TCL C7L vs Samsung S90H / S92H (QD-OLED)

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

The Samsung S90H is a truly bright TV for the midrange among OLEDs. In synthetic measurements its peak brightness reached about 1650 nits. That's an outstanding result in this class, roughly 50% higher than what we’ve seen from previous models at this price point. Crucially, these tests translate directly to real video material. In 4 out of 5 film shots we tested the S90H’s brightness hovered around 1300–1500 nits. That headroom lets the TV reproduce most HDR movies with the same dynamics and expression the creators intended in post-production. Of course, on full-screen, very bright scenes the result is naturally lower and drops to around 900 nits. That’s a direct result of the protection systems that prevent the OLED panel from being overloaded. Even in that scenario there’s no reason to complain. Those 900 nits across the entire screen is still a very high level, ensuring excellent dynamics in HDR content.

A major advantage of QD-OLED TVs has always been color, and the S90H is no exception. The DCI-P3 gamut we measured reached a full 100% (exactly 99.9%), while coverage of the much wider BT.2020 gamut hit roughly 89%. That’s a great result, allowing you to enjoy extremely saturated, vivid colors in HDR content. It’s worth noting these figures are better than WOLED panels, which is especially noticeable in very demanding film scenes.

When it comes to colors straight out of the box, what's new in TCL TVs, including the C7L model, is the addition of a picture mode called Filmmaker Mode. That's significant because until now that mode wasn't available from this manufacturer at all. In theory, as the name suggests, the image in this setting is meant to represent the filmmaker's full intent. From our tests we can confirm that it's without a doubt the best built-in mode on this TV if you care about faithful color reproduction right out of the box. However, we wouldn't say it's perfect. Like most devices on the market, this C7L also had some factory issues. The white balance in Filmmaker Mode tended toward a slightly greenish-yellow tint, caused mainly by an excess of the green channel and a noticeable lack of blue. For the average viewer this won't be a drastic flaw, but if you care about perfect whites, natural skin tones, and getting the full potential out of the structure of these new "super" quantum dots, the TV really begs for professional calibration.

The next stage of the test was to check how the S90H handles color reproduction without any calibration. As always, we took measurements in Filmmaker Mode, the best out-of-the-box picture setting. And here Samsung truly deserves praise. The factory tuning is at a very high level, and a few years ago that wasn't one of its strong points. The white balance was set correctly, as was the brightness response. The average color error (Delta E) hovered around 3, which is below the level at which most people can notice inaccuracies. Only in the brightest shades of gray did values slightly approach 4, but it's still hard to consider that a real viewing issue. For settings straight out of the box, the result is simply excellent.

After a professional calibration we were able to greatly improve the out-of-the-box Filmmaker Mode. After our adjustments, errors in the ColorChecker test and across the wide color gamut fell below the threshold of human perception, that is below a value of 3, which is a very good result. The TCL C7L definitely benefits from this treatment in terms of color accuracy, and that's hard to argue with. A bit worse, however, is the issue of brightness management in HDR content after calibration. As I described earlier, even though we set this model up correctly, when you play real movie scenes on the TV it can manage its brightness in a rather peculiar way. It often brightens certain elements on the screen contrary to the creator's intent, which can be clearly seen on EOTF charts measured in particular films. Despite this flaw, or rather a specific quirk of this TV, you can't take away one thing: after calibration the C7L was able to reproduce colors accurately.

Okay, but you know we wouldn’t be ourselves if we didn’t check how much more we could squeeze out of the S90H with professional calibration. And there was no big surprise here: since the out-of-the-box settings were already very good, there wasn’t a huge reserve. Even so, we managed to refine the picture almost to perfection. After calibration the average color reproduction errors fell below the threshold of perception, reaching Delta E values under 2 for both SDR and HDR material. We also improved the brightness response, so the image more faithfully reflects the creators’ intent and maintains proper tonality across the full brightness range. Not necessarily, because the factory settings already deliver a very high level. If you want the most accurate image and want to squeeze absolutely everything out of this panel, the S90H offers that potential. After professional calibration it’s simply an almost reference display.

Will the difference be spectacular for everyone? Not necessarily. It depends a lot on the individual unit. Our sample was very well tuned straight out of the box, but that doesn’t mean every S90H will perform at the same level. Even identical models can vary in their factory calibration. That’s exactly why professional calibration makes sense: it lets you bring a specific unit to the highest possible accuracy instead of hoping for a bit of luck when buying.

