TCL - 85" Class QM8L Series 4K UHD HDR SQD-Mini LED Smart TV with Google TV (2026)

Right out of the box, the TCL 85" QM8L 4K UHD HDR SQD-Mini LED Smart TV immediately feels like a flagship class display experience built around both scale and quality. There’s an undeniable presence when unboxing an 85in panel, but what stood out first wasn’t just the size, it was how thoughtfully everything is packaged and designed for which made for a clean, manageable setup. If you’re using the included stand, you’ll need a Phillips head screwdriver, and assembly is pretty straightforward and solid once tightened down and you will need a second person to help you set this TV up. One of the more underrated design touches with this TV is the stand itself, which integrates rear cable management channels that make it easy to route the power cable and all your HDMI cables cleanly out of sight. Once I got everything powered on, I was immediately blown away by the picture quality. The display on this TV is absolutely stunning. The QM8L uses TCL’s SQD-Mini LED panel technology combined with thousands of local dimming zones and extremely high brightness levels that can reach 6,000 nits of peak brightness in HDR content. The brightness on this TV is honestly insane in the best way possible. HDR movies with Dolby Vision, games, and sports all have incredible highlights that really pop off the screen while still maintaining deep contrast and shadow detail. As someone who has owned several OLED TVs and is very used to perfect blacks, I was genuinely shocked by how close this TV gets with perfect blacks. This is honestly one of the closest non-OLED TVs I’ve seen to delivering those deep inky blacks. At a normal viewing distance, if someone blind tested me and asked if this was an OLED panel, I think I would genuinely have a hard time telling the difference. Blooming control is extremely impressive for a Mini LED TV, and I haven't noticed any light bleed in the corners, especially in movies that have the black bars. TCL has done a fantastic job with local dimming performance here. Color performance is another huge highlight. The quantum dot layer gives the QM8L incredible color volume and vibrancy without looking oversaturated. Colors absolutely pop on this TV. Animated content, sports, HDR movies, and video games all look rich, bright, and extremely lifelike. The 4K resolution combined with the large 85-inch screen size also creates a super immersive experience whether you’re watching movies or gaming. Speaking of gaming, this TV is phenomenal gaming. The QM8L supports 4K at 144Hz gaming, VRR, ALLM, and Game Mode, and everything is automatically enabled correctly with my consoles and PC. Input lag feels very responsive, and motion clarity is excellent. I was honestly in awe of how good sports video games looked on this massive display. Games like FC25, incredibly smooth and immersive at this size. The high refresh rate and Mini LED brightness really make games stand out. The Google TV operating system is easily my favorite smart TV platform available right now. Setup is super easy. You simply just log in with your Gmail account, follow the prompts, and you’re ready to go. The interface is clean, fast, and easy to navigate. TCL’s TSR processor keeps everything feeling very snappy, whether you’re opening apps, switching inputs, or browsing menus. Streaming quality also looked fantastic across Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and other apps. The built-in sound system also surprised me. While I still think a dedicated soundbar or surround system will always provide the best experience for a TV this size, the onboard audio has strong clarity, decent bass response, and gets very loud without distortion. Dialogue came through clearly during movies and sports broadcasts, which is always important for me. One thing I absolutely was not expecting to love as much as I did was the remote for this TV. This is honestly the best TV remote I’ve personally used from any TV manufacturer. The metal finish gives it a premium feel, the clicky D-pad feels fantastic to use, and the backlit buttons are incredibly useful in dark rooms. TCL also added dedicated brightness adjustment buttons and a picture settings shortcut button, which quickly became a feature I now wish every TV remote included. It sounds like a small thing, but once you use it, it makes adjusting settings so much more convenient for whatever you're watching. Pros: Stunning SQD-Mini LED picture quality Extremely bright HDR performance Deep blacks that come very close to OLED Excellent gaming features with 4K 144Hz, VRR, and ALLM Vibrant and accurate colors Google TV is fast and easy to use Premium remote with backlit buttons and dedicated picture controls Great cable management built into the stand Strong motion handling for sports and gaming Easy setup process Cons: Very large and heavy, setup requires two people Built-in speakers are good, but a soundbar is still recommended Takes up a lot of space due to the 85-inch size Glare can be noticeable in rooms with a lot of natural light Overall, I’ve been extremely impressed with the TCL QM8L. Between the incredible brightness, near-OLED black levels, amazing gaming features, a premium remote, and fast Google TV experience, this honestly feels like one of the best value high end TVs currently available. TCL really stepped things up with this model and I Highly recommend it,

