TCL - 98" X11L Series 4K UHD HDR SQD-Mini LED Smart TV with Google TV (2026)

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Best TV on the Planet. Period.

  • Incentivized
  • Verified Purchaser
  • Owned for 1 week

  I fell in love with this TV the first time I saw it at CES, and now that I have it at home, it has completely exceeded my expectations. The brightness is on another level. With up to 10,000 nits and 20,000 dimming zones in a massive 98” screen, the picture is absolutely stunning. Highlights pop, blacks stay deep, and the color volume is incredible. It’s one of those TVs you truly have to see in person to appreciate. Pictures and videos don’t do it justice. Yes, it’s expensive. But when you compare it to OLED options in this size, it’s nearly half the price and significantly brighter. In a bright room especially, this TV really shines. The size combined with this level of brightness and contrast makes it feel like a true home theater experience. If you’re looking for a flagship 98” TV and want jaw-dropping performance, this is it.

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  JayJayJr Posted 1 month ago

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Immersive In-Home True Theatre Experience

  • Top 500 Contributor
  • Tech Insider Network Member

  I recently received the new TCL 98” X11L Series 4K UHD SQD-Mini LED television and after spending some time with it I can confidently say this is the most incredible TV I have ever owned. I have had a lot of very nice televisions over the years, but nothing even remotely close to this one. The size, brightness, color, and overall viewing experience really do make it feel like having a full movie theater inside my home. Once the TV is delivered, the first thing you do is cut the straps that are holding it to the pallet. The box itself is very well designed and has printed instructions explaining exactly how to open it. I highly recommend following those instructions because this is not a box you want to destroy. If you ever move or decide to sell the television you will absolutely want that box to safely transport it again. The box opens almost like a door and slides away from the TV. Once the protective cardboard panels and foam pieces are removed the television is standing in the lower protective base. Then you remove the Styrofoam supports on each side, leaving only the one in the middle to hold it up, while your friends balance it while you attach the legs. Once the legs are attached the television can be lifted out and placed on your TV stand. Another thing to mention is that the legs come with covers that allow you to run cables through them, to hide them and manage them better. There are also cable management areas that run along the back of the TV, where you can press your cable into them for a neat and clean set up without cable hanging everywhere. Something else to mention about the back of the TV is that mine came with lots of powdery white spots and sections on it. I think it’s just dust but I can’t be certain.. And most of it wiped away, though some spots didn’t. But that’s the back of the TV and nobody will see that but you, so not a big deal. Speaking of the stand, this is something people should plan ahead for. The legs on this television are 16½ inches deep, which means your TV stand should be at least 17 inches deep to give yourself some clearance. The distance between the outer edges of the legs is about 78½ inches, so your stand needs to be at least 79 to 80 inches wide. I actually had trouble finding a stand that fit these dimensions so I ended up purchasing two identical stands that were 20 inches deep and placing them side by side. Once the television was in place the setup process was easy. Because this is a Google TV, all I had to do was scan a QR code with my phone and sign into my Google account. Within about 12 minutes of updates the TV was ready. There is a lot of free content available right out of the box. TCL includes several of its own built-in apps. One of them is TCL TV+, basically a free live TV app that feels similar to old-school cable. Another built-in feature is the Quick Panel, which works like a source selector. It allows you to quickly switch between Google TV Home, AirPlay, Antenna TV, and any devices connected to the HDMI ports. Speaking of Antenna TV, I did a quick scan, just to see if the TV would pick any stations up w/o an antenna attached, but it did not. To be honest, I don’t understand why a TV this large doesn’t have an antenna built into it. That would be such a wonderful feature to have for people like me who don’t have cable. Another one of the pre-loaded TCL apps is TCL Home. This app lets you browse media from USB drives or devices on your network. A gallery option allows you to sync photos from Google Photos so they can be displayed on the television. And if you are using a flash drive for movie, or other content, good news, the X11L has an easily accessible USB port on the bottom right side of the frame of the TV. So even if the TV is mounted on the wall, you can easily plug a flash drive in there. Which makes it an excellent choice for any conference rooms or workspaces where it might be used for presentations. Both the Google screensaver and the T-Exhibition include an AI wallpaper generator. You can select an art style such as Monet, Van Gogh impressions, watercolor, pen and ink watercolor, photography, or abstract art. Then you choose descriptive words and the TV generates a custom AI image in about four seconds. It is a fun feature but it is somewhat limited. It will not