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Model: TCL 65-Inch QM8 QLED 4K Smart Mini LED TV with Google TV (65QM850G, 2023 Model) Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, HDR Ultra, Game Accelerator up to 240Hz, Voice Remote, Works with Alexa, Streaming Television
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Not sure where you are looking. I wanted this tv, my last TV was a tcl series 6 but 2 months ago when I started doing research most things pointed to the u8k being better. I went and checked them out at best buy too and found the u8k to be better so I bought thar. Then about a month ago Rtings which is one if if not the most respected testing sites found thar the u8k is better. All the reviewers I seen either had them neck and neck or the u8k better. Plus the u8k is built more for people who like a total experience. U8K not only has the better speaker system but if one plans to use high-end equipment the tcls earc is only hdmi 2.0 so anything you hook to your receiver is only getting hdmi 2.0, that's a real ball drop. The U8K has a ATSC 3.0 tuner while the QM8 doesn't and the U8K has USB 3.0 while the QM8 doesn't. The only real advantage the QM8 has is its brighter but the U8K is very bright too
Everything I've seen says otherwise. The U8K has Wifi 6e, ATSC 3.0, the new pentonic 700 chip for substantially better upscaling per rtings. The hisense also has higher native and effective contrast, substantially more accurate EOTF tracking, and similar peak brightness. Heck at 65" you're even looking at similar dimming zone counts. At 75" I'd say the TCL has nearly double the dimming zones and keeps a VA panel for better contrast, but at 65" the Hisense is a no brainer over the tcl
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Not sure where you are looking. I wanted this tv, my last TV was a tcl series 6 but 2 months ago when I started doing research most things pointed to the u8k being better. I went and checked them out at best buy too and found the u8k to be better so I bought thar. Then about a month ago Rtings which is one if if not the most respected testing sites found thar the u8k is better. All the reviewers I seen either had them neck and neck or the u8k better. Plus the u8k is built more for people who like a total experience. U8K not only has the better speaker system but if one plans to use high-end equipment the tcls earc is only hdmi 2.0 so anything you hook to your receiver is only getting hdmi 2.0, that's a real ball drop. The U8K has a ATSC 3.0 tuner while the QM8 doesn't and the U8K has USB 3.0 while the QM8 doesn't. The only real advantage the QM8 has is its brighter but the U8K is very bright too
I dunno what is... But rtings highly appeals to the paper buyer(ones who only look at metrics). As much as I like metrics, the Hisense had some deal breakers to my eye in color and how it's color science was inconsistent when switching between source content. This is from taking it home and demoing with my own varied content. Sure it was great with certain 4k content. But it was all over the map depending on what I threw at it - certain content looked good while others looked horrible. That was a deal breaker for me that was immeasurable and didn't show up on benchmarks.
I say take both home and demo them before making decision. it's a pain, but it was worth it for me to evaluate the true quality that youtube videos and online research couldn't help with.
Last edited by ocbruin October 18, 2023 at 03:02 PM.