This TV is heavy. We decided to stand mount it as I was sure the wall would be happy with 100 lbs. The stand is pretty sturdy and has cable management, but winding your cables through the middle of the TV might mean the cords are too short for your power outlet or connections. Measure before setup. Setup is easy with your phone and a Google account. Updates were completed in about 10 minutes. Watch the setup as there are a lot of privacy type settings that you may want to change. It also asks which apps you want to add which I thought was helpful until I saw all of the bloatware that was preinstalled. Very impressed by the sound quality of this TV. It isn’t soundbar quality but works very well. The color was impressive and bright. The blacks were black. Beautiful HDR. The downside is the refresh rate. Maximum 144Hz. I experienced blurring and lag time in the ticker tape scroll at the bottom of some newscasts. The Indy 500 cars looked good though. Somewhat confusing. We watched several movies and were impressed. The slower refresh rate was only noticeable in one scene where magic was swirling things around. When gaming, you can enhance the refresh rate but lose picture quality. Gaming was very good with the setting changes. Google Gemini Interactive AI is included. You can ask it to find a specific movie or show, similar shows, adjust picture or volume, etc… It works … okay. Not really impressed. Four HDMI 2.1 ports are included, one of which is HDMI eArc (great for your soundbar connection). A USB 3.0 and a USB 2.0 port are also included. Looking at the front of the TV, your power cord will be on the left and the HDMI and other ports are on your right side. Except for a few issues with the refresh rate this is a very beautiful TV.

I will start this review by sayong that the TCL QM8L has completely surprised and delighted me in many ways. It's a great TV with an amazing picture quality. For some background, I'm not a video nut that goes around measuring the tech specs of my TVs, but I do enjoy a great picture, nice features and a quality build. I don't mind paying more for that quality in certain situations. I have a bunch of TVs scattered around my house, but my two primary units is a 2024 65" LG OLED in our main family room and a 2022 85" QLED Samsung in our home theater. Both units have worked well over the years. The OLED still has an outstanding picture with the QLED showing it's age. When it came time to replace the 85", we looked at the usual suspects but kept coming across reviews for TCL units that exceeded expectations. I have purchased TCL TVs in the past, but usually they were value driven purchases where I wasn't too concerned with performance- units for my daughter's college house and my Mom's assisted living apartment. They've performed well for the low cost, but the picture quality would never knock your socks off. Looking around for a 85" replacement, the OLEDs were typically smaller (~83" usually) and $5k+. TCL didn't have OLED, but did announce their new SQD-mini LED systems at CES in an 85" size for just a little more than half the cost of the OLED equivalent. Reviews were very positive and the line between the OLEDs and miniLEDs was beginning to blur. So I took the leap with the 85" TCL QM8L. I'm really happy I did. The QM8L is a big TV. I mean that in all ways, just not screen size. It's heavy and a lot thicker than like OLEDs. Getting it into my basement and unboxed was a bit of a challenge. TCL luckily made the box a clamshell type opening that made removal a lot easier as lifting the box off the traditional way would have been a challenge with low ceiling heights. Installation of the stand was simple (I'm not mounting this to a wall although that is an option) and I appreciated that you could choose a high setting or low setting on the stand. I choose high as I have a soundbar that sits in front of the TV. Once powered, walking through the setup took a bit of time as you have to fill out TCL info and Google account info for the Google TV part of the system. The Google logins using the on screen QR codes failed repeatedly and I had to enter everything manually. Once running, the software updates took 15 minutes or so to complete. The initial picture on the set was surprisingly bright. Much brighter and clearer than the Samsung it replaced. I initially tested the TV without my soundbar and found the Band and Olufsen really good. Sound was loud and there was plenty of bass for a TV speaker. It certainly beats the built in speakers I've used on other TVs. That said, I still installed my Sonos soundbar surround system which worked far better than any built in speaker possibly could. Connections were easy with the EARC HDMI port. Watching movies, the colors were excellent. I did see some stutter in high action sequences, but it wasn't too bad. The picture was overall amazing. I did not regret skipping the OLED at all. Operation of the TV with the included remote was easy and I appreciated the backlighting on the remote itself. I watched several movies using the Google TV interface on Netflix and Disney+. The interface was very responsive and smooth. Usually built in smart TV functions are slow on most TVs I've owned. Not the case here, it ran really well. There is a Google Gemini feature built in as well. I didn't try it as I'm not comfortable with AI on my TVs quite yet. I'm not a Google TV guy though and eventually hooked up an Apple TV box the to the TV. This also worked great. The TV sensed the Apple TV, changed the input name in the menu automatically and allowed me to control the Apple TV with the TCL remote (cool feature!). Picture from the 4k Apple TV stream was terrific as was the pass thru sound to the soundbar. the final element hooked up and tested was my PS5. I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I do enjoy playing to unwind after work. The PS5 was easy to hook up. When powered the TV sensed the PS5 and switched itself into Game Accelerator that claimed to increase the refresh rate, enabled Freesync Pro, and adjusted the color profile. It worked wonderfully. There was no real lag seen and the HDR picture was amazing. Why 4 stars instead of 5? A did have a few small issues. The registration process upon turn on took a long time and many of the QR code elements just failed repeatedly (on multiple phones or ipads). Doing it manually was fine, but it took a long time. The TV is also very thick. Much thicker than the OLED or QLED's I've owned. Not a huge deal, but I have a backlighting system that uses an attached camera to work. The TV was too thick for this camera to attach. I ended up 3D printing a new mount for it to make it work. The TV stand is also a bit disappointing. On larger TVs, when using a stand, the stand needs to be pretty beefy to make sure the TV stays put and doesn't wobble when someone is walking around the room near it. The TCL stand has a big footprint for stability, but it's made of plastic and very light. I was expecting something metal and weighted like other TVs came with. What's ther ewill work, but I wish it was beefier. Finally, the only real performance issue I came across was image streaking and stuttering during action scenes in movies. I watched Rogue One and which the picture was bright and sharp, during the fighter battles, you could see some delay, streaking and stutter onscreen for those fast moving objects. With the stated 144Hz refresh rate, I was surprised to see this. I may just need to adjust settings, but I haven't found the right ones if that's the case. It wasn't too bad or distracting, but it was there. Overall, I am VERY happy with this TV. The picture is AMAZING- very bright with black darks and crystal clear images. I'm now a believer in the SQD-miniLED technology. Especially for the cost savings over comparable OLED systems. TCL really has made a nice TV here.

