Xiaomi S Pro 2026 vs TCL C7L

When it comes to HDR quality, the Xiaomi S Pro 2026 is undoubtedly a very bright television. On our synthetic measurement patterns, we were able to generate peak brightness of around 1400 nits. This result is not only very good but truly spectacular, considering the price of this model. However, as we always emphasise, for our editorial team, measurements and the experiences from the content viewed on a daily basis - from films and series - are more important. So let's analyse how the Xiaomi performs with film material. The result is, unfortunately, quite mixed. When very bright scenes appear on screen, the S Pro 2026 really shows its full potential and can achieve a real 800-1000 nits in bright elements. Moreover, even smaller objects can "burn" the eyes - in scenes from the film Sicario 2, small metal elements of the helicopter were truly vivid. The problem is that - and here the story comes full circle back to our contrast assessment - in such scenes we cannot count on absolutely cinematic black. In our opinion, this compromise is too great; high visibility of details in bright areas should not come at the cost of such a significant boost to black levels. And although the HDR effect itself can make a stunning impression here, it is essential to remember that when very challenging, mixed scenes appear on screen, we might feel a slight disappointment. Exactly the one we mentioned in the previous paragraph regarding issues with dimming in HDR mode. As a consolation, it is worth adding that the S Pro 2026 has been equipped with an additional PFS filter (similar in function to a QLED layer), which effectively broadens the colour gamut coverage. As a result, measurements showed DCI-P3 coverage reaching up to 94%. This gives us confidence that in most colourful scenes, the image will appear rich and appropriately saturated.

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.

Of course, all our measurements were carried out in "Film" mode, which is typically the best and most accurate choice we get straight out of the box. It needs to be said plainly: although it is the best mode, it is still very far from ideal. Firstly, the television has a clear tendency to impart a cool, bluish tint to the image – this is due to a poorly set white balance. Additionally, there is the issue of how the S Pro 2026 manages its brightness straight out of the box, which results in an overly vivid image. These two flaws contribute to truly significant colourimetric errors (Delta E). In HDR content, they were able to exceed our anticipated error scale of "10" by twofold (meaning values close to 20). As a reminder – the threshold for perceivable error by the human eye is a Delta E value of around 3. Results at the level of 20 indicate that the image significantly deviates from what the director intended.

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.

So how does the S Pro 2026 perform after our calibration procedure? We have to admit that after calibration, the television becomes a really very pleasant device for watching everyday content. As you can see in the graphs, in HD (SDR) materials, both white balance and gamma values have been brought to nearly perfection. Most importantly, colourimetric errors have become practically unnoticeable to the human eye. In this scenario, the S Pro 2026 is simply an excellent television that, after professional calibration, can provide a lot of enjoyment from watching. However, it is worth clearly noting – our efforts have not helped much in 4K HDR mode. Despite the calibration, the television still interprets the image quite strongly "in its own way," which is clearly visible in the measurement of the EOTF curve (brightness tracking). It’s a bit of a shame, as it shows that the problem lies not in the panel itself, but in the software. Underdeveloped image management algorithms in HDR content can, unfortunately, rule out this television for many more discerning users.

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.

Let's start with the issue we raised in the previous paragraph: can the television actually fix the problem of dreadful tonal transitions in dark scenes? Theoretically, yes – in the menu, we find a feature with the promising name "Colour Contour Removal." Well, "theoretically." Unfortunately, in practice, this setting – regardless of which of the three power levels is chosen – yielded absolutely no real results. So we are dealing with a feature that, in practice, only exists in the menu. Moving on to the quality of upscaling (scaling the image from a lower resolution to 4K), unfortunately, we have more bad news for you. The S Pro 2026 performs very poorly at this task. Interestingly, the phenomenon of "overscan" (slight cropping of the image) is not a major issue here. The fact is that the television simply displays a very raw, unprocessed image. Its attempt to upscale the signal to a higher resolution looks simply lacklustre and lacks any form of "intelligent" improvement. There is no denying it – the entire digital image processing is the real Achilles' heel of this model.

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.

On paper, the S Pro 2026 specification looks impressive. The television is equipped with a native 144 Hz panel, with the ability to display images at up to 288 Hz in a dedicated gaming mode. These are amazing results, but what interested us most, in the context of everyday use, was how the television handles motion blur and how the image looks at 120 Hz. After all, this is the frequency used by consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and it is desired by sports fans. Generally, the panel "holds up". The matrix is sufficiently fast to meet these challenges, and objects displayed at native 120Hz fluidity are shown correctly. As for the software, the television is equipped with motion smoothing technology; however, with a key caveat – it works only for input signals up to 60 Hz. This means it is primarily suitable for traditional television, films, and series. Thanks to this, we can adjust the fluidity of the image to our own preferences – from a very smooth, "theatrical" approach to setting the slider to "zero" and maintaining a fully cinematic character.

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.

For gamers, the Xiaomi S Pro 2026 is almost an ideal proposition on paper. It is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, which allow us to unlock (although these options are somewhat hidden in the menu) the full package of features: ALLM, VRR and, crucially, the ability to work in 4K at 144 Hz. This last feature should particularly please the owners of powerful PCs. The television also has something resembling a gamer panel – and although it's hard to call it a fully-fledged "Gamebar", it serves its purpose by displaying key information. It’s just a shame that in its default form, it obscures a relatively large portion of the screen.

The biggest issue we have with this model, however, concerns how the S Pro 2026 handles games in HDR mode. To put it bluntly: it doesn’t handle it well at all. Due to the television having a poorly implemented HGiG feature (the HDR tone mapping standard for games), it is very easy to "overexpose" the image during initial HDR calibration on the console. If someone is unaware of this software flaw and follows the on-screen instructions, they will simply set the image incorrectly, resulting in burnt-out details in the bright areas. Another major problem is the Dolby Vision mode for games. While it does work, it generates such a high input lag that it becomes noticeable in dynamic titles. (You can check all our lag measurements in the paragraph below). In summary: Generally speaking, this is a really very good screen for gamers, but with one small caveat. We would rather avoid using HDR mode on it – unless we decide to manually set the brightness bar on the console "by eye", completely ignoring the instructions from the console’s pictogram.

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.