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JohnR Posted
This 65" TV from TCL is absolutely stunning. Over the years, televisions have come a long way, and this fact is on full display with this awesome piece of tech from TCL. The first thing I noticed was the size- I was able to set up this TV by myself, but I do think it would be much easier with someone to help. Thankfully, besides installing the stand, there really isn't too much work involved. Though I would mention that this unit is heavy, so keep that in mind. Setting up the TV is very simple, as this is a Google TV, so I just needed to sign into my gmail account to complete the setup process. This was extremely easy with the included remote, and I was ready to use my TV in no time. Right out of the box, the 4K picture quality is simply amazing. The details are fantastic, the colors are vivid, and the high refresh rate means that my video games look killer as well. I really appreciate that you can easily change settings at just the press of a couple buttons, and there are some on screen explanations of what each setting does. While I have experienced HDR technology before, this TCL does it in a way that is pretty spectacular. With its ability to go up to 6000 nits of brightness, the contrast between light and dark scenes really has to be seen to be believed. For instance, I can be playing a game, walking in a darkened area, that looks nearly pitch black on screen, while a light coming into view is at full brightness. I'm probably not explaining the effect quite right, but it really is cool to see. This HDR effect works extremely well, even when I have the brightness turned way down. That is one thing I've noticed; for most picture modes, I have my brightness set somewhere around 20 out of 100, and it is PLENTY bright. Your mileage may vary, but I've found that this TV is plenty capable of displaying a stunning, clear, and bright picture, at a reasonable brightness setting. Connecting things like Apple TV or a PS5 are a breeze, due to the wide range of connection options at the rear of the TV. I also really like the sound system which is handled by Bang & Olufsen. While these speakers don't have the low end punch of a dedicated subwoofer, they are VERY capable for watching TV, movies, and video games. They are clear, detailed, and dialogue comes through great on all of the movies I watched. Honestly, there is so much advanced technology in this TV, that it makes it hard to cover everything here in this review. But that is the great thing about this model: there is an abundance of tech, but for the user, the experience is streamlined and easy to grasp. Like I mentioned before, changing settings is the easiest out of any TV I've ever used, and I feel like I'm able to see and understand what I am changing as I adjust various settings. This TV has been a joy to use, and I really think that TCL has created something that is impressive on so many levels. If you are looking for a new 65" TV, with one of the most incredible pictures on the market, you have to check out the QM8L series from TCL. I highly recommend this model, and give it 5 stars!
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Hi JohnR, We appreciate your thoughtful feedback. Please enjoy the great size and quality of this TV. Thank you for choosing TCL to be part of your family! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
TonyMSP Posted
The latest offerings from TCL QM8L series is a force to be reckoned with. Not only am I seriously impressed, my jaw literally dropped when running OLED test videos found on youtube and this QM8L does as well as my LG OLED. More on this below. Having owned an OLED for the past few years, it was my gold standard in TV picture quality. I had no idea that SQD-Mini LED can compete at the OLED level of TV. SQD-mini LED tech that this QM8L has is that it’s brighter and no risk for burn-in when compared to OLED TVs. This makes the QM8L perfect for very bright rooms and you either game or watch shows with static images, like a stock-ticker, etc. OLED wins with the best viewing angles, true blacks and motion clarity. Let’s dive deeper into black levels as this is the latest craze in TV tech to showcase. OLED is true blacks as each pixel will only emit light if it needs that pixel. If its meant to be black, that OLED pixel is completely off and not emitting any light. The QM8L nearly replicates this by having nearly 4 thousand dimming zones that only the LED fires where needed. While 4 thousand sounds impressive, OLED can control each exact pixel and there are over 8.3 million pixels in a 4k screen. But this is where this QM8L blows my mind, 4 thousand plus zones is nearly perfect when controlling black levels in every day use scenarios. It also does a fantastic job at controlling bloom and the colors are insane. Outside of picture quality, the Google TV aspect of it is fantastic. The processor is fast, making the menus and app launch without lag. The TV is instantly on when powered on. It really replaces my need for a 3rd party steaming box. If you’re already into the Google Home ecosystem, this TV will fit right in. This TV also has a processor to handle local image processing. That means you can have the TV change each frame’s picture contrast, brightness, etc to have the best looking video without you needing to tinker with the settings. The TV itself is elegantly designed. The internal speakers punches above its weight class. The speakers was designed by Bang & Olufsen with two visible subwoofers on the backside. The sound was bassy and loud enough for a medium sized room. It was so impressive that I left my soundbar unhooked and never looked back. In summary, you will not be disappointed in this TCL TV. Near OLED level blacks, vibrant colors and super bright is this TV’s highlights. If you have a light controlled room and need the most viewing angles, choose an OLED. If your room is bright, multi-purpose, and with zero risk of burn-in, then choose this QM8L. And shoutout to TCL’s guest service.
