TCL P89K / TCL P8K vs Samsung M80H

The maximum brightness of the TCL P8K is around 300 nits, although in actual movie scenes, the TV maintains more around 250 nits. These values cannot be considered sufficient for achieving a full HDR effect – they are more akin to a solid base for SDR content. Therefore, we won’t see spectacular flashes, bursts of light, or moments when the screen truly “blinds” you, as is the case with more expensive models. The image is somewhat flattened, and the differences between light and shadow are more symbolic than realistic. Fortunately, TCL has a few aces up its sleeve that save the overall impression. One of them is the coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut at around 93–94%. Thanks to an additional QLED layer (PFS LED), colors gain depth and intensity, clearly surpassing standard LCD panels. As a result, although the typical “wow effect” associated with HDR brightness is lacking here, the image can still impress with its saturation and vibrant tones, making movie scenes pulse with colors and avoiding a heavily faded appearance.

The M80H is not one of the brightest TVs. Its peak brightness is around 350 nits and we saw similar results in most of our test scenes. That's not enough to produce genuinely impressive HDR — bright highlights lack punch and the overall image is a bit too dark. In practice, HDR on the M80H resembles a well-presented SDR image more than clearly more dynamic wide-range content. The picture can still look fine, but it's hard to point to strong specular highlights, clearly bright light sources, or an effect that immediately separates HDR from ordinary content.

Colors

One of the M80H's strengths is its color. The TV uses a PFS-based backlight filter, which allows it to display a significantly wider color gamut than a standard LCD screen without filters. Our measurements confirm this — the M80H covers about 96% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 72% of BT.2020. Those are very good results, which let the colors appear strongly saturated. Samsung's policy here is interesting. The M80H is not part of the QLED family, even though in terms of color it is practically on par with models carrying that label. From an image-quality standpoint, that doesn't matter much; the colors are simply good.

In Filmmaker mode, the TCL P8K revealed certain imperfections in image reproduction from the start. We noticed that the television tends to slightly brighten scenes – its gamma was somewhat lowered, which made the image appear slightly "washed out," lacking depth, as if the contrast had slipped out of control. This was most evident in HDR content, where the EOTF brightness curve clearly deviated from the reference values. As a result, the darker parts of the image looked too gloomy, while the brighter sections didn't always reach the proper level of luminance. A second noticeable issue was a slight oversaturation of blue – the television stubbornly boosted this color, which caused some parts of the image, especially skin tones and reds, to have a slight purple tint. This is not a major flaw, but to a discerning eye – noticeable. Fortunately, most of these errors could be corrected during calibration. You can see the results of this adjustment in the graphs and photos below.

Filmmaker mode is reasonably well set up out of the box, though it falls short of perfect. In SDR material the most noticeable issue is an excess of red in the white balance, which makes the image look a bit warmer than it should. HDR content shows a similar character. As for the brightness response, in SDR the gamma stays close to the target for most of the range. Small deviations are mainly visible in darker areas, which in places are a little too dim. In HDR the very darkest details are slightly lifted, while from around 65% brightness the image begins to be gently darkened. This is largely due to the way the TV controls its brightness. Overall, Filmmaker mode looks good straight out of the box, but the image can still be improved.

After calibration, the TCL P8K showed a completely different face. It managed to achieve nearly perfect, even reference-level color reproduction in both SDR and HDR content. The screen no longer had a tendency towards a cool tint, and the white balance was perfectly balanced. The gamma values for SDR material also finally look as they should – the image has the proper depth and no longer appears washed out. The only remark that can still be made about the P8K concerns its "Chinese" traits, known from most TCL models. The TV still likes to manipulate saturation in HDR content in its own way – sometimes slightly boosting it, sometimes smoothing it out, which means the effect is not always fully predictable. Nevertheless, after calibration, the colors look stunning, and their accuracy is truly surprising. In most cases, measurement errors dropped below values of 1-2, which is a result that significantly more expensive models would not be ashamed of.

After calibration, the M80H performs really well, especially with basic SDR content. Regular broadcast TV, YouTube, or movies viewed without HDR can look very accurate on it. After correcting the white balance, errors are minor, though you can still sometimes see that the TV tends to oversaturate the most saturated reds. In HDR you can also improve the picture and correct its main faults, but it doesn't reach the level of pricier models. Samsung quite heavily restricts color adjustment options in HDR, so in many areas we have to accept what the TV offers out of the box. Calibration lets us improve some parameters, but we are no longer able to change the overall image character of the M80H.

