Haier M95E vs TCL RM7L

If there is one category in which the Haier M95E absolutely shines, it is the HDR effect, driven by the raw power of the backlighting. This television cannot be denied the fact that it is a truly bright device. In both most film scenes and during our synthetic measurements, the panel easily achieved, and often even exceeded, the threshold of 1200-1500 nits. This has a direct impact on the viewing experience – the image has a punch and genuinely allows one to feel the magic of materials recorded in this format. However, one must be aware of a certain compromise. When exceptionally demanding scenes appear on the screen, full of small but intense points of light, the M95E does not lose its resonance or dim, but pays a different price for it. A very strong and noticeably distracting halo effect is generated around these bright elements. It is clear here that the algorithms controlling the dimming have been programmed to prioritise brightness and the visibility of the smallest details, even if this comes at the expense of pristine blacks. We are not entirely convinced that this is the healthiest approach; nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that the overall capabilities of the M95E in this regard are indeed significant. A huge advantage is the fact that we are dealing with a Mini LED QLED type construction. The use of a layer of quantum dots brings measurable benefits in the form of wide coverage of the colour palette, which in our tests reached nearly 96% of the DCI-P3 space. This guarantees that the television has full predispositions for displaying vibrant and properly saturated colours.

TCL RM7L is a bright TV. In our measurements its peak brightness hovered around 1600 nits. That is clearly less than the C7L, which can approach 2600 nits, but in real film scenes the difference between the models is not that large. In less demanding shots with many bright elements, the RM7L can sustain about 1000 nits, and sometimes even a little more, getting close to 1500 nits. It performs worse in dark scenes with small points of light, where their brightness can fall to around 500 nits. This is not random behaviour. The TV intentionally dims fine details to better control the backlight and preserve higher contrast. That comes at the expense of their intensity, but it is typical behaviour for TVs with local dimming in a similar price bracket.

Colour gamut coverage

In HDR not only brightness matters but also colour. And here the RM7L has plenty to show. Colours are highly saturated and a wide colour gamut is one of its major strengths. In our DCI-P3 measurements it reached about 96%, and BT.2020 around 83%. It is worth remembering that on a TV with this kind of backlight the result can vary depending on the scene. On test patterns colours look best, while in films their saturation is sometimes a little lower than on SQD Mini LED or QD-OLED TVs. The construction of the backlight itself is also interesting. The RM7L does not use the classic red, green and blue LED set. TCL used two green LEDs and one blue, with the red produced by a PFS phosphor. This shows up in spectrometer measurements, but it does not have a major impact on the picture. Colours are still rendered correctly.

Each television is primarily evaluated based on its default cinema mode – in this case, "Movie" – which theoretically should be the "best" and most faithful upon being taken out of the box. Unfortunately, in the case of the Haier M95E, the word "best" is certainly not synonymous with the word "good." Already during SDR viewing, the picture revealed evident problems: white balance skewed too much to red, and excessive, unnatural colour saturation led to visible colour deviations. What’s worse, the M95E also struggles with brightness management (gamma curve), excessively darkening the entire scene. Such behaviour is hard to commend, as it directly leads to details merging into shadows that are irrevocably lost in a black blob.

However, the real disaster occurred after switching to HDR material, while still remaining in "Movie" mode. It’s hard for us to guess who came up with such a fantastic idea – or perhaps it was simply a complete oversight of this stage by Haier's engineers – but instead of cinematic fidelity, the picture began to resemble a garish "Dynamic" mode. The white balance exposed immense problems with the blue colour, which in turn resulted in unnatural sharpening and artificial over-saturation of the entire scene. As if that weren’t enough, the EOTF curve characteristics mercilessly revealed that the television also has fundamental issues with local dimming management in this setting. We have not calibrated many Haier models in our career, but we already know for sure that the M95E definitely needs such calibration.

We checked the out-of-the-box colours in Filmmaker Mode, the best picture setting available to the user. TCL has been using it in its TVs for two years, and its aim is to reproduce the image as faithfully as possible in line with the creators' intent. On the RM7L it was indeed the most accurately set mode, although it was not without flaws. The biggest problem was the white balance. Too much red and blue made the image shift towards slightly pink tones. This was visible in both SDR and HDR. On top of that the brightness response was slightly boosted, making the picture appear a little brighter but at the same time less contrasty than it should be.

The calibration process left us with extremely mixed feelings. On the one hand, we noted considerable success in the area of colour accuracy. By using the available options in the menu, we managed to tame the white balance and bring it down to an acceptable level. As a result, SDR content finally freed itself from the irritating red dominance, and the HDR image no longer resembled a vibrant, shop display mode. We also succeeded in clearly adjusting the entire colour palette and its saturation – perhaps not perfectly, but as much as the software allowed, and the difference was visible to the naked eye.

And unfortunately, this is where our list of improvements essentially ends, as the M95E simply did not allow for more. As we indicated earlier, most settings related to image brightness do not respond to our commands at all. This means that we were unable to grasp its fundamental characteristics in any way – neither the gamma curve nor the EOTF. In practice, the television in SDR content still tends to darken details, as confirmed by the elevated gamma, merging details in the shadows. Meanwhile, the EOTF curve in HDR mode still ruthlessly exposes all the aforementioned problems with chaotic local dimming management. And although the calibration process itself yielded a lot, removing most of the colour issues, in the end, we had to capitulate.