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Hi TonyMSP,
Thank you for taking the time to provide such detailed and thoughtful feedback! We’re thrilled to hear how impressed you are with the QM8L and that it delivered a “wow” moment.
Our QM8L series is designed to push the boundaries of picture quality, and it’s great to know the SQD-Mini LED technology, incredible brightness, and precise local dimming are providing near-OLED black levels, vibrant colors, and minimal blooming in real-world viewing. We’re especially glad to hear it’s performing so well with high-contrast test content and everyday use alike.
It’s also wonderful to hear your positive experience with the Google TV platform and fast processing performance, making navigation and streaming seamless without the need for additional devices. We’re equally excited that the Bang & Olufsen–tuned audio exceeded expectations and has been powerful enough to stand on its own in your setup.
Your insights around brightness, versatility in brighter rooms, and burn-in resistance are incredibly valuable, and we’re happy the QM8L is fitting your needs so well. Thank you again for your support and for highlighting TCL’s continued innovation and performance—we hope you continue to enjoy everything your new TV has to offer. Enjoy!
Thank you,
Sara
TCL Customer Support
91preludesi Posted
Out of the box, setup is simple. You just need to put the base on it. It's straight forward. I had to do it by myself, which I don't recommend, but it is manageable. I just used two of the Styrofoam shipping pieces to prop up the bottom of the TV to install the stand. As far as the stand, I had a previous TCL TV and one thing that I love is that it is has a center stand. My old TV had the feet at the outer edges and they were always in the way of the soundbar. With this stand, you can just put the soundbar across the stand. I have an Android phone with the Google Home app. Just turning the TV on opened the Google Home app on my phone to setup the TV. It doesn't get any easier than that! Initial setup was quick and easy. There are a ton of settings that you can adjust. I'm honestly still playing with them. I usually go to sleep with the TV on for some background noise. This TV can get insanely bright, but it can also be very dim which I like for falling asleep. I just dim the brightness to 0 and set the sleep timer. Streaming apps are all easy to install. During initial setup, you're given some options of the most popular ones you want to install, from their it's just searching for and installing any others that you want. TCL has their own channel lineup as well, which includes of 350 channels. Even if you don't have any streaming services or cable, you can always find something to watch. The picture is crystal clear and bright in any light situation. You'll have no issue in even the brightest rooms. Also, blacks are very good with this TV. There are plenty of options to get the picture exactly how you want it. Everything from Vivid, movie, sports, filmmaker mode and more. I was really impressed by the sound of this TV. Every TV that I've had before this one I couldn't wait to get the soundbar setup with it because the sound was terrible. While I'll always have a soundbar/surround sound, this is the first TV where I felt like it wasn't absolutely necessary. The Bang & Olufsen speakers are loud and clear. For the size, they have fairly punchy bass to them. For the remote, they've added side buttons since the last TCL TV that I got about a year ago. One is for picture mode (vivid, sports, etc.) and the other buttons are for brightness. It is backlit which is nice for night viewing. The TCL QM8L is punching above it's price point! I definitely recommend it!
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Hi 91preludesi, We appreciate your thoughtful feedback. Please enjoy the great size and quality of this TV. Thank you for choosing TCL to be part of your family! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
bradrobster Posted
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.
