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We published new results of an investigative study on the long-term durability of TVs, revealing significant durability issues with popular edge-lit models. Read the full details here.

TCL Q6/Q650G QLED TV Review

Tested using Methodology v1.11
Reviewed Aug 29, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Latest change: Retest Aug 30, 2024 at 04:20 pm
TCL Q6/Q650G QLED Picture
7.2
Mixed Usage
Value for price beaten by
: TCL Q7/Q750G QLED
6.7
TV Shows
Value for price beaten by
: TCL Q7/Q750G QLED
6.8
Sports
Value for price beaten by
: Hisense U6G
7.9
Video Games
Value for price beaten by
: Hisense U6/U6N
7.2
HDR Movies
Value for price beaten by
: Hisense U6G
8.0
HDR Gaming
Value for price beaten by
: Hisense U6G
7.7
PC Monitor
Value for price beaten by
: Hisense U6/U6N

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, and above the cheaper TCL Q5/Q550G QLED. It's a simpler TV than its more expensive siblings, so it's better suited for someone who doesn'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. It doesn't have hands-free voice control, but its remote has an integrated microphone through which you can interact with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. It has built-in Chromecast, so you can seamlessly stream your shows using your phone. It's available in 4 sizes: 55, 65, 75, and 85 inches.

Our Verdict

7.2 Mixed Usage

The TCL Q6 is decent overall. It's better when you can put its extremely fast input lag to good use, like when gaming or using the TV as a PC monitor. The TV's contrast is decent but is nothing special, and it lacks local dimming to improve it further, so it's decent 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 better suited as a cheap TV to put in a bright room, like a living room with windows, a bright game room, or an office.

Pros
  • Great SDR peak brightness.
  • Decent reflection handling.
  • Decent contrast ratio.
Cons
  • Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
  • Sub-par viewing angle.
  • Doesn't have local dimming.
6.7 TV Shows

The TCL Q6 is just alright 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 people sitting around the TV, as they won't see a consistent image.

Pros
  • Great SDR peak brightness.
  • Decent reflection handling.
Cons
  • Sub-par viewing angle.
  • Inadequate low-quality content smoothing and upscaling.
6.8 Sports

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, the TV's viewing angle is sub-par; this is not a good TV to watch the game with friends sitting around the TV at various positions, as they won't see a consistent image.

Pros
  • Great SDR peak brightness.
  • Decent reflection handling.
Cons
  • Sub-par viewing angle.
7.9 Video Games

The TCL Q6 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, the TV's input lag is superbly low and fast enough for even very competitive gamers. The TV also supports 120Hz refresh rates in 1080p and 1440p through resolution halving, further lowering the input lag, which is great for gamers 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.

Pros
  • Great SDR peak brightness.
  • Wide VRR range at 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz.
  • Extremely low input lag.
Cons
  • Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
7.2 HDR Movies

The TCL Q6 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 dark and inky. 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. The TV's PQ EOTF tracking is stellar; it respects the content creator's intent. Unfortunately, this TV's color accuracy is downright poor without being calibrated, so if you care about accuracy, you need to calibrate the TV.

Pros
  • Splendid PQ EOTF tracking.
  • Wide color gamut.
  • Supports Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+.
  • Decent contrast ratio.
Cons
  • Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
  • Inadequate low-quality content smoothing and upscaling.
  • Doesn't have local dimming.
8.0 HDR Gaming

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.

Pros
  • Wide color gamut.
  • Wide VRR range at 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz.
  • Extremely low input lag.
  • Decent contrast ratio.
Cons
  • Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
  • Doesn't have local dimming.
7.7 PC Monitor

The TCL Q6 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, the TV 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.