Not sure where you are looking. I wanted this tv, my last TV was a tcl series 6 but 2 months ago when I started doing research most things pointed to the u8k being better. I went and checked them out at best buy too and found the u8k to be better so I bought thar. Then about a month ago Rtings which is one if if not the most respected testing sites found thar the u8k is better. All the reviewers I seen either had them neck and neck or the u8k better. Plus the u8k is built more for people who like a total experience. U8K not only has the better speaker system but if one plans to use high-end equipment the tcls earc is only hdmi 2.0 so anything you hook to your receiver is only getting hdmi 2.0, that's a real ball drop. The U8K has a ATSC 3.0 tuner while the QM8 doesn't and the U8K has USB 3.0 while the QM8 doesn't. The only real advantage the QM8 has is its brighter but the U8K is very bright too
i have my u8h and had it for about a year now love it still… dont regret it honestly yes theres some software issues from time to time over all though picture, sound is really good for a tv
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from fireballs
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Not sure where you are looking. I wanted this tv, my last TV was a tcl series 6 but 2 months ago when I started doing research most things pointed to the u8k being better. I went and checked them out at best buy too and found the u8k to be better so I bought thar. Then about a month ago Rtings which is one if if not the most respected testing sites found thar the u8k is better. All the reviewers I seen either had them neck and neck or the u8k better. Plus the u8k is built more for people who like a total experience. U8K not only has the better speaker system but if one plans to use high-end equipment the tcls earc is only hdmi 2.0 so anything you hook to your receiver is only getting hdmi 2.0, that's a real ball drop. The U8K has a ATSC 3.0 tuner while the QM8 doesn't and the U8K has USB 3.0 while the QM8 doesn't. The only real advantage the QM8 has is its brighter but the U8K is very bright too
You just listed all the things I don't care about for a tv. Thin tvs need an aftermarket solution for sound. That's why I have a sound bar or better. The eArc on the tcl doesn't take up one of the high bandwidth HDMI ports which is nice. USB 3.0? You don't really need that unless transferring large files or have a high bit rate video file. Instead I just use my Nvidia shield to consume media. Atsc 3.0 isn't really a necessity or a draw currently so it's a non issue. I would get the QM8 all day long. I currently have a hisense tv, and it will randomly takes issue with different external audio sources which are only fixed by unplugging it and plugging it back in. It had problems with our Bose system and our Vizio sound bar.
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You just listed all the things I don't care about for a tv. Thin tvs need an aftermarket solution for sound. That's why I have a sound bar or better. The eArc on the tcl doesn't take up one of the high bandwidth HDMI ports which is nice. USB 3.0? You don't really need that unless transferring large files or have a high bit rate video file. Instead I just use my Nvidia shield to consume media. Atsc 3.0 isn't really a necessity or a draw currently so it's a non issue. I would get the QM8 all day long. I currently have a hisense tv, and it will randomly takes issue with different external audio sources which are only fixed by unplugging it and plugging it back in. It had problems with our Bose system and our Vizio sound bar.
Which Hisense do you have, is it their flagship? Ii usually keep my tvs for about 5 years and already have a gaming pc that's hdmi 2.1 and a xbx that's 2.1 and a applets which is hdmi 2.1 and in the next few years more and more things will utilize hdmi 2.1. With the QM8 you have access to 2 2.1 inputs but since I use a receiver I have 4 2.1 hdmi inputs available. QM8 isn't reature rich, I get you don't need the high end but most want more tv for their money while future proofing instead of less tv.
During all.my research I didn't find anyone or place that said the QM8 was the better tv but there were a fair amount that felt the U8K was better.
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Every review between the u8k and qm8 that I seen that brought up color said that the u8k was much closer to the content actual color. When I seen them both at best buy that was one of the things that appealed to me, color seemed more natural with the u8k. Ratings isn't for the paper buyer, it's for the buyer who wants to be educated. Anyone can have an option but rtings actually takes opinion out of it and runs the tvs through a bunch of test and scenes to get accurate factual measurements and posts them.
I saw them both at Best Buy too. The QM8 blew the Hisense out of the water when it comes to black level, contrast and color. RTINGs is in the pocket of Hisense, I don't believe any of their reviews when it comes to anything Hisense.
Which Hisense do you have, is it their flagship? Ii usually keep my tvs for about 5 years and already have a gaming pc that's hdmi 2.1 and a xbx that's 2.1 and a applets which is hdmi 2.1 and in the next few years more and more things will utilize hdmi 2.1. With the QM8 you have access to 2 2.1 inputs but since I use a receiver I have 4 2.1 hdmi inputs available. QM8 isn't reature rich, I get you don't need the high end but most want more tv for their money while future proofing instead of less tv.
During all.my research I didn't find anyone or place that said the QM8 was the better tv but there were a fair amount that felt the U8K was better.