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Hi bradrobster, Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. We're thrilled that you are enjoying your TV thus far! At TCL, we are committed to delivering premium products with world-class customer experience. We hope you continue to have a great experience and explore more of the great features our TVs have to offer. Enjoy! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
Ben Reed Posted
This is one of those televisions where you see it displayed in a store, and you're wowed by everything about it. The size, the color, the smoothness, the sound. I never thought I'd get to have such a fantastic television on my wall, but I do, and it's every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. The display itself is excellent. My previous television was a Samsung Q70A, and while that had incredible picture quality and color compared to any TV I'd used before, this one blows that one out of the water. It's got excellent brightness, poppy and vivid colors, and things are *buttery* smooth, especially if you go into the settings and turn on the increased refresh rate setting. That being said, there's a bit of latency in that setting. Being someone who will play games on this television, I was a bit worried when I connected my Switch and found that there was noticeable, problematic input latency. About a half second. Upon turning it off and back on, it turned on game mode, which increased the response time at the cost of the smoothness, which is fine by me. It still looks excellent with beautiful colors despite not being as smooth. For someone who only watches stuff with this, you shouldn't have an issue. The settings on this are nice, but there's something to know. There's two different buttons you will need to access your settings - the settings button, and the menu button. The settings button goes into the details of color temperature, brightness, saturation, all that stuff. It lets you change the preset display mode, too. But if you want to get to things like game mode, VRR, that kind of stuff, you need to press the menu button. It's not immediately clear, and the manual didn't mention it, so I thought I would make a note of it. The sound. I have a Samsung sound bar that I used with my previous television because its sound was a bit hollow and rather quiet. This television doesn't need a soundbar at all. It is very high quality - it's warm, with decent bass, mids and highs, and is clear and forward sounding. The bass is a little lacking compared to my soundbar, but that's a dedicated audio device that cost a bunch of money on its own. For being built in audio, this is fantastic. I will say that if you're going to wall mount this one, don't do it yourself. I did it myself, because I live alone and am too stubborn to ask for help, and I would not recommend, under any circumstances, you do what I did. The display by itself weighs in the ballpark of 46 pounds, according to the box. It's not light. It's also difficult to see whether you've actually mounted it properly since it's so large. For smaller sizes, it may not be as much of an issue, but for the 65" one, don't do it. Just get help. Oh, the remote also lights up when you pick it up. It's got metal on front, clicky buttons, and it's overall very responsive. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to get an amazing television without spending OLED money.
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Hi Ben Reed, We appreciate your thoughtful feedback. Please enjoy the great size and quality of this TV. Thank you for choosing TCL to be part of your family! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
PUDGYcorgi Posted
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.
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Hi PUDGYcorgi, Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. We hope that you are enjoying your TV thus far! We are always looking for ways to improve, and your feedback is greatly appreciated! If you need any assistance, please contact us at tclsocial@tcl.com with your contact information and a description of what you need help with. Someone will get back to you as soon as they can. Enjoy! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
ROBERTG Posted
We really like the brightness and intensity especially in a bright room. Big improvement over our OLEG
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Hi ROBERTG, Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. We're thrilled that you are enjoying your TV thus far! At TCL, we are committed to delivering premium products with world-class customer experience. We hope you continue to have a great experience and explore more of the great features our TVs have to offer. Enjoy! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
ROBERTV Posted
Replaced a top of the line 2017 Samsung, and the picture just "pops". Not like going from a cheapy to this TCL of course, but still a significant improvement. Better yet, it now fully works with my audio system which the Samsung always struggled with. I'm talking eARC and CEC. It finally all works together. Not saying it will work with yours, but mine is Onkyo, Panasonic, Roku and Apple audio visual equipment. Remote takes some getting used to, really small buttons - at least they light up when you pick up the thing. Plus the OS on this thing is really fast, the Samsung was good, but not this good.
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Hi ROBERTV, Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. We're thrilled that you are enjoying your TV thus far! At TCL, we are committed to delivering premium products with world-class customer experience. We hope you continue to have a great experience and explore more of the great features our TVs have to offer. Enjoy! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
beefrob Posted
The TCL QM8L is a high end 4K UHD HDR SQD-mini LED smart TV. That is a lot to say, but as far a TCL goes, this unit seems to fit in the upper mid range of their Television offerings. The SQD-mini LED panel is a marked upgrade to standard LED panels allowing the picture to be much brighter than standard LED and pretty darn close to deep dark blacks as an OLED panel. The QM8L has around 4000 dimming zones that allows the black parts of the show appear much darker and less washed out then older LED technology. Aa far as connections are concerned, the TCL has 4 HDMI 2.1 ports (supports 4K @ 144Hz), Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4. Up to 144Hz native; Game Accelerator 288 (VRR) for gaming and can reach up to 6,000 nits of brightness. Where this brightness comes in to play is when viewing in a dark room or more importantly when watching movies that have dark scenes that on most televisions are really hard to see. Maybe the biggest improvement to me in this television and my older high end sets, is the sound that this unit can reproduce. TCL partnered with Bang & Olufsen to develop an integrated sound system (supports Dolby Atmos) that makes it just about unnecessary for a soundbar or high end audio system for anyone except the most avid movie lover. The picture quality is really nice and the brightness is wonderful. If I can say something negative, it would be the remote. Not that it is bad, in fact it is really good, backlit and good range. I just wish they had added a number keypad to directly type channel numbers. I know its picky, but there is space on the remote to do it, I guess no one really uses those anymore, The television bats above its cost, meaning, I think this is a good deal on a great TV. If you happen to catch it on sale, that is even better.
