TCL - 98" Class RM9L Series 4K UHD HDR RGB-Mini LED Smart TV with Google TV (2026)

TLDR: TCL's all-out effort in RGB-Mini LED TV's. They left nothing off the table. CONNECTIONS AirPlay 2 Bluetooth 5.4 HDMI 2.1 x 4 (144Hz) KEY SPECS Up to 6000 Nits Peak Brightness 5600 Local Dimming Zones 100% BT.2020 Color Reproduction 288Hz Variable Refresh Rate Compatible (144Hz Inputs) Dolby Vision / Dolby Vision IQ / HLG / HDR 10 / HDR10+ / IMAX Enhanced Dolby Atmos / DTS Virtual X PROS Excellent Sound Quality for a Flat-Panel Backlit Remote Accurate Color Reproduction Best-In-Class Processing Power Minimal Blooming / Excellent Light Control CONS Remote Lacks Essential Playback Controls Hernia Causing Heft - Eat Your Wheaties INSTALLATION & SET-UP First off, big thanks to TCL for springing for in-home delivery. The RM9L weighs in at a hernia inducing 143 pounds (without stand and/or shipping pallet). Make sure you have a heavy-duty mounting bracket and plenty of studs to anchor that bracket to. You will need it. Even after eating our Wheaties, my teenager and I struggled to get it lifted and placed on its mounting bracket. The RM9L is, by far, the heaviest TV I've ever mounted. After getting my workout for the day, the RM9L is extremely easy to get set-up. Our household is primarily an Android-based ecosystem, so setting up the TCL was an easy lift (pun intended). Using my Pixel 10 Pro, the TCL started up and with just a few clicks, had logged into my Google account, logged into Wi-Fi, and had reached out and got an update. Not to mention, during set-up, it asked me what streaming services I wanted to pre-install. I clicked all my apps of choice & aside from DirecTV stream, all apps downloaded and logged me in using credentials obtained from my phone. Super slick and so much easier than in the past. Kudos to Google and their refinements. AUDIO The RM9L features audio tuned by Bang & Olufsen. I've had numerous TV's in for review and this TCL has the best audio of any flat-panel TV I've ever heard. The RM9L features a 4.2 surround system built-in. It houses L&R speakers, 2 surround speakers, and dual subwoofers. Everyone that has ever purchased a flat-panel TV over the years knows just how weak and anemic the speakers are. No matter how good the picture is, I've never heard a TV that had decent audio. The RM9L changes my expectations. Sound is actually fairly robust and enveloping. I was surprised at just how full-bodied the audio quality is. A lot of that comes from the included B&O subwoofers built into the top of the TV. They add just enough low frequency extension to keep the audio from sounding thin and uninspired. Again, the RM9L is the first TV I've reviewed to date that I can honestly give a thumbs up for audio quality. It far superior to any other TV I've had to date. BRAINS TCL spared no expense putting their top-of-the-line processor in the RM9L. When the TCL arrived, I purposely left my streaming stick off and used the Google apps to stream. I am thoroughly impressed at just how responsive the TCL is as a streaming platform. Their new CPU is superior to any of my other streaming sticks. While the Google ecosystem isn't as intuitive as a dedicated streaming device, I have zero complaints about the RM9L's responsiveness and usability. Additionally, TCL claims their AI processor (isn't everything AI anymore) can do per pixel analysis of video reproduction. While I have no way to test this, it seems legitimate from what I can tell. Motion is smooth and clear and light and artifact control seem to be the best in the business. A feature that I never thought I would really care about, but have been using it more and more, is Google Gemini. It can be accessed by either speaking directly to the TV or by holding the microphone button down and speaking into the remote. If there isn't a bunch of ambient noise in your house, the TV is plenty responsive by merely speaking "OK Google". Any additional noise can easily be overcome by speaking into the remote. It works quite slick and I find it ridiculously useful, where I thought I never would. From checking the weather, to getting movie times, or even asking about current events, its intuitive and easy. Having it integrated seamlessly into a TV is really changing my mind. PICTURE QUALITY BLOOMING / LIGHT CONTROL - This is, by far, the biggest issue with any display technology outside of OLED's. Edge-lit panels are the biggest offenders, while the best panels have FALD (Full Array Local Dimming) technology. This allows the CPU to control individual zones on the display. The more zones, the more control over light the TV has. TCL claims 5600+ dimming