TCL MQLED85 / C765 vs Hisense U7Q

The television TCL MQLED85/C765 performs well in handling HDR. In the tested movie scenes, where the screen is at 100% brightness, the model achieves impressive results around 1000 nits, providing intense and realistic rendering of HDR content. However, similar to contrast, the dimming algorithm may show some limitations. Despite a large number of Mini LED zones, the television does not always manage to "wow" the user with brightness in very challenging test scenes. For instance, in the scene from the film "Life of Pi," where a bright moon appears against a dark background, and in another scene from "Sicario 2," where a very bright light effect is visible against a dark background, the television did not reach maximum intensity. For users expecting a perfect HDR effect in such extreme cases, the TCL MQLED may come up a bit short. However, in terms of colours, the television stands out with a very high coverage of the DCI P3 colour gamut at 95%, which is an impressive result comparable to much more expensive models. TCL MQLED85 / C765 offers support for various HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+, which is crucial for cinema image fans. Although this model achieves brightness over 1000 nits, the TCL MQLED85 may struggle to reflect details in very high-contrast scenes. For better HDR quality control, the C765 is equipped with dynamic tone mapping, making the image more realistic and natural depending on the content.

Since the algorithms responsible for blacks are performing quite well, we expected a similarly good outcome when it comes to brightness and overall HDR quality. Unfortunately, we have to disappoint you a bit here.

The U7Q is quite a bright television – under the best conditions, it can reach around 800 nits, which indeed impresses in some scenes, especially in scenes like those from the movie The Meg. Bright segments can shine, and the HDR effect is noticeable. The problem arises when very small, bright elements appear on a dark background – for example, in Sicario 2 or in the second scene from Life of Pi. At such moments, the dimming algorithms operate too aggressively. Yes, the blacks look great at that point, but the brightest spots can almost completely disappear, causing the HDR effect to vanish and details to be barely visible. That’s just the charm of this technology in this price segment.

As a consolation, it is worth mentioning that the U7Q is marketed as a QLED (in practice, a PFS layer is used, which operates very similarly), and it can indeed display a wide colour gamut – a DCI-P3 coverage of around 94% is a very good result for this class.

The television TCL MQLED85/C765 was tested in movie mode, which, while seeming to be the best setting from the manufacturer, is not without its flaws. The colour reproduction in HD/SDR mode MQLED85 shows certain shortcomings. In the analysis of white balance, there is a significant lack of blue colour, which can affect the overall image quality, particularly in bright scenes where blue shades are crucial for natural representation. The overall image may then appear too warm. As for gamma contrast, the graph shows that there is a large jump above the reference line of level 2.4 at the beginning, which may suggest significant dimming of brightness in darker areas, leading to loss of detail in blacks. Then for most of the time, the values are below this line, which can lead to loss of detail in the brighter parts of the image. Such a distribution may negatively impact the perceived image quality, especially when watching regular TV in HD quality.

In the case of the 4K HDR image quality of the TCL MQLED85/C765 television, there is a noticeable excess of red colour in the analysis of white balance. This excess can significantly impact the viewer's experience, leading to several notable effects. First and foremost, an excessive amount of red can make other colours, such as green or blue, appear muted or unnatural. This distortion of colour balance can result in an overall impression of "oversaturation," which detracts from the image's naturalness and authenticity. In terms of contrast, the EOTF (Electro-Optical Transfer Function) graph indicates that most values are above the reference line, suggesting an intense boost in brightness in the bright areas of the image. However, the exception is the start of the graph, where the EOTF line is below the reference, which may lead to excessive dimming of small light elements.

Users should be aware that despite using the best mode, which is movie mode, the television is not free from flaws in the context of image settings, so it is worth considering adjusting the settings to achieve better results.

We tested the U7Q in the best possible picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. This mode is supposed to provide the most "cinematic" experience that aligns with the creators' intentions – straight out of the box. Unfortunately… even this professionally sounding name doesn’t guarantee a perfect image.

In our unit, the problem lay in the poorly set white balance. In both HD and 4K content, the image had too much blue and red, resulting in a slightly pinkish hue on the screen. It didn’t look terrible, but it was noticeable – especially in bright scenes and on white backgrounds. That alone could have been forgiven, but the biggest issue is managing brightness in HDR content. The EOTF curve from the measurements confirms what we saw earlier during scene tests: the television can overly dim the smallest bright elements, causing them to nearly disappear, or conversely – excessively brighten the brightest parts, which affects the naturalness of the image.

After professional calibration of the television TCL MQLED85/C765, its colour properties in film mode have significantly improved, resulting in much more satisfying visual experiences. Both in SDR and HDR modes, the white balance shows no serious errors, and the graph appears to be much better harmonised. Users can now enjoy natural colour reproduction, which is crucial for achieving an authentic experience while watching films. It is worth noting that in HDR content, there may be minor colour reproduction errors at the end of the graph, but these are significantly smaller than before calibration. As a result, characters and landscapes become more realistic, enhancing the depth of immersion in the story.

Regarding contrast, the gamma curve, responsible for HD quality, has been completely free of drops below the reference line, which means better visibility of details in dark scenes. However, there is still a slight boost at the beginning of the graph, which may affect the perception of bright elements. For HDR content, the EOTF curve also shows fewer errors, although some issues with reproducing mid-tones may still be noticeable. The EOTF curve measured on real film scenes still shows a significant brightness boost, so the image may appear more intense but artificially brightened. This is a typical problem for TCL brand televisions, which may appeal to untrained viewers but can frustrate those more familiar with an ideal image.

