TCL QM8K (2025) Review: Mini LED TV Takes On OLED for Less

CNET

20 hours ago

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8.6
/ 10
SCORE TCL QM8K
Pros Great picture quality
Very few haloing artifacts
New Filmmaker mode helps create more accurate pictures Cons Still bright, but dimmer than the TV it replaced
Worse input lag with games
TCL QM8K
8.6/10 CNET Score
For the past few years, TCL's QM8 TVs have consistently been at the top of our most recommended models, thanks to their excellent image quality for their price. In 2025, the company appears determined to beat more expensive OLED TVs at their own game. And you know what? It's almost there.
The latest QM8K TV looks great, especially in high dynamic range movies and games, and its new anti-halo technology helps to improve contrast. Even so, the TV wasn't as consistent with my measurements of standard dynamic range material, and I found this to be surprising in a flagship television.
As I write this, the 65-inch QM8K is available for half its original retail price at $1,250, and that a really good deal, especially considering the LG C5 OLED is $1,800 right now. Even still, for the same price it comes up against some heavy competition from other mini-LED backlit TVs, especially the Hisense U8Q. Meanwhile, the TCL QM851 that preceded it is a better TV in a number of ways, especially in terms of brightness and saturation, but it appears to be out of stock in many places.
That said, if you're trying to choose between the Hisense U8Q and TCL QM8K specifically, the TCL has the more cinematic look while the Hisense is better for gaming. Either TV is well worth your time, though, and if you don't have a strong preference for either one, my advice is should buy whichever is cheapest in the moment.
Also read: Best TVs of 2025
TCL QM8K series TV sizes
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
I performed hands-on testing of the picture quality of the 65-inch TCL QM8K but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. All sizes have similar specifications and should exhibit similar picture quality.
Sturdy stand and a sweet remote
The TCL stand packs flat and is easy to put together.
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
As TVs get thinner and less "bezelly" (I made up this word and I'm sticking to it), the outward appearance of a new television becomes a non-issue because it basically looks like all picture, especially if you're mounting it on a wall. If you're not, then the one thing designers can influence becomes even more important -- the stand. As a reviewer who regularly puts together TV bases, I appreciate a stand that doesn't require an extra set of hands or the need to consult the manual. The QM8K's pedestal stand was quick to assemble and relatively attractive as well.
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
The TCL QM8K features something that's rarer than it should be at this level, a backlit remote. It's a fairly plush model too, with a metal facade and dedicated input buttons (hooray!). It's a step up from the "Twix bar" that shipped with the previous model.
Google your TV
While Samsung's Tizen OS is the most popular smart TV interface that's designed in-house by a TV maker, Google TV also enjoys wide support from a number of brands including Sony, TCL and Hisense.
After Roku took development of most of its TVs in-house, the majority of TCLs now feature Google's smart TV interface instead. Google TV does a great job of surfacing content, in a similar way to Amazon Fire TV, although you can set up shortcuts to feature your favorite apps as well.
The latest version of Google TV will work with a Nest-based smart home and can display your cameras on the Home tab as well. Furthermore you can ask your Nest mini to play an episode of Alien: Earth, for example, and it will play on the TCL.
TCL's Google TV interface is relatively zippy. If you want more power or customization, you could add a separate set-top from Apple or Roku -- although most people won't need to.
The QM8K features Google TV onboard
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
Halo control, Master Chief approved (probably)
The TCL QM8K is a 4K TV which includes the company's new "all-domain halo control technology." TCL claims the TV offers "contrast and color gamut comparable to OLED" via a mini-LED backlight. The TV has up to 35% more dimming zones than the previous model, which had up to 5,000 local dimming zones, though TCL did not respond immediately to my requests for clarification about the actual number of zones on the QM8K. Full-array local dimming allows the screen to dim and brighten different areas simultaneously and this ultimately increases contrast and therefore picture quality.
The TV includes compatibility with Dolby Vision IQ (with room lighting detection), HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Atmos. If you connect a console or PC to the TV via its HDMI 2.1 ports, you will find you have VRR capability as well as a 144Hz native refresh rate.
New for the 2025 model is Filmmaker mode, and while I found it to be virtually identical to Movie mode, its addition is helpful for people familiar with the benefits of Filmmaker mode from other TVs.
The TV has a speaker system by Bang and Olufsen, and though I don't have a formalized test for this, I did find that it sounded the best of the assembled TVs and had the the clearest dialog.
Connections include:
RF Input with ATSC and ATSC 3.0 tuners
Ethernet
1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0
4x HDMI (1x eARC)
Optical digital audio
