TCL MQLED85 / C765 vs TCL C7K / QM7K 55"-85"

The TCL MQLED85/C765 television performs well with HDR handling. In the tested movie scenes, where the screen is covered at 100% brightness, the model achieves impressive results around 1000 nits, providing intense and realistic representation of HDR content. However, similar to contrast, the dimming algorithm may show some limitations. Despite the large number of Mini LED zones, the television does not always manage to "stun" the user with brightness in very challenging test scenes. For example, in a scene from "Life of Pi," where a bright moon appears against a dark background, and in another scene from "Sicario 2," where a very bright light effect is visible against a dark background, the television did not reach maximum intensity. For users expecting perfect HDR performance in such extreme cases, the TCL MQLED may be slightly disappointing. However, regarding colors, the television stands out with a very high color gamut coverage of DCI P3 at 95%, which is an impressive result comparable to much more expensive models. The TCL MQLED85 / C765 offers support for various HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+, which is essential for cinema image enthusiasts. Although this model achieves brightness over 1000 nits, the TCL MQLED85 may struggle to reflect details in very high contrast scenes. For better HDR quality control, the C765 is equipped with dynamic tone mapping, making the image more realistic and natural depending on the content.

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.

TheTCL MQLED85/C765 television was tested in movie mode, which, although it seems to be the best setting from the manufacturer, is not without flaws. The color reproduction in HD/SDR mode MQLED85 shows certain shortcomings. In the analysis of white balance, there is a significant lack of blue color, which can affect the overall picture quality, especially in bright scenes where blue hues are crucial for natural representation. The overall image may then seem too warm. As for gamma contrast, the graph shows a significant jump above the reference line of level 2.4 at the beginning, which may suggest significant dimming of brightness in darker areas, leading to a loss of detail in blacks. Then, for most of the time, the values are below this line, which can lead to a loss of detail in the brighter parts of the image. Such a distribution can negatively affect the perceived image quality, especially when watching regular HD television.

In the case of 4K HDR image quality of the TCL MQLED85/C765, there is a noticeable excess of red color in the analysis of white balance. Such an excess can significantly affect the viewer's experience, leading to several significant effects. First of all, too much red can make other colors, such as green or blue, appear muted or unnatural. This distortion of color balance can result in an overall impression of "oversaturation," which detracts from the image's naturalness and authenticity. Regarding contrast, the EOTF (Electro-Optical Transfer Function) graph indicates that most values are above the reference line, suggesting an intense boost in brightness in the bright areas of the image. However, the exception is the beginning of the graph, where the EOTF line is below the reference one, which may lead to excessive dimming of small light elements.

Users should be aware that despite using the best mode, which is movie mode, the television is not free from flaws in the context of picture settings, so it is worth considering adjusting the settings to achieve better results.

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 professional calibration of the TCL MQLED85/C765 television, its color properties in movie mode have significantly improved, resulting in much more satisfying visual experiences. Both in SDR and HDR modes, the white balance shows no serious errors, and the graph appears much better harmonized. Users can now enjoy natural color reproduction, which is essential for achieving an authentic experience while watching movies. It is worth noting that in HDR content, there may be minor color reproduction errors at the end of the graph, but they are significantly smaller than before calibration. This makes characters and landscapes more realistic, enhancing the depth of immersion in the story.

Regarding contrast, the gamma curve, responsible for HD quality, has been completely free of drops below the reference line, which means better detail visibility in dark scenes. However, there is still a slight boost at the beginning of the graph, which may affect the perception of bright elements. For HDR content, the EOTF curve also shows smaller errors, although certain issues in reproducing midtones may still be noticeable. The EOTF curve measured on real film scenes still shows a significant brightness boost, making the image appear more intense but artificially brightened. This is a typical issue for TCL brand televisions, which may appeal to untrained viewers but can be annoying for those more familiar with the ideal picture.

What benefits does professional calibration bring for movie enthusiasts? Thanks to it, watching becomes even more realistic and immersive, allowing every scene to be experienced fully, maintaining details and natural colors.

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.

We will now take another look at the tone transitions in the TCL MQLED85/C765 television, but in the context of poorer image quality. Despite the presence of the "Gradual Smoothing" option, when set to "low," the effects are practically invisible, disappointing users expecting an improvement in image quality. On the other hand, setting it to "high" brings minimal results, and worse, it can blur significant details, negatively affecting the sharpness and clarity of the displayed image. However, in terms of image scaling, the television successfully displayed the image without overscan, which means we do not lose any part of the view. The image looks quite decent, and details such as tree branches or the outlines of models do not show significant fraying, which positively influences the visual quality.

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.

TCL MQLED85/C765 is equipped with a standard refresh rate matrix of 120 Hz, with the possibility of increasing it to 144 Hz when connected to a powerful computer. The television also offers a multi-stage motion smoother, which mainly serves users who want to improve motion smoothness in films. It allows for the adjustment of the effect's intensity on a scale from 0 to 10, enabling precise matching of image smoothness to individual preferences. The matrix's response time is decent but not perfect. We can observe ghosting occurring behind both dark and medium objects.

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.

TCL MQLED85/C765 has received an impressive rating in the gaming features category, making it an excellent choice for gaming enthusiasts. The television supports all the latest technologies that significantly enhance the gaming experience. Among the key gaming features is ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), which automatically switches the television to low latency mode, minimizing response time and ensuring smooth gameplay. VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) supported in the range from 48 to 144 Hz eliminates stuttering and screen tearing in dynamic gaming scenes. Additionally, the television supports Dolby Vision Game Mode, which provides better image quality in games with exceptional color depth and contrast. TCL MQLED85/C765 also features a decent but not the best implementation of HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group), optimizing HDR game display, but in the case of TCL, it causes bright details in white, resulting in some elements blending into a white spot - we can read more about this in the color reproduction section. It supports various resolutions such as 1080p@120Hz, 1440p@120Hz, and 4K@120Hz, allowing gamers to take advantage of higher image quality and better fluidity. The Game Bar feature allows for easy switching between game settings and quick control of parameters, significantly facilitating the adjustment of the television to individual needs. With support for G-Sync and FreeSync technologies, users of NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards will be pleased with the synchronization of refresh rates, eliminating tearing and stuttering issues, providing a smoother and more immersive gameplay experience.

MQLED85/C765 is a television that combines advanced technologies and excellent support for gamers, making it an ideal choice for those who want to maximize their gaming experiences.

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.