I mostly saw the same. Most reviews gave the U8K a slight lead, but like someone above most of the stuff/features that make it better don't apply to me. I don't personally know anybody with a Hisense TV, and it *seems* like they have poorer QC than TCL. I know more people who own TCL, and their experience has been good so far. Too bad Costco (with their excellent return policies) doesn't carry the Hisense U8K, as I would be more comfortable taking the gamble with them.
It's worth nothing. People use those scores like it's the only way to tell if a TV is good or not.
When the scores are that close, it's not a huge deal. Just found it interesting that TCL had the better specs initially & came to market first, but then ended up with a lower score on the most popular rating site.
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When the scores are that close, it's not a huge deal. Just found it interesting that TCL had the better specs initially & came to market first, but then ended up with a lower score on the most popular rating site.
Those scores are weighted based on what Rtings deems to be important. For example, if you have a soundbar then the audio score doesn't matter. If you don't watch low resolution content or sports, then the upscaling score doesn't matter. It might be better to figure out which areas of the TV is more important to you, then directly compare those metrics.
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I mostly saw the same. Most reviews gave the U8K a slight lead, but like someone above most of the stuff/features that make it better don't apply to me. I don't personally know anybody with a Hisense TV, and it *seems* like they have poorer QC than TCL. I know more people who own TCL, and their experience has been good so far. Too bad Costco (with their excellent return policies) doesn't carry the Hisense U8K, as I would be more comfortable taking the gamble with them.
I have heard a lot of complaints about Hisense but it's always their bargain basement TVs, not their flagships. I got burned on a couple of Sonys in a row so since then I buy a warranty anyway if I'm getting a tv thats not a entry level. I had a TCL 6 series I bought in 2019 and got a warranty on it but it never had any problems. I f I had bought this TV, a OLED or the U8K I was going to get a warranty and so I got the Geek Squad warranty with this. Geek Squad is the best in the business so I feel more than comfortable.
One thing about the review is it says updated on 9/28 but I dont know when they actually reviewed it. The U8K has only been out about 4 months and has at least 3 software updates while the QM8 has been out a lot longer to fine tune. If they reviewed the U8K a few months back thats not a accurate representation of the TV now.
Notes: If you didn't see it already, use code HEADSTART to reduce it to $720. Also, Raise is doing 10% back on eBay gift cards so I stacked the deal with those.
Last edited by Rabble_Rabble_Rabble October 18, 2023 at 04:19 PM.
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When the scores are that close, it's not a huge deal. Just found it interesting that TCL had the better specs initially & came to market first, but then ended up with a lower score on the most popular rating site.
Oh I'm with you. The Samsung QN90C blows both these TVs away but yet Ratings has it like at 8.0. I've seen all 3 and that Sammy is amazing.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank ocbruin
I say take both home and demo them before making decision. it's a pain, but it was worth it for me to evaluate the true quality that youtube videos and online research couldn't help with.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank natofrombombato
During all.my research I didn't find anyone or place that said the QM8 was the better tv but there were a fair amount that felt the U8K was better.
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During all.my research I didn't find anyone or place that said the QM8 was the better tv but there were a fair amount that felt the U8K was better.
One of my more trusted websites did give TCL QM8 the win (https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutte...cd-led-tv/). Not sure if you consider them to be trustworthy though.
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One of my more trusted websites did give TCL QM8 the win (https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutte...cd-led-tv/). Not sure if you consider them to be trustworthy though.
One thing about the review is it says updated on 9/28 but I dont know when they actually reviewed it. The U8K has only been out about 4 months and has at least 3 software updates while the QM8 has been out a lot longer to fine tune. If they reviewed the U8K a few months back thats not a accurate representation of the TV now.
Notes: If you didn't see it already, use code HEADSTART to reduce it to $720. Also, Raise is doing 10% back on eBay gift cards so I stacked the deal with those.
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