Pros
  • 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.
Cons
  • Poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
  • Sub-par viewing angle.
  • 7.2 Mixed Usage
  • 6.7 TV Shows
  • 6.8 Sports
  • 7.9 Video Games
  • 7.2 HDR Movies
  • 8.0 HDR Gaming
  • 7.7 PC Monitor
  1. 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.
  2. Updated Aug 30, 2024: Mentioned the newly reviewed TCL Q6/Q651G QLED in the Audio Passthrough section of this review.
  3. 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.
  4. Updated Nov 23, 2023: Mentioned the newly reviewed Roku Plus Series QLED in the Contrast section of this review.
  5. Updated Sep 18, 2023: Mentioned the newly reviewed Hisense U6K in the Contrast box of this review.
  6. Updated Aug 29, 2023: Review published.
  7. Updated Aug 23, 2023: Early access published.
  8. Updated Aug 16, 2023: Our testers have started testing this product.
  9. Updated Aug 10, 2023: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
  10. Updated Jul 12, 2023: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.

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; you can see the label here.

Compared To Other TVs

The TCL Q6 is a decent TV for the price and is a solid performer for what you're paying for. It's particularly interesting to gamers due to its extremely low input lag and its ability to play games at 1080p @ 120Hz or 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving; this is a great option for competitive gamers who care more about performance than image quality and who are on a budget. There are better buys; particularly, the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED is better and cheaper than the Q6. If you'd prefer a Hisense TV, the Hisense U6/U6H is just as good (except for gamers) as the Q6 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.

TCL Q7/Q750G QLED
55" 65" 75" 85"

The TCL Q7/Q750G QLED is better than the TCL Q6/Q650G QLED. As a higher-tier model in the same lineup, the Q7 just does more than the Q6: 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 Q7 is quirkier than the Q6, but all of its quirks are in features or performance capabilities beyond what the Q6 can do.

Hisense U6/U6K
55" 65" 75"

The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED and Hisense U6/U6K appeal to different users. The Hisense has local dimming, so it has much deeper contrast and can emphasize bright highlights next to dimmer parts of the image. The TCL can't emphasize highlights like the Hisense, but its overall image is always bright and vibrant, although dark scenes are washed out when bright highlights are present. Unfortunately, the TCL has poor color accuracy without calibration, and it's noticeable as colors often don't look quite right. The TCL is particularly interesting for gamers on a budget, as it can do 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving, with a wide VRR range to match.

TCL Q5/Q550G QLED
43" 50" 55" 65"

The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED and the TCL Q5/Q550G QLED are very similar TVs, but the Q6 is slightly better in a few ways. The biggest advantage that the Q6 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 Q6 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 Q5.

TCL S4/S450G
43" 50" 55" 65" 75" 85"

The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED significantly improves over the lower-end TCL S4/S450G. The Q6 delivers much better picture quality overall and looks better in bright rooms thanks to its higher peak brightness. HDR also looks better on the Q6 thanks to its higher peak brightness and wide color gamut. Finally, the Q6 is better for gaming thanks to the addition of VRR support, ensuring a nearly tear-free gaming experience.

Hisense U6/U6N
55" 65" 75" 85"

The Hisense U6/U6N is mostly better than the TCL Q6/Q650G QLED. The Hisense has the edge in terms of pure picture quality due to its much better contrast, meaning it displays deeper blacks. The Hisense is also better suited for a home theater since it supports DTS audio, has better upscaling capabilities, and removes judder from any source. Both TVs allow you to drop your resolution and play in up to 1440p @ 120Hz, but VRR doesn't work on the Hisense when doing that, so the TCL is the better option for gamers looking for a tear-free gaming experience.

Samsung CU7000/CU7000D
43" 50" 55" 58" 65" 70" 75" 85"

The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED is better than the Samsung CU7000/CU7000D in a few ways. The TCL has slightly better contrast and better black uniformity, so blacks are deeper in a dark room. The TCL gets much brighter in HDR, supports a wider color gamut, and has better color volume, so colors are more vibrant and lifelike, and highlights pop a lot more than on the CU7000. The TCL also gets brighter in SDR, so it overcomes glare better in a bright room. Finally, the TCL is better for gaming as it supports VRR and has 1440p @ 120Hz support.

TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED
50" 55" 65" 75"

The TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED is better than the TCL Q6/Q650G QLED. The 5 Series has vastly better contrast, helped by its local dimming feature, which the Q6 doesn't have. It can reach higher peak brightness in HDR and SDR than the Q6, so it emphasizes bright highlights better than the newer model can, although it comes at the cost of more brightness variation on a scene-by-scene basis. The Q6 does offer more to gamers, however, with a wider choice of available resolutions. That said, the 5 Series is vastly more color-accurate pre-calibration; you can buy that TV and start watching it without worrying about calibration, unlike the Q6.

Hisense U6/U6H
50" 55" 65" 75"

The Hisense U6/U6H is better than the TCL Q6/Q650G QLED, but they're very close. The Hisense has much better contrast, helped by its local dimming feature, so it looks better in dark rooms. It gets a bit brighter than the TCL in HDR and can emphasize bright highlights better, although the TCL, in turn, is brighter in SDR. The TCL offers more to gamers, with the option of playing in 1080p @ 120Hz or 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving and a matching VRR range. But of the two, the Hisense is the easiest TV to buy, install, and watch due to its vastly better pre-calibration color accuracy than the TCL.

TCL 6 Series/R655 2022 QLED
55" 65" 75" 85"

The TCL 6 Series/R655 2022 QLED is much better than the TCL Q6/Q650G QLED. The Q6 is the lowest-tier TV in TCL's 2023 Q-series lineup, while the R655 is the highest-tier model in TCL's 2022 lineup, so ultimately the R655 just does more. It has a much better contrast, helped by a decent local dimming solution. It gets much brighter in SDR and HDR and has much better color volume. The older model even comes much better calibrated out of the box than the newer one, so you have less to do to make it look its best. Ultimately, the 6 Series offers more in every context than the newer and cheaper model.

Samsung CU8000
43" 50" 55" 65" 75" 85"

The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED is better than the Samsung CU8000. Even though they both lack local dimming, the TCL has a much better native contrast ratio than the Samsung and has nearly perfect black uniformity, so it looks much better than the Samsung when viewed in a dark room. It also looks better than the Samsung in brighter rooms due to its vastly higher peak brightness in HDR and SDR. The TCL is also the superior gaming TV due to its much faster response time, and it can output 1080p and 1440p @ 120Hz through resolution halving, with a wide VRR range, while the Samsung is limited to 60Hz at all resolutions with no VRR support. The Samsung is, however, the more accurate TV of the two and has much better low-quality content smoothing, so it does a great job of clearing up macro-blocking in low-bitrate content.

TCL Q6/Q651G QLED
43" 50" 55" 65" 75" 85" 98"

The 2023 TCL Q6/Q650G QLED is better than the 2024 TCL Q6/Q651G QLED 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 a faster response time for less blur behind fast motion, has much better pre-calibration SDR accuracy, and supports DTS audio formats.

Hisense A6/A65K
43" 50" 55" 65" 75"

The Hisense A6/A65K and TCL Q6/Q650G QLED are similar TVs, although the TCL is slightly better than the Hisense. The TCL is brighter than the Hisense and offers more to gamers with the option of playing in 1080p @ 120Hz or 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving and a matching VRR range. The Hisense, however, is much more accurate even without being calibrated; it's a TV that you can just buy, install, and watch, while the TCL requires a fair amount of work to look its best, especially if you care about color accuracy.

Roku Plus Series QLED
55" 65" 75"

The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED and Roku Plus Series QLED are comparable TVs with different strengths and weaknesses. The TCL is generally the better gaming TV, as it can do 1080p and 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving and has a matching wide VRR range. However, the Roku is the better-looking TV of the two, with much better contrast due to its local dimming feature, a wider color gamut, superior color accuracy, and a faster response time for less blur in fast-moving content.

