TCL C8K vs Hisense U8Q

The TCL C8K is a truly bright television. In synthetic conditions – that is, during brightness test patterns – it was able to achieve even 3500 nits of peak brightness in movie mode. This is an impressive result that brings the C8K close to the market leaders, at least in terms of panel brightness. More importantly – these are not just numbers on paper. In films with a lot of bright scenes, such as Life of Pi or The Meg, the brightness clearly exceeds 1000 nits, providing a real sense of HDR effect. The picture in such moments looks very dynamic, colours are vibrant thanks to excellent colour gamut coverage, and lights are spot-on and intense. Just as it should be.

However, this does not mean that everything is perfect. Similar to the contrast tests, compromises also arise here in more demanding scenes. In sequences with very fine light elements – such as stars in the night sky or reflections in dark rooms – the local dimming algorithm can… get confused. Instead of bringing those details up, the television sometimes decides to significantly dim them – to a level of around 300 nits – to maintain blacks. On one hand, this is quite a reasonable approach (better deep blacks than a grey/blue screen), but on the other hand – there may be moments when certain elements of the picture become hardly visible or even disappear into darkness.

TEST UPDATE (20/08/2025) : The brightness control algorithm in this model is quite problematic – an attempt to calibrate the picture so that it does not drastically overexpose the brightest scenes results in unnatural shifts: an improvement in one area of the picture leads to a deterioration in another. The television may achieve slightly higher brightness measurements, but in practice, this comes with a highly oversaturated image that looks very unnatural!

For the sake of order, we provide the brightness values without this adjustment:

1. 1463 nits

2. 640 nits

3. 1368 nits

4. 468 nits

5. 1025 nits

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 the C8K, a new picture mode has appeared: Filmmaker Mode. This is something we have known for years from televisions of other brands – a mode designed to deliver the director's vision as faithfully as possible, without unnecessary image enhancements. Unfortunately, with TCL, this still seems to be at a stage 'in need of improvement'. At first glance, the screen appears too warm – the image leans towards reds, which may not appeal to everyone. The white balance was significantly skewed – the screen looked distinctly warm, and the red colour dominated almost every scene. There was a lack of blue, which resulted in an unpleasant yellowing and distortion of the image. But that’s not all. Regardless of whether we were watching regular television, YouTube, or films in HDR – the television had a clear tendency to excessively brighten the image. In the gamma and EOTF graph tests, the lines, instead of sticking to the pattern, strayed, which in practice translates to an overly bright and less contrasty image. Additionally, in the colour reproduction tests, there were noticeable deviations – on the colour wheel, certain points were even 'off the mark'. It must be said plainly: Filmmaker Mode in the C8K in its current form is not very filmic.

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.

After professional calibration, the TCL C8K has made a huge step forward. In SDR content, we managed to almost perfectly set the white balance – the screen has finally stopped being too warm and has acquired a neutral character. The gamma curve, responsible for the way brightness is reproduced, also looks very good now – the image is more consistent and realistic. We also improved the white balance in HDR content – within the limits that the television itself allows. Unfortunately, the C8K still interprets brightness management somewhat "in its own way." When we look at the EOTF chart in films, it is clear that the television brightens entire scenes more than it should. Before calibration, this effect was really troublesome – now the situation looks much better, although it still falls a bit short of perfection. This, however, is a limitation of the device itself, which – despite our efforts – does not allow us to fully tame its nature.

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.

How does the TCL C8K perform with lower quality content? One could say: reasonably well, though without much enthusiasm. The television offers a tonal transition enhancement feature, which aims to smooth out unwanted gradients. In practice, there is a slight improvement, but it is not at a level that will eliminate all imperfections. The feature subtly softens harsh transitions, but does not perform miracles. Film grain is not completely suppressed, and gentle banding on grey backgrounds can still be noticeable. But perhaps that is for the best? – at least the image does not lose its texture or depth, as can happen with televisions that overdo digital processing. When it comes to upscaling, or enhancing the quality of images from lower resolutions, the C8K performs quite well. The picture is sharp, and details – although sometimes slightly softened – remain readable. However, it is not at the level of the best image processors from the competition. On the plus side, it is worth noting the lack of overscan issues, which is the artificial trimming of the image that can still surprise in some models from other brands.

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.

If you are planning a weekend with the Champions League or a marathon of F1 races – the TCL C8K won't let you down. The television is equipped with a 144 Hz panel, which means it should handle fast motion well by definition. And indeed – it performs very well. The fluidity of motion is at a very good level here, and the "Motion Clarity" feature with two sliders (motion blur reduction and flicker reduction) makes it easy to adjust the effect to your own preferences. Want to smooth it out a bit – you can. Prefer a cinematic look – no problem.

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.

TCL C8K offers practically everything we could expect from a screen for gamers. It features variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic game mode (ALLM), Dolby Vision in games, and a correctly functioning implementation of HGiG, which helps preserve the creators' intentions in HDR titles. The television also supports 120 Hz at lower resolutions without any issues and can even display an astonishing 288 Hz in Full HD – a value that is sure to please fans of dynamic shooters and racing games on PC.

We also find the GameBar – a graphic interface reminiscent of an elongated Nintendo Switch console. It is thanks to this that we gain quick access to information about the current game mode, frame rate, HDR format, and other details that really make life easier for the gamer. Of course, we couldn't resist and launched a couple of races in Forza Horizon on the C8K – and we must admit, it looked and performed really well.

However, there is a slight drawback – in such a fast and evidently gaming device, it is somewhat disappointing that the manufacturer opted for the implementation of only two HDMI 2.1 ports. For some users who utilise several next-generation consoles and, for example, a soundbar with eARC, this might be a certain limitation that is hard to overlook.

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 😉