Review: TCL QM7 TV

If you’re looking for a TV that maximizes picture performance with a minimal hit to your budget, you may want to keep the lucky number 7 in mind. For the past few years, Hisense’s U7 series TVs have offered some of the best performance you can get for the money, including this year’s punchy U7N (8/10, WIRED Recommends), while TCL’s 2023 Q7 and the upgraded QM7 are similar top performers.

The QM7 usually costs more than the U7N, but it rewards you with a classier design and a slightly more-refined picture. From a pure performance perspective, you’ll have a hard time getting more without spending up, especially if you find it on a good sale.

Unfortunately, the software that drives the experience is harder to stand behind. During my initial evaluation, adjusting the TV’s SDR picture modes also affected the HDR modes, which is problematic for a variety of reasons. TCL provided a fix for me, but there’s no broad update for buyers yet, and at least one other reviewer had a similar issue.

Otherwise, there’s very little to complain about in a TV that adds to its great performance with top-line gaming features and one of my favorite smart interfaces. If you don’t mind rolling the dice on TCL’s potential software bugs, the QM7 could pay off handsomely.

A Slick Setup

Cobbling the QM7’s long pedestal stand together takes a bit more effort than rivals with dual-leg stands, and its 4-pound heft brings the 65-inch model I reviewed to a weighty 50 pounds. The payoff is a sturdy and stylish base, matched by slim chrome bezels and a checkered backside with a center woofer for a classy, if not altogether distinctive aesthetic.

The right-side input hub includes four HDMI inputs, two of which offer HDMI 2.1 support for gaming features like VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) at up to 144 Hz and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode). Like the U7N, TCL provides a separate HDMI eARC port, meaning you won’t lose a precious gaming port when connecting a soundbar or receiver. That’s always appreciated; the QM7's Onkyo sound system is decent, but I still recommend a separate audio setup.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The backlit remote offers some handy quick keys and a built-in microphone for Google Assistant commands. You can also summon Google hands-free via the TV’s onboard microphone, but if you’re not into an always-listening device you can disable it by flipping the switch beneath the front plate.

Speaking of Google, the Google TV interface that runs the show makes setting up smarts and streaming services simple with the Home app. Chrome users can sign into some apps automatically and even use Google Photos as screen savers, though I recommend paying close attention to the permissions to prevent TCL or Google from selling your info. If that strikes your privacy bone wrong, you can set up the QM7 as a dumb TV and bypass Google altogether. Bypassing the Google Home app takes longer, but it’s pretty painless.

Every TV brand uses a slightly different variation of Google TV, but the bones are the same, with an inviting home screen that makes it easy to arrange apps and jump to your last-watched device or program. TCL’s variation is straightforward, but I noticed some odd quirks. The Continue Watching feature sometimes takes me to previously watched episodes, while loading shows and movies on Hulu often starts with a slight delay between sound and picture—though it’s hard to know which megacorp is to blame. Other available smart features include Apple HomeKit support and streaming over Apple AirPlay and Chromecast for a well-rounded package.

Easy Picture Adjustment, Except …

Google TV quirks aside, adjusting the QM7’s picture is (in theory anyway) utterly simple, with fewer confusing options than fellow Google TV brands like Sony and Hisense.

As usual, I first turned off the light sensor under the Intelligent Picture settings, which otherwise auto-adjusts the backlight. I was then able to lock in a great-looking picture for both SDR (standard dynamic range) and HDR (high dynamic range) by choosing the Movie mode and making some minor tweaks, including adding a couple of points of Judder Reduction to smooth out some jerky panning and motion stuttering.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The QM7 supports both flavors of “dynamic” HDR, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. HDR10+ once again looked great in Movie mode, while Dolby Vision Dark (Dolby’s version of Movie mode) worked great across content right out of the box. That’s key, since DV Dark is often too dark even on more premium TVs. If you want more pop, you can try Dolby Vision Bright, but that was a bit much for me in the flashiest scenes.

I was pleased with how little time it took to get things cooking. Then it all went haywire. After deciding to raise the SDR brightness a few notches from the relatively dim default setting, I soon realized doing so had somehow changed the HDR brightness as well. That’s something you might not notice right away, because HDR video will look OK with the backlight below the max setting, but it severely limits the performance. As the name implies, high-dynamic-range video is mastered with a higher luminance range than SDR content, providing brighter brights, darker darks, and wider color volume. While you wouldn’t want the backlight at full force in SDR, HDR demands it to get the best of what your TV can do.

The backlight problem was intermittent, so I never knew whether I was getting true HDR. TCL engineers were able to replicate the problem and sent me a download to manually fix it, but they don't know how many TVs are affected and don't have an update planned until December.

Bold and Balanced

Once I’d fixed the brightness issue, I got to see what the QM7 can really do, and it was enough to keep things warm and fuzzy even after a cold start. The TV is remarkably talented for its price, offering zingy brightness that meets or beats the U7N, vivid and mostly well-balanced quantum dot colors, and striking contrast thanks to deep black levels.

The QM7’s use of mini-LEDs (an upgrade from the regular LEDs in last year’s Q7) provides pinpoint control between fiery images and dark backgrounds. In my rough count, I tracked over 1,000 separate dimming zones (TCL says the QM7 series provides up to 1,500), allowing for stirring contrast in scenes like a deep blanket of space layered in sparkling stars, with less noticeable blooming around bright objects than the U7N.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

Like the U7N, the QM7 also provides excellent shadow detail for its class with little crushing of darker images, especially in Dolby Vision. On the flip side, flashy highlights burst brilliantly, from laser shots and explosions to sunlit tropical waters. I found myself wincing pleasantly with especially bright transitions or searing highlights like the white-hot eyes in the lava monster Teca from one of my go-to HDR test films, Moana.

The TV stepped up appropriately with Blu-rays via the Panasonic DP-UB9000. Colors in scenes like Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 provided the most wow factor. The misty color bursts in GGV2's opening fight scene were almost distracting, popping with pastel pizazz amidst the rich black of space and swinging golden halos.

As with nearly all LED TVs I test, the QM7 struggles some with off-axis accuracy, showing dimmer colors and more blooming from the side, but it's far from the worst I've tested. Its relatively good reflection dampening also comes at the cost of some mild rainbowing with direct lighting.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The QM7 mostly atones for those annoyances with fantastic panel uniformity. While the U7N model I tested readily showed screen aberrations (aka the dirty screen effect) in shots like a panning skyline, the QM7 looks good even when put under the microscope with my Spears and Munsil test discs.

That’s not terribly surprising, considering you’ll often pay around $200 more for a 65-inch QM7. At that price, you’re pushing toward budget flagship options like the 65-inch Hisense U8N (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which offers nearly twice the brightness of both cheaper models, alongside fantastic black levels and contrast.

If you find the QM7 on sale at or below the U7N, it's a lot more enticing. At $800 or less, it's easily one of the best TVs you can buy, barring the odd HDR issue. As it stands, it's tough to recommend this TV until I know what you’re getting. Hopefully, the December update takes care of things. Until then, I’d stick with the U7N or, if your budget allows, the more capable U8N.