TCL C7K / QM7K 55"-85" vs Dreame S100

In terms of brightness, the models ranging from 55 to 85 inches in the C7K series are truly impressive. Under the best testing conditions, the 65-inch screen reached over 1200 nits, which in practice means that the brightest scenes can shine with almost cinematic brilliance. These are not just dry numbers from measurements – during viewings, the white skies, explosions or reflections of light on water looked extraordinarily striking, often giving the impression that the television exceeded its price class. This is particularly effective in scenes with large areas of brightness, where the screen is filled with intense light – such as in sunlit shots or during dynamic action sequences. Viewers seeking strong HDR will definitely be satisfied.

However, scenes that require precise control of the backlighting – with small points of light on a dark background – prove to be more challenging. Here, the C7K, despite having over a thousand zones, still dims the brightness to maintain deep blacks. The effect is that in films like Sicario 2 or Life of Pi, some details, like a distant lantern or single reflections, can be less distinct or blend into the surroundings. This is a compromise inherent in MiniLED technology – it provides excellent image depth and blacks at a level that ordinary LCDs do not offer, but this comes at the cost of limited visibility of the finest lights.

The Dreame S100 is a relatively bright television. In movie mode, the brightness we measured reached around 600 nits. This is a really good result, although not the highest when considering the competition at this price point. In fullscreen scenes, it is evident that the television can produce an image that impresses with its brightness. Unfortunately, when more complex scenes appeared on the screen, the local dimming algorithm in this model primarily focused on maintaining the deepest blacks. However, this came at the expense of HDR performance – and in a drastic manner. In such scenes, the brightness of bright elements dropped below 100 nits, which is a frankly tragic result, far from any HDR effect. One can improve this aspect, but not without a "however." It is simply necessary to change the local dimming setting in the television's menu, but then the blacks in such scenes simply become grey. It's a pity that Dreame couldn't better refine the local dimming algorithms, and the S100 is another example that the sheer number of local dimming zones does not always translate to a better image. As a consolation, it is worth adding that the Dreame S100 is advertised as a "QLED" type television, although in reality it uses a PFS LED filter. As a result, the colours are appropriately saturated, and the colour gamut coverage of DCI-P3 we measured exceeded 94%.

A new feature in TCL televisions for 2025 is the long-awaited Filmmaker mode, which until now could be found in most competing brands. This is great news, as this mode is considered the one that most accurately represents the original vision of the creators and is often recommended by enthusiasts of good picture quality. Unfortunately – as is often the case – the mere presence of it does not guarantee perfection. The Filmmaker mode in the TCL C7K is not without its flaws. One can point out the incorrect white balance, particularly the slight dominance of blue, which resulted in cool, somewhat greyish skin tones. But that was not the biggest issue. The main complaint was excessive brightness exposure, which was clearly visible on gamma and EOTF charts. The image was simply too bright, at times even overexposed, which affected not only the texture of the scenes but also the overall viewing experience. Some details were simply lost, and the entire image looked like someone had slightly overdone the brightness slider. As always, we decided to see what could be squeezed out of it after calibration. And that’s where it started to get really interesting…

We tested the Dreame S100 in 'movie' mode and we definitely recommend using this setting for watching all types of content. Interestingly, within the deeper settings of the television, we also find a dedicated 'Filmmaker' mode, which is now available from almost every manufacturer. However, in the case of the Dreame S100, we do not recommend using it – it blocks all settings related to the picture and does not allow for any configuration in the menu - even motion smoothing. So, how do the factory colours of the S100 fare? Not too badly, but also not the best. The television itself was quite heavily tinted with blue components, which is clearly visible in our white balance measurements. This made the picture artificially brightened, and the colours had a slight bluish tint. This is confirmed by the Color Checker palette, which showed how the colour samples tend to drift towards blue, generating quite significant colour errors. The picture in HDR mode looked definitely better, where the colour errors were not as prominent, although they still fell far from perfection. Here, the white balance was also shifted too much towards blue, causing considerable errors in colour reproduction.

After calibration, the TCL C7K presented itself in a really good light, especially when it comes to SDR content. We managed to precisely tune the white balance, colour gamut, and brightness characteristics so that the colour errors on the ColorChecker palette fell below a value of 2. For the uninitiated – this is nearly a perfect result, indicating that the image closely resembles what the creators intended. Unfortunately, it looked worse with 4K HDR content. While we slightly managed to calm the white balance and correct its previous errors, it still shows that the TV has some “MiniLED traits”, particularly in brightness management. When we checked how the C7K copes with the EOTF curve on real film scenes, rather than just synthetic test patterns, it turned out that the screen still tends to slightly brighten the entire image. This affects the overall impression – the black loses some depth, and the image becomes less contrasty than it should be. Despite these minor shortcomings in HDR content, the overall reception of materials – especially in SDR – is truly very good. After calibration, the C7K is capable of displaying an image that can successfully compete with much more expensive models. Good colour tuning, natural skin tones, and pleasant brightness ensure that movie sessions and everyday content viewing are more than satisfactory.

The Dreame S100 has proven to be a device very amenable to professional calibration. In its menu, we found a plethora of advanced options that allowed us to effectively correct factory errors. Thanks to advanced white balance correction – both in SDR and HDR content – we completely eliminated the excess blue components. The image immediately became much more natural and pleasant to the eye. After fully tuning the colours, the errors in the Color Checker test dropped below Delta E values of 2-3. For the average viewer, this means that any colour distortions have become nearly impossible to perceive with the naked eye. This is truly a pleasant surprise, as new brands in the television market often encounter significant issues with the correct implementation and functioning of sliders in the calibration menu. Here, everything worked as it should. The only thing we must criticise is the way the television manages its brightness in HDR. Due to the specific nature of the local dimming algorithms, anomalies can be seen on the EOTF curve we measured. Where high highlights should appear, there is a slight boosting of the curve above the reference line. In practice, this causes an unnatural brightening of some of the brightest elements in films or games. Despite this minor flaw, professional calibration brings about a huge, very positive change in this model.

