TCL V6C vs LG QNED80A6A (VA)

When it comes to HDR, the TCK V6C clearly shows that it is not its strong suit. Peak brightness around 200 nits makes it difficult to talk about true HDR effects – the image simply remains too dark to extract details in bright scenes or convey the appropriate dynamics. Although the TV formally supports many HDR formats, in practice it is not adapted for such demanding content. The lack of additional coatings that enhance colors, such as QLED or PFS LED, further limits the appeal of the image – in more spectacular productions, colors may seem washed out compared to more expensive models. Therefore, the V6C will primarily serve as a television for everyday TV, YouTube, or SDR materials, rather than as equipment for high-quality cinematic experiences.

Let's talk now about how this TV shines. If you expect dazzling light effects, we need to cool your enthusiasm. The LG QNED80A is a moderately bright television. Our measurements in most movie scenes indicated values around 350-400 nits. That's not enough to speak of a full, cinematic HDR experience and the sense of that famous "high dynamic range" that flagship products offer. However, brightness is not everything. Although the QNED80A is not a "light monster," it makes up for it in another key category: colors. Here, the PFS technology comes into play, which LG marketers hide under the name QNED/NanoCell. Thanks to this process, the TV offers a significantly wider color palette than classic LCD designs. In our tests, the coverage of the cinematic DCI-P3 palette reached a solid 93-94%. What does this mean for you? That even at lower brightness, when watching movies in HDR, the colors will be vivid, deep, and properly saturated. The image is not washed out but lush, which is a significant advantage in this price range.

We started the color reproduction tests with the Filmmaker mode, which in theory should be the best choice right after taking the television out of the box. It certainly performs better than the Eco or Dynamic modes, which heavily interfere with the image and spoil its natural character. As you can see in the charts, the factory tuning of the V6C is not ideal, although it’s not a disaster either. The biggest problem turned out to be a lack of red – the television clearly "cools" the image, which is particularly noticeable on human faces, giving a "corpse skin" effect. This issue was the most bothersome in daily viewing. Looking at the color palette in HDR content, the deficiencies in red are also noticeable, and their source is the relatively narrow coverage of the color space. Of course, every television can be calibrated, so we decided to check how the V6C would perform after such an adjustment.

It might seem that since the QNED80A is one model, it should offer the same picture regardless of the version. However, practice shows something completely different. Analyzing the variant with a VA panel in the best factory setting – that is, in Filmmaker Mode – we noticed a specific characteristic. This TV “out of the box” serves us a picture with a clear dominance of red and a deficiency of blue. The overall image is very warm, almost hot. Many users might describe this as a “too cinematic” image, approaching sepia. Additionally, there's the issue of the gamma curve – the TV tends to slightly, artificially brighten scenes (the gamma is too low), causing the picture to lose some of its plasticity. The good news is that these are not flaws of the panel, but merely of the software. As always in our tests, we carried out a professional calibration, which completely eliminated these shortcomings, restoring the natural white balance and correct saturation.

My dear friends – we haven't had such a difficult "calibration battle" in years. The V6C turned out to be one of the most stubborn TVs we've dealt with in the editorial office. The calibration trials alone took us several working hours and required a lot of patience. We finally managed to slightly warm up the skin tones, which made the faces stop looking like they were straight out of a horror film, a flaw in the factory settings. Unfortunately, that's not the end of it – the TV reacted to our adjustments in white balance in a completely unpredictable way. Where we expected image stabilization in a given area, new errors appeared, and the Color Checker measurements showed deviations that couldn't be rationally explained. It's hard to say whether the software or the construction itself was to blame, but one thing is certain – the V6C offered exceptionally strong resistance. In the end, the calibration brought improvement, especially in SDR content, where the image became more pleasant and natural. However, it must be clearly stated that the design limitations remained. The TV still flattens the image in HDR material and has significant deficiencies in color reproduction. This is equipment rather intended for everyday TV watching or SDR materials than for cinematic screenings in the highest quality.

Was it worth spending time on calibration? Definitely yes. We managed to tame the initially too warm white balance and, most importantly, correct the gamma curve. The TV stopped artificially brightening scenes, which added depth to the image. The biggest improvement is visible in SDR content, meaning when watching regular television, YouTube, or in games without HDR. Here, the QNED80A shows its class – color reproduction errors (DeltaE) dropped below a value of 2. In technical terms, this means that the errors are practically unnoticeable to the human eye. The image in everyday use has simply become very attractive, natural, and correct. The difficulties begin with HDR content. Even though we managed to improve the white balance, the EOTF curve graph (responsible for brightness at various levels) shows that the TV still "interprets" the image in its own way. This is due to the nature of the edge-lit local dimming used and the fact that LG gives the calibrator a very limited range of control over this parameter. In short: the TV struggles to hide its hardware shortcomings, sometimes ignoring our commands. Nevertheless, the final image is much more accurate and pleasant to the eye than in factory settings, even if it still falls short of studio ideal.