TCL 5 Series/S546 2021 QLED
50" 55" 65" 75"

The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED and TCL 5 Series/S546 2021 QLED are similar TVs with different strengths and weaknesses. The 5 Series has much better contrast than the Q6, helped by its local dimming feature, which the Q6 doesn't have. However, the Q6 has better overall peak brightness in HDR. Both TVs have bad color accuracy and are tough to calibrate, although the 5 Series is even worse than the Q6.

Samsung TU690T
43" 50" 55" 58" 60" 65" 70" 75" 85"

The TCL Q6/Q650G QLED is much better than the Samsung TU690T. The TCL gets a lot brighter, so it can handle more glare in a bright room, and HDR content looks more vivid and punchy. The TCL also supports more advanced gaming features, including support for VRR and 120Hz gaming at 1080p or 1440p, whereas the Samsung is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate.

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Video

Test Results

perceptual testing image
Design
Design
Style
Curved No

The TV has a simple look: it's not overly slim, and it's good-looking without drawing too much attention to it.

Design
Accelerated Longevity Test
Uniformity Pictures N/A
Design
Stand

The TCL 65Q650G has a set of plastic feet, which you can place at two distinct positions. The first position, pictured above, sets the feet in a wider position and has a footprint of 53.8" x 14.1". The narrow position puts the feet closer to the TV's center and lets you put the TV on smaller tables. In this position, the feet have a footprint of 36.9" x 14.1". The screen sits about 2.7" from the table, so some slimmer soundbars fit under it, but it's a tight fit. In the narrow position, the protruding feet get in the way of putting a soundbar directly in front. Note that the 75-inch and 85-inch models have different feet than the 65-inch model.

Design
Back
Wall Mount VESA 300x300

The back of the TV is a mix of metal and plastic. The TV's back has two distinct parts: the plastic bottom part, which protrudes from the back and hosts the inputs and power connection, and the thinner metallic upper portion. The metal is rigid and untextured, while the thick textured plastic on the bottom part has a lot of flex to it when you press on it. It's not worrying and feels normal for a budget TV.

The power cable comes out of the right side of the TV, while the inputs are on the left side. There are clips on both sides to help with cable management. The side-facing inputs are hard to reach without pulling the TV slightly forward when the TV is wall-mounted. Only the 55" and 65" models have this back; the 75" model has a more unified back panel with a slightly sloping upward section, while the 85" model has a different two-part back.

Design
Borders
Borders 0.33" (0.8 cm)
Design
Thickness
Max Thickness 3.26" (8.3 cm)
6.5
Design
Build Quality

The TV has okay build quality. There's minimal flex in the metallic upper section of the back, but there's a fair amount of it in the bottom, thicker plastic section, although it's not worrying. The TV wobbles a bit on its feet, but again, nothing worrying.

Our unit has a pinch in the front lower right of the screen, which is noticeable in dark scenes. This could have happened during shipping, so it doesn't affect the build quality of this particular TV.

Picture Quality
7.0
Picture Quality
Contrast
Contrast
8,085 : 1
Native Contrast
8,085 : 1

The TV has decent contrast. Its native contrast is excellent, so blacks are deep and true in dim and dark scenes. Since it lacks a local dimming feature, blacks are raised and appear washed out when very bright highlights appear on the screen. If you'd prefer something with better contrast, look up the Hisense U6/U6K or Roku Plus Series QLED.

10
Picture Quality
Blooming

This TV doesn't have a local dimming feature, so there's no blooming around bright objects or subtitles in dark scenes. As the TV can't brighten highlights without impacting the rest of the image, dark scenes look washed out.

10
Picture Quality
Lighting Zone Transitions
Local Dimming
No
Backlight
Direct
Dimming Zones Count Of Tested TV
N/A

This TV doesn't have a local dimming feature, so it can't adjust the backlight of individual zones to brighten up highlights without impacting the rest of the image. This means that there's no distracting flicker or brightness changes as bright highlights move between dimming zones.

