TCL C7L vs TCL P7L / P79L

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.

The biggest limitation of the TCL P7L in HDR is simply brightness. The TV doesn't have much luminance headroom, so strong highlights, sunlight or small light sources can't clearly "pop" out of the image. As a result, even well-produced HDR material looks fairly restrained and, in terms of dynamics, is closer to good SDR than to what brighter models show. That doesn't mean the P7L completely fails at HDR; the issue is mainly a lack of sufficient backlight power. Looking at colours, the situation is a bit better. The TV covers roughly 91% of the DCI‑P3 gamut and about 68% of the wide BT.2020 space, so for its price class the colour range is quite decent. TCL markets this model as QLED, although the nature of the solution used is closer to a PFS phosphor‑based backlight than a classic quantum dot layer. What matters most to the viewer is the effect: more saturated colours are on offer.

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.

In Film mode the TCL P7L performs quite decently without major tweaks, especially with ordinary SDR material. The white balance is relatively even, although as brightness increases there’s a slight rise in red and blue and a bit too little green. That doesn’t create a strongly visible colour cast and most colours remain close to their reference points. The Colour Checker confirms this, with a large portion of errors falling below the level that should particularly bother during normal viewing. We have more remarks about the gamma response. In the darkest parts of the image the TV drives it noticeably above the reference, so some shadow detail may be a little too dim. The curve then settles and for much of the range it’s close to the intended targets. As a result SDR generally looks natural, but in dark scenes the P7L can lose some subtlety.

In HDR the factory setup is less precise. As brightness increases the excess blue becomes more pronounced, so the picture can look cooler than it should. The number of larger colour deviations also rises, especially in brighter colours. The EOTF curve itself is handled fairly conservatively, with the TV showing the image darker than the reference over much of the range. For such an inexpensive model, the factory Film mode settings are not bad.

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.

After calibration the TCL P7L can produce a genuinely pleasant picture, especially with conventional SDR material. We managed to even out the white balance very well, and the gamma curve now tracks close to the target value of 2.4. This is also evident in the colour measurements, as most errors have fallen significantly and in everyday viewing it’s hard to notice any major inaccuracies. Films, series, YouTube and regular TV therefore look more natural, without unnecessary warmth or a cool tint. For a model at this price point the SDR result is really very good.

In HDR the situation becomes more complicated. Calibration improved the white balance and corrected some deviations, but here the panel’s limitations become increasingly apparent. The P7L has relatively limited brightness and can’t sustain appropriate luminance for more saturated colours, so some errors remain even after careful tuning. In other words, settings can improve how the TV interprets the signal, but you can’t overcome its physical capabilities. That’s why calibration is most worthwhile for SDR on this model.

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.

In this respect the TCL P7L performs surprisingly well, especially for such an inexpensive TV. The banding reduction feature, which in many budget models does little or nothing, actually manages to improve the picture here. It doesn't remove all banding completely, but it can noticeably reduce posterisation and make trickier gradients look more natural. In this price segment that's a genuinely pleasant surprise.

The upscaling itself also looks good. Lower-resolution material is upscaled properly, without excessive sharpening or adding artificial edges around objects. Of course the P7L won't turn a very poor source into a 4K-quality picture, but for regular TV the result is simply solid. For a model at this price point there are few major complaints to make.

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.

TCL P7L uses a native 60 Hz panel at 4K resolution, and that's how it should be treated in everyday use. For movies the TV mainly offers frame interpolation, so it can smooth motion and reduce noticeable judder, but it doesn't deliver the smoothness typical of true 120 Hz panels.

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.

For such an inexpensive TV, the P7L has quite a lot to offer gamers. It has ALLM, VRR and Dolby Vision in games, and TCL also includes its Game Bar, where you can quickly check key information or change some settings without leaving the game. Not everything is perfect, though, because HGiG doesn't work here as it should, but at this price point it's hard to complain much about the feature set. The most interesting part comes when you give up 4K. At that resolution the TV runs at up to 60 Hz, but at 1440p and 1080p it can already display at 120 Hz. And that's not just a spec-sheet curiosity. In fast-paced games that support that frame rate the difference in smoothness is genuinely noticeable, so if you care more about smoother motion than maximum image sharpness, that mode can make a lot of sense. Of course, that doesn't make the P7L a true 120 Hz TV. Still, it's precisely these extra modes that make the P7L perform really well for gaming.