When it comes to upscaling, the V6C does not bring anything groundbreaking. Lower quality content is heavily sharpened, making the image look very unnatural, sometimes even artificially. This can be partially mitigated by lowering the sharpness level in the settings, but the effect is not spectacular. The image still remains far from ideal. The digital processing itself performs better. The function responsible for smoothing tonal transitions works quite effectively, especially at the medium setting, where the image indeed appears smoother. Unfortunately, its operation is quite aggressive – it heavily interferes with the overall scene, causing the actors in the foreground to start looking like characters from super smooth telenovelas. Therefore, we would not recommend using this option if natural reception of the image is important to us.

In this category, the QNED80A proves to be a real "dark horse." It's a fantastic, affordable television for those who often watch lower quality materials – for example, from traditional cable TV. The processor used here handles upscaling exceptionally well, meaning it enhances low resolution to native 4K. The image after processing is natural, smooth, and most importantly – not overly jagged or artificially sharpened. In the menu, we also find a dedicated option for smoothing tonal transitions in low-quality material. This feature works really effectively, eliminating the annoying "banding" of colors in heavily compressed video. However, we must remain vigilant. Remember that we are not dealing with a top-tier processor known from flagship OLED models. In more challenging scenes, the system may struggle and introduce minor artifacts or distortions. Nevertheless, it's definitely worth giving this feature a chance, as in most cases, the improvement in quality is noticeable to the naked eye.

Motion smoothing and motion fluidity is an area where the V6C quickly reveals its limitations. It is a 60 Hz TV, so it was hard to expect miracles here. In dynamic sports scenes, the picture comes off rather average. This is most noticeable in darker scenes, where clear smears and blurry "halos" trail behind moving objects, which can be quite distracting. This is definitely a weaker point of this model. Fortunately, there is also a small plus. The V6C is equipped with motion interpolation, which works while watching movies. Thanks to it, productions recorded at 24 frames per second, meaning practically all cinematic titles as well as series, can look smoother than they were actually recorded. Importantly, the intensity of the effect can be adjusted to personal preferences – from slight smoothing to full "soap opera effect."

We move on to a matter that may be decisive for many. Unfortunately, here we must point out the biggest "Achilles' heel" of the QNED80A model. This TV is equipped with a panel that has a native refresh rate of 60Hz. There's no point in hiding it – at this price, we expected more because we know that Chinese manufacturers can offer 120Hz screens for similar money. Due to this parameter, dynamic scenes in sports or fast-paced games are not the strong suit of this screen. Fortunately, LG has equipped the TV with a proven smoothing system called TruMotion. It works quite well with film material (24 frames). We suggest playing around with the De-Judder slider – from our experience, setting it in the range of 2-4 provides the best compromise: motion becomes smoother while still looking natural, without the artificial "TV theater" effect.

Although the V6C is not a television designed with avid gamers in mind, TCL has included a few features that may appeal to more casual users. There is no 120 Hz panel or HDMI 2.1 ports, but there is an ALLM mode that automatically switches the TV to low-latency mode. Additionally, there is a quite practical Game Bar – a simple panel that allows you to view basic parameters, change the picture mode, or even enable a virtual crosshair on the screen. An interesting feature is also the support for Dolby Vision Gaming, intended for Xbox Series S/X consoles – a nice addition, though in practice it doesn't offer as much as in more expensive models. However, the biggest problem remains HDR configuration. The HGiG feature, which adjusts the brightness and contrast of games to the panel's capabilities, does not respond as we would expect – the image can end up being overly dark or too flat. As a result, a better solution turns out to be simply playing in SDR mode, where the V6C performs stably and does not try to pretend to be an HDR TV.

Since we have established that the QNED80A is a 60Hz panel television, we must say it directly: we will not be playing here at 120 frames per second in any resolution. Does this disqualify the device in the eyes of gamers? Not necessarily, especially for "casual" gamers. LG has decided to sweeten this technical limitation by packing in quite a few useful features. We have support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) ranging from 48-60Hz and an automatic game mode ALLM, which quickly reduces input lag upon detecting a console. We manage all of this through a very convenient, purple Game Optimizer menu (Player Panel), which has already become LG's trademark. The manufacturer deserves big credit for consistency regarding HDR. Although the television does not support Dolby Vision in games on Xbox consoles, LG adds a well-implemented HGiG standard. Thanks to this, even on a moderately bright screen, HDR gaming is clear, and details in shadows and highlights are accurately reproduced, rather than "cut off."