TCL C7K / QM7K vs Hisense A6Q

TCL C7K is one of the brightest MiniLED TVs in its price class. Under optimal testing conditions, the screen can achieve over 1200 nits, resulting in impressive, at times dazzlingly bright scenes. And most importantly – this isn’t just a theory from measurements. In practice, even the brightest moments in movies can shine with true cinematic grandeur. Home HDR cinema fans should be really pleased.

The impression is fantastic, especially in scenes with large areas of brightness – a white sky, explosions, sun reflections, or magical sunsets can surprise with an intensity of light that rarely appears in this price range.

However, things get a bit worse when more challenging scenarios appear on the screen, previously described in terms of contrast – that is, images full of details, with small bright elements on a dark background. In such cases, the C7K often opts to preserve black at the expense of brightness. An example? Scenes from movies like Sicario 2 or Life of Pi, where small light sources (like a distant lantern) may become less visible, and details in the lights are simply dimmed or blend into the background.

For many viewers, this may be an acceptable compromise – as we achieve deep blacks and pleasant image depth. Nevertheless, it’s important to recognise that the visibility of small details in bright areas is not this model's strong suit. It’s simply a technological limitation that still exists – even with over 300 zones.

Unfortunately, the Hisense A6Q is hard to recommend for watching HDR content. The main issue remains the low brightness and quite modest coverage of a wide colour gamut. A measured brightness of about 300 nits simply isn't enough for HDR materials to look impressive. In practice, the image often resembles standard SDR rather than true HDR with clear differences in brightness and dynamics. Additionally, colours in such content do not appear as they should. The TV does not utilise additional filters like QLED or PFS LED, and a DCI-P3 coverage of around 80% makes some colours look just too pale. As a result, some scenes in HDR materials lose intensity and spectacle, making it hard to talk about a proper HDR experience.

A new feature in TCL televisions for 2025 is the long-awaited Filmmaker mode, which until now has been found in most competing brands. This is great news, as this mode is considered the most faithful to the original vision of the creators and is often recommended by enthusiasts of quality visuals. Unfortunately – as is often the case – the mere presence of it does not guarantee perfection. The Filmmaker mode in the TCL C7K is not without its faults. There are issues with inaccurate white balance, particularly a slight blue tint that resulted in cool, somewhat greyish skin tones. But that wasn’t the biggest problem. The main complaint was excessive brightness exposure, which is clearly visible on gamma and EOTF charts. The image was simply too bright, at times even blown out, which affected not only the texture of scenes but also the overall viewing experience. Some details were just lost, and the entire image looked as if someone had overdone the brightness slider. As always, we decided to see what could be squeezed out of it after calibration. And this is where things started to get really interesting…

We conducted the tests in the best available mode, which is Filmmaker, however – as is often the case – this does not mean the image is perfect straight out of the box. In the case of Hisense A6Q, this mode clearly “swallowed” too much blue in everyday SDR content. In practice, this led to an image with yellowed whites, particularly noticeable on large, bright surfaces. This does not result from poor assumptions of the Filmmaker mode itself or from the vision of filmmakers, but from factory settings that require adjustment.
Additionally, looking at the saturation characteristics and gamma curve in SDR, as well as EOTF in HDR content, there is a slight tendency to brighten most scenes. As a result, the image often appears brighter than it should, losing a bit of its naturalness. For this reason, we decided to perform a professional calibration to restore the proper colour balance and a more accurate brightness characteristic.

After calibration, the TCL C7K showed itself in a really good light, especially when it comes to SDR content. We managed to precisely tune the white balance, colour gamut, and brightness characteristics so that the colour errors on the ColorChecker palette fell below a value of 2. For the uninitiated – this is nearly a perfect result, which means that the image is very close to what the creators intended. Unfortunately, it was a different story with 4K HDR content. While we were able to slightly calm down the white balance and correct its earlier errors, it was still evident that the TV has some "MiniLED traits", particularly in brightness management. When we checked how the C7K handled the EOTF curve on real film scenes, rather than just on synthetic test patterns, it turned out that the screen still had a tendency to slightly brighten the entire image. This affects the overall experience – the black loses some depth, and the image becomes less contrasty than it should be. Despite these minor issues with HDR content, the overall reception of materials – especially in SDR – is really very good. After calibration, the C7K can display an image that can successfully compete with much more expensive models. Good colour tuning, natural skin tones, and pleasant brightness make movie watching and everyday content viewing more than satisfactory.