Thanks to the fairly extensive calibration menu we were able to correct the vast majority of the previously described issues. The biggest change concerned the white balance. After calibration it now looks very good, so the picture shed its pinkish tint and became much more neutral. The luminance response has also improved. Both the SDR gamma and the HDR EOTF curve are now much closer to the reference values. The picture is no longer unnecessarily brightened, and darker areas look more natural and have greater depth. Better luminance accuracy also affected the colours, which after calibration are noticeably more accurate. Not everything could, however, be set perfectly. With HDR material the RM7L still interprets part of the signal in its own way and does not always follow the reference curve precisely. This is most apparent in some darker scenes, where the TV can either slightly lift the shadows or darken them completely. That is where the earlier impression of a slightly brightened, less contrasty picture came from. Despite this, the calibration delivers a very good result. It removes the most visible errors and, above all, makes the picture much closer to how it should look.

Well, what happens to those colour connections when a lower quality material full of compression artifacts comes on screen? Unfortunately, we have some bad news for you. Although the menu contains an option responsible for smoothing tonal transitions in older content, we definitely DO NOT RECOMMEND using it. Its activation causes an avalanche of additional, hideous artifacts and noticeably blurs the entire image, and what's funniest – it often doesn't even remove those unwanted "jaggies" it was supposed to fight against. This function might as well not exist at all.

We can write many more positive remarks about the general upscaling process, which raises lower resolutions to the native 4K matrix. The image after upscaling looks really decent – it is neither overly jagged nor artificially smoothed. In this particular matter, the M95E simply performs well.

Upscaling and digital image processing are not the RM7L's strong suit. TCL has used the MediaTek Pentonic 700 chipset here, designated MT5896, which is not among the best processors when it comes to handling lower-quality source material. The biggest problems appear with heavily compressed content from YouTube or standard broadcast TV. The processor cannot effectively hide posterization and the characteristic banding between tones. The feature intended to smooth these issues does little to help, and can also interfere with the image too much, smoothing, for example, faces or fine textures. For that reason it is best simply not to use it.

Standard upscaling to 4K looks better. Lower-quality content is sufficiently sharp and retains an adequate amount of detail. It is not on a par with the best processors on the market, but for everyday viewing the result is entirely acceptable.

In terms of motion fluidity and blur, our feelings are quite mixed, as the M95E is a paradox of a television. Let's start with absolute admiration: at the heart of the device is a 144Hz panel, but what truly impresses is its performance with 120Hz content, which is crucial for sports and console gaming. We must state with full responsibility that Haier has equipped this television with one of the best VA panels currently available on the market regarding the minimisation of blur. It is rare to encounter an LCD panel that offers such clean, sharp, and ghosting-free motion. In this respect, the M95E is simply phenomenal.

And that is precisely why the unpleasant surprise that awaits us on the software side is so painful. It turns out that this fantastic hardware potential is completely underutilised, as the television practically offers no effective options for improving fluidity. The motion smoothing systems that should assist with lower frame-rate content can indeed be found in the Menu, but they essentially do not respond to our settings. The conclusion is brutally simple: if you intend to watch high-fluidity material, you must be sure that the source is broadcasting it at native 120. In every other case, you must accept a rather raw, stuttering image, as the M95E will do nothing to smooth it out.

The RM7L features a 144 Hz VA panel, so from the outset it is well suited to sports, gaming and other fast-paced content. The high refresh rate also gives the motion interpolation more scope, allowing it to generate additional frames. On the RM7L it works well and, with the right settings, can noticeably improve motion smoothness without an excessive soap opera effect.

When it comes to features for gamers, the Haier M95E presents some very strong arguments. First of all, it is fully ready for the new generation of consoles and powerful PCs. It is equipped with two full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, which seamlessly handle 4K signals at 120Hz, and even allow for gameplay at 144Hz. This is the foundation that guarantees us the full use of the potential of our gear. Moreover, the key technologies work flawlessly here. The television flawlessly detects the console and automatically switches to low latency mode (ALLM), so we don’t have to fiddle with the settings. The frame synchronization (VRR) works just as efficiently, eliminating annoying screen tearing when game fluidity slightly drops. Considering the incredibly low motion blur of the panel, which we have already mentioned, the M95E creates a really comfortable and responsive gaming environment. Of course, this is not a perfect package. A dedicated "Game Bar," which is a handy menu for gamers, would be useful, but this is essentially just a nice addition. A more serious failing is the lack of support for the HGiG standard, which complicates the perfect HDR configuration on the console and may lead to overexposures. Despite these shortcomings, the basic "gaming" set that the M95E offers is really solid and fully functional.

The RM7L earns almost nothing but praise when it comes to features for gamers. The TV supports ALLM, VRR and Dolby Vision Gaming and works properly with HGiG, so it’s hard to point to any major omissions in that regard. In practice this means automatic switching to a low-latency mode, smoother motion at variable frame rates and accurate brightness reproduction in HDR games. There’s also a very useful Game Bar. From it you can quickly check frame rate, VRR status, signal format or aspect ratio, and change the key settings without leaving the game. TCL has also added a few extra options, such as a crosshair overlay and brightening of dark image areas, which can be handy in some titles. The biggest drawback stems from the use of the Pentonic 700 processor. Only two of the four HDMI ports support the full HDMI 2.1 standard. That won’t matter much with a single console, but if you connect two consoles and a PC you may run out of ports, especially since one of those ports may be needed for eARC and a soundbar.