TCL 75-Inch QM85 QLED 4K Smart QD-Mini LED TV with Google TV (75QM851G, 2024 Model) Q85H Q Class 7.1.4 Channel Sound Bar with Dolby Atmos

My living room TV passed away last Saturday. On Sunday I went online to 2 highly respected websites to check out their recommendations. One slightly older review named the TCL QM8 series as the best for price, and the other named the most recent updated version, the QM851 (released May 2024), as giving the most bang for the buck. So I checked out Amazon and on that day they were offering the 851 for $1000 (a bit more than I was planning on spending). But based on the ratings I went ahead and ordered it. The next day I looked it up again, and Amazon and other websites were selling it for $1500. When it arrived and I set it up, I was really impressed with the brightness, color, and sound. Here’s the funny thing…if it had been listed as $1500 when I first looked, I wouldn’t have considered buying it. After seeing it in action, I will swear to you that $1500 is an absolute bargain price for what you get here. If you need a TV right now, bite the bullet and spend the $1500. You won’t be sorry. If you can wait a couple months, you might be able to snag one at a lower price around Thanksgiving. BTW, the reviewers noted that other brands (Sony, LG, Samsung) are only just slightly better, yet cost 2-3 times more. This TV is great in picture, brightness, sound, and color. Another strong positive is the pedestal style stand. If it stood on side legs it would not have fit on my TV stand, and I wouldn’t have considered it. That being said, the pedestal base stand is not very attractive, and that’s the only (very slightly) negative thing I have to say about it.

This thing is so bright I actually turned the contrast down a little bit. The picture is amazing. The black level adjustment has small increments to allow you to dial it in. I’m able to see a lot of detail in dark images without it looking washed out. I don’t notice any blooming AT ALL around bright objects on a dark screen. The colors are amazing. The only complaint I have is motion handling, which is going to happen on any LCD TV. But this one is better than most. I hate the soap opera effect and am very sensitive to it. But this has separate controls for motion smoothing and judder reduction. I kept motion smoothing at 1 and set the judder reduction to 3-4. This makes slow panning images smoother without looking choppy. At the same time, it does not make people look like floating ghosts as they move. Sports also look fantastic on this TV. Especially if you have a device capable of adaptive frame rate. I was able to watch auto racing in 1080p @ 120Hz and could clearly read all of the advertising on the fence as they went flying across the screen. I can’t really comment too much on the sound, as I only used the built in speakers when I first unpacked it. From what I could tell, it sounded pretty good. Better than your average TV and probably good enough that I wouldn’t buy a sound bar. But I have a full surround sound system, so again, I didn’t test the built in speakers very long. As for the inputs, I like that the eARC is on HDMI 4 so you can plug in a game system or something with VRR on HDMI 1. If you have more than one device with VRR you’re going to need either an 8K HDMI switch or buy a full AVR and speaker setup that is compatible.

I bought a 65″ QM7 and it was fine and a little better than the 4K Samsung that it replaced. I hesitated on buying the QM8 as there were few reviews and a low rating, but most of the bad reviews involved delivery or damage to the set. Mine arrived quickly and there was no problem with it or the setup. Getting away from Roku was the best thing they did. The lighted remote that turns on with movement is a big plus and the instant access buttons for apps is perfect. As for the picture, it is much brighter than I imagined with a much better picture and excellent motion control. I couldn’t be happier. My son bought a new top of the line Samsung and I think this actually has a better, sharper and brighter picture. Just wanted to add an honest review since there were almost no reviews when I bought it. I wished I had gone for the 85″.

I really wanted to love this TV but after the first TV arrived shattered and the replacement arrived with faulty LEDs I can’t recommend this at all.

Given the first arrived shattered and promptly returned I can only speak to the experience with the second one.

At first the TV seemed perfect, great color, great brightness, great software performance, but the cracks began to show almost immediately:

1. flickering LEDs: the left edge of my screen, even after firmware updates and even a factory reset, shimmer and flicker. It’s TV-wide and appears in menus and content alike.

2. various settings will be available arbitrarily depending on which picture mode you use (why is light sensor auto brightness disabled in Smart HDR picture mode?) not to mention that none of the picture modes get as bright as “vivid” despite dialing in advanced settings.

3. remote and bluetooth controllers disconnect periodically and consistently, making the TV uncontrollable for up to 10 seconds at a time.

4. Noticeable input latency when trying to run Moonlight or Steam Link with no ability to turn on low latency mode in TV apps.

5. small but noticeable visual glitches when navigating menus (this is thankfully only for a split second at a time)

I’m fully aware I can return this TV again and get yet another replacement but somewhere in the chain of quality control has failed me twice and some fatal software flaws make this TV subpar at best for me, especially at the price. I will return this TV and look for a more reputable brand.

Great TV. Really nice price for this top of the line TV. I usually skip built in TV interfaces and use a Roku or an Apple TV but the Google TV interface is fast, responsive and has everything I want. The recommended shows are a bit utube heavy but otherwise great. Color and picture are excellent. I have a bright living room and even in peak daylight I have no trouble watching.