LG OLED B5 vs TCL C8L / QM8L

LG B5 is a moderately bright OLED TV. Regardless of the scene, it can generate around 500 nits of peak brightness. And interestingly, it does this even in full-screen shots flooded with white, where most OLEDs usually fall short. So, is this screen suitable for HDR movies? Yes – absolutely, because such brightness really allows you to feel the magic of HDR effects. However, it's worth noting that compared to last year's model B4, the new B5 is darker – by about 100 nits. It may seem like a small difference, but at such average peak values, it makes quite a significant difference. Fortunately, the TV makes up for it with another advantage – excellent coverage of the DCI-P3 and BT.2020 color gamut. As a result, HDR movies look really colorful, vibrant, and impressive even in more demanding scenes.

In terms of HDR, the TCL C8L turns out to be a hellishly bright television – and I mean literally. On a synthetic chart of 5%, our measuring equipment indicated a result exceeding 4500 nits. This is a result that is downright cosmic, considering that reference director monitors, which we often refer to in our materials, typically operate around 4000 nits. Does this mean that the C8L breaks barriers and climbs to the technological peak of Mini-LED? Not exactly. Dry synthetic tests are one thing, and real movie images are another. In real, varied scenes, the C8L achieves a peak of around 1600 nits. This is still a very good result, ensuring a very high level of HDR dynamics, but also clearly lower than what the manufacturer boasts in the specifications. The trouble starts with very small flashes of light – then brightness can drastically drop to around 600 nits. The algorithm tries at all costs to maintain deep black and minimize halo effect, but it does so at the expense of HDR impact. This is perfect evidence that laboratory charts rarely correspond to what we ultimately see on the screen.

Huge applause is due for color reproduction, all thanks to the new generation of SQD (Super Quantum Dot) quantum dots. The coverage of the DCI-P3 palette reaches 97%, but the true jaw-dropper is the measurement of the extremely demanding BT.2020 space. The C8L achieves as much as 90% in it, placing it alongside today's top screens that boast RGB backlighting. Importantly, unlike some screens with Micro/Mini RGB backlighting, this effect is stable regardless of the scene displayed. Of course, one must remember that content mastered for such a wide gamut in films or series is still a rarity. However, the mere fact that the panel has such a "color reserve" deserves immense admiration.

We tested the B5 in Filmmaker mode and... we would like to see more TVs like this straight out of the box. Really. The white balance is set very well – there is practically nothing to complain about. Well, if one were to be very picky, one might notice a slight deficiency in blue, which makes the overall picture have a slightly yellowish tint. But that’s just our editorial nitpicking. Most of you probably won't even notice it. We also have some minor reservations about brightness management in HDR format. The EOTF curve – that is, the one responsible for how the TV distributes brightness in a scene – is slightly below the ideal. In practice, it can happen that the darkest parts of the image may be displayed too dark and simply... disappear. But these are details that only come out in measurements. Overall: we are impressed. But we also know that LG TVs respond very well to professional calibration. They can produce nearly reference-quality images, so – even though it's already very good out of the box – we allowed ourselves to take an extra step and fine-tune everything to perfection.

We tested the TCL C8L in the best factory picture mode available in this TV’s menu for image fidelity. That, of course, is Filmmaker Mode, which appeared in this brand’s software relatively recently (a year ago in the "K" series). Thanks to it, an average user can get a pretty good color reproduction straight out of the box, although it is certainly not a perfectly tuned mode. Looking at the factory white balance of our unit, both in SDR and HDR material, the red component was clearly lacking, which made the image noticeably cooler and caused a slight shift toward bluish-green tints. The issue of brightness management is also ambiguous, as we mentioned earlier. While for SDR content the gamma linearity is actually correct and holds steadily at the reference value of 2.4, in HDR things look much worse. Tracking the EOTF curve clearly shows the TV has a significantly boosted brightness across the range, which can make the final image overly bright and inconsistent with the creators’ intent, and that in a mode that by definition should avoid that. Of course, like every sample in our lab, this one also underwent professional calibration, and its results are shown below.

We must admit that we didn't have much work with the LG B5. It's one of those TVs that looks good right from the start, but after calibration… it can really impress. The white balance was brought to almost perfect levels – to a degree of error invisible to the human eye, unless you are a professional colorist with a magnifying glass at the screen. We also managed to control the TV's slight tendency to dim the darkest details, especially in HDR scenes. After proper tuning, everything looks coherent: the black is still deep, but not information-hungry. The highlights retain a natural sparkle, and the colors align with the director's vision. It's really one of those models that show you don't have to spend a fortune to get almost reference-quality image. If you can decide on professional calibration – it's definitely worth it for the B5.

As you can see, the results of a professional calibration of the TCL C8L are really promising, thanks to the extensive adjustment tools the manufacturer put at our disposal in the menu. Above all, we were able to completely correct the white balance — we eliminated the red deficiency, so the image finally stopped drifting toward unwanted cool tones. After that adjustment, errors in the ColorChecker test fell to near-reference levels, regularly landing below a Delta E of 2, which is below the threshold of human perception.

