LG OLED G5 vs TCL C7K / QM7K 55"-85"

LG G5 with the new Tandem OLED panel brings the biggest change specifically in terms of the brightness of the television. And it’s quite impressive. This is truly an astronomically bright OLED. In every tested scene – whether it’s point lights or full-screen whites from the movie The Meg – the brightness on the G5 exceeded 2000 nits. Just a year ago, such values on an OLED were simply unimaginable. And here we are – the G5 comes close, and at times even surpasses the best Mini-LEDs on the market. A new feature of the Tandem OLED panel is the expanded color gamut coverage – and here the LG G5 performs almost perfectly. DCI-P3 achieves a full 100%, while BT.2020 maintains around 83%. These are some of the highest values currently available on the market – it’s hard to find any other television that comes close to such results, unless we are talking about the best displays with QD-OLED panels. The G5 has nearly reference-quality HDR – both in terms of brightness and color saturation. This is an OLED that can truly shine – and not just figuratively.

In terms of brightness, the models from 55 to 85 inches in the C7K series are truly impressive. In the best testing conditions, the 65-inch screen achieved over 1200 nits, which practically means that the brightest scenes can dazzle with almost cinematic brilliance. These are not just dry numbers from measurements – during screenings, white skies, explosions, or light reflections on water looked incredibly striking, often giving the impression that the television exceeds its price class. This is particularly effective in scenes with a large area of illumination, where the screen is filled with intense brightness – such as in sun-drenched shots or during dynamic action sequences. Viewers looking for strong HDR will definitely be satisfied.

However, scenes requiring precise control of backlighting – with small points of light on a dark background – are more challenging. Here the C7K, despite having over a thousand zones, can still dim brightness to maintain deep blacks. The effect is that in films like Sicario 2 or Life of Pi, some details, such as a distant lantern or single reflections, can be less defined or blend in with the surroundings. This is a compromise inherent to MiniLED technology – it provides excellent image depth and blacks at a level that ordinary LCDs do not offer, but this comes at the cost of limited visibility of the smallest lights.

Our test unit LG G5 struggled with some issues in the factory Filmmaker mode. And while the image might have seemed fine to most people, we knew that this TV was capable of much more. This mode had a clear excess blue tint in the white balance, resulting in a strong cooling of the image – particularly in HDR modes, where there was also a lack of red. The picture seemed cold, and its sharpness was artificially boosted and unnatural. Another significant issue was the brightness characteristic. In SDR content, the situation wasn't the worst, aside from a slight dimming of the entire image. However, it performed much worse in HDR materials – due to improper brightness management, the smallest details could completely disappear from the image, and larger, bright elements appeared overexposed and lacking gradation. Luckily, the G5 supports calibration using 3D LUT (a tool for professionals to calibrate colors), so we decided to take advantage of its professional background and see what it was really capable of. Because while it wasn't terrible even before calibration, the potential of this TV definitely deserved more.

The novelty in TCL televisions for 2025 is the long-awaited Filmmaker mode, which until now could be found in most competitive brands. This is great news because this mode is considered the most faithful 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 free from flaws. One could point out the incorrect white balance, particularly the slight dominance of blue, which led to cool, somewhat grayish skin tones. But that was not the biggest problem. The main complaint was excessive brightness exposure, which is clearly visible in the gamma and EOTF charts. The image was simply too bright, at times almost blown out, which affected not only the depth of scenes but also the overall viewing experience. Some details were simply lost, and the whole image looked as if someone had slightly overdone the brightness slider. As always – we decided to see what could be squeezed out of this after calibration. And that’s when things started to get really interesting…

After completing the calibration process using professional tools, we can confidently state that the LG G5 offers nearly reference-quality image. Most of the errors related to white balance and the ColorChecker test are below the value of 2, which is a phenomenal result, practically imperceptible to the human eye. And while one could still criticize that in HDR films the television tends to slightly dim the smallest elements of the image, in practice, this does not negatively affect the overall impression. Hats off to LG, because once again they provide the user with enormous possibilities for adjusting their display – and this, combined with very good parameters of the panel itself, results in an image that is truly hard to surpass.

