Best TCL TVs in 2024

TCL is a popular brand in the TV market, particularly at the budget end of 4K LED TVs, where it competes with brands like Hisense, Toshiba, Amazon, and Insignia. But in all those, TCL emerges top, sometimes delivering top-tier features and designs that rival mainstream brands.

Like all those other brands, TCL offers a wide range of TVs of different sizes and price points with varying technologies and features. But its TVs cost almost a fraction of equivalent sets from big brands such as Samsung, Sony, and LG.

Whether you’re in the UK or the US, TCL’s lineup of televisions packs most of the features you’d ever need, and offers you the convenience of being able to choose the display tech of your choice or the smart platform you like the most; and that can make deciding on a particular TCL TV a little complicated.

Which are the best TCL TVs to buy?

To help you choose the best TCL TV for your needs, we have outlined some of the best TVs the company has to offer both in the US and UK, as well as what they offer and how they stack up against the many competing brands out there in the budget TV space.

And now that we’re coming into the holiday shopping season in the US and UK, TCL TVs can be found often in the budget TV space. You’ll most certainly find TCL TVs with competitive features and specs solid at some rock-bottom prices around.

If you’re in the market for a reasonably priced TV but not willing to sacrifice picture quality and other technologies, TCL has got you covered, offering a wide array of 4K TVs that will get the job done when it comes to streaming your favorite content or whatever you want on a budget.

That said, TCL TVs may not be the best for gamers – many of its units (so are those from Hisense and the rest) don’t support features like VRR or 120Hz, but it’s not surprising at the price. Still, TCL TVs will be fine for casual gaming, especially if you’re still playing on PS4 or Xbox One.

Overall, TCL also offers premium models that run up into the thousands and feature Mini-LED tech or 8K, but they’re harder to justify when stacked against sets from mainstream brands like Sony or LG. But in the budget and mid-range niche, TCL TVs on offer are usually tough to beat in terms of value.

The Quick List

• TCL QM8 / QM850G QLED
• TCL Q7/Q750G QLED
• TCL Q6/Q651G QLED
• TCL S4/S450G

The best TCL TVs you can buy

1. Best TCL TV overall: TCL QM8 / QM850G QLED

For this year, the TCL QM8 is hands down the best TCL TV we’ve tested that delivers stellar picture quality alongside a selection of impressive extra features. You’re not finding any other TV at this price range that screams premium without the exorbitant MSRP of other high-end brands like Sony and LG.

While it isn’t attempting to the Sony Bravia XR A95L OLED, it still manages to be one of the best gaming TVs around and it won’t run your bank account clean either, rocking a reasonable sticker price for all sizes. Here, you’re getting a bargain on a 120Hz refresh rate with Dolby Vision and HDR10+, HLG, and a very short input lag of just 13ms.

It runs Google TV OS and comes equipped with VRR and ALLM for excellent anti-screen tearing when gaming. You can even max the refresh rate up to 240Hz if you’re using one of the best gaming PCs via the specific port on the TV.

If you’re in the market for a premium gaming display without a premium price, the TCL QM8 QLED TV is easily the best bet and a top pick among the best TCL TVs.

Our suggested TCL QM8 model:

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2. Best Mid-range TCL TV: TCL Q7/Q750G QLED

If you need something cheaper than the TCL QM8, the best mid-range TCL TV you can get is the TCL Q7. It’s a superb TV that delivers impressive picture quality that almost matches the more expensive model, nearly identical feature set but steeped-down performance. Thanks to its superb contrast ratio and fantastic black uniformity, it’s an affordable alternative for watching movies in the dark.

However, its local dimming feature isn’t quite effective at making bright highlights stand out. Plus. It doesn’t get as bright as the higher-end model, so the TCL QM8 looks much better even when the lights are turned on.

Still, the Q7 is a feature-packed gaming TV with two HDMI ports, one supporting up to 4K at 144Hz and the other up to 4K at 120Hz. It also supports a variable refresh rate (VRR) to help reduce tearing during gaming. Also, it has a wide color gamut, although it isn’t as colorful as the QM8, its pre-calibration color accuracy is poor as well.

