The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED is TCL's budget Q-series TV in 2023, sitting below the TCL Q7/Q750G QLED and TCL QM8/QM850G QLED but above the cheaper TCL Q5/Q550G QLED. It's a simpler TV than its more expensive siblings, so it's better suited for those who don't need any advanced features or capabilities. The TV has three HDMI 2.0 bandwidth ports with variable refresh rate (VRR) support and supports TCL's Game Accelerator 120 feature for up to 1440p @ 120Hz gaming, which it achieves through resolution halving. It supports Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+ advanced video formats and can pass through some Dolby and DTS advanced audio formats. It uses the popular and easy-to-use Google operating system. While it doesn't have hands-free voice control, its remote has an integrated microphone through which you can interact with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. It also has Chromecast built-in, so you can seamlessly stream your shows using your phone. It's available in four sizes: 55, 65, 75, and 85 inches.
Our Verdict
The TCL Q650G is decent overall. It's better when you can put its extremely fast input lag to good use, like when gaming or using it as a PC monitor. Its contrast is decent but is nothing special, and it lacks local dimming to improve it further, so it's okay for a dark room, but it won't blow your socks off. Its HDR brightness is good but not enough to make highlights pop, even when combined with the TV's wide color gamut. However, its SDR brightness is very good, and it has decent reflection handling, so it's best suited as a basic TV to put in a bright room, like a living room with windows, a bright game room, or an office.
- Great SDR peak brightness.
- Decent reflection handling.
- Decent contrast ratio.
- Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
- Sub-par viewing angle.
- Doesn't have local dimming.
The TCL Q6 is just okay for watching TV shows. It gets pretty bright in SDR and has decent reflection handling, so it can handle bright rooms with glare, although it's best to avoid placing lights or windows directly in front of the TV. Sadly, its processing capabilities are mediocre; its low-quality content smoothing and upscaling are inadequate, leading to macro-blocking and a soft image when watching some streaming content. The TV's viewing angle is also sub-par, so it's not great if you like to watch shows with big groups in a wide seating arrangement, as the image is inconsistent as you move off-center.
- Great SDR peak brightness.
- Decent reflection handling.
- Sub-par viewing angle.
- Inadequate low-quality content smoothing and upscaling.
The TCL Q6 is just alright for watching sports. It gets bright in SDR and has decent reflection handling, so it looks good in bright rooms, but it's still best to avoid placing lights or windows directly in front of the TV. Its response time is decent; it's good enough for a pleasant viewing experience when watching fast-moving sports, as the resulting blur isn't annoying and won't impact your enjoyment. The TV's gray uniformity is adequate, but with certain sports with large areas of uniform color, like hockey, there is noticeable vignetting and dirty screen effect. Sadly, its viewing angle is sub-par; this is not a good TV to watch the game with friends in a wide seating arrangement, as they won't see a consistent image.
- Great SDR peak brightness.
- Decent reflection handling.
- Sub-par viewing angle.
The TCL Q650G is very good for gaming. Its contrast is decent, and its SDR brightness is great, certainly bright enough for a well-lit gaming room. For particularly bright light sources, the TV's decent reflection handling can handle some glare. Regarding performance, its input lag is incredibly low and fast enough for even very competitive gamers. It also supports 120Hz refresh rates in 1080p and 1440p through resolution halving, further lowering the input lag, which is great for gamers who are more worried about performance than image quality. Sadly, the TV's response time is decent, certainly satisfactory by most standards, but it introduces some blur in fast action scenes, which isn't optimal for competition.
- Great SDR peak brightness.
- Wide VRR range at 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz.
- Extremely low input lag.
- Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
The TCL Q650G is decent for watching your favorite movies. It's better when watching content from high-quality sources, like Blu-rays, as its low-quality content smoothing is inadequate, so movies from streaming platforms have noticeable compression artifacts. Thankfully, its contrast is decent, but it lacks a local dimming feature to make its blacks even darker. Similarly, while it looks bright enough for a pleasant viewing experience, it would benefit from local dimming to make highlights pop next to other scene elements. Thankfully, it displays HDR content at its intended brightness, as mastered by the content creators. Unfortunately, this TV's color accuracy is downright poor without being calibrated, so if you care about accuracy, you need to calibrate it.
- Splendid PQ EOTF tracking.
- Wide color gamut.
- Supports Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+.
- Decent contrast ratio.
- Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
- Inadequate low-quality content smoothing and upscaling.
- Doesn't have local dimming.
