Sharp FQ8 vs TCL C8L / QM8L

The Sharp FQ8 achieves a maximum brightness of over 450 nits, which is commendable for its price range. While this level might not be groundbreaking, it places the television among the better-performing models in its class. At this brightness, the image appears vivid and detailed, and the HDR metadata functions effectively, offering a more immersive viewing experience compared to dimmer devices.

The television supports the advanced Dolby Vision HDR format, enhancing the depth and richness of the content. It also includes Dolby Vision IQ, which adjusts the image's brightness and colours based on ambient lighting. However, the implementation of this feature on the Sharp FQ8 is suboptimal, introducing artificial brightening and noticeable distortions. For this reason, it is advisable to disable Dolby Vision IQ for the most accurate picture quality.

With quantum dot technology, the television achieves a colour gamut coverage of approximately 94%, resulting in vibrant and realistic colours. This combination of features ensures the Sharp FQ8 delivers an engaging and detailed visual experience, even with some limitations.

When it comes to HDR, the TCL C8L turns out to be a hellishly bright television – and I mean that literally. On a synthetic test pattern of 5%, our measuring equipment indicated a result exceeding 4500 nits. That's an almost cosmic result, considering that reference director's monitors, which we often refer to in our materials, usually operate around 4000 nits. Does this mean the C8L breaks barriers and climbs to the technological peak of Mini-LED? Not quite. Dry synthetic tests are one thing, and real film images are another. In real, varied scenes, the C8L hits around 1600 nits at its peak. That's still a very good result, ensuring a very high level of HDR dynamics, but it's clearly lower than what the manufacturer boasts in the specifications. The trouble begins with very small bursts of light – then the brightness can drastically drop to around 600 nits. The algorithm does everything it can to maintain deep blacks and minimise halo effect, but it does so at the cost of HDR impact. This is ideal evidence that laboratory test patterns rarely correlate with what we ultimately see on the screen.

Huge applause is due for colour reproduction, all thanks to the new generation of SQD (Super Quantum Dot) quantum dots. The coverage of the DCI-P3 palette reaches 97%, but the jaw-dropping measurements come from the notoriously demanding BT.2020 space. The C8L achieves an impressive 90% in this area, placing it alongside today’s top screens that feature RGB backlighting. Importantly, unlike some screens with Micro/Mini RGB backlighting, this effect is stable regardless of the scene being displayed. Of course, it’s important to remember that content mastered for such a wide gamut in films or series is still a rarity. However, the very fact that the panel has such a "reserve of colours" deserves huge admiration.

The Sharp FQ8 was evaluated for colour reproduction in its movie mode, which provides the best default settings for achieving realistic visuals. While it performs adequately, certain issues impact the overall image quality. Tests on HD content revealed significant white balance problems, with a marked dominance of red. This is evident in the colour graph, where the red line noticeably rises above the others, and in practical tests, such as a movie scene featuring a child, where the image appears overly warm and unnaturally red. Similar issues persist with 4K HDR content, where an excessive red tint detracts from the accuracy of colour reproduction, an important consideration for viewers prioritising faithful visuals.

For SDR contrast, the gamma graph displayed an unusual anomaly at the start, highlighting reproduction issues. The remainder of the gamma curve lies below the reference line, indicating suboptimal brightness and contrast levels for standard content. In 4K HDR, the EOTF curve also deviates significantly, suggesting inconsistencies in brightness reproduction. These fluctuations can result in less enjoyable viewing experiences for HDR content, particularly in scenes requiring precise light and dark balance.

We tested the TCL C8L in the best factory mode available in the TV's menu for picture fidelity. I’m of course talking about Filmmaker Mode, which was introduced into this brand’s software relatively recently (a year ago in the K series). Thanks to it, the average user can get pretty good colour reproduction straight out of the box, although it’s certainly not perfectly tuned. Looking at the factory white balance of our unit, in both SDR and HDR content, there was a clear lack of the red component, which made the picture noticeably cooler and slightly shifted towards bluish‑green hues. The issue of brightness management is also ambiguous, as we mentioned earlier. While in SDR content the linearity of the gamma parameter is really good and consistently holds the reference value of 2.4, things are much worse in HDR. Tracking the EOTF curve clearly shows the TV’s brightness is considerably boosted across the range, which can make the final image overly bright and inconsistent with the creators’ intent, and that is in a mode that by definition should avoid this. Of course, like every unit in our lab, this one was also subjected to professional calibration, and you can find the results below.

After calibration, the Sharp FQ8 shows notable improvements in its performance for SDR content. The white balance has been significantly refined, with all lines approaching the reference line. While the lines are not perfectly straight, the results are impressive for a TV in this price range. This adjustment enhances the naturalness and accuracy of colours, contributing to a more enjoyable visual experience. However, the gamma chart still displays the peculiar jump at the start, though the remaining line now aligns much closer to the expected outcome.

For HDR content, the white balance also sees meaningful improvements compared to the pre-calibration state, although it doesn’t perform as well as in SDR mode. This refinement results in more consistent and visually appealing colours, despite some remaining imperfections. On the downside, the EOTF chart reveals limited progress in contrast due to the lack of control over dynamic tone mapping settings, which hampers uniform brightness representation in HDR.

