The QM7 is a bright and colorful TV that offers high contrast at a surprisingly affordable price.
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Most people won’t be able to tell the difference in visual quality between a QLED and OLED TV at a glance, but the difference in price is immediately obvious. The truth is, if you get a good QLED TV, you’ll probably be happy with the picture quality and be happy to pocket the price difference. That might not apply to you if you’re a movie buff, but if you just watch the occasional sports game, there are plenty of devices for you.
If that sounds like you, I think this QLED TV from TCL is about as good a choice as it gets. The TCL QM7 is a Quantum Dot Mini Light Emitting Diode (QD Mini-LED) QLED TV, meaning TCL is combining QD and Mini-LED tech here to improve picture quality with more realistic colors, better contrast, and higher brightness. The QM7 also supports most HDR formats that most people want and is a great TV for gamers. Perhaps the best part is how affordable this TV is for how good it is.
TCL sent me a 65-inch QM7 for me to review. After testing it for a while, I can recommend this TV to anyone who wants a solid, budget QLED TV without the premium perks and prices of TVs like TCL’s QM8 or OLEDs.
Some technical breakdowns
Before I get started, this review is going to use some fairly technical terms, so let’s break them down, and why they matter.
QLED vs OLED
As stated, the biggest difference you’ll notice between OLEDs and QLEDs is the price. OLEDs usually start around a grand (depending on size). The main justification for that price is the virtually infinite contrast ratio that Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) can produce. These TVs don’t use a backlight at all. Instead, each pixel lights up individually and can turn completely off, which gives OLEDs their signature perfect blacks (and also helps with energy consumption). The advantage of Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diode (QLEDS) is that they still produce a good enough contrast without the downsides of OLED. Mainly, the hefty price, low brightness on some models, and the potential for burn-in.
Why Quantum Dots are important
QLEDs, like the TCL QM7, use a different technology from OLEDs. They use a layer of quantum dots—tiny nanocrystals that glow when hit with light—to boost color and brightness. This creates a vibrant and punchy image that often gets way brighter than OLED, letting you watch TV in well-lit rooms or during the day. However, the image quality is generally still inferior to OLED technology, and QLED panels still use a backlight.
What are dimming zones and VRR?
TV snobs who don’t have an OLED panel are obsessed with the number of dimming zones and usually use that figure to determine which TV is best for them (if only it were that simple). Dimming zones are the specific parts of the backlight that dim the screen during dark scenes. The more you have, the better it can light up bright spots while keeping dark areas dark, making for OLED-like contrast. TVs with a low number of dimming zones can suffer from a “blooming effect,” where bright stuff bleeds into the black parts of the screen.
Gamers, meanwhile, tend to care a lot about Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). This feature syncs your TV’s refresh rate with your gaming console or PC so the screen doesn’t stutter or tear during fast movements. Gamers like TVs that support VRR, since it makes their games snappier, cleaner, and just smoother overall.
TCL QM7 first impressions
The QM7 didn’t make a good first impression right out of the box. The plastic build quality was poor and felt cheap and weak. However, as I got more used to the TV, I was willing to accept that these cuts were worth it in the name of value elsewhere. I would much rather have TV companies make cuts on the build than on the specs, ports, formats, or picture quality. Once my TV was set up, none of its physical aspects mattered.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
Design
The ports on the QM7.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
Thin bezels give this TV a very modern look. The ports on the QM7 are well thought out and will make gamers happy. You have four HDMI ports, two of which are HDMI 2.1, and one of those can handle 4K at 144Hz. Neither of these two is the eARC port, meaning you also get to hook up a soundbar without taking up one of the good HDMI ports. Good job, TCL.
The “Ultra-Bass” subwoofer from Onkyo on the back of the TV.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
The stand on the QM7 is in the center, with a 3.5-inch gap below it to place a soundbar. However, I felt the stand was too wobbly, so I opted to mount the TV using a standard VESA bracket for my bedroom.
I personally recommend getting a soundbar (or surround sound setup) if you value proper audio. The QM7 comes built-in with an “Ultra-Bass” subwoofer from Onkyo, but it was nothing more than a gimmick. I could not hear any difference in audio, much less in bass, compared to any other TV.
