TCL Q7 QLED TV review: frustratingly average

TCL Q7 QLED TV

MSRP $1,000.00

“The TCL Q7 is without doubt one of the greatest buys in TV at the moment, nevertheless it has some points.”

Professionals

• Excessive brightness

• Nice distinction

• Vivid colour

• Nice for gaming

Cons

• White stability is simply unhealthy

• Colour is technically inaccurate

• Inconsistent image high quality from streaming apps

I’ve spent appreciable time pondering this over, and I believe it’s honest to say that the TCL Q7 ranks among the many most irritating TVs I’ve ever reviewed. This TV is extremely good — besides the place it isn’t.

By some measures, this TV is excellent. And, the truth is, I believe most people are going to find it irresistible. However by some measures, this TV is type of a large number, and that’s irritating as a result of it doesn’t should be. I’m so near saying that is in all probability one of the best TV for the best quantity of individuals, however I don’t know if I can go there.

Video evaluate

Sequence and measurement particulars

Whereas we reviewed the 65-inch (65Q750G) mannequin, our evaluate additionally applies to the 55-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch fashions within the TCL Q7 QLED Sequence.

TCL Q7: What it’s and what it isn’t

Let’s begin with the place the Q7 sits inside TCL’s TV lineup this yr. It’s TCL’s second-best TV for 2023, sitting just under the epic QM8 mini-LED TV. The Q7 is not a mini-LED TV — it makes use of a regular LED backlight system with full-array native dimming. However TCL has damaged down the backlight into a reasonably beneficiant variety of zones. This 65-inch mannequin has 160 native dimming zones, whereas the 75- and 85-inch variants are nearer to 200 zones, in response to TCL. If we examine that to the Hisense competitors, the U7K is a mini-LED TV and is thus capable of have the next dimming zone depend at about 384 zones.

In fact, as I’m keen on mentioning in nearly each TV evaluate as of late, it’s not concerning the measurement of your backlights or what number of dimming zones you could have — it’s how you employ them. The Sony X90L is a superb instance of a TV with a regular LED backlight system damaged down into simply 80 native dimming zones that appears excellent.

So long as we’re making comparisons, it’s value mentioning that the 65-inch Q7 has a road worth of about $800, whereas the Hisense U7K goes for about $730. For reference, the rather more superior TCL QM8 65-inch has a road worth of $1,200. Going ahead, I’ll not be evaluating the TCL Q7 to the Hisense U7K as a result of I haven’t examined it but, however that’s coming very quickly. I’ll, nonetheless, do my greatest to explain the variations between the costlier QM8 and the Q7 right here to provide some context to the worth proposition of this TV.

So, you may in all probability already see the enchantment of the Q7. It’s $400 lower than TCL’s greatest mannequin, nevertheless it has some very promising tech inside. On paper, it seems like one of the best worth in TCL’s TV lineup, and presumably one of the best worth TV available on the market proper now. That’s why I believe SO many common customers simply in search of an amazing TV at an amazing worth are going to finish up trying on the Q7.

However then there’s the fanatic crowd, who might want as a lot of that TCL QM8 goodness as they will get whereas saving a bunch of cash. Possibly it’s a second-room TV, or possibly the finances is only a bit tight. The Q7 ought to be the reply, proper? Nicely, possibly for these common customers, certain. However I believe fanatics are about to be let down — a minimum of a little bit bit.

The nice: distinction, gaming, and UX

Earlier than I ship some robust information, let me give a short overview of what I like concerning the Q7. First: distinction. TCL is simply killing it — in a great way — with the distinction on its TVs. It’s prioritizing black ranges, blooming and halo management, and excessive brightness. Because of this, the image on TCL TVs just like the Q7 has plenty of pop. And I’ve handy it to TCL: If you happen to’re going to single out one component of image high quality to dominate, distinction is it.

Secondly, TCL is doing a stable job of creating its TVs as pleasant and accessible to avid gamers. The Q7 has two HDMI 2.1 ports able to as much as 144Hz at 4K or 1440p, or as much as 240Hz at 1080p. It helps VRR, too. And its enter lag is sufficiently low to earn a superb rating.

One other optimistic side is that Google TV runs easily on this TV. Simply bear in mind to activate the Community Standby perform, and forged to the TV out of your cellular system from all types of apps. It additionally helps AirPlay and HomeKit. As a sensible TV, it’s obtained loads going for it.

Lastly, colour. Whereas the colour efficiency is just not excellent, as I’ll dive into extra later, in HDR, shiny colours actually leap off the display, and I believe that’s going to impress plenty of people.

Total, this TV is constructed to impress the common viewer throughout most content material. Something 1080p and better, SDR or HDR, seems actually good on this TV. Even with low bit price content material, this TV manages to one way or the other keep away from an excessive amount of macro-blocking. I’ve been watching plenty of YouTube content material, not all of it premium, and it’s been trying fairly stable.

To date, so good. Excellent, I’d say. For the value, this TV seems to be among the finest values ever.

However once we drill a bit deeper, we begin noticing flaws. At first, they’re comparatively minor, however they only develop from there.

The not so good: brightness

Which brings us to that part I wish to name Numbers for Nit Nerds. That is the place I dive into the measurements I obtained on this TV to supply some goal foundation for my evaluation. If you happen to don’t know your nits out of your armpits, that’s simply nice, however in the event you’re moving into TVs and wanna be taught extra, persist with me.