Despite these limitations, the calibration significantly elevates the Sharp FQ8, particularly in SDR mode. The improved white balance and colour reproduction deliver a more natural and pleasant viewing experience. While HDR content still leaves room for improvement, the TV achieves a respectable level of performance, solidifying its position as a strong contender in its price range.

As you can see, the results of a professional calibration of the TCL C8L are genuinely promising, thanks to the extensive adjustment tools the manufacturer made available in the menu. Most importantly, we were able to fully correct the white balance, eliminating a lack of red so the image finally stopped drifting into unwanted, cool tones. After this step, errors in the ColorChecker test fell to near-reference values, regularly sitting below a Delta E threshold of 2, which is under the level noticeable to the human eye.

Since the test patterns look so perfect, you might ask: why then the lower final score in this category? The answer lies in the brightness management discussed earlier. Although the menu includes sliders that let you precisely straighten the EOTF curve on synthetic signals, when confronted with real film material (I recommend turning the EOTF filter on when watching films), it becomes clear that the TV in most scenarios still responds to HDR metadata in its own way. As a result, the image can be a touch too bright and not in line with the creators' intent, and it was precisely for this lack of repeatability with real-world films that we had to dock the C8L a few points.

The Sharp FQ8 performs adequately with its 10-bit colour reproduction feature, providing smooth transitions between grey shades in the light bulb photo. For optimal results, setting it to medium is recommended, as it avoids issues like grain smoothing or blurring key elements. The "low" setting also yields good results without introducing unwanted visual artefacts.

In terms of upscaling, the Sharp FQ8 TV handles video without overscan, making full use of the screen. The jagged edges of branches are noticeable, but the edges of trousers appear without any clear jaggedness, contributing positively to the overall image quality. Additionally, the TV's AI Super Resolution feature enhances clarity by artificially sharpening jagged elements, further improving the viewing experience.

This year the C8 series and the higher-end models have probably received the biggest and most eagerly awaited upgrade in TCL's history, and it's to do with digital image processing. The C8L is the entry-level model in the manufacturer's line-up to be fitted with the latest flagship MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset (shown in the menu as MT9655). It is thanks to its processing power that the feature called "Gradual Smoothing" finally works the way it should. The algorithm effectively removes unwanted posterization (ugly tonal transitions / colour banding) from the picture, doing so intelligently enough that it does not degrade the sharpness of other details.

The processor also handles upscaling lower-resolution content to 4K very well. Although judging this element can be purely academic, because the differences between today's TVs in this class are very subtle. The most important point is that TCL finally has nothing to be ashamed of compared with the competition.

The Sharp FQ8 features a 120 Hz panel, able to support playback at 144 Hz when connected to a PC, which should theoretically provide smooth motion rendering. The TV includes features designed to enhance film fluidity and reduce motion blur, crucial for more dynamic content. However, in the absence of Black Frame Insertion (BFI) technology, the panel's average response time leads to less-than-ideal results. This results in slight motion blur, which may be particularly noticeable when watching sports or during intense gaming sessions.

The TCL C8L is equipped with a fast panel with a native 144 Hz refresh rate. That spec will be most appreciated by demanding PC gamers, while most users, relying on consoles or TV broadcasts, will use a steady 120 Hz. And it is at 120 Hz that the motion-processing algorithms take care of image processing for films, series and sports. In the TV's menu you'll find a "Motion Clarity" option that lets you customise the motion smoothing to your preferences. The algorithms handle both cinematic productions at 24 or 30 frames per second and fast-paced sports broadcasts at 50 or 60 frames per second, maintaining the right level of smoothness.

The Sharp FQ8 offers several features that cater to gamers, enhancing the overall gaming experience. Firstly, the television is equipped with HDMI 2.1, which brings several advantages. ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) automatically switches the TV to a low-latency mode when a gaming device is detected. VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) helps reduce screen stuttering by adjusting the screen’s refresh rate to match the number of frames generated by the console or PC, providing smoother gameplay, especially in dynamic games. Additionally, the TV supports G-Sync, which synchronises the image with the graphics card, preventing stuttering and screen tearing.

Despite these advantages, the FQ8 has some limitations. The lack of support for HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) means the TV does not optimise the dynamic range for HDR games. Furthermore, while Dolby Vision mode can improve picture quality in supported games, it suffers from very high input lag.

For gamers – especially for owners of powerful PCs and multiple consoles simultaneously – the TCL C8L is a true beast. This is the first model in this manufacturer's lineup that is equipped with four full HDMI 2.1 ports with a maximum bandwidth of 48 Gbps. This is directly due to the use of the new Pentonic 800 processor, which we've mentioned before. Additionally, the TV seamlessly supports practically every gaming feature. It has an automatic game mode (ALLM) that reduces latency to minimal levels, as well as full variable refresh rate (VRR) operating in an impressive range of up to 288 Hz. It also supports standards such as G-Sync and FreeSync from Nvidia and AMD. When it comes to image display standards, there are no compromises either: the C8L offers complete support for HDR formats in gaming, including gaming Dolby Vision and the HGiG profile. We can conveniently manage all these features from a very readable gamer bar (Game Bar), which we can customise according to our own preferences. From a purely gaming perspective, the C8L really has no flaws – well, maybe apart from the previously mentioned slight ghosting. But other than that? It’s a no-nonsense machine for gamers.