generate images of people and some prompts are rejected entirely. For example, I tried asking it to create an alien and it would not do it. However, you can still create interesting scenes like surreal landscapes or fantasy environments such as waterfalls appearing in deserts or unusual nature scenes like a dog running through a mushroom forest. It will even generate text, like a visitor’s name on a brick wall. The TV comes with Google Gemini built into it and supports hands-free voice control. You can speak to it and ask Gemini to adjust the volume, brightness, and picture settings. One thing I noticed is that when I ask it to open apps it sometimes tells me it cannot do that, so the voice commands may still be expanding over time, and I hope they do. The remote control is another highlight. The remote connects via Bluetooth, which means you do not need to point it directly at the television for it to work. You can point it anywhere in the room and it still works fine. That is very helpful if you have a soundbar sitting in front of the television that might block the sensor. The remote is also backlit. When you pick it up the buttons illuminate automatically. And one of the coolest features is that it has a rocker switch on the side that lets you adjust the brightness of the backlight without needing to enter the picture settings menu. There is also a quick picture mode button on the side that lets you cycle through modes like Intelligent, Vivid, Standard, Sports, Filmmaker Mode, Movie, Game, PC, and iMax, while you're watching something. Overall the button layout is very good. There are dedicated buttons for settings, voice control, favorite apps, and a customizable star button. The only thing I do not love about the remote is the shape of the bottom. It isn’t totally flat so when the remote sits on a table it rocks a little when you press buttons on the sides, unless you hold it and stabilize it. A completely flat bottom would have been more practical and is the superior remote design. Now let’s talk about the most important thing, the viewing experience. Basically, this television is absolutely stunning! The contrast, brightness, and color range are incredible. It gets so bright that I usually keep the brightness around 60 to 75. This is the first TV I have ever owned where I did not feel the need to run it at maximum brightness. At 60 or below you even see a small green leaf icon which indicates the energy saving mode. I experimented with the brightness settings and even tried watching at zero brightness just to see what it looked like. Surprisingly it was still completely watchable in a dark room. That gives you an idea of just how bright this display can get. There were a couple times where I was on a new video source and the TV defaulted to 30 brightness and I never noticed or thought to myself, “this is too dim” until I pressed the side button and noticed what level it was set on. If you really want to see what this TV can do, I strongly recommend pairing it with a 4K Blu-ray player. Streaming 4K content looks great, but a true 4K HDR disc takes this television to another level. Watching movies at night with the lights down honestly feels like sitting inside a movie theater, so get your popcorn ready! The detail, motion, color richness, and contrast are all really incredible. I already went online and bought several more 4K Blu-ray movies because I want to experience them on this screen. Watching a movie you've already seen, in 4K, on a screen this large is like watching a new movie, because of all the new details and nuances that you never noticed before. I also have an Xbox connected to the TV and gaming on a display this large is incredibly immersive. I have never played games on a screen this big before and the experience is jaw dropping. Fast motion could possibly be a little sharper during very intense scenes, but honestly it is not bad at all. The average gamer is going to be extremely impressed and only a critic would find something to complain about. The built-in Bang & Olufsen sound system and audio is also exceptionally good. I do have a soundbar connected to the TV and that really adds to the theater experience, but even without it the TV speakers sound surprisingly good. I’d say it’s the best sounding TV I’ve ever owned, so if you don’t have a soundbar, don’t worry, because this TV has you covered. One thing I did notice after several hours of use is that the television produces a noticeable wall of warmth. After running it for five or six hours at higher brightness levels you can feel warmth radiating from the screen when you walk up and get close to it. It is not hot, just warm, which is expected for a display this large and bright. Below are some of my pros and cons for the TCL 98X11L. PROS: • Massive 98 inch screen • Extremely bright display with incredible color range • Four HDMI ports that support 4K 144Hz • Google TV operating system • Google Gemini • Built-in sound is very good and works well • Bluetooth remote with backlighting CONS: • The size makes delivery, unboxing, and setup challenging • Produces noticeable warmth during long viewing sessions at high brightness • Finding a TV stand large enough can be difficult Overall I absolutely love this television. This television delivers the most incredible viewing experience I have ever had in my home. It truly feels like having a movie theater in my living room. Thank you TCL for making such an amazing television. Anyone looking for a true in-home theater experience and the most immersive gaming, should absolutely consider the TCL 98X11L.

