TCL C7K / QM7K vs LG UA75006LA (VA)

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.

LG UA7500 with a VA panel has brightness peaking around 350 nits, which, by today's standards, isn't very impressive. It's hard to talk about a true HDR experience here – most content looks more like classic SDR with a slight attempt to boost highlights. One advantage is that regardless of the test content, the effect remained relatively stable. However, we noticed that in very extreme scenes with a lot of fine details, the television can slightly dim the image in order to achieve better blacks, but this comes at the expense of the visibility of bright effects. On the downside, it should be noted that the UA7500 is not equipped with any additional technologies to expand the colours. It's neither a QLED panel nor PFS LED, which means the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is just 80%, making many HDR films look flat and failing to capture the full diversity of colours.

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…

The Filmmaker Mode on the LG UA7500 performs better than one might expect from such a budget TV, but let's not get carried away with the praise. The image is reasonably well put together and at first glance doesn't irritate, however, its weaknesses quickly start to emerge. This is most apparent in scenes with bright points – lamps in the background or reflections of light on the skin are clearly exaggerated. Faces of characters often look unnatural, as if they have been "burned out." Additionally, the default gamma setting brightens the smallest details and causes the image to lose subtlety in the darker areas. That said, for its price range, the UA7500 in factory mode offers a pretty decent starting point. However, it is clear that without additional adjustments, these issues cannot be avoided, which is why – similar to other TVs – we decided to check what could be achieved after calibration.

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.

The biggest improvement we noticed was while calibrating the mode designed for daily SDR content. We managed to smooth out the white balance in an acceptable manner and tackle the issue of excessive brightening of small elements due to the gamma characteristic. As a result, the image gained the consistency and naturalness that was lacking in the factory settings. After such correction, we can confidently state that for everyday TV content, programs, or materials from YouTube, the LG UA7500 performs really well – especially after professional calibration. The situation looks a bit different for HDR content. Here, calibration helped to tame the white balance and slightly improved brightness management, but the limitations of the design are immediately apparent. The lack of additional filters to expand the colour palette means that the most vivid colors appear flat, and the image lacks the intensity we would expect from good HDR. So, in SDR, the UA7500 performs quite well, but in HDR – despite corrections – it remains far behind, and this is a characteristic that one must accept when choosing this television.

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.

LG UA7500 with a VA panel has shown itself in this category in a really good light. Image scaling from Full HD or even SD materials was surprisingly smooth. The picture looked smooth, edges were not overly jagged, and the television maintained a good amount of detail, ensuring that even older films did not lose their character. It particularly excelled with faces – there were no artificial contours or "mask" effects, which often occur in cheaper models. The way the television handled tonal transitions in lower quality materials is also noteworthy. Thanks to digital processing, colours did not bleed into one another, and gradients looked natural and smooth. There was no question of intrusive smoothing of the image or loss of cinematic grain. This makes the UA7500 great for everyday content – from free-to-air television, to sports matches, all the way to YouTube, where we often watch materials in various resolutions.

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.

LG UA7500 is a TV with a 60 Hz panel, so it’s hard to expect any raving reviews in this category. It’s more of a screen meant for everyday content or an evening movie session rather than for following dynamic sporting events or playing action games. It's evident that the manufacturer targeted this model precisely at this group of consumers – and in that regard, it performs adequately. We get the TruMotion function, which is a motion smoother. It’s simple, has only one slider, but it can make a noticeable difference. In the lower range, the image looks more raw and cinematic, while at higher values, the motion becomes smoother and more pleasant to the eye.

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.

LG UA7500 is a TV that can be comfortably recommended to "Sunday" gamers. While it doesn't feature a 120 Hz panel or HDMI 2.1 ports, meaning it can't fully utilise the potential of modern consoles, the manufacturer has included a few extras that can enhance the gaming experience. The Game Bar deserves a special mention – a very nicely designed panel where you can quickly view and change the most important settings. From this interface, we have access to features like ALLM (Automatic Low Latency Mode) and frame synchronization, also known as VRR. The range of VRR is limited – working from 48 to 60 Hz – but the mere presence of this feature in such an affordable TV is impressive.

Additionally, it supports HGiG, which is a mode for HDR calibration for gaming. It sounds good, but from our testing experience, we know that for the UA7500, this option isn't very practical. The TV doesn't handle HDR very well, so ironically, we achieved better results with this mode turned off. This is another indication that the UA7500 is more of a screen for casual gamers who value simplicity and convenience, rather than for those seeking a full experience with the latest consoles.