TCL C75B vs XIAOMI S Mini 2026 (55"-75") 60Hz

During our luminance test, the TCL C75B "spat out" about 380 nits of brightness. We recorded similar results while watching most of the films we tested. These can be considered average – the television does not perform badly in this segment, but around 400 nits is definitely too low to fully experience the magic of HDR effects. Of course, such results are better than those of budget models, which can achieve nearly half as low brightness values. However, for HDR enthusiasts seeking stronger light effects and greater realism, the C75B may prove insufficient. On the plus side, it's worth mentioning the 95% coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette. This is a very good result that easily suffices to enjoy a wide range of colors in content available on popular streaming platforms. Vivid and rich colors are definitely a strong point of this model.

When it comes to HDR, the capabilities of the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 are really good, especially given the segment this model belongs to. The set reaches roughly 1,000 nits of brightness without much trouble, allowing it to deliver a very pronounced HDR effect in bright scenes. Sun highlights, reflections, and brightly lit parts of the image can be very intense and at times almost blindingly bright. It’s a little different in dark scenes, though. Very small light sources surrounded by black are shown at significantly lower brightness, so they lack the point-like intensity seen in the best TVs. This is not unusual for a Mini LED. The local dimming algorithm limits the backlight to keep blacks as deep as possible, which in those scenes matters more than a few extra nits.

HDR Colors

Color reproduction also performs well. Xiaomi markets the S Mini 2026 as a QLED TV, although the solution used here is practically based on a PFS phosphor. What matters most is the result, and it’s quite good. Our measurements showed about 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut, while in the much wider BT.2020 space it was around 74%. That means the TV can reproduce most of the colors used in HDR films with suitably high saturation. Its limitations are most visible only with very saturated shades of green, where the color range starts to fall short.

TCL C75B offers many picture modes, but in our opinion, the best choice is the "Film" mode. Although its settings are quite good, the television struggles with certain color reproduction issues. In tests, we noticed that the image had a noticeably pinkish tint compared to what could be considered correct. This effect was particularly noticeable in skin tones, which appeared unnaturally warm. The main culprit of this phenomenon turned out to be the white balance, characterized by an excessive amount of blue and red in both HD and 4K HDR materials.

Another issue was the way brightness was reproduced. The gamma, which is responsible for the visibility of details in darker materials, was definitely boosted, causing details in the darkest parts of the screen to be invisible, lost in total blackness (e.g., the bottom part of the screen in the comparative photo - the area around the actress's ear). Similarly, the situation was reflected in the EOTF curve, which was below the correct value, suggesting that a similar problem may be encountered in 4K HDR content.

Thanks to our experience and the appropriate tools, we decided to take matters into our own hands and see how much could be extracted from this model after professional calibration. Details are described in the next section.

We tested the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 in 55–75-inch sizes in Film mode, which offered the most accurate colors compared with the other presets. That said, the picture wasn't perfectly set up out of the box. In our unit the white balance was clearly shifted toward warmer tones. There was too little blue and too much red, so whites and grays had a slightly warm tint. The TV also tended to brighten darker parts of the image too much. This came from the gamma, which instead of staying around 2.4 sometimes dropped to about 2.0. That made more shadow detail visible, but the picture lost some depth. The factory settings weren't bad, but they still needed tweaking to reproduce the image correctly.

After calibrating the TCL C75B, it has clearly improved in terms of color reproduction. Although the TV does not offer many options for adjusting the white balance, we were able to refine its settings significantly. As a result, the image has stopped being overly pink, and the colors now look much more natural and harmonious.

The gamma jump, which was previously a problem, has not disappeared completely, but we managed to significantly reduce it. This has made the details in dark scenes more visible – both in HD and 4K HDR material.

Unfortunately, the lack of local dimming is still noticeable. The "glowing black" effect remains, but that's a limitation of the display itself. Despite this, the colors after calibration look vastly better, and the image is much more enjoyable to watch.

