TCL QM7L Review

The QM7L is the first mid range TCL to use the Super Quantum Dot layer the company introduced this year, and color is the visible change: skin tones and saturated reds hold at high brightness where the older QM7 went pale and thin.

TCL quotes 3,000 nits and up to 2,100 dimming zones on the largest panel, with the 65 inch getting a smaller share of both. The dimming is well behaved for the money, with the halo around a bright object on black controlled rather than removed, and the Bang and Olufsen tuned array is better sound than anything else at this price manages without a soundbar. Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are both supported.

The catch is the one TCL has shipped for four years running. Only two of the four HDMI inputs run at full bandwidth, so a console and a PC fill the useful sockets and the streaming stick goes in a slow one, and the panel is 144Hz at a moment when Hisense sells 165Hz on four ports for the same $1,499. Google TV stutters while apps load. This is a good television priced against a better one, and the answer turns on whether the color layer matters more than the inputs.