TCL has just unveiled its new TV range for the UK and Europe, and the stars of the show in the UK are the three mini-LEDs sets on offer: the higher-end TCL C8K, the mid-range TCL C7K, and the more affordable TCL C6K.
I say "more" affordable because all these models are very aggressively priced given their on-paper specs, and TCL's lofty claims that its 7th-gen backlight is over 50% brighter, 10% more efficient, and will leak less light from bright areas to dark ones.
I got to see the sets in-person during the launch, and though I couldn't test them with the kind of footage and movies we usually use for seeing what the best TVs can do, they had some good and reasonably challenging demo material on that gave me a good comparison between what the differences in the sets means in practice.
Size | TCL C8K | TCL C7K | TCL C6K |
|---|---|---|---|
50-inch | - | £799 | - |
55-inch | - | £999 | £799 |
65-inch | £1,599 | £1,399 | £999 |
75-inch | £1,999 | £1,799 | £1,499 |
85-inch | £2,799 | £2,199 | £1,899 |
98-inch | £4,799 | £4,299 | £3,199 |
115-inch | - | £12,999 | - |
The C8K comes in 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch sizes, and has a higher number of dimming zones in the backlight than the others. It's apparently capable of hitting 5,000 nits of brightness, though I'm assuming that will be only under very specific circumstances.
It also has TCL's latest and greatest 'CrystGlow' WHVA LCD panel, which promises strong black tones and wider viewing angles, and also appears to have lower reflectivity.
The C7K comes in more sizes than the C8K (from 50 inches to 115 inches), but has fewer dimming zones (though still an impressively high number), a claimed peak brightness of 3,000 nits, and a slightly less advanced version of the 'CrystGlow' panel.
Both the C7K and the C8K come with speakers designed by Bang & Olufsen, in a 6.2.2-channel Dolby Atmos configuration (except the 115-inch C7K, which has a 4.2.2-channel Onkyo sound system).
The C6K comes in sizes from 55-inch to 85-inch, and has around 500 dimming zones at the maximum, and no specific claimed peak brightness – though we measured the US version of this TV, the TCL QM6K, at 700 nits of peak brightness in a 10% HDR window. It also doesn't have the CrystGlow panel.
All these TVs support 4K 144Hz on two of their four HDMI ports, and come with Google TV as the smart software.
Comparing them side by side gave me some early insight into the key differences to expect, though the TVs weren't all the same size, so because the number of dimming zones varies by size, it's not a perfect like-for-like test. But it was in a bright room with strong reflections, and that proved to be quite revealing still.
Lucky number 7
Back at CES 2025, I called that the TCL QM7K (which is the closest US model to the C7K) looked like it could be the affordable TV to beat in 2025 – and now I'm more convinced than ever after seeing the C7K alongside the C8K and C6K.
@techradar ♬ original sound - TechRadar
The C7K was a very clear step up over the C6K, with its black tones holding their depth much better in the brightly lit room, while a haze crept into the C6K's image in black areas, lightening them.
The C6K also showed much more prominent mirrored reflections, and its lower brightness meant that they were so easily overcome by its fullscreen brightness (though it still looked solid in this area, and we measured the QM6K US model at 594 nits of fullscreen brightness in standard mode, which is great for the price).
It meant that the C7K just clearly had a much more impressive range of contrast, maintained better in real-world conditions (even from an angle), and with the punchier colors enabled by its higher brightness.
You might assume that the C8K would be a step up in all the same ways, then, given the differences between it and the C7K. And you'd be mostly right – the additional brightness does add even more pop to the colors, and the reflectivity was clearly reduced again, creating impressively held black tones even when directly across from a bright window.
But I noticed what appeared to be slightly more prominent blooming in the C8K from very bright white areas adjacent to totally black areas, compared to the same footage on the C7K – or, at least, the same prominence in blooming, despite the higher price.
It's possible that the lower (and therefore easier to block) brightness of the C7K balances out the higher number of dimming zones in the C8K, leading to similar end results. Or perhaps in deeper examination, we'll find that the C8K performs better than it appeared during this demo.
But from what I've seen so far, I think the lower price of the C7K compared to the C8K, for performance that seems to be very close, will make it the most obvious choice from the range. And especially since it's clearly a step up over the C6K.
A taste of the giant version
I saw both the 55-inch and 115-inch versions of the C7K – and yes, if you're doing the sums, the latter is slightly larger than four of the 55-inch TVs combined.
Again, I saw the giant version in a really bright room and a challenging environment, and while there were a lot of clear reflections in black areas, the fullscreen brightness seemed to be able to overcome them well.
But in the same room, a projector would have been an absolute disaster – even the brightest options among the best projectors would have become totally washed out and lost their colour and black depth.
It's still massively expensive at £12,999, but compare it to £25k for TCL's previous 115-inch TV, or the £19k price of the 110-inch Hisense 110UXN – and then remember that it'll fall from that price quickly based on how things have gone in previous years – and it starts to become a genuinely interesting home cinema option.
There will be a lot of good competition for the best mini-LED TVs coming this year, but so far I think the C7K is the one to watch if you want bang-for-buck and good quality – though there are still more yet to be announced.
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