TCL C7K / QM7K vs LG QNED80A6A (VA)

TCL C7K is one of the brightest MiniLED televisions in its price range. Under the best testing conditions, the screen managed to achieve over 1200 nits, resulting in impressive, at times almost blindingly bright scenes. And most importantly – this is not just a theory based on measurements. In practice, the brightest parts of films can shine with true cinematic grandeur. Fans of home HDR cinema should be truly satisfied.

The impression is excellent, especially in scenes with large areas of brightness – a white sky, explosions, sun reflections, or magical sunsets can surprise with an intensity of light that is rarely seen in this price range.

However, it gets a bit worse when more challenging scenarios appear on the screen, as described when discussing contrast – that is, images full of details, with small, bright elements on a dark background. In such cases, the C7K often decides to preserve black levels at the expense of brightness. An example? Scenes from the films Sicario 2 or Life of Pi, where small light sources (like a distant lantern) can become less visible, and details in the lights are simply dimmed or blend into the background.

For many viewers, this may be an acceptable compromise – as we achieve deep black levels and a pleasing plasticity of the image. Nevertheless, it is worth being aware that the visibility of small details in bright areas is not this model's strongest suit. It is simply a technological limitation that still exists – even with over 300 zones.

Let's now talk about how this television shines. If you are expecting dazzling light effects, we need to temper your enthusiasm. The LG QNED80A is a moderately bright television. Our measurements in most movie scenes indicated values around 350-400 nits. This is not enough to speak of a full, cinematic HDR experience and the sense of that famous "high dynamism" offered by flagship products. However, brightness is not everything. Although the QNED80A is not a "light monster," it makes up for it in another crucial category: colours. This is where PFS technology comes into play, which LG marketers disguise under the name QNED/NanoCell. Thanks to this approach, the television offers a much wider colour palette than classic LCD designs. In our tests, coverage of the cinematic DCI-P3 palette reached a solid 93-94%. What does this mean for you? That even with lower brightness, when watching movies in HDR, colours will be vivid, deep, and appropriately saturated. The image is not washed out but rather juicy, which is a significant advantage in this price range.

A new feature in TCL televisions for 2025 is the long-awaited Filmmaker mode, which until now has been found in most competing brands. This is great news, as this mode is considered to be the truest to 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 this mode does not guarantee perfection. The Filmmaker mode in the TCL C7K is not without its flaws. There can be criticism of the incorrect white balance, particularly a slight dominance of blue, which resulted in cool, somewhat greyish skin tones. But that was not the biggest issue. The main complaint was the excessive brightness exposure, which is clearly visible on the gamma and EOTF graphs. The image was simply too bright, at times even blown out, which affected not only the texture of scenes but also the overall viewing experience. Some details were simply lost, and the entire image looked as if someone had slightly overcooked the brightness slider. As always, we decided to check what could be extracted from this after calibration. And that’s where it started to get really interesting…

It might seem that since the QNED80A is one model, regardless of the version, it should offer the same picture. However, practice shows something completely different. Analyzing the variant with a VA panel in the best factory setting – that is, in Filmmaker Mode – we noticed a specific characteristic. This television, “out of the box,” serves us a picture with a clear dominance of red and a deficiency of blue. Overall, it is very warm, even hot. Many users may describe this as a picture that is “too cinematic,” leaning towards sepia. Additionally, there is the issue of the gamma curve – the television has a tendency to slightly artificially brighten scenes (gamma is too low), causing the picture to lose some depth. The good news is that these are not panel errors, but merely software issues. As always in our tests, we conducted professional calibration, which completely eliminated these shortcomings, restoring the natural white balance and correct saturation.

After calibration, the TCL C7K showcased 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 to the point that colour errors on the ColorChecker palette dropped below a value of 2. For the uninitiated – this is nearly a perfect result, which means that the image is very close to what the creators intended. Unfortunately, the situation was worse with 4K HDR content. Although we managed to gently stabilize the white balance and correct its previous errors, it was still evident that the television has certain "MiniLED traits," especially in brightness management. When we checked how the C7K handled the EOTF curve on actual film scenes, rather than just on synthetic test patterns, it turned out that the screen still tends to slightly brighten the entire image. This impacts the overall experience – blacks lose 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 can display an image that can compete successfully with much more expensive models. Good colour tuning, natural skin tones, and pleasant brightness make movie sessions and everyday viewing of content more than satisfactory.

Was it worth spending time on calibration? Definitely yes. We managed to tame the initial, too warm white balance and, most importantly, correct the gamma curve. The television stopped artificially brightening scenes, which gave the image depth. The greatest improvement is noticeable in SDR content, that is, while watching regular television, YouTube, or playing games without HDR. Here the QNED80A shows its class – colour reproduction errors (DeltaE) have dropped below a value of 2. In technical terms, this means that the errors are virtually unnoticeable to the human eye. The image in everyday use has simply become very attractive, natural, and correct. The difficulties begin with HDR content. Although we managed to improve the white balance, the EOTF curve graph (responsible for brightness at various levels) shows that the television still "interprets" the image in its own way. This stems from the nature of the edge-lit backlight with local dimming and the fact that LG gives the calibrator very little control over this parameter. In short: the television struggles to hide its hardware shortcomings, sometimes ignoring our commands. Nevertheless, the final image is significantly more accurate and pleasant to behold than with factory settings, even if it falls a bit short of studio perfection.

