TCL 65” QM7K Mini LED TV
This year TCL has raised the bar with the QM7K. Many of the issues I had with last year’s QM7 model have been directly addressed, and with the aggressive pricing strategy remaining the same, it’s likely many buyers will be considering the QM7K.
That said, no TV is perfect, so keep reading to find out if the 2025 QM7K is the perfect TV for you.
TCL’s 2025 QM7K is a significant improvement over the 2024 QM7 in terms of viewing angles & clarity making it an excellent choice for budget conscious buyers. Despite that, it still suffers in terms of contrast & motion clarity when compared to OLEDs, so those looking for the best picture quality possible may want to consider the upcoming QM8K or even competing OLED options.
Disclaimer: This TV was lent to me by TCL for review, but all opinions are my own. Additionally Home Theater Review may run advertising campaigns with various manufacturers including TCL.
For this review I used an X-Rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer, Color Checker Display Plus colorimeter, Calman Ultimate, Portrait Displays Video Forge Pro 8K pattern generator, a Sony RX100 VII 1000fps camera, an SM208 Screen Luminance Meter, and a Sony Cinema Line FX3 mirrorless video camera. Plus years of display testing experience.
The price for the TCL QM7K is similar to the 2024 QM7.
Above is the Connectivity for this TV. Most importantly it does come with two HDMI 2.1 ports capable of 4K 144Hz, and two HDMI ports capable of 4K 60Hz (one of which is eARC).
The unboxing experience for the QM7K is a breeze. Thankfully the TV is fairly light, and although it's not a screwless design, the assembly was very straightforward. It can easily be put together and set up by two people in less than half an hour. No ER trips required.
Mini LED typically does a good job with color, and often sits between WOLED and QD OLED in terms of vibrancy. This remains true for the QM7K, which does a solid job of representing bright HDR colors that are sure to please buyers.
For home theater enthusiasts below are all my Calman results measuring the accuracy of the display. For everyone else, feel free to skip to the TLDR.
Rec. 709 Testing
Out of the Box in Film Maker Mode, the TCL QM7K follows the EOTF curve well, but has issues with white balance on my unit.
PC Game Mode has similar results.
SDR Color Accuracy Test
Color Accuracy in Film Maker Mode for SDR content is solid.
HDR Testing
The default HDR FMM mode in HDR has significant issues with under-tracking, leading to dim HDR imagery.
Thankfully this is easily solved.
PC Game Mode has accuracy issues in HDR out of the box. This can be fixed.
HDR Color Gamut
The TCL QM7K has good HDR color coverage out of the box delivering up to nearly 80% BT.2020 UV.
HDR Color Accuracy
HDR Color Match results were above expectations considering the price.
The short version: The TCL QM7K looks great, delivers deep saturated HDR imagery, and has good SDR gamma tracking in Filmmaker mode. However, some changes are necessary to get accurate HDR playback in Filmmaker mode which is odd.
Thankfully it’s easy to fix, and the QM7K after the fixes actually has some of the best HDR color accuracy I’ve seen at or even above its price range.
Mini LEDs are known for getting much brighter than OLED, and the QM7K certainly does have good full screen brightness, however, strangely it did not get as bright as I expected.
The TCL QM7K is a slight improvement in brightness over the 2024 QM7.
Strangely the QM7K is less bright than last year’s QM7.
The QM7K brings decent improvements to brightness in window measurements, but it seems the firmware may need some work. Unfortunately in real HDR content it’s not always brighter, and in some cases can actually be less bright than last year's model.
Considering this is a big selling point for Mini LED, it’s crucial TCL addresses the low brightness in a firmware update. Ultimately I was a bit disappointed to see it getting beat by much older OLEDs.
Last year the QM7, like all Mini LED’s, struggled with contrast. It was especially apparent in low light scenes, and while the QM7K does bring significant enhancements in this area, it's still a challenge.
The TCL QM7K shows a massive improvement in contrast tests.
Compared to OLED the QM7K falls far short, especially in microcontrast. On my unit I only measured around 1,144 local dimming zones, which isn’t quite enough to measure up to an OLED with over 8,000,000.
TCL QM7K Blooming Issues.
The most apparent issue on the QM7K is the massive blooming that can occur with a black background. When counting local dimming zones I noticed nearly the whole backlight firing up every time a new zone was engaged. Hopefully this is a bug that can be fixed.