I’m not going to tug any punches right here: The TCL Q7 has provided up among the worst measurements I’ve seen in recent times. Not all of them — some are simply nice. However the ones which can be unhealthy? They’re fairly unhealthy.

We’ll begin with some fundamentals. In SDR, I measured peak brightness at about 700 nits with the brightness setting maxed out. Out of the field, the brightness setting is at 55 out of 100, and that may get you about 400 nits of brightness, which could be very respectable. You possibly can in fact dial this down — I’d recommend 30 for a darkish room — if you wish to see content material nearer to what was meant by the creator.

In HDR, utilizing both the Film mode or the IMAX mode, peak brightness maxed out at simply shy of 1,000 to 1,100 nits within the variable window measurement check – I obtained a good quantity of variance every of the 5 instances I measured earlier than calibration. However within the sustained peak brightness check, that quantity got here in reliably round 750 nits. After I used the Spears & Munsil sample designed to get round any dishonest the TV could make use of when it sees check patterns, that quantity held regular at round 700 nits, that means peak highlights could have a great quantity of punch and sparkle. Furthermore, although, the Common Image Degree was fairly shiny for a TV of this worth. All of that is excellent news for the common shopper simply in search of a great-looking TV at an amazing worth.

The unhealthy: white stability and colour

However the white stability.  Oh, candy mom of pearl, the white stability. It’s presumably the worst I’ve ever seen on any TV. As a reminder, any Delta E of three or much less is taken into account imperceptible to the human eye. And I’ll give a passing grade for a TV of this worth if it is available in at about 6 or beneath, although I’m not gonna be in love with that. However, people, out of the field, this TV had a median Delta E of seven.5, with essentially the most egregious errors the place it counts essentially the most at between 10 and 11. Now, look, I perceive in the event you get a chuckle out of me being all aghast as I delve into among the nerdiest TV analytics ever, however, really, that isn’t good.

And whereas a 2-point white stability calibration took care of the brightest whites, all of the grayscale within the center remained at a Delta E of 4 or increased, and close to as I can inform, the 20-point white stability controls are — effectively, I’ll use the phrase “ineffective.” However some would possibly name them straight-up damaged.

As for colour? When it comes to accuracy, the outcomes weren’t as unhealthy because the grayscale, however the information there isn’t good both. I noticed errors all over, and getting them corrected within the CMS — or, colour administration system — would take plenty of work.

This isn’t excellent news for fanatics who worth accuracy and adherence to creator intent. To ensure that this TV’s efficiency to get nearer to what we’d think about correct, you’d want to rent a calibrator, and that would value as a lot as $500 for a correct calibration. That’s virtually the value of the 65-inch TV itself, by no means thoughts that it might increase your whole funding to as a lot as or greater than the 65-inch QM8. So, if accuracy is what you’re after, don’t anticipate to get shut with the cheaper Q7 — simply

purchase a QM8

.

And that’s irritating! As a result of it shouldn’t be this fashion. And to be clear, I went and checked out another critiques to see if their out-of-box measurements had been near mine. And on the grayscale a minimum of, the measurements I obtained are in lockstep with different publications. No, I believe that’s how this TV is. And I don’t perceive why. I’m pondering again to a few of TCL’s 5-series TVs they usually had higher grayscale and colour accuracy measurements than this TV. It’s simply so near being a videophile’s finances darling. However — not as it’s.

The meh: upscaling and movement

All of that info was primarily for fanatics. I don’t suppose the common viewer goes be bothered an excessive amount of by the incorrect grayscale and scattershot colour accuracy. Though a few of you would possibly discover the white doesn’t look pure white, there’s a magenta hue occurring that some common viewers would possibly catch.

I additionally occurred to get a TCL Q7 with good display uniformity — simply the tiniest little bit of vignetting within the upper-left and proper corners. Anti-glare is simply OK, however the TV will get shiny sufficient that I don’t suppose most people shall be too bothered with reflections.

However there are a few issues I believe common customers would possibly catch. For one, this TV doesn’t do a spectacular job at upscaling low-resolution content material. It isn’t horrible, nevertheless it’s not doing nearly as good a cleanup job to cable TV and low-res streaming TV content material as some barely costlier TVs. Secondly, 24 frames per second (fps) content material exhibits a good quantity of stutter. If you happen to don’t ever watch 24 fps motion pictures or like to make use of movement smoothing, then that’s nothing to fret about. However in the event you watch plenty of motion pictures of their native body price of 24 fps, you’ll see some stutter. There are not any judder points — the TV gives judder-free efficiency. However stutter, the place it holds on to a type of 24 frames only a bit longer than it ought to — you’ll see that.

Once more, in the event you’re not tremendous delicate about that form of factor, then I believe you’ll love the Q7. However in case you are, you would possibly need to cross on this one.

A combined bag

So, for all you non-videophiles or non-video fanatics: The Q7 delivers plenty of wow issue. In reality, in the event you get it and begin watching it, you would possibly effectively say: “Man, that Caleb man certain was occurring about nothing. This TV seems nice! I wouldn’t in any respect be shocked.”

The toughest factor about doing TV critiques is that I do know I’ve a reasonably important crowd of fanatics tuning in. And for these readers, you simply must know accuracy is just not this TV’s bag. Oh, and in addition, the backlight is a little bit sluggish — which may trouble you, too.

So it’s a combined bag, relying on who you’re. I’ve made this analysis as honest as potential. I believe most people will love this TV. However for these of you with a eager eye? Stick with the TCL QM8. It’s value saving up for a little bit longer.

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