Samsung S85F OLED vs TCL C7L

As an OLED, the Samsung S85F can shine – literally. In favourable conditions, it can generate brightness exceeding 750 nits. This is significant because most films are created with displays aiming for around 1000 nits. In practice, this means that in scenes with moderately large, bright elements, the picture can look absolutely stunning. However, it's not always so rosy. When an enormous amount of light appears on the screen – whether it's an expansive, bright background or an entire frame filled with white – the S85F must tone it down. Brightness can drop by even four times in such scenes. This limitation is well-known to anyone familiar with OLEDs in this price segment, so we don't view it as a particular fail. However, something that deserves praise is what sets this model apart from the competition – colour gamut coverage. Thanks to the QD-OLED panel, our colour meter indicated values exceeding 100% coverage of DCI-P3 and an impressive 86% for the ultra-wide BT.2020 palette. Such results are hard to find even in televisions that cost several times more.

The TCL C7L is without doubt an extremely bright TV. In synthetic tests with static patterns it can reach peak brightness of around 2800 nits. That's a phenomenal result, given the price bracket it occupies. Unfortunately, tests with real film scenes aren't as spectacular as measurements using white squares. Brightness in real HDR shots falls in the C7L to around 1200 nits. That's still very good, because the vast majority of modern films are mastered to about that level. However, when small, pinpoint elements appear on screen, the brightness of those details drops drastically, even to roughly 400 nits, which somewhat weakens the HDR effect. The TV does this deliberately to preserve deeper black levels and to avoid a large halo of light. That's understandable to an extent, but it also shows that Mini LED technology is not without compromises in this area. As for the HDR experience itself, alongside brightness the key factor is of course colour. And thanks to the use of new 'super' quantum dots, the colours are simply outstanding and among the best on the market. The TV can achieve very wide coverage of the BT.2020 and DCI-P3 colour gamuts, matching the best RGB Mini-LED displays with ease. Best of all, the C7L can maintain such high colour saturation regardless of the scene shown, which is often a problem for competing RGB Mini-LED TVs.

Samsung, as befits a manufacturer with ambitions, has equipped the S85F with a mode called Filmmaker. Its task is simple: to make the colours on the newly purchased television as faithful as possible to what the director intended to show us. Sounds great… but, as is often the case, a theory that sounds wonderful doesn’t always translate into perfect practice.

In the tested unit, it quickly became apparent that the image – due to an excess of blue and red – looked as if someone had gone a bit overboard with the saturation. As a result, there were quite significant colour errors, particularly in 4K content. On top of that, there was an issue with brightness – the S85F could brighten most scenes more than it should, stripping them of the intended mood.

Fortunately, Samsung televisions, including the S85F, offer an impressive number of settings for advanced calibrators. This means that we could see what this panel is really capable of when it gets into the right hands.

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.

Thanks to the huge number of settings in the menu, we managed to bring the S85F almost to perfection. White balance in SDR content? Literally perfect – deviations do not exceed a value of "1". So we can confidently say that in materials with not too high dynamics, we have an image that's close to reference.

In HDR content, minor issues appeared, but they don't have much significance in practice – most errors fall below the threshold of perception, which is a value of "3". We also managed to tame the S85F when it comes to brightness management – the EOTF curve, even in films, holds nearly perfect straight line. This is one of those cases where after calibration, you can comfortably forget about the settings and simply watch movies and series at the highest level.

After a professional calibration we managed to greatly improve performance in the out-of-the-box Filmmaker Mode. After our adjustments the errors in the ColorChecker test and across the wide colour gamut dropped below the threshold of human perception, that is below a value of 3, which is a very good result. The TCL C7L clearly benefits from such treatment in terms of colour fidelity and it's hard to argue otherwise. A bit worse, however, is brightness management with HDR content after calibration. As I described earlier, even though we set this model up correctly, when you play real film scenes on the television it can handle its brightness in a rather peculiar way. It often brightens certain elements on screen contrary to the filmmaker's intent, which is clearly visible on the EOTF curves measured in specific films. Despite this defect, or rather a specific characteristic of this television, one thing is undeniable: after calibration the C7L was able to reproduce colours accurately.

