Hisense U8Q vs TCL C8L / QM8L

When it comes to HDR, the Hisense U8Q shows its claws. On paper, that is, in synthetic measurement tests, the television can achieve nearly 4000 nits of peak brightness. This is a value that most models can only envy. In practice, this translates to very strong light effects in films – in some scenes, we managed to measure a real brightness of between 1500 and 2000 nits, which is a level typically reserved for the absolute top tier of televisions on the market.

Of course, it's not always perfect. In small, pinpoint elements, brightness can drop – a good example is scene number 4 from the film Sicario 2, where instead of thousands of nits, we get around 500. But it’s worth noting that the effect does not disappear completely – the light is still visible, and the image does not seem artificially dimmed. This is a typical issue with Mini LEDs, so it's difficult to consider this a major downside.

On the other hand, the colour reproduction is a huge plus. Thanks to additional coatings that enhance colour saturation, the U8Q nearly covers the entire DCI-P3 colour space (98%), and for the wider BT.2020 range, it achieved over 80%. This is an excellent result that makes HDR films look rich, vivid, and simply very cinematic.

In terms of HDR, the TCL C8L turns out to be a hellishly bright television – quite literally. On a synthetic test pattern sized at 5%, our measurement equipment indicated a result exceeding 4500 nits. This is a truly astronomical result, considering that reference monitors used by directors, which we often refer to in our materials, typically operate around 4000 nits. Does this mean that the C8L breaks barriers and climbs to the technological peak of Mini-LED? Not quite. Dry synthetic tests are one thing, while real cinematic images are another. In real, varied scenes, the C8L peaks at around 1600 nits. This is still a very good result, ensuring a very high level of HDR dynamics, but it is also clearly lower than what the manufacturer boasts in the specifications. The problems begin with very small bursts of light – at that point, brightness can drastically drop to around 600 nits. The algorithm tries at all costs to maintain deep blacks and minimise the halo effect, but this comes at the expense of HDR impact. This is perfect evidence that laboratory test patterns rarely align with what we ultimately see on the screen.

However, huge praise is due for colour reproduction, thanks to the new generation of SQD (Super Quantum Dot) quantum dots. The DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage reaches 97%, but the truly jaw-dropping measurements come from the extremely demanding BT.2020 space. The C8L achieves an impressive 90% in this space, placing it alongside today's top screens equipped with RGB backlighting. Importantly, unlike some screens with Micro/Mini RGB backlighting, this effect is stable regardless of the scene displayed. Of course, it’s worth remembering that content mastered for such a wide gamut in films or series is still rare. However, the very fact that the panel has such a "colour reserve" deserves tremendous admiration.

We must admit that when the U8Q arrived at our editorial office, we were slightly surprised… and positively so. Usually, in televisions, the white balance immediately requires adjustment – it can be too warm or too cold, which immediately leads to strange colour mistakes. Meanwhile, here the situation looks really good straight out of the box. Of course, we are talking about our unit, so there is no guarantee that every model will be equally well calibrated, but in our case, the first impressions were very positive. The only more apparent issue concerned the way the television manages brightness. Looking at the EOTF graph, it is clear that the U8Q tends to brighten small elements on the screen. This, in turn, caused what we mentioned earlier – slight overexposure and the impression that the entire scene can be a bit too bright. However, this is not a flaw that undermines the picture, rather an effect characteristic of this model.

We tested the TCL C8L in the best factory mode available in the TV’s menu for image fidelity. That’s of course Filmmaker Mode, which only arrived in this brand’s software relatively recently (a year ago in the "K" series). It allows the average user to achieve quite decent colour reproduction straight out of the box, though it is certainly not perfectly tuned. Looking at the unit’s out-of-the-box white balance — in both SDR and HDR material — the red component was clearly lacking, which made the image noticeably cooler and slightly shift towards blue‑green tints. The issue of brightness management also looks ambiguous, as we mentioned earlier. While the gamma linearity in SDR content is really good and stays steadily at the reference value of 2.4, the situation in HDR is much worse. Tracking the EOTF curve clearly shows the TV has a noticeably boosted brightness across the entire range, so the final image can be excessively bright and inconsistent with the creators’ intent, and this is in a mode that by definition should avoid that. Of course, as with every sample in our lab, we subjected this one to professional calibration, and you can find the results below.

Of course, we wouldn’t be ourselves if we didn’t make adjustments to the white balance. After calibration, we managed to equalise the SDR signal to practically perfection – older films, YouTube content, and classic television looked almost ideal on the U8Q. This is truly an exceptional level that shows this model can do a lot if given a bit of help. Unfortunately, the situation is different with HDR content. The colours themselves don’t pose many problems, but the U8Q’s biggest issue remains the EOTF brightness characteristics. In practice, the television tends to “over-expose” beyond how the image should look in its original form. It’s that slight "bleeding" that we noticed earlier in comparisons with the best screens on the market. It’s a bit of a shame that this characteristic can’t be fully tamed – if we could maintain equally good control over brightness in HDR as in SDR, we would be dealing with an absolutely reference-quality image.