8.0
Picture Quality
Contrast And Dark Details In Game Mode

Switching to Game Mode doesn't result in any noticeable difference in dark scene performance, which is great.

7.6
Picture Quality
HDR Brightness
Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)
478 cd/m²
Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)
415 cd/m²
Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)
295 cd/m²
Peak 2% Window
497 cd/m²
Peak 10% Window
497 cd/m²
Peak 25% Window
497 cd/m²
Peak 50% Window
497 cd/m²
Peak 100% Window
497 cd/m²
Sustained 2% Window
496 cd/m²
Sustained 10% Window
496 cd/m²
Sustained 25% Window
496 cd/m²
Sustained 50% Window
496 cd/m²
Sustained 100% Window
496 cd/m²
Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)
0.000

The TV has good HDR peak brightness. There's no variation in brightness between different scenes regardless of highlights, which is great, but it also means that bright highlights are not emphasized next to other elements of the scene. Still, the TV is bright enough to overcome glare in a bright room.

These measurements are after calibrating the HDR white point with the following settings:

  • HDR Picture Mode: Movie
  • Contrast: High
  • Brightness: 100
  • Color Temperature: Warm

7.6
Picture Quality
HDR Brightness In Game Mode
Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)
475 cd/m²
Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)
378 cd/m²
Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)
285 cd/m²
Peak 2% Window
496 cd/m²
Peak 10% Window
496 cd/m²
Peak 25% Window
496 cd/m²
Peak 50% Window
496 cd/m²
Peak 100% Window
496 cd/m²
Sustained 2% Window
495 cd/m²
Sustained 10% Window
495 cd/m²
Sustained 25% Window
495 cd/m²
Sustained 50% Window
495 cd/m²
Sustained 100% Window
495 cd/m²
Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)
0.000

The TV's HDR brightness in Game Mode is good. There's no noticeable difference in peak brightness from 'Movie' mode.

These measurements are after calibrating the HDR white point, with the following settings:

  • HDR Picture Mode: Game
  • Brightness: 100
  • Contrast: 100
  • Color Temperature: Warm

9.3
Picture Quality
PQ EOTF Tracking
600 Nit Tracking Delta
0.0047
1000 Nit Tracking Delta
0.0046
4000 Nit Tracking Delta
0.0045

The TV has fantastic PQ EOTF tracking. Aside from significantly raised blacks and near-blacks, the TV's brightness closely follows the curve, so it tracks the content creator's intent well. There's a sharp cutoff with content mastered at 600 and 1,000 nits, leading to a loss of bright detail. It tone maps better with content mastered at 4,000 nits, preserving more fine details in really bright content.

8.0
Picture Quality
SDR Brightness
Real Scene Peak Brightness
401 cd/m²
Peak 2% Window
490 cd/m²
Peak 10% Window
486 cd/m²
Peak 25% Window
484 cd/m²
Peak 50% Window
482 cd/m²
Peak 100% Window
481 cd/m²
Sustained 2% Window
488 cd/m²
Sustained 10% Window
484 cd/m²
Sustained 25% Window
482 cd/m²
Sustained 50% Window
481 cd/m²
Sustained 100% Window
480 cd/m²
Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)
0.001

The TV's SDR peak brightness is great. It gets bright enough to fight glare in bright rooms, and there's no variation in brightness between content.

These measurements are after calibration with the following settings:

  • Picture Mode: Movie
  • Brightness: 100
  • Contrast: 96
  • Micro Contrast: Off
  • Gamma: 2.2
  • Black Level: 50
  • Dynamic Contrast: Off
  • Black Stretch: Off
  • Dynamic Brightness: Off

8.0
Picture Quality
Color Gamut
Wide Color Gamut
Yes
DCI P3 xy
88.47%
DCI P3 uv
94.19%
Rec 2020 xy
64.58%
Rec 2020 uv
71.32%

The TCL Q6 has a great color gamut. It has fantastic coverage of the commonly used DCI-P3 color space, although its greens and yellows are undersaturated. The TV adequately covers the wider, but not as common, Rec. 2020 color space.

