TCL P89K / TCL P8K vs Samsung M80H

The maximum brightness of the TCL P8K peaks at around 300 nits, although in real film scenes the television typically maintains closer to 250 nits. These are values that cannot be considered sufficient to achieve a true HDR effect – they are more aligned with a solid base for SDR content. Therefore, we won’t see spectacular flashes, bursts of light, or moments where the screen actually “blinds” as is the case with more expensive models. The image is consequently a bit flat, and the differences between light and shadow – more symbolic than realistic. Fortunately, TCL has a few aces up its sleeve that save the overall impression. One of these is the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at around 93-94%. Thanks to an additional QLED layer (PFS LED), colours gain depth and intensity, clearly surpassing standard LCD panels. As a result, while the typical “wow effect” associated with HDR brightness is lacking, the image itself can impress with its richness and vibrant tones, making the film scenes pulse with colour and not appear significantly washed out.

The M80H is not one of the brightest TVs. Its peak brightness is around 350 nits, and we saw similar results across most of our test scenes. That's not enough to achieve truly striking HDR, as bright highlights lack punch and the overall image is a little too dim. In practice, HDR on the M80H feels more like well-presented SDR than noticeably more dynamic material with a wide brightness range. The picture can still look fine, but it's hard to point to strong highlights, clearly bright light sources, or an effect that immediately sets HDR apart from ordinary content.

Colours

One of the M80H's stronger points is its colours. The TV uses a PFS filter in the backlight, which lets it display a much wider colour gamut than a standard LCD without filters. Our measurements confirm this – the M80H covers about 96% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 72% of BT.2020. Those are very good results, which allow colours to be richly saturated. Samsung's positioning here is interesting. The M80H isn't part of the QLED family, even though in terms of colour it is practically on par with models carrying that badge. From an image quality point of view that doesn't make much difference – the colours are simply good.

In Filmmaker mode, the TCL P8K revealed certain imperfections in image reproduction from the start. We noticed that the TV had a tendency to slightly brighten scenes – its gamma was somewhat lowered, which made the image appear softly "washed out," lacking depth, as if the contrast had slipped out of control. This was most noticeable in HDR content, where the EOTF brightness curve clearly deviated from reference values. As a result, darker areas of the image looked too gloomy, and brighter ones did not always reach the correct level of luminance. The second noticeable issue was a slight blue overdrive – the TV stubbornly boosted this colour, causing some parts of the image, especially skin tones and reds, to have a slight purple tint. It is not a major flaw, but to a discerning eye – noticeable. Fortunately, most of these errors could be adjusted during calibration. You can see the results of this calibration in the charts and photos below.

Filmmaker Mode is pretty well set up out of the box, though it’s not perfect. In SDR material the most noticeable issue is an excess of red in the white balance, which makes the picture look a little warmer than it should. HDR content has a similar character. As for brightness response, in SDR the gamma stays close to the target value across most of the range. Small deviations are mainly visible in darker areas, which are in places slightly too dim. In HDR the very darkest details are slightly lifted, while from around 65% brightness the image starts to be gently darkened. This largely results from the way the TV controls its brightness. Overall, Filmmaker Mode looks good straight out of the box, but the picture can still be improved.

After calibration, the TCL P8K revealed a completely different side. It managed to achieve nearly perfect, even reference-level colour reproduction for both SDR and HDR content. The screen no longer had a tendency towards a cool tint, and the white balance was perfectly aligned. The gamma values for SDR materials finally look as they should – the image has the right depth and no longer appears washed out. The only concern that can still be raised about the P8K pertains to its "Chinese" traits, known from most TCL models. The TV still likes to manipulate saturation in HDR content in its own way – sometimes it gently boosts it, other times it smooths it out, making the effect not always fully predictable. Nevertheless, after calibration, the colours look stunning, and their accuracy is truly impressive. In most cases, measurement errors dropped below values of 1–2, which is a performance that much more expensive models would not be ashamed of.

After calibration the M80H performs very well, especially with everyday SDR content. Regular TV, YouTube and movies watched without HDR can look very good on it. After adjusting the white balance the errors are small, though you can sometimes still see the TV tends to push the most saturated reds too far. You can also improve the picture in HDR and correct its main faults, but it doesn't reach the level of more expensive models. Samsung quite heavily restricts colour adjustment options in HDR, so in many areas we have to accept what the TV offers out of the box. Calibration can improve some parameters, but we can't change the M80H's overall picture character.

The TCL P8K performs somewhat weaker when it comes to the fluidity of tonal transitions in lower quality materials. The television does offer a feature to smooth out unwanted bands, but its effectiveness leaves a lot to be desired. Even at the highest setting, it's hard to speak of a real improvement—at times, the effect is even opposite to what was intended, as the feature can introduce small artifacts and unnatural blurring on the screen.

