Philips MLED920 / MLED910 vs TCL C7L

Philips MLED920 in our measurements in static tests even reached around 900 nits, which for a mid-range model is quite an impressive result. In practice, this translates to a lot of satisfaction during viewing – in scenes rich in bright light, such as the first, third, or fifth test patterns, the screen was able to generate around 700 nits, which is sufficient to feel the real "HDR effect". However, it cannot be denied that the limited number of backlight zones and the typical mini-LED compromises in dimming algorithms reveal their flaws in more demanding scenes. In sequences with small light sources – like the moon or a scene from the film Sicario 2 – the television clearly prioritises maintaining deeper blacks at the expense of the brightness of these small elements. For most viewers, this is still a reasonable compromise, as the dark background looks much better, although it should be noted that the details themselves may not dazzle with intensity. The question of colours also leaves a bit to be desired. Although the employed PFS filter (the equivalent of quantum dots known from QLEDs) does its job and the colours appear quite vibrant, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space reaches "only" 90%. In everyday viewing, this will be sufficient, but in extremely colourful productions – like the latest Disney animations – one can notice that some tones are not as vivid as they could be in other constructions.

TCL C7L is undoubtedly an extremely bright television. In synthetic tests on static patterns, it can achieve peak brightness of around 2800 nits. This is a phenomenal result, considering the price range it occupies. Unfortunately, tests with real movie scenes are not as spectacular as measurements of white squares. Brightness in real HDR footage drops in the C7L model to around 1200 nits. This is still a very good result, as this is the value at which the vast majority of contemporary films are mastered. However, when small, point-like elements appear on the screen, the brightness of these details drastically drops – even to around 400 nits – which somewhat diminishes the HDR effect. The television does this intentionally to maintain a better black level and to avoid a huge light bloom. This is somewhat explainable, but it also shows that Mini LED technology is not completely uncompromising in this regard. As for the HDR effect itself – alongside brightness, colours are of course key here. And these, thanks to the use of new, “super” quantum dots, are simply outstanding and among the best on the market. The television can achieve around 90% coverage of the ultra-wide colour gamut BT.2020 and 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut, easily matching the best RGB MINI-LED screens. Best of all, the C7L can maintain such high colour saturation regardless of the scene being displayed, which can often be problematic in competing RGB Mini-LED televisions.

Like every Philips TV we've tested, the MLED920 was primarily assessed in Filmmaker mode – the so-called "most honest" mode, designed for films and to faithfully convey the intentions of the creators. Indeed, in terms of colour accuracy, it performs best among all the modes available on the TV, but it is not without flaws. The first thing that stands out is the white balance. The image has a slight tendency towards purple-pink tones, giving it a somewhat unnatural character. However, an even bigger problem turned out to be what we mentioned earlier – image clipping. Just looking at the gamma or EOTF charts reveals that the line deviates significantly from the norm, dropping below a value of 1.8. In practice, this means "bleeding" of the brightest whites, where the image becomes almost milky. Fortunately, most of these issues can be corrected – the MLED920 responds to calibration, and with a few adjustments, image quality can be significantly improved.

When it comes to out-of-the-box colours, a new feature in TCL TVs – including the C7L model – is the presence of a new picture mode called Filmmaker Mode. This is significant news, as such a mode was not previously available from this manufacturer. By design, as the name suggests, the picture in this setting is intended to be delivered with the full intent of the film's creator. After our tests, we can confirm that it is undeniably the best built-in mode in this TV if you value true-to-life colour reproduction straight out of the box. However, we certainly wouldn’t say it is perfect. Like most devices on the market, this C7L also had its factory faults. The white balance in Filmmaker Mode leaned towards a slightly greenish-yellow hue, mainly due to an excess of green component and a noticeable lack of blue. Of course, for the average viewer, this won’t be a drastic flaw, but if you value perfect whites, natural skin tones, and harnessing the full potential of these new "super" quantum dots from the structure, then the TV is begging for professional calibration.

After calibration, we managed to largely tame the white balance – to the extent that the average viewer will not be able to detect colour inaccuracies. The characteristic pink-purple glow that previously disrupted the naturalness of the image has also disappeared. The colour palette has been organised, and the colours appear more cohesive and neutral. The gamma in SDR content looks really good after calibration – there’s no sign of the earlier “bleeding” effect in bright scenes. The image has become more contrasty and free from the milky effect that previously severely affected the viewing experience. In the case of HDR content, the improvement is also noticeable, although here it is still evident that the television goes “its own way”. The EOTF curve cannot be fully adjusted, as Philips simply does not offer tools for precise control of this parameter in its settings. In many films, the television still exposes the image “in its own way”. Despite these limitations, calibration has brought a lot of good – the majority of colour inaccuracies have been minimised and the overall image balance has significantly improved. However, one must remember that certain barriers arise from the very hardware construction and simply cannot be overcome.

After conducting a professional calibration, we were able to greatly improve the situation in the factory Filmmaker Mode. Following our adjustments, the errors in the ColorChecker test and across the entire wide colour gamut dropped below the threshold of human perception – that is, below a value of 3, which is indeed a very good result. The TCL C7L definitely benefits from such a treatment in terms of colour fidelity, and it's hard to deny that. However, the management of brightness in HDR content after calibration appears to be a bit worse. As I described earlier – even though we set this model up properly, when we turn on real film scenes on the television, it can manage its brightness in quite a peculiar way. It often brightens certain elements on the screen in a manner inconsistent with the creator's intent, which is visibly apparent on the EOTF graphs measured in specific films. Despite this flaw – or rather, this specific characteristic of the television – one cannot take away from it: after calibration, the C7L was able to reproduce the colours flawlessly.