7.4
Picture Quality
Color Volume
1,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage ITP
65.3%
10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage ITP
29.1%
White Luminance
497 cd/m²
Red Luminance
106 cd/m²
Green Luminance
357 cd/m²
Blue Luminance
36 cd/m²
Cyan Luminance
392 cd/m²
Magenta Luminance
142 cd/m²
Yellow Luminance
462 cd/m²

The TCL Q6 has decent color volume in HDR. However, it struggles to represent dark colors and bright, saturated greens and yellows.

4.9
Picture Quality
Pre Calibration
White Balance dE
7.17
Color dE
3.66
Gamma
2.01
Color Temperature
6,554 K
Picture Mode
Movie
Color Temp Setting
Warm
Gamma Setting
2.2

The TCL Q6 has poor pre-calibration accuracy. Its white balance is terrible, with significant accuracy errors throughout every range of gray except blacks. The TV's gamma is overbrightened compared to the reference target of 2.2 for a moderately lit room. The TV's color accuracy is okay; saturated colors are accurate, but undersaturated colors show a fair amount of accuracy errors. Thankfully, the TV's color temperature is spot on the 6500K target, so it has neither a red nor blue tint.

9.0
Picture Quality
Post Calibration
White Balance dE
1.61
Color dE
1.18
Gamma
2.28
Color Temperature
6,510 K
White Balance Calibration
20 point
Color Calibration
Yes

The TV's accuracy after calibration is fantastic. The TV is hard to calibrate, however; when adjusting settings, they sometimes don't affect anything, and then suddenly you have moments where an adjustment impacts settings it shouldn't, so you need to be constantly readjusting your calibration to compensate.

You can see our full calibration settings here.

7.0
Picture Quality
Gray Uniformity
50% Std. Dev.
4.972%
50% DSE
0.195%
5% Std. Dev.
0.621%
5% DSE
0.114%

The TCL Q6 has decent gray uniformity, especially on a very dark or near-black screen, where its uniformity is great. On brighter uniform colors, there's significant vignetting, banding, and dirty screen effect near the center of the screen. This is noticeable in certain content, like hockey with its all-white rink, as the sides and corners of the scene are noticeably darker than the rest.

9.8
Picture Quality
Black Uniformity
Std. Dev.
N/A
Native Std. Dev.
0.442%

The TCL Q6's black uniformity is incredible, although there's some noticeable backlight bleed near the TV's bottom edge. There's no local dimming feature, so the entire screen is blueish and cloudy when bright highlights are on the screen.

5.6
Picture Quality
Viewing Angle
Color Washout
26°
Color Shift
45°
Brightness Loss
30°
Black Level Raise
17°
Gamma Shift
18°

The TV's viewing angle is sub-par and isn't a good choice for wide seating arrangements. There's significant color shifting and brightness loss as you move off-center, and the image looks increasingly washed out as you move further away to the sides.

7.1
Picture Quality
Reflections
Screen Finish
Semi-gloss
Total Reflections
5.8%
Indirect Reflections
0.7%
Calculated Direct Reflections
5.1%

The TV's reflection handling is decent. It does an excellent job with indirect reflections, like when you have glare from a source that isn't directly facing the screen. With direct reflections, like from sources placed directly in front of the screen, the reflections are noticeable when watching content.

7.0
Picture Quality
HDR Native Gradient
100% Black to 50% Gray
4.0
50% Gray to 100% White
8.0
100% Black to 50% Red
6.0
50% Red to 100% Red
10
100% Black to 50% Green
6.0
50% Green to 100% Green
8.0
100% Black to 50% Blue
6.0
50% Blue to 100% Blue
8.0

The TCL Q6 has decent HDR gradient handling. There's very noticeable banding in dark grays and noticeable banding in dark reds, greens, and blues, but other color gradients have minimal banding.