If the test patterns look this perfect, you might ask: why then the lower final score in this category? The answer lies in the brightness management discussed earlier. Although the menu includes sliders that let you precisely straighten the EOTF curve on synthetic signals, when confronted with actual movie material (I recommend enabling the EOTF filter when watching movies), you can see that in most scenarios the TV still reacts to HDR metadata its own way. As a result, the picture can be slightly over-brightened and not faithful to the creators' intent, and it was precisely this lack of consistency with real films that cost the C8L a few points.

LG B5 really surprised us positively in terms of dealing with lower quality content. Thanks to the enhancement and smoothing features, HD or even SD materials get a new life. Importantly – when this option is turned on at the "low" or "medium" level, we don't get the impression that the image is artificially softened or overly smoothed. Details remain intact, film grain does not disappear, and object edges do not look washed out 😉. It's a really useful tool – especially if you watch terrestrial TV, archival materials, or content from YouTube in lower resolutions. The image is clean, cohesive, and simply pleasant to the eye.

Upscaling as such works very well – even content of poor quality is rendered with surprising fidelity. Unfortunately, there was a small hiccup. While the menu offers an option to turn off overscan, the television still struggles to display very low-resolution images correctly. It’s a minor detail, but when watching older materials – it can be annoying.

This year the C8 series and higher models received probably the biggest and most anticipated upgrade in TCL’s history, and it specifically concerns digital image processing. The C8L is the lowest-end model in the manufacturer's lineup to be equipped with the latest flagship chip, the MediaTek Pentonic 800 (listed in the menu as MT9655). Thanks to its processing power, the feature called "Gradual Smoothing" finally works as it should. The algorithm effectively eliminates unwanted posterization (ugly tonal transitions/color banding), doing so intelligently enough that it does not degrade the sharpness of other details.

The processor also handles upscaling lower-resolution content to 4K very well. Although evaluating this element can be mostly academic, because the differences between today's TVs in this class are very subtle. The most important takeaway is that TCL finally has nothing to be ashamed of compared to the competition.

The LG B5 is a television with a 120 Hz OLED panel. It may not sound as impressive as the marketing terms "144 Hz" or "165 Hz" found in gaming monitors, but honestly? The smoothness is still excellent. The picture is sharp, smooth, and simply enjoyable to watch – even when there’s a lot happening on the screen. The organic panel does its job – the pixel response time is nearly instantaneous, which means there’s no blurring or smearing that can ruin dynamic shots. Sports, fast-paced games – everything looks clear and distinct.

We also have LG's classic motion smoother, TruMotion. This feature allows you to smooth out films shot at 24 frames per second – in other words, most of what you watch on Netflix or on Blu-ray discs. If you set the “De-Judder” slider to lower values, you'll get an image closer to the cinematic experience – with a slight judder, but without artificiality. Higher settings? Soap opera effect guaranteed. Fortunately, LG gives you the choice, and you can tune everything as you like.

The TCL C8L is equipped with a fast panel that has a native 144 Hz refresh rate. That spec will be most appreciated by demanding PC gamers, while most users, who rely on consoles or TV broadcasts, will use a steady 120 Hz. It is at 120 Hz that motion processing algorithms handle image rendering for movies, series, and sports. In the TV’s menu you’ll find a "Motion Clarity" option that lets you adjust the motion smoothing to your preferences. The algorithms handle cinematic material at 24 or 30 frames per second (fps) as well as dynamic sports broadcasts at 50 or 60 fps, maintaining appropriate smoothness.

There are already a few televisions on the market with the label "for gamers" that don’t really understand what that means. The LG B5 is not one of them. Everything here is right – there are four HDMI 2.1 ports, it has 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, and it also has a Game Bar that is actually useful, not just looks good in the promotional folder. You connect your console – it works. You set 4K at 120 Hz – it works. You have an Xbox and want to play in Dolby Vision – it works too. And not in the sense of "it theoretically supports it," but rather it really turns on, looks good, and you don’t have to fiddle with the settings for half an hour. On top of that, there’s the HGiG picture mode, which LG has implemented correctly – meaning that HDR in games doesn’t turn the screen into a flashlight but shows exactly what it should. There are no surprises here, no strange limitations, no "buts." And you know what? That’s how it should be. Kudos to the LG B5!

For gamers – especially for those with powerful PCs and several consoles at the same time – the TCL C8L is a true beast. It’s the first model in the manufacturer’s lineup equipped with four full HDMI 2.1 ports with a maximum bandwidth of 48 Gbps. This is directly thanks to the new Pentonic 800 processor we wrote about earlier. Additionally, the TV seamlessly supports virtually every gaming feature. It has an automatic game mode (ALLM) that reduces latency to minimal levels and full frame synchronization (VRR) operating in an impressive range of up to 288 Hz. We’re also talking about standards like G-Sync or FreeSync from Nvidia and AMD. When it comes to image display standards, there are also no compromises: the C8L offers complete support for HDR formats in games, including gaming Dolby Vision and the HGiG profile. All of these features can be conveniently managed from a very readable game bar (Game Bar), which we can customize according to our preferences. From a purely gaming perspective, there really isn’t anything to complain about in the C8L – well, maybe aside from the previously mentioned slight ghosting. But other than that? It’s an unflawed machine for gamers.