The TCL C7K features a function that, according to the manufacturer, is designed to smooth out unwanted colour transitions – a sort of rescue for less successful tonal shifts. It's called "Gradual Smoothing" and... well, it sounds ambitious, but in practice, it works very poorly. Regardless of whether we set it to low or high, the difference is minimal. What's worse, the function can cut out elements from the image that should remain. Fortunately, the film grain remains untouched, so at least it doesn't smooth everything indiscriminately, but still – it's better to simply turn this option off.

When it comes to scaling lower resolution content, it’s much better. SD and HD materials look quite decent, although at times we had the impression that the image was losing sharpness and becoming too soft – as if something was detracting from its clarity. Fortunately, with very low sources (e.g. 576p), there was no overscan effect, meaning the image was not artificially cropped – everything fit on the screen as it should.

For scaling and digital processing in the Dreame S100, the technology that the manufacturer proudly calls Dreamind™ Pro AI is responsible. However, it must be clearly stated that this is not a proprietary processor, but merely a marketing name for a chip made by MediaTek – more precisely, the MT5889 model. Unfortunately, we are talking about a rather outdated unit, from a time when MediaTek lagged significantly behind the competition in terms of performance. This unfortunately has a direct impact on the image as that is what this chip also deals with. The upscaling in the S100 is quite mediocre, and the processor has a tendency to heavily and artificially sharpen edges (fortunately, this can be somewhat tempered with the sharpness slider in the menu). In the options, we also find the "Contour Smoothing" feature, which theoretically is supposed to improve tonal transitions. In practice, it offers almost no improvement – setting it to any level rarely eliminates visible banding of colours, but it can unnecessarily blur elements of the image that should remain sharp.

A separate issue is the phenomenon of overscan (cropping the edges of the frame), which is noticeable here practically all the time. Although there is an option to set the screen to display the full frame in low-resolution materials, this requires activating the previously mentioned Filmmaker mode. And as you know, this mode completely blocks the adjustment of any other sliders in the picture menu. In our test tables, we marked that the television offers an option to disable overscan, as technically such a function exists in the system – however, in everyday use, when maintaining sensible image settings, you will not be able to take advantage of it.

The TCL C7K handles motion smoothness really very well. The matrix used in it offers a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which in itself suggests that this television is something more than a regular "60 Hz" panel. What's more – if we connect the C7K to a computer and set the resolution to Full HD. But we will write more about this in the section for gamers and cooperation with PCs. Returning to everyday use – both sports and films look very good here. Thanks to the fast panel and well-functioning motion smoother, the C7K is great for watching matches, as well as for film screenings. In the menu, we find two sliders – blur reduction and flicker reduction – which allow you to adjust the smoothness effect to your own preferences. At lower settings, we get a more cinematic effect, with a slight choppy motion. At higher settings – the image becomes more theatrical, overly smooth. Everyone can set it to their liking.

When it comes to motion fluidity, the Dreame S100 performs really well. It features a panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, although in reality, the vast majority of people using it in a traditional way will still be limited to 120 Hz (as this is the maximum supported by today's equipment apart from PCs). Thanks to the high refresh rate, the image in motion remains really sharp, largely thanks to the well-functioning MEMC smoother. In the menu, we find predefined modes that allow the television to efficiently generate artificial frames, which effectively improves the fluidity of dynamic sports scenes, but also eliminates image stuttering in film and series materials recorded at 24 frames.

The TCL C7K is a television that on paper appears to be the dream equipment for gamers – and most importantly, it also holds up in practice. To start with the good news: there are two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, so we can easily connect both a console and a computer, making full use of their capabilities. The panel itself supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which provides a significant advantage in fast-paced games. Additionally, it comes with a complete set of gaming features: VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), and support for Dolby Vision in games. There is also an HGiG mode that allows for an HDR effect in line with the creators' intentions. GameBar, which is an information bar for gamers. It works quickly, looks clear (like a Nintendo console👌), and shows the most important information: the current frame rate, VRR status, and even HDR parameters.

The Dreame S100 seems almost like the perfect screen for a gamer. The television is equipped with 2 HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 40 Gbps, which means that functions like automatic game mode (ALLM) and variable refresh rate (VRR) ranging from 48 to 144 Hz work seamlessly on consoles. It also features a well-designed gaming panel (Game Bar), allowing users to continuously monitor important parameters—from active picture modes to the number of frames rendered by the console, and even the option to add a crosshair in the middle of the screen. All of this looks great on paper; however, the biggest problem with the S100 is the implementation of HDR mode in games. The television does not have the HGiG format implemented correctly. As a result, an unsuspecting user may incorrectly configure the console when first using the screen. Poor configuration can lead to an image that is too dark or too washed out (as a guideline: we suggest setting the brightness in the Xbox console menu to around 600 nits, and in the PS5 to 12 clicks). The Dolby Vision format also proves problematic, as it often would not activate at all between the XBOX and Dreame S100. And when it was finally managed to be activated, playing was not possible due to a very high input lag often exceeding 100ms. If the manufacturer can improve the HDR issue in games via an update, the S100 will be truly excellent hardware for gamers. For now, however, compromises need to be accepted.