The manufacturer has equipped this model with several features that improve signal quality, and although we usually approach such “enhancers” with caution, here they prove to be really helpful. The key option is called “distortion reduction” – it works best at a medium level because, on one hand, it effectively smooths out unwanted steps and colour transitions, and on the other, it doesn’t excessively cut details, meaning the image still looks natural.

It’s a bit worse when it comes to upscaling. Lower quality materials – such as the test video with the model – appeared soft and lacking sharpness. Of course, it can be partially adjusted with the sharpness slider in the menu, but the result still falls short compared to what competitors offer at a similar price. Philips still needs to work on this aspect because, in light of the successful improvement of tonal transitions, the upscaling simply comes off weak.

This point could be called in a sense the Achilles' heel of the C7L model. Unfortunately, this television uses an older chipset from MediaTek – the Pentonic 700 – which has never been known for outstanding digital image processing. This is clearly visible in the functioning of the gradual smoothing feature, which is responsible for reducing jagged edges and removing digital noise. It simply works very poorly – when set to a low level, its effectiveness is practically none. The only small plus here is that the algorithm doesn't mess up anything else in the image and doesn't forcefully blur details. The upscaling, that is, the scaling of the image from lower resolutions to 4K, performs a bit better. It is simply adequate and does not stand out in any particular way against the competition. However, it cannot be denied that the C7L would greatly benefit in this aspect if the manufacturer decided to use the newer Pentonic 800 processor, which is now being found in an increasing number of competitive models.

Philips MLED920 features a 144 Hz panel, which immediately suggests that we shouldn’t complain about motion smoothness. And indeed – for a VA panel, the motion blur is relatively low here, and while you can sometimes notice slight issues on darker backgrounds, they’re not something that will catch the eye of most people during regular viewing.

A big plus is also the presence of a motion smoother called “Motion Style.” It allows you to adjust the smoothness to your own preferences – if someone prefers a more “theatrical,” almost television-like character of the image, they can increase the sliders, and if they want to maintain the natural “judders” of a cinematic frame, they just need to set lower values. This way, everyone can find a happy medium.

TCL C7L features a native 4K panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which can even ramp up to 288 Hz at lower resolutions when using a PC. These are certainly very high and commendable figures on paper, but in everyday life, it's worth remembering that almost all dynamic content you display on this television will still revolve around a maximum of 120 Hz. To tame this dynamism, the TV menu includes a motion smoothing system called "Motion Clarity." It offers several predefined modes, including a user mode, which we highly recommend setting manually using our tried-and-true guides on our YouTube channel. You’ll find two key sliders available. The first one, "Motion Blur Reduction," is responsible for reducing blurring and improving sharpness in 60fps dynamic content, such as sports broadcasts. The second slider, "Flicker Reduction," allows for the addition of artificial frames in movies and shows recorded at cinematic 24 or 30 frames per second. This naturally allows for the complete elimination of the annoying stutter effect during camera movement shots.

For gamers, the Philips MLED920 is truly a complete tool. The manufacturer has taken care of everything that is now considered standard in televisions for consoles and PCs. It has ALLM, so the console automatically switches the screen to game mode, there’s VRR and a 144 Hz refresh rate that ensures smooth gameplay even in fast-paced titles. All key HDR formats are supported – including HGiG and Dolby Vision Gaming for Xbox – which means that regardless of what you’re playing and on which console, the television will be able to extract the maximum potential from the image. In everyday gaming, the Game Bar proves useful too – a relatively simple implementation by Philips, but a functional panel where you can quickly check image parameters, enable VRR, or adjust details without leaving the game. It’s not as elaborate as the competition, but it does its job without any complaints. And finally, something that sets Philips apart from the competition – Ambilight. The three-sided LED backlighting can make a huge impression in games, especially in the evening. It’s also a way to slightly 'expand' the screen and create a greater sense of immersion. And since coloured LEDs have recently become almost an essential element of a gamer’s room, the MLED920 fits perfectly into this trend.

When it comes to gaming, the TCL C7L is simply an outstanding television for gamers. With the presence of two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports at 48 Gbps, it provides access to all the key features that console and high-end PC owners require. We have a well-functioning ALLM mode with very low input lag and VRR frame synchronization, which operates within an impressive range from 48 to 288 Hz. Importantly, unlike some competitors, TCL has ensured a proper implementation of the console HDR10 HGIG profile and support for Dolby Vision in games. This is complemented by a very well-designed gamer panel, known as Game Bar, which even allows for editing its appearance and changing the theme to perfectly match the style of your console.

The only thing that can – and should – be critiqued here is the fact that the television only offers two full HDMI 2.1 ports, while the other two are older HDMI 2.0. This creates quite a significant logistical problem. Why? Because one of those fast ports also supports the eARC audio return channel. In practice, this means that if you connect a soundbar or home theatre system to the television, you’ll only have one available HDMI 2.1 port left. If you have two consoles or a console and a powerful computer at home, unfortunately, you’ll have to give something up or constantly juggle cables at the back of the unit while maintaining comfortable audio system control.