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  Orion Posted 6 days ago

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Are we sure this isn't OLED...?

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  I have been team OLED for a while now. Once I realized the difference in colors and could clearly see the difference in a true OLED black and a LED greyish black, it was impossible for me to turn back. After the long process of unboxing the TCL X11L (which, makes sense, the packaging keeps the TV very secure) popping up the Netflix app to see it load up with the red with the all black background, I was blown away, and that was just the beginning. With so many things I loved about this TV, I'd like to start with the two small things I didn't. The TCL X11L is as high-end as it comes in regards to the tech that powers it, the features, etc. With that being said, I don't know why we're dealing with a remote that takes batteries. The remote is nice, the buttons are backlit...but we really shouldn't still be dealing with triple a batteries in 2026. Setup of the TV is super easy as it's a Android TV. QR code scan and in no time everything was setup. Now, the Google TV interface is nice...but it has tendency to make sponsored suggestions and attempt to recommend I watch content on it's free apps. Now, maybe, hopefully with abundance of paid subscriptions I have and use, the algorithm will pick up on what I truly like and watch...but man, being advertised to and pushed bloatware isn't a premium experience fitting of the rest of the device. The Gemini AI add-in featues are cool...but not if they're accompanied with ads. Now, the brightness. The sun on my Apple TV screensaver lit up my whole room. Brightness is a space where OLEDs (my previous go to) tend to lack and man was it apparent on the X11L. As blown away by the brightness as I was, when I pushed the brightness increase button on the side of the remote I realized the TV wasn't even at it's brightest. The brightness really helped the colors pop. Speaking of color, when gaming on my PS5 Pro (connected to one of the 4 HDMI 2.1 ports!) the colors were amazing! I'll be honest, I didn't do any calibrating...start the console, get right to gaming. I've watched a few videos regarding this TV that discussed issues with motion in gaming...it's not anything I had an issue with. The HDMI 2.1 allows for 4k/144 hz, using the PS5 Pro I was gaming at 4k 60 max (on console I tend to play quality mode, which is normally 4k 60 or 4k 30) and I didn't have any major issues. I've yet to connect my computer which would allow me to go 4k over 144+. I've played a lot of shooters (Apex Legends, Marvel Rivals, Marathon) and it's all looked beautiful and felt smooth. The real winner of this all however was my 4k Blu-ray player. Streaming movies looks great, no doubt...but watching Blade Runner 2049 (and the physical copy isn't Dolby Vision) was amazing! I truly see the value of physical media and having a true 4k Blu-Ray player as opposed to watching movies via my console. I've never seen anything like this. The combination of the colors, the brightness, but, also, the darkness...it's all the positives of LED, with maybe not the benefits of OLED, but good enough to the point you can't tell the difference. Before I got to anyting else I spent a massive amount of time bouncing around through all my movies testing each one out. This is at true home theater experience unlike any other. The Bang & Olufsen speakers (both on the back of the TV, and front facing at the bottom) are great TV speakers...some of the best TV speakers I've experienced...but as someone who has a sound bar, they don't replace a quality sound bar. I tested the audio watching content on the same app with my Apple TV conected to my sound bar, verses the app on the TV itself with the audio setting set to internal speakers and you could hear a clear difference. The TCL X11L is a statement piece. If someone walked in to a room and saw the TV sitting there, it's design alone makes a statement. Cut the TV on and you blow people away. Raising the bar on expectatiosn for (mini) LED TVs, while also minimizing some of the key advantages of OLED..for those who have this TV in consideration for purchase, It's a no-brainer. While it's not without (small) flaws, the X11L is 2026's TV to beat, and a leap forward for ((SQD) Mini LED TVs.

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  Bruce Posted 4 days ago