TCL P755 vs TCL C8L / QM8L

TCL P755 provides average HDR effect quality. The maximum brightness of the TV is slightly below 300 nits. Such brightness limits the intensity of bright areas in HDR content. In practice, this means that bright elements may not be sufficiently pronounced, affecting the overall impression of contrast. However, the TV offers wide coverage of the DCI P3 colour gamut, reaching about 93%. As a result, colours are vibrant and saturated, significantly improving colour reproduction quality in HDR content. Despite the limited brightness, the wide colour range allows for richer and more realistic shades.

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 colour reproduction in the P755 in "Cinema" mode, although it is the best factory setting, leaves much to be desired. The biggest issue is the white balance, where the chart clearly shows a spike in the red colour and a drop in the green colour. This leads to a shift in colours towards red, causing the colours on the screen to appear less natural and may look incorrect, especially in scenes with a white or neutral background. This is confirmed by the "Colour Checker" test, which reveals that the colours are indeed shifted towards red, affecting the realism of the image and reducing the perception of colour depth. In terms of contrast, the gamma chart analysis shows significant fluctuations, particularly in the dark areas of the image, where values drop below the optimal level of 2.4. As a result, darker areas may be displayed brighter than they should be. Additionally, the EOTF curve, responsible for brightness reproduction, sits slightly above the reference curve. The graph shows a slight increase in brightness to about 50%, after which there is only a minor drop. This leads to excessive brightness enhancement in the mid-range of the image and may result in loss of detail and distortion in brighter scenes.

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 colour reproduction on the television significantly improves when it comes to SDR content. The colour curves are now close to the ideal value, and the gamma is more stable. Although the dip at the beginning of the graph to the values is still present, the overall accuracy of colour reproduction is much better. The “Colour Checker” test shows that most colour samples have errors below level 2, indicating improved colour fidelity. A few deviations are present, but generally, the colours are now more realistic and consistent with reality.

Calibration also brings improvements in HDR content. The white balance has been corrected, translating to more natural colour reproduction. The EOTF curve, although now closer to the reference curve, still shows a slight boost in brightness at the beginning of the graph. This leads to minor distortions in very bright scenes, but the overall tonality and detail have been enhanced. Dynamic tone mapping works more effectively, improving image quality in bright areas and preserving more details.

Although the image from the device does not achieve full perfection, calibration brings significant improvement. After adjusting the settings, the television performs much better, offering more realistic and accurate colour reproduction in SDR and HDR content. While some shortcomings can still be noticed, calibration effectively eliminates many previous issues, ensuring better image quality and more natural colours.

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 “Gradual Smoothing” function works quite well, effectively eliminating visible boundaries between different shades of the same colour. Thanks to it, tonal transitions are smoother. Unfortunately, this function is not available in HDR mode, which can affect the quality of tonal gradation in higher dynamic range materials.

In the case of image scaling, the television does not perform its best. There are noticeable edge cut-offs, particularly evident on the model's figure and the branches of trees. The blurring of details in these areas affects the overall sharpness of the image. This may be noticeable when watching content in a lower resolution. Additionally, SD quality image is displayed with slight cropping at the top as well as the bottom.

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 television offers decent, though not perfect, results in terms of motion smoothness. In the case of movies, the television has a "Flicker Reduction" feature that allows for adjustment of motion smoothness on a scale from 1 to 10. With this option, we can tailor the image appearance to cinema or more theatrical preferences (with lower or higher speed).

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 device offers a range of features useful for gamers, such as ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), Dolby Vision for gamers, and Game Bar. ALLM automatically switches the TV to low latency mode, significantly improving responsiveness to commands from the controller and minimising input lag. VRR synchronises the screen refresh rate with the number of frames generated by the console, eliminating the tearing effect and providing smoother gameplay. Dolby Vision for gamers enhances picture quality by offering better colour and contrast reproduction in games that support this format. The Game Bar feature allows quick access to game settings and monitoring of key parameters such as response time.

However, the TV has some limitations. The 60 Hz panel prevents the display of signals with higher refresh rates at different resolutions, which may affect the fluidity of the image in dynamic games. Additionally, the lack of support for G-Sync technology for PC may impact the quality of gameplay on a computer. It is also worth noting that the HGiG mode, which aims to improve image quality in HDR games, does not work correctly on this model, negatively affecting the visual experience in HDR-supported games.

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.