Four HDMI 2.1 ports should handle most gaming setups
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
TCL QM8K vs Hisense U8N vs LG C5 vs TCL QM851 : Picture quality compared
TV and movies
Based on my testing, and taking into account TCL's claims about OLED-like pictures, I found that the picture quality gulf between the technologies has indeed narrowed. With the company's focus on improving black levels, and reducing "haloing," though, it was perhaps inevitable that the QM8K's light output would be affected.
While this wasn't reflected in my test measurements, I did see this when comparing program material. For instance, when watching the extended chase scenes across the post-apocalyptic Australian landscape, last year's QM8 TCL looked better than both the new QM8K and the Hisense with better saturation and a higher brightness. When it came to the two contemporary TVs, though, it was a close match between the QM8K and the Hisense U8Q. They weren't equal in every respect, as the QM8K had a little more contrast while the Hisense looked more saturated.
Next, with the 4K HDR version of the movie It, I found that the QM8K was able to uncover the most shadow detail in the early scene of Georgie descending the basement stairs. The QM8K had the best combination of black levels and shadow detail under the stairs, and the texture on the wall of the basement looked the most realistic. The QM8 (2024) exposed too much detail, so much so that picture artifacts appeared, and it was overly green. Meanwhile, the Hisense and LG had too little detail in this scene with the stairwell hidden by the murk.
When viewing the Spears and Munsil HDR test disc the TCL QM8K had mixed results. When comparing the high-contrast scenes, the TCL looked great with very little blooming of the objects on the black backgrounds, and it held up well against OLED TVs. TCL's new anti-halo tech was also noticeable in transitions between scenes. For instance, the screens were grey on the QM8 (2024) but black on QM8K.
The TCL also had the brightest highlights of all on test disk in general, but weirdly a sun was completely obscured during the test disk's image of a sunset -- all of the other TVs, including the LG C5, could display it. The Hisense didn't come out perfectly, though, as it crushed the detail out of the brighter scenes, particularly a snowy scene of horses. The TCL QM8K looked best overall during this test with a little more vibrant red and a touch more contrast.
Taking into account the TCL's relatively poor showing in the white balance measurements below -- particularly at 80% bright grey -- I watched one of my favorite rock biographies: the black and white film Control. I watched the movie streaming in HD SDR on all four TVs and did find that the QM8K was a little green in palette, though not as green as the LG C5. Meanwhile both the Hisense and original QM851 looked more natural overall.
Gaming
The TCL QM8K isn't the fastest TV when it comes to displaying games, as my Leo Bodnar input lag tests suggested, but even so its Game Mode is only about 4ms behind the fastest TVs. In the real world this isn't noticeable, but what was more apparent was that this mode wasn't as color saturated as the LG C5 I tested it against. I played all sorts of games, including everything from shooters to platform games, and the TV was able to follow the action without blurring or tearing.
Bright lighting and off-axis
I watched the four TVs together with the lights on and found that all of the models had decent amounts of contrast in a lit room. I next turned on my phone's flashlight and held it up to each screen in turn -- to simulate how each TV dealt with lights or window reflections. The LG fared the best with the least amount of reflection, the Hisense TCL did the second best and the QM8s tied for last place with the most.
Next I tested the off axis angle of both the Hisense U8Q and the TCL QM8K, and while the TCL was marginally better, colors still bled to grey the further from center I went. The LG C5 OLED, for instance, kept its contrast and color no matter what angle I viewed it at, and that's a relative problem that LCD may never overcome.
Settings and picture mode notes
The addition of Filmmaker Mode for 2025 is a welcome development, even though I didn't find it to be that different from Movie mode. While testing was great from a HDR perspective, things went awry when it came to testing the SDR modes. Though the gamma was good at 2.26 (leading to great shadow detail) almost everything else was a little out of whack. This was a common issue with all of the TCL's SDR picture modes. All of them measured poorly compared to other TVs of its type, and the "least bad" mode was Filmmaker. I wasn't able to see much effect of these readings on real-world material, it's worthwhile to say.
Geek Box Test Result Score Black luminance (0%) 0.000 Good Peak white luminance (SDR) 3038 Good Avg. gamma (10-100%) 2.25 Good Avg. grayscale error (10-100%) 5.42 Poor Dark gray error (30%) 3.50 Average Bright gray error (80%) 7.26 Poor Avg. color checker error 3.08 Average Avg. saturation sweeps error 3.00 Good Avg. color error 7.23 Poor 1080p/24 Cadence (IAL) Pass Good Input lag (Game mode) 13.70 Good
HDR10
Black luminance (0%) 0.008 Good Peak white luminance (10% win) 2746 Good Gamut % UHDA/P3 (CIE 1976) 96.78 Good ColorMatch HDR error 3.36 Average Avg. color checker error 2.86 Good Input lag (Game mode, 4K HDR) 13.27 Good
Portrait Displays Calman calibration software was used in this review.
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