TCL V6C vs TCL C7L

When it comes to HDR, the TCK V6C clearly shows that this is not its strong suit. A peak brightness of around 200 nits makes it difficult to speak of true HDR effects – the image simply remains too dark to extract details in bright scenes or convey the appropriate dynamics. Although the television formally supports many HDR formats, in practice it is not equipped for such demanding content. The lack of additional coatings that enhance colours, such as QLED or PFS LED, further limits the attractiveness of the image – in more spectacular productions, colours can appear washed out compared to more expensive models. Therefore, the V6C will primarily serve as a television for everyday viewing, YouTube or SDR content, rather than as equipment for cinematic experiences in high quality.

TCL C7L is undoubtedly an extremely bright television. In synthetic tests on static images, it can achieve peak brightness of around 2800 nits. This is an exceptionally phenomenal result, considering the price range it occupies. Unfortunately, tests of real film scenes are not quite as spectacular as measurements of white squares. Brightness in actual HDR shots drops to around 1200 nits in the C7L model. This is still a very good result, as this is the value to which the vast majority of contemporary films are mastered. However, when small, point-like elements appear on the screen, the brightness of these details drastically decreases – even down to around 400 nits – which diminishes the HDR effect somewhat. The television does this deliberately to maintain a better level of black and to avoid a giant light bloom. This is somewhat explainable, but it also shows that Mini LED technology is not entirely uncompromising in this regard. As for the HDR effect itself – alongside brightness, colours are of course key here. And those, thanks to the use of new "super" quantum dots, are simply outstanding and among the best on the market. The television can achieve about 90% coverage of the ultra-wide BT.2020 colour gamut and 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut, easily matching the best RGB MINI-LED screens. Best of all, the C7L can maintain such a high saturation of colours regardless of the scene being displayed, which often poses a challenge for competing RGB Mini-LED televisions.

We started our colour reproduction tests with the Filmmaker mode, which in theory should be the best choice straight out of the box. It certainly performs better than the Eco or Dynamic modes, which significantly alter the image and spoil its natural character. As you can see from the graphs, the factory calibration of the V6C is not ideal, although it's not a complete disaster either. The biggest issue turned out to be a deficiency in red – the television clearly "cools" the image, which is particularly noticeable on human faces, giving a "corpse skin" effect. This issue was the most bothersome in everyday viewing. Looking at the colour palette in HDR content, the shortcomings in red are also noticeable, and their source is the relatively narrow coverage of the colour space. Of course, every television can be calibrated, so we decided to check how the V6C would perform after such an adjustment.

When it comes to colours straight out of the box, a new feature in TCL televisions – including the C7L model – is the presence of a new picture mode called Filmmaker Mode. This is significant news, as such a mode was not available from this manufacturer before. By design, as indicated by the name itself, the image in this setting is meant to be presented with the full intention of the film's creator. After our tests, we can confirm that it is undoubtedly the best built-in mode on this television if you care about faithful colour reproduction straight out of the box. However, we certainly wouldn't say it is perfect. Like most devices on the market, this C7L also had its factory flaws. The white balance in Filmmaker Mode tended to shift towards a slightly greenish-yellow hue, primarily caused by an excess of green and a clear deficiency of blue. Of course, for the average viewer, this won't be a drastic flaw, but if you care about perfect whites, natural skin tones, and unlocking the full potential of those new "super" quantum dots, then the television is crying out for professional calibration.

My dear friends – we haven’t had such a difficult "calibration battle" in years. The V6C turned out to be one of the most stubborn televisions we have encountered in the editorial office. The calibration attempts alone took us several man-hours and required considerable patience. We finally managed to slightly warm the skin tones, which made faces stop looking like they were pulled straight from a horror film, a complaint regarding the factory settings. Unfortunately, that's not the end of it – the television reacted to our white balance corrections in a completely unpredictable manner. Where we expected stabilisation of the image in a certain area, new errors appeared, and the Color Checker measurements showed deviations that could not be rationally explained. It is hard to determine whether the issue lay with the software or the design itself, but one thing is certain – the V6C put up exceptionally strong resistance. Ultimately, the calibration brought improvement, especially in SDR content, where the image became more pleasant and natural. However, it must be clearly stated that the design limitations remain. The television still flattens the image in HDR materials and has noticeable deficiencies in colour reproduction. This device is rather intended for everyday television watching or SDR materials than for cinematic viewing in the highest quality.

After conducting a professional calibration, we were able to significantly improve the situation in the factory mode Filmmaker Mode. Following our adjustments, errors in the ColorChecker test and across the entire wide colour gamut fell below the threshold of human perception – that is, below a value of 3, which is truly an excellent result. The TCL C7L definitely benefits from such an operation in terms of colour fidelity, and this is difficult to dispute. However, the management of brightness in HDR content post-calibration does not look as good. As I described earlier – even though we set up this model appropriately, when we turn on real film scenes on the television, it manages its brightness in quite a peculiar way. It often highlights certain elements on the screen contrary to the creator's intention, which can be clearly seen in the EOTF graphs measured in specific films. Despite this defect – or rather the specific trait of this television – one cannot deny that after calibration, the C7L was able to reproduce colours completely accurately.

