This is my text review of the TCL C7L in 55" (winterbegins - WB Display Tech Youtube)

Transparency = this review is not incentivized. This unit was not sponsored, I bought it with my own funds. Price at the time of writing this review is 899€ (EU - Germany).

Please note that the results you see in this review are only applicable to the 55" unit. Larger LCD / MiniLED models often fair a bit better due to dimming zone count and less pixel density

Packaging

The packaging is very solid like usual with minimalistic printing on the brown box. Due to the smaller size you have to lift the TV out of the box instead of having two separate parts. This is rather common on 55" TVs. Inside, the TV is nearly fully enclosed in styrofoam to protect it during shipping. All of the four TCL TVs I had since last year arrived in pristine condition.

Accessoires

You get your usual paper work (energy label, quick start guide, manual), mounting hardware (screws) for a VESA mount and the stand, a power cable that's unfortunately only 1,5m long, the same remote (RC833A) from last year + batteries and some plastic cable ties.

The stand is also the same as on the 55"C7K measuring 31cm(W)x27cm(D).

Build Quality

The chassis is identical to the C7K from last year. You get a gray aluminium frame with very slim bezels for a mid range TV and a matte plastic back panel with a grid like pattern. Watching from the front the ports are on the right side, power on the left. For the 2.2 sound system configuration you have two woofers protruding out of the upper half of the back panel and two speakers on the bottom.

The stand can be attached in two positions. The higher position is good for soundbars but unfortunately the stand is slightly angled so you can't put a bar directly underneath the TV. It's nearly full plastic and only reinforced with metal at the key areas. I wish we had two separate feet but that's definitely a preference thing.

Teardown, SoC and Ports

Removing the back panel for repairs is very easy, you just have to remove all visible screws. The back panel is held in with clips. After removing the backplate we see that everything is taped down neatly in the same arrangement as last years models. On the right is the internal PSU, bottom and top are the speakers and on the left side is the main and daughterboard with the ports and SoC.

The board is labeled with MT9653 - this refers to the Mediatek Pentonic 700 which only offers 2x HDMI 2.1 (48GBps) and two regular 2.0 ports (18GBps).For the remaining ports you have a optical out, CI, antenna section, LAN and one USB-A port.

Operating System and Setup

Google OS needs no introduction. It's the most versatile and customizable OS you can have on a TV. External launchers can even get rid of the advertisements on the Home Screen. TCL TVs also allow for seamless upgrades and even downgrades of firmware. There are entire community groups that formed around this.

The OS also allows a very basic minimal user data setup. You can start important apps like Youtube without logging into an account which is not possible on Samsung Tizen or Fire TV OS for example.

Panel, Viewing Angles and Subpixel Layout

TCL uses their own CSOT HVA 2.0 Pro panel with very high native contrast >7000:1 on the C7L. It uses the reversed BGR subpixel layout as usual.

The viewing angles are much better compared to regular VA panels from a few years ago but they still wash out / darken at extreme angles. WHVA panels and OLED are a clear step up. However if you pick the correct size for your space you won't have issues with them.

The screen coating is glossy and reacts to reflections with a rainbow effect. With content I haven't found this an issue but this will differ from room to room. The C7K from last year was also available as "Q7C" from Amazon and this model had a semi-gloss finish. I don't know if this will be offered again in 2026.

Uniformity

Uniformity looks pretty good on my unit here even with the modernwize DSE and some greyscale tests. I also found that the corners and edges of my unit were less dark compared to previous TCL models. That said, I found three darker dots / spots on the bottom right of the panel which I marked with a red circle.

Brightness

I tested the HDR brightness of the TV in the most accurate mode ootb (Filmmaker). LD high, Peak Brightness "high". "Boost" is only a bit higher for a few seconds so this is a more fair representation

Here we can see a peak brightness of 2050 nits in a 10% window. For smaller highlights (2%) we are still well above 1000nits which is respectable. I also tested if there is a brightness limiter and after 5 minutes of a static 10% window the TV decreased the brightness to 1250 nits. Interesting behavior / protection which won't happen with regular usage.

Dimming Zone and Performance

I counted the Dimming Zones to be 40 horizontal and 20 vertical rows for a total of 800 zones. Viewing the panel straight on and in dark HDR demos we can observe great results with bright highlights against dark backgrounds which is impressive on a 55" LCD. The extremely high native contrast helps the dimming behavior.

However in really demanding scenes like the Sony fireworks demo you can definitely get some blooming out of the TV.