Luckily, it runs the Google TV OS, which is easy to use and supports a wide selection of apps.

Our suggested TCL Q7 model:

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3. Best Budget TCL TV: TCL Q5/Q550G QLED

Available for much less than both the TCL QM8 and Q7 is the TCL Q5, which retails for a much lower price than its high-end siblings. But let the price not fool you, as it’s still an amazing TV and proves itself as one of the best TCL TVs for its value.

The TCL Q5 has a great native contrast ratio that culminates in deep blacks and impeccable black uniformity with minimal blooming. It doesn’t have local dimming to emphasize highlights, but it’s a decently bright TV that easily handles bright rooms. Unfortunately, it picks its siblings’ poor image processing, especially low-quality content smoothing, which would be better.

What truly sets the Q5 model apart, however, is its gaming features. It has three HDMI 2.0 ports and a 60Hz panel to boot, and this TV can output 1080p at 120Hz and even 1440p at 120Hz through resolution halving, with a wide VRR range to match in its 55-and 65-inch sizes. TCL also sells the slightly more expensive TCL Q7 QLED, but it performs almost identically to the Q6, so it does very little to justify the extra cost.

Our suggested TCL Q6 model:

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4. Best Cheap TCL TV: TCL S4/S450G

There’s nothing wrong about watching the cheapest TV in the TCL lineup, as long as you know what you’re getting. The TCL S4 is the cheapest around, it offers basic 4K performance and has three HDMI 2.0 ports. That’s sufficient enough for folks just upgrading from Full HD TVs, and its low input lag makes it ideal for gamers still rocking older PS4 or Xbox One.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t use a 120Hz panel, and gamers using modern consoles won’t be getting maximum frame rates, its poor black levels mean the contrast can be underwhelming here.

The TCL S4 may not be the most outstanding TV for your living room, but if you just want a standard 4K TV without spending a lot of money and can do without the extra gaming features, the S4 fits the bill and your budget.

Our suggested TCL S4 model:

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What is QLED?

TCL’s top models use QLED technology. QLED refers to displays that use quantum dots and LED backlights to produce brighter and richer colors, using nano-scale crystals that react to light by glowing at varying wavelengths, resulting in brighter colors in response to a TV’s backlight.

QLED technology was originally popularized by Samsung, by these panels marked a big improvement over traditional LCD panels, delivering a brighter picture with a wider color gamut. When this technology is paired with a backlight array that has local dimming zones, the same displays offer stellar contrast and HDR performance, almost matching the pixel-perfect lighting you’ll get with more premium OLED displays.

However, not all TCL TVs have QLED enhancement, but it’s a feature that’s worth the extra money you’ll spend to get it since it elevates the overall picture quality.

What’s Mini-LED?

Mini-LED is a type of screen tech found mostly in TV displays. Nowadays, most TV makers like TCL, LG, and Samsung all use mini-LEDs on their TVs or are building new ones with Mini LED backlight tech inside them.

Mini-LED TVs are essentially the same as standard LED TVs, except that where LED TVs sometimes use up to a few hundred individual LEDs in their backlights, mini-LED TVs use thousands of much smaller LEDs in the same space.

All LCD TVs use a backlight to provide the light source for your TV viewing. In recent times that backlighting has come in the form of LEDs, numbering in the hundreds. Mini LED takes that a step further by using LEDs which are much, much smaller. About one-fourth of the size of regular LED backlights, they resemble tiny particles of glitter.

The big advantage is that it’s possible to have many more of them for each TV. It’s about a ten-fold increase, with them numbering the thousands and arranged into more dimming zones than before.

How to choose the best TCL TV for you

All said and done, a TCL TV delivers a great watching experience at a great price, and the only real question is what features you’re willing to spend a little more for. As our reviews have shown, you’ll have tremendous value and great quality on any model.

Again, the different models in the TCL lineup are differentiated with specific features and capabilities that make it easy to identify not only what makes one better than another, but also how those differences match up to the price-to-value that each set offers. If you’re still deliberating over the best brand, price range, or screen size, check out TCL’s product range and you can easily pick the best TVs in each.

Last update on 2024-12-21 at 06:46 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API