The tone transition smoothing function in the S85F works really effectively – it can completely eliminate the problem of visible banding in very poor quality material, such as from YouTube. Unfortunately, even the lowest level of this option comes with compromises. The noise reduction is so aggressive that it can smooth out film grain, which many of us consider to be an element of the cinematic atmosphere. At the “Standard” level, we didn’t notice this function removing anything significant from the image, so we can recommend this setting. On the other hand, the “High” level is a different story – it can smooth out not just noise, but also small, desirable details like, for example, the texture of objects.

When it comes to image scaling, the S85F performs very well. The material looks sharp, and the only slight imperfection is the barely noticeable aliasing of edges. And there’s the ongoing issue with Samsung televisions – overscan. This can cause some scenes to be slightly cropped, which is worth noting when watching very old content.

This could, in a sense, be called the Achilles' heel of the C7L. Unfortunately, this TV uses an older MediaTek chipset, the Pentonic 700, which has never been known for exceptional image processing. You can see that clearly in the operation of the progressive smoothing function, which is responsible for reducing jagged edges and removing digital noise. It simply performs very poorly — set to low, its effectiveness is practically nil. The only small plus is that the algorithm doesn't introduce extra artefacts or unnecessarily blur fine detail. Upscaling, that is scaling lower-resolution sources up to 4K, fares a little better. It's simply adequate and nothing special compared with the competition. It's hard to deny that the C7L would benefit greatly in this area if the manufacturer opted for the newer Pentonic 800 processor, which is now appearing in an increasing number of rival models.

S85F is an incredibly fast television – and that’s not just empty hype. Thanks to the 120 Hz OLED panel, dynamic scenes, whether in games or while watching a live match, look just as they should – smooth, sharp, and without the feeling that something is "slipping" out of frame. The lightning-fast pixel response time, typical of OLEDs, plays a big role here. Transitions between frames are virtually instantaneous, and the image remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. A ball flying across half the field? A car speeding in a chase scene? Everything here is clear and free of the typical "trail" associated with LCDs.

This is exactly what we expect from a good OLED – zero compromises when it comes to motion smoothness. The S85F gives the impression that regardless of the pace of action, we can focus on what’s happening on the screen, rather than on the imperfections of the image.

TCL C7L uses a native 4K panel with a 144 Hz refresh rate, which at lower resolutions when used with a PC can even reach 288 Hz. These are, of course, very high figures and look good on paper, but in everyday use it's worth remembering that almost all dynamic content you play on this TV will still run at around a maximum of 120 Hz. To tame that motion, the TV's menu includes a motion smoothing system called "Motion Clarity". It offers several preset modes, including a user mode that we strongly recommend you set manually using our tried-and-tested guides on our YouTube channel. You get two key sliders there. The first, "Blur Reduction", reduces smearing and improves sharpness in dynamic 60 fps material, such as live sports broadcasts. The second slider, "Flicker Reduction", lets you add artificial frames to films and series shot at cinematic 24 or 30 frames per second. That, of course, completely gets rid of the annoying judder during camera-move shots.

[UPDATE] We have updated our 2025 Samsung TV reviews following the release of firmware version 1131, which officially restores the essential HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) support.

S85F has practically everything on board to become the dream screen for gaming. Four full HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, support for VRR, ALLM, a super-detailed Game Bar that clearly shows all parameters – plus a gem in the form of Game Motion Plus. This motion smoother makes animation in games more enjoyable, while input lag increases slightly. It's a rare combination, and that’s a big plus for Samsung. Perhaps Samsung will fix this in the next update – and we have high hopes for that. Because if HGiG comes back, the S85F will become nearly the perfect TV for gamers.

When it comes to gaming, the TCL C7L is simply an outstanding TV for players. With two full‑bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports at 48 Gbps, you get access to all the key features required by console owners and high‑end PCs. It offers a well‑working ALLM mode with very low input lag and VRR frame sync that operates across an impressive 48 to 288 Hz range. Importantly, unlike some rivals, TCL has implemented the console HDR10 HGIG profile correctly and supports Dolby Vision in games. The package is rounded off by a very well designed player panel, the Game Bar, which even lets you edit its appearance and change the theme so it perfectly matches the look of your console.

The only thing you can — and should — criticise is that the TV only provides two full HDMI 2.1 ports, while the other two are older HDMI 2.0. That creates quite a practical problem, because one of those fast ports also handles the eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel). In practice, that means if you connect a soundbar or home theatre system to the TV, you’ll be left with only one free HDMI 2.1 input. If you have two consoles or a console and a powerful PC at home, you’ll unfortunately have to give something up or keep swapping cables at the back if you want convenient control of your audio system.