As you can see, the results of a professional calibration of the TCL C8L are truly promising, thanks to the comprehensive calibration controls the manufacturer has provided in the menu. Above all, we managed to fully correct the white balance, eliminating the red deficiency, so the image finally stopped drifting into unwanted cool tones. After that adjustment, the errors in the ColorChecker test fell to near-reference values, consistently sitting below a Delta E threshold of 2, i.e. below the visibility threshold for the human eye.

If test patterns look so perfect, you may ask us why the final score in this category is lower. The answer lies in the brightness management described earlier. Although the menu includes sliders that let you precisely straighten the EOTF curve on synthetic signals, when faced with real film material (I recommend enabling the EOTF filter 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 picture can be slightly over-bright and not faithful to the filmmakers' intent, and it is precisely for this lack of consistency with real films that we had to take a few points off the C8L's score.

Hisense U8Q handles lower quality materials quite well. The television can smooth out tonal transitions thanks to the "Smooth and Gradient Picture" feature – it works best when set to Medium. At this setting, it nicely dims unwanted bands and unevenness in the picture, but importantly, it does not remove the film grain or fine details.

The upscaling itself is also at a good level. Images from lower resolutions appear smooth and soft, sometimes even overly so – we get a plastic effect that may not appeal to everyone. Fortunately, this can be easily corrected with the sharpness slider, allowing the picture to be adjusted to personal preferences.

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 concerns digital picture processing. The C8L is the entry-level model in the manufacturer's line-up that has been equipped with the latest flagship chip MediaTek Pentonic 800 (listed in the menu as MT9655). It is thanks to its computing power that the feature called "Gradual Smoothing" finally works as it should. The algorithm effectively removes unwanted posterization (ugly tonal transitions / colour banding) from the image, 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 assessing this element can be largely academic, because the differences between today’s TVs in this class are very subtle. The most important takeaway is that TCL finally has nothing to be ashamed of compared with the competition.

Hisense U8Q features a panel that can refresh the image up to 165 Hz in 4K resolution. In practice, this will primarily be utilised by PC gamers, but as the saying goes – it’s better to have it than not 😊. For films and series, we have a built-in smoothness enhancer called Ultra Motion Smoothness. In the settings, it can be easily adjusted to suit personal preferences – whether we want a more “cinematic” frame rate or a smooth, theatrical spectacle.

The TCL C8L is equipped with a fast panel with a native refresh rate of 144 Hz. This specification will be most appreciated by demanding PC gamers, while most users, who rely on consoles or TV broadcasts, will make use of a stable 120 Hz. It is at 120 Hz that the motion-processing algorithms take care of image processing (in films, series and sports). In the TV menu you'll find a "Motion Clarity" tab that allows you to tailor the motion smoothing to your own preferences. The algorithms cope well with both cinematic productions at 24 or 30 frames per second and with fast-paced sports broadcasts at 50 or 60 frames per second, ensuring appropriate smoothness.

In terms of features, the Hisense U8Q has practically everything one could expect from a modern gaming television. Thanks to the new processor, the manufacturer managed to implement as many as three HDMI 2.1 ports, so there is no problem connecting several consoles or a computer. On top of that, it includes all the key technologies – Game Bar with parameter preview, variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM)… in a word, a complete set.

But as is often the case with Hisense, it fell a bit short of perfection. The biggest drawback remains the lack of support for the HGiG format, which allows the brightness of the television to be adjusted to the console and maximises HDR in games. It’s a shame, because if this element were included, we would have a device practically made for gamers. As it stands, the U8Q remains “only” a very good choice 😉

For gamers – and especially for owners of powerful PCs and several consoles simultaneously – the TCL C8L is a true monster. It is the first model in this manufacturer's lineup to feature as many as four full HDMI 2.1 ports with a maximum bandwidth of 48 Gbps. This is directly attributable to the use of the new Pentonic 800 processor, which we discussed earlier. Additionally, the television seamlessly supports practically every gaming feature. We have an automatic game mode (ALLM) that reduces latency to minimal levels, and full frame synchronization (VRR) operating in an impressive range of up to 288 Hz. There's also talk of standards such as G-Sync or FreeSync from Nvidia and AMD. When it comes to display standards, there are no compromises either: the C8L offers complete support for HDR formats in games, including gaming Dolby Vision and the HGiG profile. We can conveniently manage all of these features from a very readable player bar (Game Bar), which we can personalise to our own preferences. From a purely gaming perspective, there's really nothing to fault the C8L on – well, maybe aside from the previously mentioned slight blurring. But other than that? It's a no-nonsense machine for gamers.