Colours after calibration on the Hisense A6Q need to be evaluated in two ways, as everything depends on the type of content. In the case of SDR materials, the effect is really quite good. In daily programs, series, and movies, it’s hard to find any serious issues with colours. The yellow tint has been effectively removed, and the television has also stopped washing out the entire image. As a result, the ColorChecker test showed errors below a Delta 2 value, which are already outstanding results, allowing for a discussion of very high picture quality in standard content. Unfortunately, the situation looks much worse for HDR materials. Yes, the white balance has been corrected and the EOTF curve has been improved, but the limitations of the panel itself remain insurmountable. The lack of support for a wide colour gamut means that the television still generates quite significant colour errors. Parts of the colours simply cannot be displayed by the screen, making them look less saturated than they should. It’s a pity because even a simple PFS or QLED filter would have resulted in a significantly better end effect. The conclusion is therefore simple – for SDR content, the A6Q after calibration works really very well, while viewing HDR content on it should still be approached with caution.

TCL C7K has a feature that, according to the manufacturer, is meant to smooth out undesirable colour transitions – something like a rescue for less successful tonal shifts. It's called "Gradual Smoothing," and... well, it sounds ambitious, but in practice, it works very poorly. Regardless of whether we set it to low or high, the difference is minimal. Worse still – the feature can cut out elements from the image that should remain. Fortunately, film grain remains untouched, so at least it doesn't smooth everything indiscriminately, but even so – it's better to simply turn this option off.

When it comes to upscaling lower resolution content, it's already better. SD and HD materials look quite decent, although at times we had the impression that the image loses sharpness and becomes too soft – as if something took away its clarity. Fortunately, with very low sources (e.g., 576p), there was no overscan effect, meaning the image wasn't artificially cropped – everything fit on the screen as it should.

Upscaling on the Hisense A6Q works really well for a TV in this price range. Lower resolution materials are correctly “upscaled” to higher resolutions, and the image remains clear without any artificial edge sharpening or the typical "over-sharpening" found in cheap models. Unfortunately, the digital processing is significantly poorer. In practice, it’s hard to talk about any advanced artifact smoothing or masking of problematic tonal transitions. In heavily compressed films—especially those from YouTube—the TV struggles with reducing compression blocks and unwanted banding, making the material's imperfections clearly visible. The A6Q scales the image well, but when it comes to digital processing, it leaves the user alone with the source quality.

TCL C7K handles motion fluidity really well. The panel it uses offers a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which suggests that this TV is more than just a standard "60 Hz" panel. Furthermore, if we connect the C7K to a computer and set the resolution to Full HD. But we will write more about this in the paragraph on gamers and PC compatibility. Returning to everyday use – both sports and movies look very good here. Thanks to the fast panel and the well-functioning motion smoother, the C7K is great for watching matches, but also for movie screenings. In the menu, we find two sliders – motion blur reduction and flicker reduction – that allow you to adjust the fluidity effect to your own preferences. At lower settings, we get a more cinematic effect, with slight judder. At higher settings – the image becomes more theatrical, fluid to the point of excess. Whatever your preference – everyone can set it their own way.

The fluidity of motion on the Hisense A6Q is... well, quite average. It's a TV with a native refresh rate of 60 Hz in 4K, which means the movement of objects on the screen doesn't always look perfectly smooth. In dynamic scenes in films or sports, it's evident that this is not the strongest point of this model. The situation looks much better with 1080p content when connecting a console or computer, as the A6Q can then operate at up to 120 Hz. That's a big plus, especially for gamers. However, the sharpness of motion still leaves a lot to be desired, with noticeable ghosting, and the response time of the panel shows that it isn't one of the TV's strong suits.

TCL C7K is a television that on paper looks like the perfect equipment for gamers – and most importantly, it performs well in practice too. Here's some good news: we have two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, so we can easily connect both a console and a computer, using all their capabilities. The panel itself supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which provides a significant advantage in dynamic games. Additionally, it comes with a full set of gaming features: VRR (variable refresh rate), ALLM (automatic low latency mode), and support for Dolby Vision in games. There's also an HGiG mode that allows for HDR effects that align with the creators' intentions. GameBar, which is an information bar for gamers. It operates quickly, looks clear (like a Nintendo console👌), and shows what's most important: the current frame rate, VRR status, and even HDR parameters.

For such an inexpensive television, the Hisense A6Q really can surprise with what it offers gamers. It operates in 4K only at 60 Hz, but when the game switches to performance mode and drops to 1080p, the panel can work at even 120 Hz. In this price range, that's a big plus, as most titles on consoles don’t deliver a stable 4K at 120 frames. In practice, we are realistically gaming in 1080p, and here the A6Q provides a very enjoyable gaming experience. Additionally, it has a few features that are usually found in more expensive models: ALLM, VRR, and Dolby Vision Gaming for Xbox Series X/S. Everything is gathered in one place, in a simple and convenient Game Bar, so you don't need to dig through the entire menu. For such an affordable piece of equipment, it's really a solid setup for gamers — maybe not for the most demanding, but definitely spot on for occasional gaming.