On the other hand, the upscaling, which involves scaling the image to 4K resolution, looks definitely better. The P8K handles this task surprisingly well—HD content, and even SD, is enhanced in an aesthetically pleasing way without excessive loss of sharpness. There are indeed slight “hard” edges typical of this class of equipment, but this can be easily adjusted using the sharpness slider according to personal preferences. The final effect is more than satisfying, especially considering the price range this model is in.

Although the M80H is positioned fairly low in Samsung’s line-up, the maker equipped it with one of its stronger processors, the NQ4 AI Gen2. The same chipset is used in Neo QLED TVs and the higher‑ranked S85H OLED. That’s good news, because the processor handles improving weaker sources really well. Upscaling is its strongest suit. Low‑resolution material is displayed properly and edges don’t look overly jagged. The TV won’t of course create details that aren’t in the source, but regular broadcast TV and older recordings look decent on it. One drawback is overscan, i.e. edge cropping, which can’t be completely turned off. The feature that smooths tonal transitions, the so‑called noise reduction, also works well. The processor can effectively reduce visible signs of heavy compression, but it doesn’t do so without side effects. At higher settings it can smooth the picture too much, remove some fine detail and even eliminate film grain. For that reason we recommend using this feature mainly for material that genuinely suffers from heavy compression and posterisation.

TCL P8K is one of the cheapest televisions offering a 144 Hz refresh rate, which in itself is a significant advantage in this price segment. Thanks to the fast panel, this model can confidently be recommended to both sports fans and gamers – the image is smooth, and the movements of the ball or dynamic actions look natural. However, this does not mean that the P8K is suitable only for sports. On the contrary – it can also maintain the right dynamics in movies without introducing an artificial 'theatrical' effect, as long as the settings are adjusted thoughtfully. The television is equipped with a motion smoother called 'Motion Clarity', which features two sliders: blur reduction and flicker reduction. The first is responsible for smoothing the image by generating additional frames, which increases fluidity but can cause a slight soap opera effect. The second, on the other hand, reduces flicker and improves sharpness in motion, although it may slightly dim the screen. Properly adjusting these two parameters allows for a truly good balance between natural motion and fluidity. The 60 Hz screen is good for dynamic content, though more discerning users will notice that it is not a top-tier panel in terms of motion clarity.

The M80H performs very well for watching sport and for gaming. The TV is equipped with a panel offering a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz at 4K, and when the resolution is reduced to Full HD it can handle up to 240 Hz. That second option will be used mainly by PC gamers.

The panel also handles 120 Hz content well, which matters especially for console gaming. A high refresh rate is also useful when watching sport, and motion blur is relatively low. That's important because VA panels are not known for the best performance in this area. On the M80H, fast-moving objects do not produce a very noticeable blur.

Although the TCL P8K is a budget television, it absolutely cannot be said that it is unsuitable for gaming. On the contrary – this screen can pleasantly surprise any gamer. On board, we find two HDMI 2.1 ports, which allow us to effortlessly send a 4K image at 120 Hz. If someone plays on PC, they will also be pleased to know that the television can operate even with a refresh rate of 240 Hz at a lower resolution – a small thing, but it’s appreciated. Additionally, there is a full set of gaming-specific features: automatic game mode, a Game Bar with quick parameter previews, VRR, HGiG, and support for Dolby Vision in games. All of this makes gaming on the P8K a truly enjoyable experience – the image is smooth, the response is quick, and the television works well with next-gen consoles. The TCL P8K shows that a cheap screen doesn't have to mean giving up on fun. Definitely not when it comes to gaming.

The M80H could be a very good choice for gamers on a slightly smaller budget. In terms of features it offers pretty much the same as Samsung’s much more expensive TVs. All three HDMI inputs support HDMI 2.1, so even if one is taken by a soundbar connected via eARC there’s still room for a PC and consoles. There’s also VRR up to 144 Hz in 4K and up to 240 Hz in Full HD. Samsung has correctly implemented HGiG as well, so after performing HDR calibration on the console games are properly matched to the screen’s capabilities. That won’t make the M80H any brighter, but at least it won’t unnecessarily wash out the brightest parts of the image. On top of that there’s a Game Bar for quick access to key settings and a Gaming Hub that lets you play in the cloud without a console. The M80H also includes Game Motion Plus, which generates extra frames and improves the smoothness of games running at 30 or 60 fps. Input lag then increases to around 59 ms, but is still about one third of what you’d see with typical motion smoothing on other manufacturers’ TVs. We wouldn’t really recommend it for online multiplayer, but it can work very well in slower‑paced titles.