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Hi beefrob, Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. We're thrilled that you are enjoying your TV thus far! At TCL, we are committed to delivering premium products with world-class customer experience. We hope you continue to have a great experience and explore more of the great features our TVs have to offer. Enjoy! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
Webzpinner Posted
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.
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Hi Webzpinner, Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. We're thrilled that you are enjoying your TV thus far! At TCL, we are committed to delivering premium products with world-class customer experience. We hope you continue to have a great experience and explore more of the great features our TVs have to offer. Enjoy! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
Mookie Posted
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.
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Hi Mookie, We appreciate your thoughtful feedback. Please enjoy the great size and quality of this TV. Thank you for choosing TCL to be part of your family! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
Turbolence Posted
I can still recall when TCL screens were budget affairs. Once relegated to the margins of Black Friday and shipping as bare-bones as they could get, this Chinese brand has made a stunning ascension to a level that doesn’t just compete with its peers, but in fact now provides panels for some of its peers…and even entered a joint venture agreement to produce the premium line for a renowned brand it directly competed with over the last several years. Make no mistake, TCL makes incredibly good panels and are worth a look. This isn’t the company you knew from ten years ago. TCL’s winning run continues with the 2026 QM8 series, once again bringing the new features from the highest-end, 2025 QM9 series down to a more affordable range. This 65” panel blew me away, making it two for two for me on TCL TVs and further cementing my recommendations of them to friends and family. - Unboxing and Setup Make no mistake - this is a large and unwieldy TV. You’ll need an assistant to help complete assembly, so plan accordingly. As with TCL’s 2025 range of TVs, unboxing was a bit more difficult than it should have been due to some packaging decisions that leave the TV feeling like it will tip over. Removing the box from the top and side supports to the foam means someone will need to hold on to the TV to keep it stable while unboxing, then immediately and precariously transition it to a flat surface with room to attach the legs. One day I would like to see a TV setup that works from the bottom-up; attaching the legs to the TV first then removing the box in segments from the sides would make this process much easier for many. After this fiasco, the rest of the process was smooth sailing. The stand feels a bit cheap in terms of material and weight, but it’s easy enough to assemble and the mounting screws to the TV hold firm. VESA mounts are also integrated for wall mount setups. Setting up a Google TV is as simple and streamlined as can be if you have an Android phone or Google account. My biggest gripe is that through setup, Google pushes their AI assistant Gemini so hard to the point they make enabling it unskippable - you have to manually disable after setup finishes. This is a reprehensible dark-pattern decision and I take offense to this mandatory enablement of a feature that should be optional. This is more a fault with Google TV than it is TCL, however, and thankfully TCL’s customizations to stock Google TV are few and limited to a completely optional TCL account. - Connectivity & Control Finally, a TV where all the HDMI ports are the same, latest standard! The four ports all support HDMI version 2.1 and accept a 4K, 144Hz signal, with HDMI 1 supporting eARC to connect to an eARC-enabled home theater system or soundbar, allowing you to use the QM8L’s remote for volume control. Alternatively, an optical audio jack can connect to a receiver for those with more elaborate setups. Two USB ports (one 3.0, one 2.0) provide an amp of 5V power each. Sadly, the only ‘legacy’ input here is the coaxial port for an antenna or cable connection, so if you’re looking to connect any older devices without an HDMI port you will need a converter. For network connectivity, an ethernet jack (Gigabit, I believe) complements WiFi 6 and bluetooth 5.3. The latter means support for pairing wireless headphones and the voice-enabled remote (which you will need to pair during setup, this is unskippable). A single power button on the bottom of the TV allows for remote-free basics. - Picture & Sound Quality TCL’s 2026 range of TVs pushes a new “SQD-miniLED” technology, adding to the myriad terms that brands use to market their TVs with more buzzwords than substance. However, as I understand it, SQD-miniLED effectively separates the quantum dot (color) layer from the miniLED backlight layer, using the miniLEDs as a way to either filter or enhance the light coming through from the full-array backlight layer. This effectively creates one layer for lighting, one layer for color, and one layer to act as a prism that all work together to produce accurate, precise chroma and luma. All I can say to this is that TCL’s brought the gap between LCD-based panels and true OLED to its thinnest gap yet. While I would be happy to accept a couple compromises anyway for not having to worry about