Review: TCL QM8 65” TV (2023)

I’d like to first kick things off by stating this is not a professional TV review but an overall experience I had as a consumer. Upgrading from a Black Friday special TV to the TCL QM8 65-inch could not have been done without the amazing team at TCL. Huge thank you for allowing me to take a look at this TV and introduce me to the world of Mini-LED QLED TVs. This is not a sponsored review and TCL had no input in anything I stated.

Unboxing experience is similar to any other TV if you’ve been down that road, highly recommend a second person to lift everything out however I was able to do it by myself. The Stand comes in two pieces that gets put together first before attaching it to the bottom center of the TV. The stand is made of pure metal but the middle connection part is plastic, for the price I wish the entire stand was metal but it doesn’t seem to affect the durability of the stand when mounted. The pedestal stand can be placed in two height positions allowing for a small thin soundbar to fit underneath the TV, my older Samsung soundbar is quite large so it just takes up a few inches of the bottom of the TV but it’s nothing too crazy. After this, I’ve come to be a huge fan of the center platform base rather than the two legs sticking out on the side. It makes the TV just look so much nicer on a stand and can help fit narrow TV stands where the legs might be too long.

The QM8 has very thin bezels which become barely noticeable after a while, speaker grill cut outs on the back which work for the DTS audio and Dolby Atmos. You also get a built in sub woofer at the center back of the TV that sticks out slightly but still looks flushed with the back of the TV. You have your power connection on the back right hidden by a thin plastic panel, and your ports located on the opposite side. This QM8 TV offers 4 HDMI Ports (1x eARC, 1-4K/144hz, 1-4K/120hz, 2-4K/60hz), USB-A port, Ethernet, Optical, and some audio ports.

Viewing experience was a massive change from the start. The contrast, colors, brightness, deep blacks all stood out within the first few minutes. Getting used to content adjusting for HDR10/+ and Dolby Vision was also quite the experience. I keep saying experience because it truly felt like it was. From just playing some of my favorite content on Netflix to going into the settings and really digging deep into what felt right for me. Upon reviewing this TV, I did watch a few review videos that mentioned Movie mode being the ideal out of the box viewing preference, but I actually found it to be a bit warm to my liking. Of course, this is all personal preference, but standard did the trick for me with some minor tweaking in the settings because anything above 60% brightness was just too much for me and my eyes, which isn’t a bad problem to have. Dolby Vision IQ also did a great job adjusting the brightness and color of whatever I am watching throughout the different times of the day. It does have an option for Dolby Vision Dark which I have used at times watching movies at night but does alter the picture to be a bit warm which was a better preference for my wife, I guess I prefer the cooler colors. Watching majority of content is great x as mentioned the black levels were great to my eye with minimal banding and fuzziness but did kind of appear from time to time depending on what I was watching while on Dolby Visions IQ. I have noticed a glow over anything that is white on the screen or specific items like people walking on the frame. It can get distracting when watching but it was definitely noticeable during baseball games where there would be a glow on certain players and even the ball leaving the pitchers hand. Viewing angles are also decent but as you’d think, the best quality and viewing experience is best when right in front of the screen. A big part of the viewing angle is the glaring from the TV. The QM8 display is super glossy and will literally reflect anything else you have in the room with you. Whether it’s windows, lamps, light or just furniture, daytime viewing will showcase everything.

Like most TV’s, the QM8 had a subpar audio system with two 10W speakers and a 20W subwoofer which got the job done and was louder than expected. However, the TV offers Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital+ but I wouldn’t jump on the QM8 because of It. Overall, the speakers do what they need to do, they work, but I’m highly recommend a proper sound system or soundbar to pair with the TV.

Settings are super easy to go through and easy to understand, even for a novice like me. Which goes along with just the standard UI of the TV when using Google TV, it’s pretty straight forward and everything is labeled properly so no struggles when trying to find specific options to choose from.

Gaming on the QM8 is also a fun experience. I was able to get full 4K 120hz from my Xbox Series X and while games looked fantastic and smooth, I still prefer playing precision games like FPS on monitors. Single player games ran smooth, and sports games were the most enjoyable on this TV. While I don’t own a PlayStation 5, I can only imagine games like Spider Man would just look absolutely stunning on the QM8 and probably have a better output overall than the Xbox. There are other gaming options available like their Game Bar which allows you to check out specific game info like refresh rate, toggle between 3 preset settings and even take a screenshot of what’s on the screen.

Shipping with Google TV is a huge plus for TCL, all compatible apps are available within the Play Store and is one of the best on TV experiences among some of the others out there. I did not experience any type of lag or crashes and content switched to their proper setting almost instantly; whether it was Dolby Vision, HDR10 or HDR10+, the TV did a great job adjusting the colors. Also being able to use Google Assistant to launch any program from any show straight the remote with the press of a button was extremely convenient.

While the Google TV worked perfectly fine, my home is usually an Apple TV home, and I had my Apple TV 4K placed in one of the 4K 120Hz HDMI ports of the TV. I was able to turn the tv on and off from the Apple TV and Dolby Visions worked flawlessly with the Apple TV. My only gripe with the third-party device being used as my main media center is there’s a slight delay in changing the TV setting to reflect the video setting of a streaming service. While Google TV had no lag in playing content, the Apple TV goes black for a second or two before showing the correct video format. Just a minor gripe but does alter the experience just a bit between built in service and third party.

I use the Apple TV remote to turn on and off the TV but the remote the QM8 includes is also a pretty great remote. With a brushed like look to the overall body the remote gives you access to the important buttons as well as app shortcuts to some streaming services for the Google TV platform, including TCLs own tv service. Some of the main buttons are backlit which is also a plus and it can actually navigate my Apple TV, so if I ever have a tough time finding the Apple Remote, the TVL QM8 remote allows me to use it like normal. Unfortunately, I still need to use the TV remote to switch HDMI inputs for game consoles.

Overall, the QM8 has been a solid upgrade and with the new 2024 models releasing around the corner, the 2023 models should be dropping in price. If you happen to find the QM8 65” or 75” for slightly $1,000 then I would jump on that deal. It’s a great experience and jump from a cheaper 4K TV to introduce you to a whole new world of TVs, I highly recommend. If you wish to pick one up, you can use the following Amazon Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3xWgtyN