This point could, in a sense, be called the Achilles' heel of the C7L. Unfortunately, this TV uses an older MediaTek chipset, the Pentonic 700, which was never known for outstanding digital image processing. You can clearly see this in the operation of the gradual smoothing function, which is responsible for reducing jagged edges and removing digital noise. It simply performs very poorly; when set to low, its effectiveness is practically nonexistent. The only small plus is that the algorithm doesn't further degrade the image or forcefully blur details. Upscaling itself, meaning the scaling of lower-resolution content to 4K, performs a bit better. It's simply adequate and doesn't stand out compared with the competition. That said, there's no denying the C7L would gain a lot in this area if the manufacturer decided to use the newer Pentonic 800 processor, which is now appearing in an increasing number of competing models.

In this regard Samsung has practically changed nothing compared with last year’s model, which is actually pretty good news. The function responsible for smoothing tonal transitions still very effectively reduces posterization. You should remember, however, that it works quite aggressively, because besides removing artifacts it can also eliminate film grain and slightly soften fine image details. As always, it’s a matter of compromise and personal preference. If you want the most faithful reproduction of the source, we recommend leaving this function turned off.

There’s also no revolution when it comes to upscaling. The S90H uses the same proprietary NQ4 Gen3 image processor as its predecessor, so scaling quality has remained virtually unchanged. The TV handles lower-resolution content well, effectively improving sharpness. The overscan issue still hasn’t been solved, though. With some older material, especially archival footage, parts of the image at the edges may be cropped. It’s a minor flaw, but it’s a shame Samsung left this problem unchanged for another year running.

The TCL C7L uses a native 4K panel with a 144 Hz refresh rate, which, at lower resolutions when using a PC, can even reach up to 288 Hz. Those are obviously very high numbers and look impressive on paper, but in everyday use it's worth remembering that almost all dynamic content you play on this TV will still run at around a maximum of 120 Hz. To tame that motion, the TV's menu includes a motion smoothing system called "Motion Clarity." It offers several predefined modes, including a user mode that we strongly recommend setting manually using our tried-and-true guides on our YouTube channel. There are two key sliders available there. The first, "Blur Reduction," reduces smearing and improves sharpness in dynamic 60-fps material, such as sports broadcasts. The second slider, "Flicker Reduction," lets you add artificial frames to movies and TV series shot at cinematic 24 or 30 fps. This, of course, allows you to completely eliminate the annoying image judder during camera motion.

In terms of motion smoothness, the S90H delivers a very high level. New here is a panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate. In practice, when watching movies or sports broadcasts it's hard to notice any difference, because that kind of content doesn't use refresh rates higher than 120 Hz. The extra 165 Hz will be appreciated mainly by PC gamers who can generate that many frames per second. Samsung equipped the TV with advanced motion settings. You get two sliders (judder reduction and blur reduction) that make it easy to tailor the picture's character to your preferences. You can easily get very smooth motion for sports, but you can just as easily preserve a more cinematic feel with the typical 24 fps. It all depends on which effect you prefer.

When it comes to gaming, the TCL C7L is simply an outstanding TV for gamers. Thanks to two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports at 48 Gbps, you get access to all the key features required by console owners and users of powerful PCs. It has a well-implemented ALLM mode with very low input lag and VRR frame-sync that works in an impressive range from 48 to 288 Hz. Importantly, unlike some competitors, TCL implemented the console HDR10 HGIG profile correctly and added support for Dolby Vision in games. Rounding out the package is a very well-designed player panel, the Game Bar, which even lets you edit its appearance and change the theme to perfectly match your console’s style. The only thing you can — and should — criticize is that the TV offers only two full HDMI 2.1 ports, while the other two are older HDMI 2.0. That creates a fairly significant logistical problem. Why? Because one of those fast ports also supports eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel). In practice, that means if you connect a soundbar or a home theater system, you’ll only have one free HDMI 2.1 port left. If you have two consoles at home, or a console and a powerful PC, you’ll unfortunately have to give something up or constantly juggle cables at the back while trying to maintain convenient control of your audio system.

From the start the Samsung S90H feels like a TV designed with gamers in mind, and honestly... it's hard to blame them. The manufacturer equipped it with everything you’d expect from a gaming TV. You get four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, support for ALLM and VRR, and very high refresh rates. There’s also a clear Game Bar that lets you quickly check key picture parameters or change settings without leaving the game. Another very welcome improvement is that HGiG now works properly. Last year it could cause a lot of issues, but on the S90H it behaves exactly as it should.

Samsung’s real ace, however, is its proprietary Game Motion Plus mode. The feature works similarly to the motion smoothing known from movies, improving animation smoothness in games while keeping input lag at a very reasonable level. For titles running at 30/60 fps, with the right settings, input lag did not exceed 40 ms in our tests. That’s a very good result, especially since enabling similar features from many manufacturers can end up increasing lag three to four times. It’s a feature that partly makes up for the lack of Dolby Vision Gaming. A smoother image often provides more noticeable benefits than the HDR format itself, so for many gamers this will be a far more valuable addition.