When it comes to upscaling, the V6C does not bring anything groundbreaking to the table. Lower quality content is heavily sharpened, making the image look very unnatural, at times even artificial. This can be somewhat mitigated by lowering the sharpness level in the settings, but the effect is not spectacular. The image still remains far from ideal. The digital processing itself performs better. The function responsible for smoothing tonal transitions works quite effectively, especially at the medium setting, where the image does indeed appear smoother. Unfortunately, its operation is rather aggressive – it heavily interferes with the overall scene, causing the actors in the foreground to start looking like characters from super smooth soap operas. Therefore, we would rather not recommend using this option if a natural viewing experience is important to us.

This point could be called, in a sense, the Achilles' heel of the C7L model. Unfortunately, this television uses an older chipset from MediaTek – the Pentonic 700 – which has never been known for outstanding digital picture processing. This is clearly visible in the performance of the smoothing function, which is responsible for reducing jagged edges and removing digital noise. It simply works very poorly – when set to a low level, its effectiveness is practically nonexistent. A small credit should perhaps be given here for the fact that the algorithm does not additionally ruin the picture or blur details forcibly. The upscaling, which is the scaling of the image from lower resolutions to 4K, fares a bit better. It is simply adequate and does not stand out in any particular way against the competition. However, it cannot be denied that the C7L would greatly benefit in this aspect if the manufacturer decided to use the newer Pentonic 800 processor, which is now found in an increasing number of competing models.

Motion smoothing and fluidity are areas where the V6C quickly reveals its limitations. It's a 60 Hz television, so it was difficult to expect miracles here. During dynamic sports scenes, the image is rather average. This is most noticeable in darker scenes, where clear trails and blurred "glows" follow moving objects, which can be quite distracting. This is definitely a weaker point of this design. Fortunately, there is also a small plus. The V6C is equipped with a motion smoother that works while watching films. Thanks to it, productions recorded at 24 frames per second, which includes practically all cinematic titles and series, can look smoother than they were actually recorded. Importantly, the intensity of the effect can be adjusted to personal preferences – from a slight smoothing to a full "soap opera effect".

TCL C7L features a native 4K panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which at lower resolutions – when using a PC – can even ramp up to 288 Hz. These are, of course, very high values and commendable on paper, but in everyday life, it is worth remembering that almost all dynamic content you display on this television will still rotate around a maximum of 120 Hz. To tame this dynamism, the television's menu includes a motion smoothing system called "Motion Clarity." It offers several predefined modes, including a user mode, which we definitely recommend setting manually using our tried-and-tested guides on our YouTube channel. There, we have two key sliders at our disposal. The first one, "Motion Blur Reduction," is responsible for reducing blurring and improving sharpness in dynamic 60-frame materials, such as sports broadcasts. Meanwhile, the second slider, "Flicker Reduction," allows for the addition of artificial frames in films and series recorded at cinematic 24 or 30 frames per second. This certainly eliminates the irritating stutter in images during camera movement shots.

Although the V6C is not a television designed with avid gamers in mind, TCL has added a few features that might appeal to more casual users. It does not have a 120 Hz panel or HDMI 2.1 ports, but there is an ALLM mode that automatically switches the television to low-latency mode. Additionally, there is quite a practical Game Bar – a simple panel for previewing basic parameters, changing picture modes, or even activating a virtual crosshair on the screen. An interesting feature is the support for Dolby Vision Gaming, intended for Xbox Series S/X consoles – a nice addition, although in practice it does not offer as much as in more expensive models. However, the biggest issue remains the configuration of HDR. The HGiG function, responsible for adjusting the brightness and contrast of games to the capabilities of the panel, does not respond as we would expect – the image can be excessively dark or too flat. As a result, the better solution turns out to be simply playing in SDR mode, where the V6C performs stably and does not try to pretend to be a HDR television.

When it comes to gaming, the TCL C7L is simply an outstanding television for gamers. With the presence of two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports at 48 Gbps, it provides access to all the key features that console and high-end PC owners require. It has a well-functioning ALLM mode with very low input lag and VRR frame synchronization that operates in an impressive range from 48 up to 288 Hz. Importantly, unlike some competitors, TCL has ensured a proper implementation of the console HDR10 HGIG profile and support for Dolby Vision in games. This is complemented by a very well-designed player panel, known as the Game Bar, which even allows you to customise its appearance and change the theme to perfectly match the style of your console.

The only thing that can – and indeed should – be critiqued here is the fact that the television offers only two full HDMI 2.1 ports, while the other two are older HDMI 2.0. This creates quite a significant logistical problem. Why? Because one of those fast ports also supports the eARC audio return channel. In practice, this means that if you connect a soundbar or home cinema system to the television, you will only have one free HDMI 2.1 port left. If you have two consoles or a console and a powerful computer at home, unfortunately, you'll have to give something up or frequently juggle cables at the back of the unit while maintaining convenient control over your audio system.