After calibration, the TCL C7K showed itself in a really good light, especially when it comes to SDR content. We managed to tune the white balance, color gamut, and brightness characteristics so precisely that color errors on the ColorChecker palette dropped below a value of 2. For the uninitiated – this is almost a perfect result, which means that the image is very close to what the creators intended. Unfortunately, it looked worse with 4K HDR content. Although we were able to slightly calm the white balance and correct its previous errors, it is still evident that the television has some "MiniLED traits," especially in brightness management. When we checked how the C7K handles the EOTF curve on actual film scenes, and not just on synthetic test patterns, it turned out that the screen still tends to slightly brighten the entire image. This affects the overall experience – black loses some depth, and the image becomes less contrastive than it should be. Despite these minor shortcomings in HDR content, the overall reception of materials – especially in SDR – is really very good. After calibration, the C7K can display an image that can successfully compete with much more expensive models. Good color tuning, natural skin tones, and pleasant brightness make movie sessions and everyday content viewing more than satisfactory.

Upscaling and digital image processing in the LG G5 perform very well. The television handles lower quality content exceptionally, especially when the "Smooth Gradation" feature is set to a low level. In this mode, it effectively removes unwanted artifacts and issues with visible tonal transitions. It may also slightly smooth out some desired details, such as the subtle texture of clothing or skin, but importantly – it does not remove film grain, so it’s hard to say there’s a serious compromise here. It’s one of those options that’s definitely worth enabling.

The G5 also does well with upscaling, which is improving the quality of older materials. The test image with the model looked really solid – slight edging was visible, but that’s an effect that can’t be completely avoided. Additionally, there were no issues with overscan, which – contrary to appearances – is not obvious, even in 2025.

TCL C7K features a function that, according to the manufacturer, is supposed to smooth out unwanted color transitions – something like a rescue for less successful tonal changes. It's called "Gradual Smoothing" and... well, it sounds ambitious, but in practice, it works very poorly. Regardless of whether we set it to low or high, the difference is minimal. Worse still – the function can cut out elements from the image that should remain. Fortunately, film grain remains untouched, so at least it doesn't smooth everything indiscriminately, but still – it's better to just turn this option off.

When it comes to scaling lower-resolution content, it's already better. SD and HD materials look quite decent, although sometimes we felt that the image loses sharpness and becomes too soft – as if something took away its clarity. Fortunately, with very low sources (e.g., 576p), there was no overscan effect, meaning the image was not artificially cropped – everything fit on the screen as it should.

The motion fluidity on the LG G5 is simply phenomenal. The TV is equipped with a 165 Hz refresh rate panel, and this combined with the instantaneous response time of the OLED matrix delivers incredible results. The picture doesn’t stutter or smear like on classic LCD TVs. Like most LG models, the G5 features a motion smoother, which can be useful when watching movies – of course, we're talking about the TruMotion mode. With the “De-Blur” and “De-Judder” sliders, we can adjust the smoothness of older material according to our preferences, whether we want to preserve the characteristic film stutter or move towards a more fluid, television-like effect.

The TCL C7K handles motion fluency really well. The panel used in it offers a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which in itself suggests that this TV is something more than just an ordinary "60 Hz" panel. Moreover, if we connect the C7K to a computer and set the resolution to Full HD. But we'll write more about that in the paragraph about gamers and PC collaboration. Back to everyday use – both sports and movies look very good here. Thanks to the fast panel and well-functioning motion smoother, the C7K is great for watching matches, but also for movie screenings. In the menu, we find two sliders – blur reduction and flicker reduction – which allow you to tailor the smoothness effect to your own preferences. At lower settings, we get a more cinematic effect, with a slight stutter in motion. At higher settings – the image becomes more theatrical, smooth to the point of exaggeration. Everyone can set it up according to their liking.

Features for gamers? Perfect. That should be enough for you to know what level we are dealing with here. G5 is a television designed with gamers in mind, so we find literally everything one can expect from a gaming screen. There is Game Bar, support for high resolutions with high refresh rates – that is, 4K at 120 Hz, and even more, because the panel has a refresh rate of 165 Hz (which PC gamers will benefit from). The television supports variable refresh rates (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and correctly supports HDR in games thanks to HGiG. All of this adds up to one of the best sets of gaming features available on the market. Well done, LG.

TCL C7K is a television that on paper looks like the dream equipment for gamers – and most importantly, it holds up well in practice. First, the good news: we have two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, so we can easily connect both a console and a computer, taking full advantage of their capabilities. The panel itself supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which provides a significant advantage in dynamic games. Additionally, it comes with a full suite of gaming features: VRR (variable refresh rate), ALLM (automatic low latency mode), and support for Dolby Vision in games. There's also an HGiG mode that allows for HDR effects consistent with the creators' intentions. GameBar, which is an informative bar for the gamer. It operates quickly, looks clear (like the Nintendo console👌), and shows what’s most important: the current frame count, VRR status, and even HDR parameters.