To start, I own 2 other TCLs and they do NOT disappoint at all! Not only do I use them to watch TV, but to also stream, game and use as a PC monitor. TCL makes sure you get your TV in 1 piece by basically bullet proofing the packaging. Tons of protective plastics, hard cardboard and edge pieces and plenty of styrofoam makes sure no damage befalls it. Other things included inside the box is the TV itself, power cable, remote with batteries, cable management clips, screws for the base/washers for wall mount, base stand and the setup guide. I opted to use the base stand since it is centered vs having legs on the edge like some other manufactures. Installation was super easy as TCL gave the packaging thorough details. You can install the base (on the 85") while the TV is still in the box upright! Then me and a friend lifted it straight up and placed it on the stand with no issues. Mad props to TCL for this. Inputs are generous. You have 4x HDMI 2.1 4k 144hz, 2x USB (1x3.0 and 1x2.0) and coax for a digital antennae or cable. The only "downside" I have with TCL TVs is the initial setup when you 1st turn it on. You must have or create a Google Account to use the TV. There is no skipping this part and you cannot change inputs or anything. Once you sign in, then you are free to use "your" TV as you see fit. On mine, it downloaded an update that took ~20 minutes to install and reset, then goes through all the apps you can download and about 2-3 pages of privacy settings and data collection for you to agree to. What's funny is that I opted to not download apps yet so I can do it later and then the TV proceeds to download Youtube, Apple etc..... So anyways, after finally finishing setup, I skipped the homepage (which is just Google TV) and used my inputs for my Xbox Series X, PS5 and Apple TV box. Everything worked beautifully. For gaming, you can see in my pic, the QM8L literally ticked every single box for 4k max settings including 120hz, HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Gaming was buttery smooth for me and I almost forgot that TCL has basically a game mode. This allows you to see your FPS, HDR, VRR settings and can even add an aiming aid for FPS's. TV, streaming and movies were great. There was some minor blooming but nothing annoying. You can see when I was watching the Punisher the letterbox black bars on the top and bottom were not completely black. I am not expecting OLED quality, but even the QM9 I use was basically black (both being MLEDs). Again, just personal preferences but can easily be tuned out. Picture quality is still outstanding. Crazy enough, usually TV speakers are not great, but TCL's partnership with Bang & Olufsen is a home run. The built in speakers are excellent for those not using a soundbar or a complete home system. I am currently using a Klipsch soundbar system with the TV and it has been a great combo. All in all, the QM8L is an amazing all arounder TV for binge watchers, gamers and PC users. Excellent features, great intuitive remote and ease of use puts TCL as an auto recommend from me.

I wasn't very familiar with the TCL brand so I wasn't sure what to expect when I choosing the TCL - 85" Class QM8L Series 4K UHD HDR SQD-Mini LED Smart TV with Google TV. Of course the size wasn't a complete shock but how substantial the body is compared to some other same size options actually was a pleasant surprise. Nice, sturdy frame without compromising screen size (meaning no thick bezel but not a super thin and questionable back). It is absolutely a 2-person job at minimum to lift it up. Installing the included stand was fairly simple and was much sturdier than I initially thought it would be. The simple but brilliant clips that snap into the back to use as cable guides to help keep any cables for anything you connect to the tv was something I never really thought about wanting but absolutely love. But the real test for me was how the tv actually looked. I was instantly impressed by how amazing everything looked out of the box without any settings adjustment. The colors were vibrant, the clarity was spectacular. Setup was a breeze even with the immediate need for an update. The built-in speakers were pretty good on their own but I will still use a soundbar to further enhance the experience. I typically don't love most OEM remotes but this one is actually one I want to keep using. So far we couldn't find anything to complain about when gaming or viewing sports which are 2 important factors when it comes to how our tvs are used in our house. I'm definitely excited to enjoy this tv when college and NFL football seasons start. As a first time user of the TCL brand I am already impressed