Game Mode

The TV supports the same game bar as last year. After you select High Refresh Rate in the Game Bar setting menu you can select 4K 144hz and even 1080p 288hz with your PC. Similar to last year it also shows a 1440p signal with 288hz but I assume this is just some sort of compatibility mode because these Dual Modes usually have to at least half the vertical resolution.

I have also attached some UFO shots I took with my full frame camera. Unfortunately my 28mm lens is not ideal for this task but I think you are able to see the behavior on the shots. We are still dealing with an VA panel on an TV.

Motion

I tried some motion settings but they seem very similar to the C7K/Q7C from last year. The TV also has the same processor so I don't expect huge jumps in this regard. Motion also depends on the person, I usually turn off all motion enhancements on TVs because im not bothered by stutter - only soap opera effect is annoying to me.

SQD-MiniLED

The main reason you want to go with this TV is the new SQD-MiniLED technology. SQD means Super Quantum Dots which are enhanced quantum dot particles that convert the pure blue light of the backlight LEDs to white via an enhancement film that sits between the backlight and LCD layer. TCL also developed new color filters that further improve the color reproduction. This change was immediately noticeable after turning on the TV and in Demos. Colors leap off the screen like on a real RGB layout display. Unfortunately im not able to measure color gamut, but other reviews have measured it at >88% REC 2020 which is definitely QD-OLED and RGB-MiniLED territory.

RGB MiniLED has the achilles heel of processing latency and color crosstalk. I have seen multiple RGB MiniLEDs by now and while primary colors look monumental it was recently discovered that difficult scenes often require the backlight to use a so called white mode where it simply mixes all the colors to produce white light. This obviously ruins the benefits of the individual colored LEDs. SQD does not have this problem and works passively without affecting the processing of the TV.

Conclusion

While playing it safe in overall appearance, the C7L is a good improvement in most areas over last year's C7K. The star of the show are the SQDs which offer visible benefits even for regular users. The biggest downside to me is the Pentonic 700 SoC - not because of performance but future proofing. The market clearly moves away from AVRs and more towards connected setups that require the eARC port solely for sound systems. 4xHDMI 2.1 would give more flexibility.

Thank you for reading through this long review.

This is my text review of the TCL C7L in 55" (winterbegins - WB Display Tech Youtube)

Transparency = this review is not incentivized. This unit was not sponsored, I bought it with my own funds. Price at the time of writing this review is 899€ (EU - Germany).

Please note that the results you see in this review are only applicable to the 55" unit. Larger LCD / MiniLED models often fair a bit better due to dimming zone count and less pixel density

Packaging

The packaging is very solid like usual with minimalistic printing on the brown box. Due to the smaller size you have to lift the TV out of the box instead of having two separate parts. This is rather common on 55" TVs. Inside, the TV is nearly fully enclosed in styrofoam to protect it during shipping. All of the four TCL TVs I had since last year arrived in pristine condition.

Accessoires

You get your usual paper work (energy label, quick start guide, manual), mounting hardware (screws) for a VESA mount and the stand, a power cable that's unfortunately only 1,5m long, the same remote (RC833A) from last year + batteries and some plastic cable ties.

The stand is also the same as on the 55"C7K measuring 31cm(W)x27cm(D).

Build Quality

The chassis is identical to the C7K from last year. You get a gray aluminium frame with very slim bezels for a mid range TV and a matte plastic back panel with a grid like pattern. Watching from the front the ports are on the right side, power on the left. For the 2.2 sound system configuration you have two woofers protruding out of the upper half of the back panel and two speakers on the bottom.

The stand can be attached in two positions. The higher position is good for soundbars but unfortunately the stand is slightly angled so you can't put a bar directly underneath the TV. It's nearly full plastic and only reinforced with metal at the key areas. I wish we had two separate feet but that's definitely a preference thing.

Teardown, SoC and Ports

Removing the back panel for repairs is very easy, you just have to remove all visible screws. The back panel is held in with clips. After removing the backplate we see that everything is taped down neatly in the same arrangement as last years models. On the right is the internal PSU, bottom and top are the speakers and on the left side is the main and daughterboard with the ports and SoC.

The board is labeled with MT9653 - this refers to the Mediatek Pentonic 700 which only offers 2x HDMI 2.1 (48GBps) and two regular 2.0 ports (18GBps).For the remaining ports you have a optical out, CI, antenna section, LAN and one USB-A port.

