TCL P89K / TCL P8K vs Samsung S85H

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.

Interestingly, the new WOLED SE panel has brought a slight improvement in brightness to the S85 lineup. In the same film scenes last year’s model sat closer to about 700 nits, while the S85H can reach roughly 800 nits. That’s not a change that completely transforms the HDR experience, but the extra headroom is noticeable, especially with point highlights, reflections or stronger special effects. Around 800 nits is a very good result for an entry-level OLED and in most films it’s enough for HDR to have the necessary punch. Bright elements can clearly stand out against perfect blacks, and that contrast is still doing most of the work here. However, you need to remember the typical limitation of OLED technology. When a very bright scene covers a large portion of the screen, brightness can drop to almost half. This is the result of panel protections that limit its output with large bright areas.

Colours

The S85H can deliver very pleasant, saturated colours and in most HDR films it looks really good in that regard. We measured around 95% coverage of DCI-P3, so the palette most commonly used in films is reproduced to a very high degree. Skin tones, greens and stronger reds still have appropriate intensity and under normal viewing it’s hard to have major complaints. Only when you look more broadly at BT.2020 do the limitations of the new WOLED SE panel become apparent. Coverage was about 70%, a bit less than WOLEDs of the previous generation and noticeably less than QD-OLED panels. In films this isn’t a big loss, since most productions rarely use such heavily saturated colours. You’re more likely to notice it in games, where developers more often opt for more intense colours.

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.

To evaluate colours we of course used Filmmaker mode, and in SDR our S85H unit was set very well from the factory. The largest deviation appears in the white balance, where as brightness increases it starts to lose a bit of blue. In practice this means whites and greys have a slightly warmer tint than they should. However, it's not a big fault and during normal viewing it generally isn't very noticeable. Gamma also stays close to the reference value, so the picture is neither overly bright nor unnecessarily dim. The S85H's SDR picture therefore looks really good straight out of the box. A few more imperfections appear in HDR. Here the white balance shifts more with rising brightness, with blue starting to dominate and the red component clearly lacking. This also results in larger errors in some colours. These aren't yet colour errors that completely change the character of the picture, but in direct comparison with the reference the difference is easier to spot. Overall, Filmmaker mode is a very good starting point before professional calibration.

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.

Calibration delivers really good results on the S85H. First and foremost, we were able to set the white balance almost perfectly, which removes the slightly too-warm picture tone previously seen in SDR. Colour reproduction also improves significantly, with most errors falling to very low levels, and in everyday viewing it's hard to find any visible inaccuracies. You can also improve HDR quite a bit, although some issues remain that stem from the TV's inherent characteristics. The S85H doesn't always hold the luminance curve perfectly. The darkest parts are slightly boosted, while, as you approach the panel's limits, you can see small deviations in the brightest highlights. Add to that the limited coverage of the wider BT.2020 colour gamut, which of course cannot be overcome by any calibration. Despite that, the end result is very good, and after calibration the S85H can deliver a really well-tuned, natural image.

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.

Samsung's S85H uses the same proprietary AI processor, AI NQ4 Gen2, as last year’s S85F, and in terms of digital image processing it performs quite well. Upscaling is one of the model's stronger points. Lower-resolution material is well sharpened, edges look natural and the picture doesn't come across as overly artificial. Just remember a common quirk of Samsung TVs: at very low resolutions you can't completely turn off overscan, so the TV may slightly crop the left edge of the picture. The "noise reduction" function, that is smoothing weaker tonal transitions, also works very well. The processor can effectively remove posterisation and other artefacts visible in lower-quality material. However, be careful with the strength of this function, because Samsung can be fairly aggressive here. When it's activated, along with unwanted artefacts, fine details such as skin or clothing texture also start to disappear.

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 S85H uses an OLED panel, so it performs brilliantly when it comes to motion blur. Pixels respond almost instantly, so moving objects don't produce the characteristic ghosting seen on some LCD TVs. This is especially noticeable with sport or fast-paced games, where the picture stays very clean even during rapid motion. The panel itself runs at 120 Hz. That's more than enough for movies, TV shows, sport or console gaming. It's a shame Samsung didn't include a higher refresh rate aimed at PC gamers, as more and more TVs now offer 144 or even 165 Hz at 4K. However, that doesn't affect motion handling in films or sport.

There's also the classic motion smoothing feature with two settings: blur reduction and judder reduction. So you can choose whether films should keep their cinematic 24 frames per second, or whether you'd prefer to smooth them a bit. The S85H gives plenty of freedom here, and the interpolation itself works well and, with sensible settings, doesn't generate too many artefacts.

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.

Samsung S85H is very well prepared for gaming, essentially regardless of whether you connect a console or a computer. The manufacturer didn’t skimp on connectors and all four HDMI ports support full HDMI 2.1. That means you can use 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM without worrying which input to plug your console into. With multiple devices that matters a lot, since you don’t have to choose between a console, a PC or a soundbar connected via eARC. The feature set itself is very complete. The S85H supports VRR, FreeSync and automatic switching to Game Mode, and Samsung also offers its expanded Game Bar, which lets you quickly view the key signal parameters and change settings without leaving the game. The only real omission is Dolby Vision, which will matter mainly for Xbox owners. That’s a typical trait of Samsung TVs. Game Motion Plus performs very well and it’s one of the features that has set Samsung TVs apart for years. It smooths motion in games running at 30 or 60 fps, but does so without as large an increase in input lag as a classic motion interpolator. In practice, for slower-paced games, racing or action titles it can genuinely improve motion perception, especially if you’re sensitive to low frame rates.