TCL Says Screw All These New RGB TVs, Even Its Personal

TCL, a model identified for its comparatively low-cost screens, now has its personal taste of costly RGB-mini LED TV. But neglect all that. Hell, push the entire RGB acronym to the again of your thoughts as a result of TCL says its good ol’ mini LED televisions, particularly its new “super quantum dot” shows, should not solely cheaper but in addition higher than RGB—even its personal.

The TV maker simply dropped a smattering of recent screens throughout the mini LED spectrum. The new QM8L and QM7L each supply compelling specs—4K decision, 144Hz refresh price, extra dimming zones, and better potential brightness—than earlier TCL TVs. They additionally promise to shove much more Google Gemini AI options inside your house leisure middle. Why anybody would need to make ugly AI-generated movies on their TV by way of Google’s Veo mannequin (out there through a future replace) is past me.

There are some things occurring that set these new TVs aside. The most evident is within the numbers. Both TVs are scaled-down from the flagship X11L launched again at CES 2026. The QM8L, with its 4K decision and 144Hz refresh price, guarantees 4,000 discrete native dimming zones. That’s supposed to supply higher distinction and highlights for HDR (excessive dynamic vary) content material than the last-generation QM8K. Sure, the X11L claims to make use of 20,000 discrete dimming zones, however the QM8L begins at $2,500 at 65 inches. The smallest X11L, at 75 inches, prices $7,000.

Both the QM8L and QM7L can hit the total BT.2020 colour gamut. It’s a type of issues that issues extra on paper than in actual life. These screens are constructed on TCL’s enhanced “super quantum dots,” or SQD, which is an improve to earlier quantum dot expertise with higher luminance and improved colours.

If you’re in search of one thing even cheaper, the QM7L begins at $1,200 for the 55-inch mannequin. Something to pay attention to is that the 4K TV incorporates a less-powerful chip that doesn’t help the improved Dolby Vision 2 Max HDR customary. Dolby Vision 2 might present higher HDR content material that’s tuned to what you’re watching. The QM8K helps Vision 2, however you’ll have to attend for an OTA (over the air) replace that provides it. While Dolby Vision 2 content material might be sparse at launch, TCL promised all first-gen Dolby Vision content material ought to be enhanced on these new TVs.

Why TCL would somewhat you purchase a SQD display screen

TCL additionally has a brand new RGB-mini LED TV—the RM9L—that may compete with micro RGB TVs from corporations like Samsung. But it’s best to ignore it. That’s not me saying that; that’s TCL itself claiming the corporate’s SQD TVs are higher and less expensive for the common purchaser.

Everybody, from Hisense to Samsung to LG, has their very own number of an RGB TV. These TVs depend on tiny LEDs able to displaying purple, inexperienced, and blue mild independently. RGB show expertise is designed akin to mini LED, but it surely provides a brand new method of presenting colour on a display screen. A mini LED makes use of a backside layer of barely bigger white LEDs to light up completely different elements of a panel earlier than including colour. The quantum dots layer enhances colours to seem extra vibrant.

While TCL proclaims its first RGB-mini LED TV seems to be the most effective, the corporate is adamant that the display screen kind hides a number of drawbacks. One is “color crosstalk,” the place the sunshine from the purple, inexperienced, and blue lights might overlap, leading to doubtlessly inaccurate colour. TCL implied you might worsen blooming management—the place white spills onto darker sides of the display screen—than on a mini LED display screen with extra dimming zones. In particular person, TCL’s RM9L isn’t any slouch. It presents an amazing image with sharp visuals, minimal haloing and bloom, and a few comparatively deep blacks (although not as inky as OLED).

I requested TCL explicitly the place it noticed its RGB-mini LED TV stacking up with the remainder of its mini LED lineup. While the RM9L prices $8,000 for its 85-inch mannequin—its smallest dimension—TCL VP of product planning Scott Ramirez mentioned the QM8L might supply “comparable” image high quality at simply $4,000 for a similar dimension.

“If we didn’t make an RGB and we only had SQD, and we said the SQD was better, what would people think?” Ramirez defined. “We said, ‘That’s not what we’re going to do.’ We are going to make an RGB better than other people’s RGB, but then we’re going to make something better than that, which is the X11L.”

Gemini is right here, too

That’s to not say TCL imagines its RGB TV is unhealthy by any customary. If you stared at each the flagship X11L and RM9L displaying the identical content material, you would need to squint to identify any distinction in high quality. It’s solely when some scenes come on, like a pure white flower on a black background, which you could inform there’s any distinction by way of uncooked brightness. The flagship mini LED X11L manages 10,000 nits of peak brightness. The RGB-mini LED RM9L peaks at a decrease 6,000 nits of brightness.

Even if TCL asks you to disregard its RGB TV, you must also ignore the AI. Soulless Google Veo video content material is already pointless. In an upcoming software program replace, customers ought to have the ability to ask the brand new TCL TVs to alter image settings for them utilizing Google Gemini. If you need a greater image for sports activities, the TV might change its show settings or change the gamma and different values to spice up the picture high quality.

Google TV group product supervisor Jamieson Brettle instructed me the TV ought to have the ability to flip off movement smoothing on command. Soon sufficient, you received’t need to dig by way of system settings in your mother and father’ subsequent TV to nix that too-smooth “soap opera” impact.