The TCL Q6 is very good for HDR gaming. It has good HDR brightness in Game Mode and decent contrast, so it's a good TV for some dark room gaming. Its input lag is superb and even lower if you use the TV's 1080p @ 120Hz or 1440p @ 120Hz modes, although the TV achieves those numbers through resolution halving. The TV's response time is decent; it introduces some blur in fast action scenes but is satisfactory for slower and immersive HDR titles.
- Wide color gamut.
- Wide VRR range at 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz.
- Extremely low input lag.
- Decent contrast ratio.
- Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
- Doesn't have local dimming.
The TCL Q650G is a good TV to use as a PC monitor. Its input lag is extremely low, even when the TV is in the 'PC' Picture Mode. It has very good SDR peak brightness and decent reflection handling, so the TV can handle a bright office well. Its response time is decent overall; nothing amazing, and there's some blur when moving windows around, but it looks fine overall. However, the response time is worse in dark scenes, so avoid dark mode on your operating system and in apps for an optimal experience. Unfortunately, it has a sub-par viewing angle, so the sides of the screen aren't consistent with the middle when you're sitting close to the TV.
- Great SDR peak brightness.
- Wide color gamut.
- Decent reflection handling.
- Superbly low input lag even in the PC picture mode with chroma 4:4:4.
- Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
- Sub-par viewing angle.
Changelog
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Updated Nov 07, 2024:
We've reviewed the text, with minor updates for clarity, to ensure the review is up to date.
- Updated Aug 30, 2024: We changed the score and updated the text in the Upscaling: Sharpness Processing section of this review for consistency with our other reviews.
- Updated Aug 30, 2024: Mentioned the newly reviewed TCL Q6/Q651G QLED in the Audio Passthrough section of this review.
- Updated Dec 19, 2023: Modified the introduction, as with the release of the TCL Q5/Q550G QLED, the TCL Q6/Q650G QLED isn't the lowest-tier Q-Series TV in TCL's 2023 lineup anymore.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the 65-inch TCL Q6/Q650G QLED, and these results are also valid for the 55-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch models, as the larger sizes perform roughly the same. The 75-inch and 85-inch models have different feet and back designs compared to the 55-inch and 65-inch models.
| Size | Model |
|---|---|
| 55" | TCL 55Q650G |
| 65" | TCL 65Q650G |
| 75" | TCL 75Q650G |
| 85" | TCL 85Q650G |
Our unit was manufactured in June 2023, as shown on the label.
Popular TV Comparisons
The TCL Q6 is a decent TV and a solid performer for the price. It's particularly well-suited for gamers on a budget due to its extremely low input lag and its ability to play games at 1080p @ 120Hz or 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving. There are better buys, like the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED, which is better and cheaper than the Q6. If you'd prefer a Hisense TV, the Hisense U6/U6H is just as good in most areas (except for gamers) for a slightly lower price, and the Hisense A6/A65K, while being just a bit worse than the TCL Q6, is also much cheaper.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best TVs, the best QLED TVs, and the best 4k gaming TVs.
The 2023 TCL Q650G is better than the 2024 TCL Q651G in several ways. The Q650G is the brighter TV overall, so it overcomes more glare in a bright room and displays brighter highlights in HDR content. You also get deeper blacks on the Q650G since it has a better contrast ratio. The Q650G is also more accurate in HDR. On the other hand, the Q651G has much better pre-calibration SDR accuracy and supports DTS audio formats.
The TCL Q750G is better than the TCL Q650G. As a higher-tier model in the same lineup, the Q750G just does more than the Q650G: more gaming features, better advanced audio format support, much better contrast helped by a decent local dimming solution, and higher HDR and SDR peak brightness. The Q750G is quirkier than the Q650G, but all of its quirks are in features or performance capabilities beyond what the Q650G can do.
The TCL Q650G significantly improves over the lower-end TCL S4/S450G. The Q650G delivers much better picture quality overall and looks better in bright rooms thanks to its higher peak brightness. HDR also looks better on the Q650G thanks to its higher peak brightness and wide color gamut. Finally, the Q650G is better for gaming thanks to the addition of VRR support, ensuring a nearly tear-free gaming experience.
The TCL Q650G and the TCL Q550G are very similar TVs, but the Q650G is slightly better in a few ways. The biggest advantage that the Q650G has is in peak brightness. It gets brighter in SDR, so it can fight off glare better. It also gets a bit brighter in HDR, so highlights will pop a little more, but it's still not bright enough to fully take advantage of HDR content. The Q650G also has slightly better HDR gradient handling and PQ EOTF tracking, so there's less banding, and it's more accurate in HDR compared to the Q550G.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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