the price point for the technology included. I was not permitted by my wife to go beyond the 65inch size that we currently had. I began researching current TCL models and found that the QM8L was the higher end version of the TCL family of mini-LEDs. I settled on the QM8L because it had all the features that I was looking for. Out of the box, this is a great TV. Installation was easy once we laid the TV down on a blanket and then prop up the bottom of the TV to facilitate getting the stand on. This was the only challenging part because you have to align the holes/base and mount. I love the fact that this has a center stand. This helps if you have TV stand that may not be as wide as the feet on some TVs are. It may sound like a small thing but logistically, it can be a big deal. Now, let’s talk about picture, WOW! What a beautiful 4K TV! Even with the default settings, this thing is beautiful! Colors are warm and deep. The ability to customize the picture settings are impressive. There are 6 different picture modes: Intelligent, Vivid, Standard, Movie, Sports and Filmmaker. HDR is dependent on picture mode. I really liked the Brightness settings, I tweaked the Contrast (also set Dynamic Contrast to “Adaptive” but also adjusted the Gamma, which adjusts the middle range brightness of the picture. I found that this gave better color depth. You can also select if you want these settings applied to all inputs, which is great for the DVD player. Sound through the Bang & Olufsen speakers is very good. I did have one issue that I did not haver with my previous TV. I have an older Sonos Soundbar that I love. It only has an optical connection which the TCL does have, but when you use it and change the audio output to Optical, it does not permit you to change the volume from the remote, you must use your Sonos app. This is very frustrating because now you have to control the sound through your app but everything else with the remote. I am not sure why this is. I have had to basically leave the Sonos on and plugged in with it’s volume down to just very low and if I want to use the soundbar, I just turn it up. I did this while watching a movie, it was fine, just a shame for the $600 soundbar. I did like all the sound customization features, including the Surround sound enhancer, the Dialogue enhancer and the Volume leveler. I love that this is a Google TV. Setup was seamless with my Google account. I also have a Google Pixel phone so the integration with Google Gemini is awesome! Overall, I am thrilled with this TV! Even my wife is impressed and that, in and of itself, is wonderful! The soundbar situation is not great but it’s probably over 10 years old now and I know the newer one would probably be supported but it was not an issue worth knocking down on the TCL, it’s still a 5 star for this fam! I would recommend this to others.

The TV has great colors and brightness. For movies and shows, this TV excels. However, I am a gamer and the motion blur and artifacts are present no matter what game settings I change on the TV.

Wow…I’m loving the TCL - 65" Class QM8L Series. I’ll walk you through my experience so far. First off, I had it shipped to my house. The packaging is very robust, and it arrived in excellent condition. If you pay attention to the unboxing instructions printed on the packaging, it helps you attach the stand before you take it completely out of the packaging. This keeps you from having to lay it down to secure the stand. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice until I had already pulled it completely out of the packaging. Attaching the base is easy; pop off the cover plate, choose from a couple of height options, put in a few screws, snap the cover plate back on. Setup was easy. Since it is a Google TV, if you have an Android phone, it will pop up and ask you if you want it to help with setup. I have an iPhone, so I needed to scan a bar code to automate the setup. Unfortunately, the bar code did not work, so I had to go through all the setup screens manually using the remote. Not a big deal, but a little annoying. I use a lot of streaming services, and all of them were available for this TV. Just download the app, log in, and you’re off. The performance of the TV is impressive. It is quite snappy with very minimal delay in launching and switching between apps. The home screen is laid out well and it’s very simple to navigate. I am switching from a Fire TV to a Google TV. I had no problems at all navigating the different OS. They are very similar. It has a ton of free live TV channels to play with when you want to do some old-fashioned channel surfing. The settings for the TV are easy to navigate. You can choose from several preset picture modes such as sports, vibrant, etc. I kind of like the default mode but I can see uses for the others. AirPlay was easy to set up. We can easily cast from different devices. It has an app that allows you to use the TV as a BT speaker. Since I have it connected to a nice surround sound system, it allows me to stream from my phone through the TV to the surround sound system. Love it. Speaking of surround sound, the HDMI1 port is eArc, so it sends the audio signal to my surround system. Plug and Play…works great. Now the fun part. The picture. WOW! This thing looks amazing. It is super bright and crystal clear. The blacks are very black with little bleeding or washing out. This is the best picture I have seen outside of an OLED screen. I love it. The image is easy to see even in a bright room during the afternoon sun. The screen is high gloss, and one of my bright LED lamps does cause a glare in the evening, but I think that would happen on any TV. I just have to turn that one lamp down. It has some eye protection features if you want to use them. It can auto dim to match ambient lighting, and it has a blue light filter. Both are nice in the evening when you have the light dimmed. It also has a brightness control right on the side of the remote control. You can easily turn brightness up or down anytime without having to go to menus. Next, the sound. This is by far the best sounding TV I’ve ever heard. As mentioned, I do have a great surround sound system, so that’s what I’m using, but if you don’t have something like that, I think you will be very happy with the built-in speakers. They are very loud and have excellent clarity and bass. You have the option to tweak them as well with a nifty little AI engine. It’s not going to replace true surround sound systems, but it is very impressive. So yes, I love this TV. The picture is stunning; the sound is amazing. The setup was simple (if not a bit lengthy with all my apps). It’s intuitive and easy to navigate. I haven’t had a single hiccup. It’s a solid product that I have no issues recommending.