What benefits does professional calibration bring to film enthusiasts? Thanks to it, viewing becomes even more realistic and immersive, allowing every scene to be experienced fully, preserving details and natural colours.

Thanks to specialist tools, we managed to correct the colour quality in SDR content to almost perfection. In materials with lower dynamics, delta E errors dropped below 0.5, which can be considered an almost reference result. The picture on television, YouTube, or classic Full HD looks really good after calibration. Well then – but where was it not so easy to improve the image? Primarily it concerns HDR quality content. Although we managed to somewhat "tame" the white balance and eliminate pink tints in most scenes, unfortunately, we did not have full control over brightness management. We set the local dimming settings according to the best observations – SDR: Medium, HDR: High – but the U7Q still did everything a bit its own way. There were still cases of overly strong dimming or brightening of details that calibration simply could not eliminate. And although the overall reception of content is much better, one must reckon that the U7Q will always have something to say at the end with "but".

We will now take another look at the tonal transitions on the TCL MQLED85/C765 TV, but in the context of lower image quality. Despite the presence of the "Gradual Smoothing" option, when set to "low", the effects are practically invisible, disappointing users who expect an improvement in image quality. On the other hand, the "high" setting yields minimal results, and worse still, it can blur important details, negatively impacting the sharpness and clarity of the displayed image. However, in the context of image scaling, the TV successfully displayed the image without overscan, meaning we do not lose any part of the view. The image looks quite decent, and details such as tree branches or the outlines of models do not show significant jaggedness, which positively affects the visual quality.

There are situations where we would like to smooth out tonal transitions a bit, especially in older materials – those with limited source quality. The U7Q has been equipped with a feature called “Smooth and Gradient Image,” but unfortunately… it works very poorly. In the “Low” option, the effects are practically unnoticeable, and other settings smooth out the details but don’t improve tonal transitions. The only positive thing is that the feature doesn’t interfere with the film grain, so it doesn’t ruin the natural structure of the image.

Fortunately, content scaling performs quite well. The image is not overly sharpened, there is no artificial clarity – and while it’s known that this isn’t the level of high-end TVs, the U7Q has no problem displaying really old content in a completely acceptable manner.

TCL MQLED85/C765 is equipped with a standard refresh rate panel of 120 Hz, with the possibility of increasing it to 144 Hz when connected to a powerful computer. The television also offers a multi-level motion smoother, which is mainly aimed at users wanting to improve the fluidity of motion in films. It allows for adjusting the intensity of the effect on a scale from 0 to 10, enabling precise tailoring of the image smoothness to individual preferences. The response time of the panel is decent, but not perfect. We can observe motion blur occurring behind both dark and medium objects.

U7Q is a truly fast TV, much like its more powerful version “PRO”. At 4K resolution, it supports up to 144 Hz refresh rate, and if someone wants even more – in Full HD, you can achieve up to 240 Hz! This will mainly benefit PC gamers, but it’s worth appreciating – it’s a rare feature in this price segment. Right from the start, it’s clear that the U7Q has been designed with dynamic content in mind, such as games or sports. In films, we’re not left “out in the cold” either – the U7Q offers an “Ultra Motion Smoothness” feature, where with two sliders, you can adjust whether you want a smoother, theatrical picture, or something closer to cinematic style with a visible frame. It’s good that, like most manufacturers, we have a choice here and can customise it to our own preferences.

TCL MQLED85/C765 has achieved an impressive rating in the gaming features category, making it an excellent choice for gaming enthusiasts. The television supports all the latest technologies that significantly enhance the gaming experience. Among the key gaming features is ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), allowing the TV to automatically switch to low latency mode, minimising response time and ensuring smooth gameplay. VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) supported from 48 to 144 Hz eliminates stuttering and screen tearing in dynamic game scenes. Additionally, the TV supports the Dolby Vision Game Mode, which provides better image quality in games with exceptional depth of colour and contrast. TCL MQLED85/C765 also features a decent but not the best implementation of HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group), optimising the display of HDR games, however, in the case of TCL, it causes bright details to wash out, resulting in some elements merging into a white blob - more on this can be read in the colour reproduction section. It supports various resolutions such as 1080p@120Hz, 1440p@120Hz, and 4K@120Hz, allowing gamers to enjoy higher image quality and better fluidity. The Game Bar feature allows for easy switching between game settings and quick control of parameters, which significantly simplifies adjusting the TV to individual needs. With support for G-Sync and FreeSync technologies, users of NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards will be pleased with the refresh rate synchronisation capabilities, eliminating tearing and stuttering issues, ensuring smoother and more immersive gameplay.

MQLED85/C765 is a television that combines advanced technologies and excellent support for gamers, making it the ideal choice for those looking to maximise their gaming experiences.

The Hisense U7Q is a TV designed with gamers in mind – and you can see that straight away with its gaming capabilities. It has practically everything you could wish for: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) – check, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) – check, and high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz in Full HD, along with support for various resolutions, not just 4K. It’s truly an impressive set of features that makes the U7Q perform well with both fast-paced shooters on consoles and more demanding titles on PC. Of course – like most Hisense models – it lacks a proper implementation of the HGiG feature. It’s a shame because HGiG allows the console's brightness to be adjusted to the specific TV, which in practice makes it easier to display HDR games according to the creators' intentions. Without this, you just have to deal with some limitations in the final HDR image in games.