5.6
Picture Quality
Low-Quality Content Smoothing
Smoothing
5.0
Detail Preservation
7.0

The TV has inadequate low-quality content smoothing. While its detail preservation is decent, there's significant macro-blocking in dark scenes.

5.0
Picture Quality
Upscaling: Sharpness Processing

The TV does an inadequate job of upscaling low-resolution content like DVDs or lower-resolution streams. Details are very soft, and finer details are incredibly hard to make out.

Sharpness processing was calibrated with no over-sharpening for low-resolution content with the following setting:

  • Sharpness: 12

Picture Quality
Pixels
Subpixel Layout
BGR
Type LED
Sub-Type
VA

The TV uses a BGR (Blue-Green-Red) subpixel layout instead of the traditional RGB layout. It doesn't cause any issues for video content, but if you plan to use this TV as a PC monitor, non-RGB subpixel layouts impact text clarity, and text looks slightly blurry. You can read about it here.

Motion
7.4
Motion
Response Time
80% Response Time
6.2 ms
100% Response Time
14.7 ms

The TCL Q6 has a decent response time. It does struggle a bit more when coming out of dark states, so there's some black smearing in dark transitions. The TV doesn't have the response time quirks of the TCL Q7/Q750G QLED or TCL QM8/QM850G QLED when VRR is enabled.

2.1
Motion
Flicker-Free
Flicker-Free
No
PWM Dimming Frequency
150 Hz

The TCL Q6 uses pulse width modulation (PWM) to dim its backlight, and it flickers at 150Hz, which is low enough to be noticeable by users who are sensitive to it, especially as it doesn't flicker in time with the TV's refresh rate. Fortunately, the TV is flicker-free at these brightness levels and picture modes:

  • Movie, with brightness levels 26-100
  • Low Power, with brightness levels 60-100
  • Sports, Game Mode, and PC, with brightness levels 28-100
  • Smart HDR, always flicker-free

Motion
Black Frame Insertion (BFI)
Optional BFI
No
Min Flicker For 60 fps
150 Hz
60Hz For 60 fps
No
120Hz For 120 fps
N/A
Min Flicker for 60 fps in Game Mode
150 Hz

This TV doesn't have an optional backlight strobing feature, commonly known as black frame insertion (BFI).

Motion
Motion Interpolation
Motion Interpolation (30 fps)
Yes
Motion Interpolation (60 fps)
No

The TCL Q6 has a motion interpolation feature to interpolate 30 fps content up to 60 fps. As typical of this feature, it looks fine with slow scenes, but there are noticeable artifacts with fast-moving objects.

7.7
Motion
Stutter
Frame Hold Time @ 24 fps
27.0 ms
Frame Hold Time @ 60 fps
2.0 ms

Due to this TV's only decent response time, it does a good job with stutter in movies. It's particularly fantastic with 60 fps content. It's only okay with 24 fps content, like movies, but you can compensate for this by enabling some of the TV's motion interpolation features, although that introduces other issues.

7.8
Motion
24p Judder
Judder-Free 24p
Yes
Judder-Free 24p via 60p
No
Judder-Free 24p via 60i
No
Judder-Free 24p via Native Apps
Yes

The TCL Q6 QLED removes 24p judder from 24p signals, like movies, and from native sources, like apps or Blu-ray players, but it can't properly remove judder from 60Hz sources.