zones. Doing some quick math, at 5600 zones, this would put a dimming zone approximately every .75 square inches (if my math is right). Furthermore, TCL touts that the RM9 has 11,520 Precise Color Zones on this 98" model. This translates into a Precise Color Zone approximately every .35 square inches. Needless to say, the picture quality is top-notch. I noticed no discernible blooming or artifacts during my testing. Even the darkest of scenes in the new Star Trek movies failed to produce any blooming around stars to spaceships. Something I haven't ever been able to say about any other panel outside by beloved OLED. Colors are rich and vibrant and pop with an authority that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago. To fulfill my amateur ambitions of being a video snob, I typically disable any post processing settings in the menu. Black level enhancements, contrast enhancements, color enhancements, they all get turned off. I want a picture as close to perfect as I can get, with no external intervention from the TV. With this RM9L, there is one setting that I turned on, that I have never turned on in ANY TV I've ever reviewed or tested. That setting is the ambient light control. Why? This TCL can output an eye-watering 6000 nits at peak brightness. WOW! It is incredibly bright in dimly lit movie rooms. I've never tested a TV that can output so much light. TCL has done a great job of including nearly every conceivable current audio and video technology into their TV. Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision IQ, Variable Refresh Rates, AMD Freesync Pro, HDR 10, HDR 10+ Gaming, HLG, Dolby Vision Gaming, IMAX Enhanced, Dolby Atmos, and DTS Virtual X. This is the most extensive and comprehensive list I've ever seen in a TV. Impressive! One thing that I do find quite odd is that out of the box color accuracy was not nearly as good as I expected it to be. Using the recommended FilmMaker Mode and changing the color balance to Warm still left way too much blue in the picture. I had to take out a BUNCH of blue at the high end to get the color back to the D65 spec. I was surprised that such a high-end TV was so far out of adjustment out of the box. However, a little work paid huge dividends. As you can see, I was able to get the picture dialed into near perfection, even if I wasn't unable to fully get all the blue pulled out. Aside from that mild blue error (nearly imperceptible), all other primary, secondary, and grayscale colors were spot on. Overall errors were some of the lowest I've ever got out of a TV to this day, espeicially the grayscale. Great work TCL! NEGATIVES Overall, I like the included remote. Not only does it feel premium, but the inclusion of a backlight is a game changer. I would hate to use a remote without a backlight after having this. Frankly, a backlight is a necessity with the TCL remote. Nearly all the buttons are the same size and shape and without said backlight would have made it nearly impossible to find the proper button in the dark. Also, the remote is sorely missing dedicated playback controls. I would have loved to see TCL put in Play, FF, and Rew buttons. It would make the remote so much more useful. I've already touched on the other negative above and that is the overall out-of-the-box color accuracy. CONCLUSIONS Is the RM9L a great TV? Yes, it is. It's hard to find any meaningful faults with the device. Outstanding color accuracy and reproduction, best-in-class audio, and a powerful processor make for a great device. Though it's not an OLED, I found no evidence of halo or blooming in the picture even during the darkest of sci-fi films. I've never been able to say this about any other display technology outside of OLED's. Colors are rich, bright, and vibrant. Far superior to any color reproduction I've experienced on any other TV, from any other manufacturer, including my OLED. The TCL AI processor does an excellent job at cleaning up the picture, regardless of the streaming service. I noticed substantially less blocking and streaming artifacts. Granted a 4k stream looks far better than an HD or SD stream, but even those are cleaned up nicely without looking fake and unnatural. Audio quality is best-in-class, or at least best that I've ever tested. No, it won't replace a dedicated AVR and surround sound system, but it gives soundbars a run. Again, this is something I've never been able to say about any other TV to date. If you want uncompromising picture and audio quality in a flat panel TV, the RM9L is it. It has the best audio and video quality of any display I've tested to date. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED