TCL’s QM8 Series has long been a favorite among TV shoppers and reviewers alike, and for good reason. Last year’s QM8K delivered image quality that often matched or surpassed that of high-end LG, Samsung, and Sony Mini LEDs that cost more. That value made it one of the easiest TVs to recommend in its class.
TCL’s QM8 Series has long been a favorite among TV shoppers and reviewers alike, and for good reason. Last year’s QM8K delivered image quality that often matched or surpassed that of high-end LG, Samsung, and Sony Mini LEDs that cost more. That value made it one of the easiest TVs to recommend in its class.
The new TCL QM8L continues that trend. It’s the latest entry in the company’s upper-midrange Mini LED lineup, and it uses TCL’s new SQD technology to boost color performance over its predecessor. After testing the TV, I’m impressed. The QM8L delivers a fantastic picture with rich colors, impactful HDR highlights, and good black levels for a Mini LED. It’s a worthy successor to the QM8K, and recent discounts have helped to cement it as one of my top recommendations for high-end performance on a midrange budget.
The older QM8K remains a great performer in its own right, but it’s now sold out at most stores. If you happen to find it in stock for a lot less than the QM8L, then it’s still a good buy. But otherwise, the QM8L is the best TCL TV for most people. Here’s what makes it so impressive for the money.
TCL 75-inch QM8L SQD 4K TV
The QM8L is the successor to TCL’s highly rated QM8K. This 2026 model uses the brand’s new SQD tech to produce a wider range of colors, while offering similar contrast and brightness as last year’s model.
The QM8L has a sleek design and is available in up to 98 inches
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The QM8L is available in four screen sizes: 65-, 75-, 85-, and 98-inches. Launch prices ranged from $2,500 to $6,000, but big discounts are now common across the lineup. For instance, the 65-inch QM8L is often on sale for $1,498, which is a steal for this level of performance.
I tested the 75-inch QM8L for this review, but all four sizes feature the same basic design and specifications. Brightness and contrast will vary slightly by screen size, but my testing results will generally apply across the full lineup.
The QM8L has an attractive build that’s a step above cheaper TCL models, but not quite as premium as the brand’s more expensive X11L. The panel is about two inches deep at its thickest point. That’s relatively slim for a Mini LED TV, but not as thin as the X11L’s impressive 0.8-inch profile. The TV’s frame has a silver accent, and the screen uses TCL’s ZeroBorder design, so there’s virtually no black bezel around the image.
The included pedestal stand is sturdy and attractive, but it might not be a good fit for some soundbar setups. Though the stand can be attached in a low or high position, its depth is 14.5 inches. That’s a pretty big footprint, so it’s possible your media console won’t be deep enough to fit a soundbar in front without resting it on the pedestal, which isn’t ideal. This is a small drawback, but one that soundbar owners should be aware of. It’s also important to note that the 98-inch model uses left and right feet rather than a pedestal.
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The remote control is the same one included with the X11L, and it’s one of my favorites. It has a sleek silver finish, backlit keys, and extra buttons on the right side for quickly adjusting brightness and switching picture modes. And though several brands like Samsung and LG have been cutting or combining functions on their latest remotes to achieve a more streamlined design, I prefer TCL’s approach, which still includes dedicated keys for inputs, mute, and signal info.
The QM8L boasts four HDMI 2.1 ports, supporting up to 4K at 144Hz. That’s a nice upgrade over last year’s QM8K, which had two HDMI 2.1 and two HDMI 2.0 ports. That said, it’s slightly disappointing that TCL’s top TVs max out at 144Hz rather than 165Hz, which some LG, Samsung, and Hisense models now support. This is only relevant to dedicated PC gamers, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
TCL’s SQD tech offers impressive color performance
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The QM8L’s biggest upgrade over last year’s QM8K is the addition of TCL’s new SQD (Super Quantum Dot) technology. SQD tech debuted on the company’s premium X11L, which I previously reviewed. SQD might sound like just another flashy branding term, but in this case, there’s actual substance behind the marketing.
TCL’s SQD system uses larger quantum dots than on a typical QLED TV, along with an enhanced color filter, to produce a wider, brighter color range. This same technology helped make the X11L one of the most impressive TVs I’ve ever tested, so it’s great to see TCL bringing it down to a more affordable model.
But to be clear, the QM8L doesn’t match the X11L’s overall image quality. The X11L still has the edge in a few key areas, like local dimming and peak brightness. But the QM8L gets very close in color.
Using a colorimeter with Calman software and a Portrait Displays G1 pattern generator, I measured the TV’s color gamut at about 85% of the BT.2020 color space. BT.2020 is currently the widest color gamut used in Hollywood productions, and most standard QLEDs cover about 60% to 80% of it.
I have tested a few more expensive TVs, like Samsung’s R95H Micro RGB TV, Sony’s new True RGB TVs, and TCL’s own X11L, which deliver even higher BT.2020 coverage, but the QM8L is in rare company for its price range. This confirms that TCL’s new panel technology is delivering tangible results.
That said, it’s important to keep this performance in perspective. As impressive as those measurements are, most movies and TV shows don’t actually use such a wide range of colors. So while the QM8L has better color than a regular QLED, that won’t always translate into a dramatic difference with the content you watch every day. In that sense, color capabilities like this are geared toward big home theater enthusiasts who want the latest tech.
But even with that caveat, the QM8L looks fantastic in actual use. The TV produces bright, bold primary colors that really stand out in vibrant films like “Aquaman,” and it does a great job preserving saturation without making the image look cartoonish. Color gradations are also very smooth. In my usual torture-test scenes from “Ex Machina” and “The Green Knight,” I didn’t notice any major banding, which is great given how often those scenes can expose blocky colors on many TVs.
Brightness is excellent, but OLEDs and the pricier TCL X11L still have an edge in contrast
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HDR brightness is another clear strength. On a 10% HDR test pattern, with Filmmaker Mode, dynamic tone mapping off, and local dimming set to high, I measured a peak brightness of around 3,600 nits, with occasional bursts up to 4,100 nits, which is about on par with last year’s model. However, when measuring again after the TV had been on for a while, that number dropped to around 2,000 nits, which the set had no trouble sustaining. So, in practice, you can expect around 2,000 to 4,000 nits of peak HDR brightness depending on how long highlights appear on the screen.
Those numbers don’t quite match the X11L, which could sustain 3,000 to 4,000 nits and hit around 6,000 nits in bursts with similar settings, but the QM8L is still bright enough to accurately reproduce highlight intensity in most HDR content. That means specular highlights have excellent punch. Reflections, sparks, sunlight, and explosions all pop with the kind of impact that makes premium HDR content look premium.
Local dimming is also very good for a Mini LED TV, though not quite as refined as what you get from TCL’s step-up X11L. In most material, black levels look deep and uniform, and the TV does a convincing job balancing bright highlights against dark backgrounds. But in tricky scenes, I could spot the backlight at work more than I could on the X11L.
A dark sequence from “The Green Knight,” in which a character enters an abandoned house at night, revealed subtle patchiness and flickering in shadows. I could also see hints of blooming around a character’s glowing eyes. Likewise, the burning church scene in “1917” showed minor inconsistencies in black levels, with some areas of the screen looking beautifully deep and others appearing slightly elevated or vignetted. Meanwhile, in a few episodes of “Daredevil: Born Again” on Disney+, I spotted faint darkened outlines around characters on dim backgrounds.
To be fair, you often have to know what to look for to see these kinds of flaws, and they’re most evident in a pitch-black room. Most people probably won’t see them during regular viewing, and even as someone who specifically hunts for this sort of thing, I found them relatively minor. Still, they’re there, and they serve as a reminder that even a really good Mini LED backlight still can’t match the precision of an OLED.
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Interestingly, though, the QM8L avoids one issue I noticed on the more expensive X11L: faint vertical streaking on black backgrounds. I didn’t see that artifact here, which is a nice win for the cheaper model.
And in at least one area, I actually preferred the QM8L’s presentation to the X11L’s. In “Mad Max: Fury Road,” certain HDR highlights — especially explosions and bright reflections on vehicles — looked a bit more dynamic on the QM8L. On the X11L, the centers of those highlights occasionally looked a touch faded, while the QM8L preserved a little more punch.
Viewing angles, however, remain just OK. As with the X11L, TCL’s SQD tech doesn’t do much to improve the off-axis weaknesses common to LED/LCD displays. The QM8L performs a bit better than a typical QLED, but colors and contrast still fade and distort somewhat toward the edges of the screen. My usual “Ex Machina” test scene is a good example of this, since the red lighting in that sequence shifts toward orange as you move off-center.
Reflection handling is decent, especially since the TV has a lot of headroom to boost brightness to overcome glare. However, the panel is still glossy, so direct reflections in bright rooms will be visible. If reflections are a big issue, you’re better off with one of Samsung’s glare-free TV models, like the R95H or S95H.
Beyond movies and shows, the TV’s image quality also translates well to video games, which look similarly vibrant and bright, particularly when titles support HDR. I also found motion to be smooth when engaging the TV’s 120Hz mode and VRR (variable refresh rate) in PS5 games like “Marvel’s Spider-Man.” However, I noticed some flicker when using 120Hz with VRR in “Crimson Desert.” I also noticed this with the X11L, so it could be an isolated VRR issue with that title.
Google TV with Gemini is a great all-around system
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Like other TCL Mini LED TVs, the QM8L runs Google TV with built-in Gemini AI. Though I used to have a few qualms about Google’s smart TV platform (especially back in the Android TV days), its latest iteration has become one of my favorite interfaces.
Google TV syncs seamlessly with an existing Google account, which makes setup a breeze, especially if you use a phone with the Google Home app. The on-screen design is easy to navigate, with quick access to your downloaded apps in a horizontal menu up front and center. There are also rows of content recommendations, but they’re not obtrusive, and they tend to include titles I’d actually want to watch. The same can’t be said for recommendations highlighted on many rival platforms.
Google’s Gemini is also a good digital assistant. It’s responsive, understands conversational queries with follow-ups, and is great for content discovery. It’s also capable of other advanced tasks, like helping to plan a trip, but I don’t find those capabilities all that necessary for a TV. You can use Gemini with the included remote or hands-free via the TV’s integrated microphone, which can also be deactivated for privacy.
Navigation speed is smooth, and I didn’t encounter any notable hiccups. Older TCL TVs were known for occasional glitches with settings and menus, but the brand has seemingly ironed out those kinks over the last couple of years. During my testing time, the QM8L delivered a painless, bug-free experience.
Should you buy the TCL QM8L SQD 4K TV?
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The TCL QM8L is a great follow-up to last year’s already fantastic QM8K. It carries over a lot of what made that older model so easy to recommend, including high brightness, good contrast control, and generally excellent HDR performance. On top of that, it offers a boost in color thanks to TCL’s new SQD technology, which delivers a richer, more expansive image.
There are also a few practical improvements beyond picture quality. The addition of two more HDMI 2.1 ports is especially welcome. That makes the QM8L a more flexible option for people with multiple gaming devices. And while the design doesn’t feel quite as premium as TCL’s flagship X11L, it still looks and feels like a step up from the brand’s cheaper models.
Speaking of, if you want to save some cash, TCL’s QM7L is a good midrange alternative. That model also uses SQD tech, so it offers similar color performance. But it’s dimmer, has slightly lower contrast, and has a more basic design with two fewer HDMI 2.1 ports and a traditional panel border.
Ultimately, the QM8L strikes the most impressive balance between picture quality and typical street pricing of any TCL TV on the market right now, enabling it to go toe-to-toe with some of the best TVs from other brands, while often undercutting their cost.
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