Operating System and Setup

Google OS needs no introduction. It's the most versatile and customizable OS you can have on a TV. External launchers can even get rid of the advertisements on the Home Screen. TCL TVs also allow for seamless upgrades and even downgrades of firmware. There are entire community groups that formed around this.

The OS also allows a very basic minimal user data setup. You can start important apps like Youtube without logging into an account which is not possible on Samsung Tizen or Fire TV OS for example.

Panel, Viewing Angles and Subpixel Layout

TCL uses their own CSOT HVA 2.0 Pro panel with very high native contrast >7000:1 on the C7L. It uses the reversed BGR subpixel layout as usual.

The viewing angles are much better compared to regular VA panels from a few years ago but they still wash out / darken at extreme angles. WHVA panels and OLED are a clear step up. However if you pick the correct size for your space you won't have issues with them.

The screen coating is glossy and reacts to reflections with a rainbow effect. With content I haven't found this an issue but this will differ from room to room. The C7K from last year was also available as "Q7C" from Amazon and this model had a semi-gloss finish. I don't know if this will be offered again in 2026.

Uniformity

Uniformity looks pretty good on my unit here even with the modernwize DSE and some greyscale tests. I also found that the corners and edges of my unit were less dark compared to previous TCL models. That said, I found three darker dots / spots on the bottom right of the panel which I marked with a red circle.

Brightness

I tested the HDR brightness of the TV in the most accurate mode ootb (Filmmaker). LD high, Peak Brightness "high". "Boost" is only a bit higher for a few seconds so this is a more fair representation

Here we can see a peak brightness of 2050 nits in a 10% window. For smaller highlights (2%) we are still well above 1000nits which is respectable. I also tested if there is a brightness limiter and after 5 minutes of a static 10% window the TV decreased the brightness to 1250 nits. Interesting behavior / protection which won't happen with regular usage.

Dimming Zone and Performance

I counted the Dimming Zones to be 40 horizontal and 20 vertical rows for a total of 800 zones. Viewing the panel straight on and in dark HDR demos we can observe great results with bright highlights against dark backgrounds which is impressive on a 55" LCD. The extremely high native contrast helps the dimming behavior.

However in really demanding scenes like the Sony fireworks demo you can definitely get some blooming out of the TV.

Game Mode

The TV supports the same game bar as last year. After you select High Refresh Rate in the Game Bar setting menu you can select 4K 144hz and even 1080p 288hz with your PC. Similar to last year it also shows a 1440p signal with 288hz but I assume this is just some sort of compatibility mode because these Dual Modes usually have to at least half the vertical resolution.

I have also attached some UFO shots I took with my full frame camera. Unfortunately my 28mm lens is not ideal for this task but I think you are able to see the behavior on the shots. We are still dealing with an VA panel on an TV.

Motion

I tried some motion settings but they seem very similar to the C7K/Q7C from last year. The TV also has the same processor so I don't expect huge jumps in this regard. Motion also depends on the person, I usually turn off all motion enhancements on TVs because im not bothered by stutter - only soap opera effect is annoying to me.

SQD-MiniLED

The main reason you want to go with this TV is the new SQD-MiniLED technology. SQD means Super Quantum Dots which are enhanced quantum dot particles that convert the pure blue light of the backlight LEDs to white via an enhancement film that sits between the backlight and LCD layer. TCL also developed new color filters that further improve the color reproduction. This change was immediately noticeable after turning on the TV and in Demos. Colors leap off the screen like on a real RGB layout display. Unfortunately im not able to measure color gamut, but other reviews have measured it at >88% REC 2020 which is definitely QD-OLED and RGB-MiniLED territory.

RGB MiniLED has the achilles heel of processing latency and color crosstalk. I have seen multiple RGB MiniLEDs by now and while primary colors look monumental it was recently discovered that difficult scenes often require the backlight to use a so called white mode where it simply mixes all the colors to produce white light. This obviously ruins the benefits of the individual colored LEDs. SQD does not have this problem and works passively without affecting the processing of the TV.

Conclusion

While playing it safe in overall appearance, the C7L is a good improvement in most areas over last year's C7K. The star of the show are the SQDs which offer visible benefits even for regular users. The biggest downside to me is the Pentonic 700 SoC - not because of performance but future proofing. The market clearly moves away from AVRs and more towards connected setups that require the eARC port solely for sound systems. 4xHDMI 2.1 would give more flexibility.

Thank you for reading through this long review.