image burn-in and pixel refreshing, the QM8L’s image quality is nigh indistinguishable from OLED in all but the darkest rooms. Colors are incredibly vivid, and contrast between bright and dim is phenomenal with nearly imperceptible ghosting on all images, even moreso when using high-refresh-rate sources like a PC or game console. At 6000 nits brightness, the QM8L is as close to the top of the brightness class as it gets (and indeed maxes out my PS5’s HDR calibration setting). HDR content seriously pops on this display, with shots looking at the sun on the horizon getting almost discomforting to view. TCL’s HDR image processing does a great job preserving detail without blowing out details nearest to the light source, and detail in shadows is sharp. The alleged 4,000 dimming zones are putting in the work here, but I can still notice some vignetting and dithering on shifting greys if I really go looking for it. As is customary, the top-shelf features from last year’s flagships trickle down to the next price class. The “Halo Control System” from the QM9 range makes its appearance here. TCL’s goal with the HCS is to reduce the appearance of glow, ghosting, and/or halos around high contrast content (think white text on a black background as the extreme example - modern TVs tend to make the text look slightly softer since some light bleeds into surrounding pixels). The HCS works its magic here - not a single part of the image glows or is blown out even on the highest contrast scenes. Plugging in a PC and using this 65” screen as a PC monitor is a joy, rivaling my high end gaming monitor but at a couch viewing distance. Response time is very good, and using high refresh rate signals with Adaptive Sync makes for a luxurious PC screen indeed! The one thing that falls flat is hopefully something you’re already taking into consideration when shopping at this price range - the in-built speakers on this TV are very basic. Not the worst I’ve heard by any measure, but they’re flat and a bit hollow sounding, and though they get loud enough for shared spaces they feel like more of an afterthought than anything else. Bring your own sound system! - Google TV I’m not sure why Google changed the UI for Google TV version 14 into something that makes it harder to download the apps you’re looking for, but beyond that Google TV is fairly user friendly and easy to navigate. A TCL page shows mostly sponsored content from partner publishers, but this is easy enough to skip over. Powering the smart TV functions is a MediaTek chipset employing an ARM Cortex-based CPU, with 4GB of RAM and 50GB of internal storage (48GB free from a factory reset), with a Mali G52 integrated GPU. These are identical specifications to a 2024 budget-midrange TV I have (not surprising, as the MT5896 is marketed exclusively for smart TVs), but with more RAM and storage…and the experience on the TCL is noticeably snappier and more feature-filled. Clearly TCL has put in some optimization work for their image processing technologies, because for as few complaints as I had with it in the budget TV, this is still a noticeably better experience in responsiveness. As a Google TV, thousands of apps are available from the Google Play store to customize your smart TV experience. Streaming and news apps work great, and some unconventional apps open up unique experiences. For example, I connected a couple bluetooth controllers and set up classic videogame emulators for use directly on the TV, and a streaming app let me play PC games on my desktop on my TV over the local network. You can also sideload apps that aren’t available on the Play Store over USB if you want to tinker, or plug in a hard drive full of videos to play directly on the TV through a media player app. Google TV is just as user-friendly as it is deep and customizable, so there really is something for everyone here. - Bottom Line Despite the buzzword-type marketing of technologies, it’s clear that TCL have come a long way in the last decade and are now worthy of challenging the premium brands. The 65” QM8L is an excellent all-round TV with a bright, vivid panel that incrementally improves from last year’s already-excellent screens, and pairing it with a processor that handles Google TV smoothly was a winning decision. There’s a lot to like here, and you could be fooled into thinking this is an OLED screen. Indeed, it fooled a couple of my friends who I invited over to watch some World Cup matches! The only possible hiccup I can see would be the price. TV pricing is always in flux, with recurring sales making some screens a time-limited better value than others, but the QM8L is competitive with mid-high end sets and certainly delivers on picture quality. Compare for yourself in-store at Best Buy, but in any case the QM8L comes recommended!
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Hi Turbolence, We appreciate you posting your thoughtful review. We hope that your new TCL TV helps you immerse yourself in whatever content you choose to watch or play! Please enjoy your TV! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support
Waggly Posted
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.
Posted
Hi Waggly, Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. We're thrilled that you are enjoying your TV thus far! Our TVs are designed and engineered to have a quick and easy setup, be user-friendly, and provide a great viewing experience. We hope you continue to have a great experience and explore more of the great features our TVs have to offer. Enjoy! Thank you, Alison TCL Customer Support