TCL C7K is equipped with a feature that, according to the manufacturer, is meant to smooth out unwanted colour transitions – a sort of rescue for less successful tonal shifts. It is called "Gradual Smoothing" and… well, it sounds ambitious, but in practice it works very poorly. Regardless of whether we set it to a low or high level, the difference is minimal. Worst of all, the feature can cut out elements from the picture that should be there. Fortunately, 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 is somewhat better. SD and HD materials look quite decent, although at times we had the impression that the image loses sharpness and becomes too soft – as if something took away its definition. Fortunately, with very low sources (e.g. 576p), there was no overscan effect, meaning the picture was not artificially cropped – everything fit on the screen as it should.

In this category, the QNED80A proves to be a true "dark horse." It is an excellent, affordable television for those who frequently watch lower-quality content – for example, traditional cable TV. The processor used here handles upscaling, that is, enhancing low resolution to native 4K, exceptionally well. The image after processing is natural, smooth, and, most importantly, not overly jagged or artificially sharpened. In the menu, we also find a dedicated option for smoothing tonal transitions in low-quality content. This feature works really effectively, eliminating annoying "banding" of colours under heavy video compression. However, we must remain vigilant. Remember that we are not dealing with a top-tier processor known from flagship OLED models. In more challenging scenes, the system may struggle and introduce minor artefacts or distortions. Nonetheless, it is definitely worth giving this feature a chance, as in most cases the quality improvement is visibly apparent.

The TCL C7K handles motion fluidity really very well. The matrix used in it offers a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which in itself suggests that this television is more than just a regular "60 Hz" panel. Furthermore – if we connect the C7K to a computer and set the resolution to Full HD. But we'll write more about this in the paragraph about gamers and PC collaboration. Returning to everyday use – both sports and films look very good here. Thanks to the fast panel and well-functioning motion smoothing, the C7K is great for watching matches, but also for movie screenings. In the menu, we find two sliders – motion blur reduction and flicker reduction – which allow us to adjust the fluidity effect to our own preferences. At lower settings, we get a more cinematic effect, with slight stuttering motion. At higher settings – the picture becomes more theatrical, fluid to the point of excess. Everyone has their own preferences – anyone can set it to their liking.

We move on to a matter that may be decisive for many. Unfortunately, here we must point out the biggest "Achilles' heel" of the QNED80A model. This television is equipped with a panel featuring a native refresh rate of 60Hz. There is no denying it – at this price, we expected more as we know that Chinese manufacturers can offer 120Hz screens for a similar price. Due to this parameter, dynamic scenes in sports or fast-paced games are not the strongest aspect of this display. Fortunately, LG has equipped the television with a proven motion smoothing system called TruMotion. It works quite effectively with film material (24 frames). We suggest playing around with the De-Judder slider – from our experience, setting it in the range of 2-4 provides the best compromise: the motion becomes smoother, yet still looks natural, without the artificial "television theatre" effect.

The TCL C7K is a television that on paper appears to be the dream equipment for gamers – and most importantly, it holds up in practice too. To start with good news: there are two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, so we can easily connect both a console and a computer, taking advantage of all their capabilities. The panel itself supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which gives a significant advantage in dynamic games. There is also a complete set of gaming features: VRR (variable refresh rate), ALLM (automatic low-latency mode), and support for Dolby Vision in games. There is also the HGiG mode, which allows for HDR effects consistent with the creators' intentions. GameBar, an information bar for gamers. It works quickly, looks clear (like a Nintendo console👌), and shows what matters most: the current frame rate, VRR status, and even HDR parameters.

Now that we have established that the QNED80A is a television with a 60Hz panel, we must say it plainly: we will not be playing here at 120 frames per second at any resolution. Does this disqualify the equipment in the eyes of gamers? Not necessarily, especially those "casual" ones. LG has decided to sweeten this technical limitation by packing quite a few useful functions inside. We have support for VRR (variable refresh rate) in the range of 48-60Hz and automatic game mode ALLM, which instantly reduces input lag upon detection of a console. All of this is managed from a very convenient, purple Game Optimizer menu, which has already become LG's hallmark. A big plus goes to the manufacturer for consistency regarding HDR. Although the television does not support Dolby Vision in games on Xbox consoles, LG adds a well-implemented HGiG standard. Thanks to this, even on a moderately bright screen, playing in HDR is clear, and the details in shadows and highlights are accurately reproduced, rather than "cut off".