One thing TCL nailed this year was the finish. Thankfully TCL chose to upgrade the coating this year from a semi gloss to a glossy coating leading to improved clarity and vibrancy. This was an excellent choice and has led to the QM7K looking like a far more premium TV.
TCL QM7K glossy coating & reflection handling.
Like all glossy coatings you will see direct reflections with this display, and thanks to the anti reflective treatment you may even get rainbow-like streaks across the screen.
Also the panel in use does not have a regular RGB layout, so some text may be slightly less crisp than other IPS-based RGB panels.
TCL 65QM7K BGR subpixel layout.
On future models I’d like to see TCL continue to stick with a glossy coating, but try to reduce the rainbow-like reflections while retaining the same clarity and pop that the QM7K is capable of displaying. That said, buyers will be very happy with the choice TCL made this year.
Most Movies and TV shows are still shot in 24 or 30FPS. This means modern TVs will not be taking full advantage of their 120Hz+ panels. Some prefer the original creators intent, but for those who would like to fix judder or add motion clarity to your favorite content, judder control performance is crucial.
TCL QM7K judder control on vs off.
On my unit the TCL QM7K did a good job of cleaning up 24p judder in tests, but in real content it had issues. When using higher motion smoothing settings you may see some image errors during fast motion in highly detailed scenes.
The TCL QM7K is certainly a capable gaming display, but it doesn’t hold a candle to OLED. This is the reality of Mini LED vs OLED as the response times are much slower. Unfortunately in some instances the QM7K actually performed worse than the QM7 for gaming.
Motion Performance is better than expected for Mini LED.
Thankfully the QM7K does well for a Mini LED in motion. It still has some trailing leading to more blurry images in motion than OLED, but it has far less issues than many other Mini LEDs.
33ms of total system latency.
Unfortunately the input lag is actually a regression on my model and current firmware vs last year's QM7. This is unexpected and hopefully can be resolved with an update.
Ultimately the QM7K has acceptable gaming performance. That said if you're after the best gaming display I would point you towards an OLED.
Viewing angles are a big deal this year, and thankfully the QM7K has made huge strides in this department.
QM7K viewing angle issues.
There are still noticeable issues when viewed off angle, and I would try to be as close to the center as possible, but the massive washing out that occurred on last year’s QM7 has been greatly reduced.
I did also run into some banding issues on grey and white backgrounds, but it was mostly unnoticeable.
If you are at extreme angles I would not recommend the QM7K, but I think for the vast majority of buyers TCL has made a large enough improvement to make this a non issue. Hopefully this can continue to improve with each generation.
The QM7K is a bit of a let down when it comes to sound quality. The timbre just seems a bit off, and it’s very thin. It lacks bass, and body, and is ultimately unconvincing. I would highly recommend picking up at least a sound bar to pair with this TV.
One thing TCL has been nailing each year is the OS. Personally I’m a big fan of Google OS; which is what they used here, and once again it works flawlessly. Every TCL TV I have used as far as I can recall zips through the menu at a speed even the most expensive displays often can’t match.
Buyers will be very happy with the responsiveness and features offered by the QM7K.
At such a great price the QM7K is going to be a really tempting offer in 2025. If I had $2,000 and was looking at buying a large TV this would certainly be on my list.
TCL 65QM7K HDR Impact.
It brings big improvements in almost all areas over the last generation QM7, most noticeably better clarity, contrast, and viewing angles making it a far better display overall. In fact the QM7K is closer to last year's QM8 in many ways, which was a far more expensive TV. In fact if you were to place a 2025 QM7K side by side with a 2024 QM8, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference. An impressive feat to be sure.
I was especially impressed by the major advancements TCL made in the contrast and viewing angles which will make this TV far more suitable for many buyers vs last year’s QM7, as those were a major point of contention in 2024 for TCL’s more affordable models.
That said it’s not without its issues. First off, despite the improvements to viewing angles it still remains an issue. Additionally in dark theater rooms this TV is likely to have significant and noticeable blooming making it more suitable for brighter rooms where this is unnoticeable. Finally the latency and input lag just can’t measure up to the best OLEDs which could be an issue for some games.
Ultimately despite those issues, especially at larger sizes like 85” I think the TCL QM7K is likely to be one of the best TVs you can buy at its very aggressive price point. Considering the immense value on offer, buyers will be very happy with the QM7K, and it’s definitely a TV I will be highly recommending in 2025.