The TCL P8K performs somewhat worse when it comes to the fluidity of tonal transitions in lower quality materials. The television does offer a feature to smooth out unwanted bands, but its effectiveness leaves much to be desired. Even at the highest setting, it’s hard to say there’s a real improvement – at times the effect is even the opposite of what was intended, as the feature can introduce small artifacts and unnatural blurriness on the screen.

On the other hand, upscaling, or scaling the image to 4K resolution, looks significantly better. The P8K handles this task surprisingly well – HD content, and even SD, is enhanced in an aesthetically pleasing manner without excessive loss of sharpness. There are indeed slight "hard" edges typical of this class of equipment, but this can easily be adjusted with the sharpness slider according to personal preferences. The final effect is more than satisfactory, especially considering the price range in which this model is located.

Although the M80H is positioned fairly low in Samsung's lineup, the manufacturer equipped it with one of its stronger processors, NQ4 AI Gen2. The same chip can be found in Neo QLED TVs and the lower-tier OLED S85H. That's good news, because the processor does a very good job improving weaker source material. Upscaling performs best. Low-resolution content is displayed properly, and edges don't look overly jagged. Of course the TV won't create details that aren't in the source, but regular broadcast TV and older recordings look decent on it. One drawback is overscan, that is, edge cropping, which cannot be fully disabled. The tonal transition smoothing feature, the so-called noise reduction, also works well. The processor can effectively reduce visible signs of heavy compression, but it does so not without side effects. At higher settings it can overly smooth the image, remove some fine detail, and even eliminate film grain. Therefore we recommend using this feature primarily for content that actually has problems with heavy compression and posterization.

TCL P8K is one of the cheapest televisions offering a 144 Hz refresh rate, which in itself is already a significant advantage in this price segment. Thanks to the fast panel, this model can confidently be recommended to both sports fans and video gamers – the image is smooth, and movements of the ball or dynamic actions look natural. However, this does not mean that the P8K is only suitable for sports. On the contrary – it can maintain the right dynamics in movies as well, without introducing an artificial effect of "theatricality," as long as we set the parameters wisely. The television is equipped with a motion smoother called "Motion Clarity," which features two sliders: blur reduction and flicker reduction. The first is responsible for smoothing the image by generating additional frames, which increases fluidity but may cause a slight soap opera effect. The second, on the other hand, limits flicker and improves sharpness in motion, although it may slightly darken the screen. Appropriately adjusting these two parameters allows for a really good balance between natural movement and fluidity. The 60 Hz panel is good for dynamic content, although more demanding users will notice that it is not a top-tier display in terms of motion clarity.

The M80H performs very well for watching sports and gaming. The TV is equipped with a panel with a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz at 4K, and when the resolution is lowered to Full HD it can handle up to 240 Hz. PC gamers will benefit most from the latter option.

The panel also handles 120 Hz content well, which matters especially for console gaming. The high refresh rate is useful for watching sports too, and motion blur is relatively low. That’s important because VA panels are not known for the best results in this respect. With the M80H, fast-moving objects do not produce a very noticeable trail.

Although the TCL P8K is a budget TV, it certainly can’t be said that it’s not suitable for gaming. On the contrary – this is a screen that can pleasantly surprise any gamer. It features two HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing us to easily output 4K at 120 Hz. For those gaming on PC, they will also appreciate the fact that the TV can even operate at 240 Hz refresh rate in lower resolution – a small thing, but it’s nice. In addition, there’s a full set of gaming-specific features: automatic game mode, Game Bar for quick parameter previews, VRR, HGiG, and support for Dolby Vision in games. All of this makes gaming on the P8K a truly enjoyable experience – the picture is smooth, the response is quick, and the TV communicates well with next-gen consoles. The TCL P8K shows that a cheap screen doesn’t have to mean giving up fun. Definitely not when it comes to gaming.

The M80H can be a very good choice for gamers on a slightly smaller budget. Feature-wise it offers essentially the same as Samsung's much more expensive TVs. All three HDMI inputs support HDMI 2.1, so even if one is taken by a soundbar connected via eARC there’s still room for a PC and consoles. There’s also VRR up to 144 Hz at 4K and up to 240 Hz in Full HD. Samsung has properly implemented HGiG as well, so after performing HDR calibration on the console, games are appropriately matched to the screen’s capabilities. That won’t make the M80H any brighter, but at least it won’t unnecessarily wash out the brightest parts of the image. There’s also a Game Bar for quick access to the most important settings and a Gaming Hub that lets you play in the cloud without a console. The M80H also includes Game Motion Plus, which creates extra frames and improves the smoothness of games running at 30 or 60 fps. Input lag then rises to about 59 ms, but it’s still roughly three times lower than with the typical motion smoothing on other manufacturers’ TVs. We don’t really recommend it for online multiplayer, but in more relaxed titles it can work very well.