TLC is making moves to give us a better Smart TV viewing experience than ever before. The TLC QM8L 4K UHD HDR SQD Mini-led TV out the box thin bezel and center TV adjustable stand make for great looking quality. The TLC QM8L SQD Mini-led TV's SQD Flagship display technology enhances color precision and enables higher brightness for an amazing picture with HDR 6,000 peak brightness plus that enhances the image without picture downgrade. Color quality is so beautiful with characters jumping off the screen. The TLC QM8L SQD Mini-led TV has 4 HDMI 2.1 144mhz ports that recognized all my devices immediately even my Polk Max AX Sound Bar and Subwoofer and having the HDMI eArc Port located on the first HDMI 2.1 144mhz Input was a smart move from TLC . The Gaming System is so smooth, responsive and fast at a 144mhz refresh rate. Google TV streaming service platform is always going to shine with updated options like its hands free control with Google Gemini and who does not love a backlit remote with a favorite App Launch Star Button. I have the latest Roku Ultra and it performs so much quicker and effortless with the TLC QM8L Series 4K UHD HDR SQD-Mini LED Smart TV than with my previous Smart TV. On the back of The TLC QM8L SQD Mini-led TV it has two subwoofers by Bang and Olufsen that you can combine with a soundbar and subwoofer that takes the bass and audio to another level. The profiles of Dolby Vision, HDR 10, HLG and SDR so many to choose from and adjust to your liking. The TLC QM8L SQD Mini-led TV comes with HDR Picture Modes for every content like: Intelligent Mode, Vivid, Standard, Sports, Filmmakers Mode, Movie Mode, Gaming Mode and PC Mode. For me I find that Filmmaker Mode works best for my viewing experience. The TLC QM8L SQD Mini-led TV does not need much tweaking for you to get an amazing picture. The TLC QM8L SQD Mini-led TV comes with a feature call Halo-Free control that helps blooming and with that you are able to view the best picture while sitting from any angle. I am looking forward to enjoying my first TLC Smart TV and all the next generation features it has to offer with its bright beautiful screen.

The 65qm8l is a fantastic tv! Out of the box the picture is great, but with 15 minutes of basic calibration in the menu, it jumps to excellent. Make sure to calibrate for SDR, HDR, and Dolby Vision, and you’ll be good to go. Several videos and websites have ideal settings to adjust to, and you can tweak them for your environment. I’m certain there will be several reviews talking about brightness and nits, gamma, backlights, etc, but not this one. I’m keeping it real world. I have a set of go-to movies for testing TVs. First off was Batman vs Superman. During the scene with Batman confronting Supes in the alley, the deep blacks never got muddy or gray, even during bright flashes of heat vision or lightning. Watching the Super Mario Bros movie, the colors are incredibly vibrant and rich. Best of all, where reds touch blues, there is no “purple zone” of color bleed. Everything remains crisp and sharp. For regular television, I watched some regular hd content upscaled from 720p to 4k. This tv is noticeably better than earlier generations with keeping details and not looking washed out or blurry. Watched some basketball and there was very little stutter. Colors were sharp and great detail with little to no artifacts. For gaming, played some Mario Kart World and Lego Batman Legend of the Dark Knight. No frame issues, no screen tears or jitters. Tv sound quality is nothing exceptional, but it does have decent sound if you are in a quiet room. A soundbar or sound system is definitely recommended. Overall, this is a fantastic tv. Definitely demonstrating lots of the flagship technology TCL is making mainstreamed. This is the crème de la crème of budget enthusiast televisions.