Controller of the QM7.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
I really like the remote, though, which has an auto-sense backlight that came in pretty handy when I was looking for the controller in pitch darkness.
Image
Image looks great on a scene from “Lost.”
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
The two main things that stood out when I first watched the QM7 were the contrast and brightness. The contrast is powerful, with a native contrast of 8,264;1 that can get to 66,900:1 depending on your HDR format or picture mode, which is better than most non-OLED TVs. Deep blacks look very good, too, even when next to bright highlights. This is due to the QM7’s abundance of local dimming zones (1,240 to be exact), which is impressive given the price of this TV.
The colors on the QM7 pop.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
This TV is also very bright, hitting up to 2,400 nits of peak brightness. This makes it a great TV for a bright living room or a bedroom with a lot of natural light, which is the case in my bedroom. The highlights in dark scenes really stand out in HDR content, and since it supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, I could not think of a better way to put this to the test than by re-watching the darkest episode I could think of, “The Long Night” from Game of Thrones (season 8, episode 3) on Max, which streams in 4K and with Dolby Vision.
Dark scene from Game of Thrones where you can see detail in the caves.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
I was blown away by how much detail I picked up with the QM7 that I missed the first time I watched the episode. With the QM7, I could see details in caves and fight scenes that I never saw before. Even during the darkest scenes, I could make out what was happening on the screen. There was barely any blooming on the scenes with fire or bright highlights against dark backgrounds (even the subtitles looked good).
What do you think so far?
Another dark scene from Game of Thrones that looks great.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
The image isn’t perfect though, since some black and shadow images do look overly bright (you can fix a lot of this in the settings using the “local dimming enabled” option, though). But overall, it does a great job in most cases, especially in HDR content.
Since this is still a VA panel rather than an OLED one, it does lose some detail and color saturation at certain viewing angles, but it’s not terrible. I could still enjoy the details, colors, and brightness sitting from the most extreme angles.
Glare is very noticeable on dark scenes
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
Reflections can be problematic on the QM7, but mostly when I was watching dark scenes with my my overhead fan light on and the windows open during the brightest time of the day. When I switched over to bright scenes with the same amount of bright light in my room, the glare was barely noticeable.
Glare is barely noticeable on bright scenes
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
Features
TCL is one of the TV brands that isn’t loyal to one specific HDR format, so you get to enjoy all of them (if your TCL TV can support them). The QM7 offers HDR ULTRA with Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG, covering most of the formats used in premium streaming app subscriptions these days. The HDR Ultra with Dolby Vision IQ adjusts the brightness of the light in your room, which can be a cool feature for those who are sensitive to brightness, but I personally don’t enjoy it, so I turned it off.
Google TV
The hands-free Google Assistant is responsive and works better than my aging Google Home. Because this is a Google TV, it is compatible with Google Cast, but it’s always great to see that it supports others like Apple AirPlay, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit, too.
Google TV Freeplay menu.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
The Google TV OS is also snappy and easy on the eyes. It also comes with many free channels through TCL TV and live Google TV Freeplay. You won’t find the latest shows or movies playing—it’s mainly reruns or local live TV—but it’s free.
Gaming
The Xbox Series X/S is the only console that does Dolby Vision HDR (for now), so your results may vary, but my experience playing on this TV was one of the best I’ve had. Using the 4K and 120Hz refresh rate option (you can do 144Hz if your computer supports it) in game mode was beautiful (remember you’ll need an Ultra High-Speed HDMI cable to do this). The colors are radiant, the movements smooth, and the input lag isn’t noticeable (6 milliseconds). My only qualm is with the sound delay. When playing games like Halo Infinite or Call of Duty: Black Ops, there is a noticeable delay when shots are fired and when the sound is heard. This can likely be fixed if you hook up a soundbar and adjust the audio delay settings, but I didn’t see an option to adjust this with the TVs built-in speakers.
Halo Infinite on the QM7.
Credit: Daniel Oropeza
I also enjoyed having the “information” button on the remote, which shows me if I am actually gaming with the Game Master setting on, which optimizes the resolution, refresh rate, FreeSync or G-Sync VRR settings, and the HDR format (Dolby Vision in my case). You can see what it looks like in the image above.