Contrary to appearances, the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 responds quite well to calibration. After our adjustments we were able to noticeably improve the white balance, and the picture stopped leaning too warm. With SDR content the result is really good, the TV can display such images very accurately, and it's hard to find major faults in its color reproduction. We applied similar corrections in HDR as well, though not everything could be fixed. Colors look better than at factory settings, but the TV still tends to render the image slightly brighter than it should. You can see this in the EOTF curve, which sits above the reference value. In practice this means some HDR scenes are brighter than the creators intended. This is a quirk of this TV and we can't do anything about it.

The TCL C75B has a tonal transition smoothing feature, but unfortunately, we can't praise it. Regardless of the selected level – low or high – tonal transitions in older materials remained visible, as if the feature didn't work at all. It's hard to say something positive about it because, in practice, it seems completely useless.

The image scaling is better. The TV performs quite decently, although on thinner elements, like branches in the background, you can notice slight halos. However, this is not something that significantly interferes with daily viewing.

Unfortunately, a bigger problem turned out to be overscan, which is the trimming of the image edges. In our tests, it happened that news tickers or other elements close to the edge of the screen were cut off. This is definitely something worth paying attention to, especially if we use the TV for watching news programs or content with text on the screen.

Digital image processing in the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 is handled by the MT5896 processor. Unfortunately, in this respect the TV performs rather average. Low-resolution content is not upscaled very well, and its limitations become quickly apparent on a large screen. The image looks quite digital, and the TV can't extract many additional details from it. Additionally, you cannot disable overscan for low-resolution material. Things are even worse when it comes to smoothing posterization. On the smaller models there isn't even a dedicated feature to reduce the visible banding between similar shades. So if such imperfections are already present in the source material, Xiaomi effectively does not mask them.

TCL C75B definitely has something to offer gamers. The TV is equipped with a panel that can display images with a refresh rate of 144 Hz in 4K, and even 240 Hz in Full HD. These are really great results, especially for a model from the budget range.

Additionally, there are features for improving smoothness and reducing motion blur in films. The "Motion" option allows for precise adjustment of the effect on a 10-step scale, providing a lot of customization options – everyone can set the smoothness to their liking.

The smaller variants of the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 use a 60 Hz panel, and that's their biggest limitation when it comes to motion. For movies and TV series this isn't yet a major issue, because the TV has a classic motion smoothing for 24/30 fps content. So we can reduce the characteristic judder and adjust motion to our own preferences. Sports and other 50/60 Hz content fare worse, because there is no additional feature to improve smoothness. With that kind of material we are therefore limited by the panel itself.

In terms of motion blur the TV performs quite typically for a VA panel. Most trailing is visible behind objects moving on a dark background, while in brighter scenes the effect is noticeably smaller. It's not at a level that completely ruins motion perception, but in dynamic scenes you can tell the panel isn't among the fastest.

The TCL C75B is undoubtedly a television designed for gamers. It offers almost everything that the most demanding console users need. With the implementation of full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1, the television supports features such as ALLM (automatic low latency mode) and VRR (variable refresh rate) – operating across the full capabilities of the TV, up to 240 Hz in Full HD resolution.

Additionally, the television supports advanced HDR technologies, including Dolby Vision and HGiG, which allows for even better detail representation in HDR-optimized games. The C75B is also equipped with a very convenient interface for gamers in the form of a Game Bar, where you can check all key parameters, such as refresh rate, input lag, or picture settings – all within one click's reach.

In a nutshell: the C75B is an excellent choice for gamers, offering a wide range of features that allow for fully enjoying the capabilities of modern consoles and games.

In larger sizes the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 becomes a far more interesting option for gamers. The panel natively runs at up to 144 Hz, so when connected to a PC we can take advantage of the high refresh rate even in 4K. At lower resolutions the TV can go even further and reach up to 288 Hz. There’s also ALLM, automatic switching to game mode, and a Game Bar with the key settings at hand. Of course, the TV is equipped with two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports. In terms of smoothness, the difference compared to the 55 to 75 inch versions is therefore substantial and especially noticeable when using a PC or console. Not everything works perfectly, though. As with the smaller variants, we have reservations about the HGiG implementation. The HDR setup screens on the PS5 and Xbox don’t exactly match the TV’s real capabilities, so if you configure the consoles according to those prompts the brightest parts of the image can be blown out and lose some detail.