I’m after a new TV for my gaming setup (RX7800XT PC, an Xbox Series X and soon to be a PS5 Pro) as gaming on the projector kinda sucks. Fan is noisy, too much heat is generated, low refresh rates, no HDR, bulb has a finite lifespan and having to sit in a pitch black room which makes me sleepy.
My TV requirements are:
- 65" size as I’ll be sitting ~2m away
- Mini-LED or OLED
- HDR10+ and Dolby Vision
- HDMI 2.1 input
- 120Hz+ refresh rate
Immediately I can rule out of all Samsung’s TVs as none of them support Dolby Vision. If I want OLED or Mini-LED that also means only a few eligible brands: LG, Sony, Hisense and TCL. Every other TV on sale in Australia is either not Mini-LED or OLED that comes in the 65" size.
65" Mini-LED TVs
- Hisense 65UXAU - $3495
- Sony K65XR70 - $3399
- LG 65QNED91TSA - $2590
- Hisense 65U8NAU - $1820
- TCL 65C855 - $1750
- Hisense 65U7NAU - $1390
- TCL 65C755 - $1345
65" OLED TVs
- Sony 65XR80 - $3595
- LG OLED65G4PSA - $4280
- LG OLED65C4PSA - $2950
- LG OLED65B4PSA - $2680
I can rule out the OLED TVs pretty quickly as despite being superior, I don’t think they’re $1,000+ superior. Maybe if this was my only TV I’d go the the LG G4 OLED for sure, but this is just a TV for games, maybe the occasional bit of sports when the TV in the living room is occupied. I’m not that rich that I can spend $4,000+ for a second TV when one for half the price is still pretty bloody good.
Out of the Mini-LED TVs, the “flagship” Hisense seems like a price outlier and the Sony K65XR70 is so close in price to their OLED I don’t know why you’d bother unless you really need a super bright Mini-LED TV. LG’s QNED91 is hundreds of dollars more than the Hisense or TCLs and it isn’t hundreds of dollars better, so if you want a Mini-LED TV, your only sensible options are the Hisense and TCL.
Hisense 65U8NAU vs. TCL 65C855 or the Hisense 65U7NAU vs. TCL 65C755.
When trying to compare the two, there’s unfortunately very little Aussie information. Most of the proper reviews (not just a tech blogger that used it in their living room for a week) are US based and bizarrely, the specs they state for the US version of the U8N do not line up with the Aussie U8N according to the folks on Whirlpool. It’s difficult to know for sure that we are getting the same panel TV as they are. TCL don’t do that bullshit - the C855 is the Q8M and besides name, is the same specs and panel.
Summary
- Hisense - misleading/second tier specs on Australian models.
- Sony - probably great, but too expensive and not that much better to justify the much higher price IMHO.
- LG - Mini-LEDs at best equal to TCL’s image quality but much more expensive
- Samsung - doesn’t support Dolby Vision, deal breaker for Xbox gaming
That leaves TCL as the last brand standing really, so it’s just a matter of deciding between the 65C755 (aka QM751G in the US) or 65C855 (QM851G in the US). RTings does a good side by side comparison, which they summarise as:
The TCL QM8/QM851G QLED is better than the TCL QM7/QM751G QLED. With a few exceptions, notably viewing angle and PQ EOTF tracking, the QM8 does everything better than the QM7. The QM8 is noticeably brighter in HDR and SDR, has better contrast, and is more accurate in SDR prior to calibration. It also has much better reflection handling than the QM7, making it a far better option if you like to watch TV in extremely bright rooms. Overall, the 2024 QM8 is a noticeable upgrade over the QM7.
But their gaming scores are pretty bloody close.
Price difference as I write this during 2024’s Black Friday sales isn’t much though. Cheapest 65C855 is $1599 at Costco versus $1158 for the 65C755, so I’ll probably get the C855.