8.2
Motion
Variable Refresh Rate
Native Refresh Rate
60 Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
Yes
HDMI Forum VRR
Yes
FreeSync
Yes
G-SYNC Compatible
Yes
4k VRR Maximum
60 Hz
4k VRR Minimum
48 Hz
1080p VRR Maximum
120 Hz
1080p VRR Minimum
< 20 Hz
1440p VRR Maximum
120 Hz
1440p VRR Minimum
< 20 Hz
VRR + Local Dimming No Local Dimming

This TV supports every variable refresh rate (VRR) technology for a nearly tear-free gaming experience. The TV's VRR range is narrow at 4k, but when running at 1080p @ 120Hz or 1440p @ 120Hz, with resolution halving, the VRR range is much wider; great for competitive gamers who prefer a higher refresh rate and lower input lag over better visuals.

Inputs
9.7
Inputs
Input Lag
1080p @ 60Hz
10.9 ms
1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode
111.9 ms
1080p @ 120Hz
6.7 ms
1080p @ 144Hz
N/A
1440p @ 60Hz
10.8 ms
1440p @ 120Hz
6.4 ms
1440p @ 144Hz
N/A
4k @ 60Hz
10.3 ms
4k @ 60Hz + 10-Bit HDR
10.3 ms
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
10.3 ms
4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode
94.7 ms
4k @ 60Hz With Interpolation
94.7 ms
4k @ 120Hz
N/A
4k @ 144Hz
N/A
8k @ 60Hz
N/A

The TV has superbly low input lag in Game Mode. It's equally as good in the TV's 'PC' Picture Mode, which you need to set the TV at to get chroma 4:4:4 support for clear text when using the TV as a PC monitor.

8.2
Inputs
Supported Resolutions
Resolution 4k
480p @ 59.94Hz (Widescreen)
Yes
720p @ 59.94Hz
Yes
1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
Yes
1080p @ 120Hz
Yes
1080p @ 144Hz
No
1440p @ 60Hz
Yes (forced resolution required)
1440p @ 120Hz
Yes
1440p @ 144Hz
No
4k @ 60Hz
Yes
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
Yes
4k @ 120Hz
No
4k @ 120Hz @ 4:4:4
No
4k @ 144Hz
No
8k @ 30Hz or 24Hz
No
8k @ 60Hz
No

The TV supports all common resolutions up to 4k @ 60Hz. Even though the TV has a 60Hz panel, it can do 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving through TCL's Game Accelerator 120 feature. This impacts image quality as the TV halves the display's 4k vertical resolution to run at 120Hz. Still, it's a great option for competitive gamers who prefer having a higher refresh rate and lower input lag over better visuals.

Inputs
PS5 Compatibility
Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)
Yes
4k @ 120Hz
No
1440p @ 120Hz
Yes
1080p @ 120Hz
Yes
HDR
Yes
VRR
Yes

The TV can't take full advantage of the PS5, as it can't do 4k @ 120Hz. However, it can do 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving. Unlike on the Xbox consoles, the TV has no issues playing HDR games in 120Hz on the PS5.

It also supports VRR and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), so the TV automatically switches to Game Mode when it detects the console.

Inputs
Xbox Series X|S Compatibility
Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)
Yes
4k @ 120Hz
No
1440p @ 120Hz
Yes
1080p @ 120Hz
Yes
HDR
Yes
VRR
Yes

The TV can't take full advantage of the Xbox Series X or S, as it can't do 4k @ 120Hz. However, it can do 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz with resolution halving. Note that when launching a Dolby Vision or HDR game at these resolutions, the console automatically sets itself to 4k @ 60Hz, as the Xbox only supports HDR with 4k content.

The TV also supports VRR and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), so the TV automatically switches to Game Mode when it detects the console.

Inputs
Inputs Specifications
HDR10
Yes
HDR10+
Yes
Dolby Vision
Yes
HLG
Yes
HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth
Yes (HDMI 1,2,3)
HDMI 2.1 Class Bandwidth
No
CEC Yes
HDCP 2.2 Yes (HDMI 1,2,3)
ATSC Tuner
1.0
USB 3.0
Yes (1)
Variable Analog Audio Out Yes
Wi-Fi Support Yes (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz)

This TV is limited to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth on its three HDMI ports and supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The tuner is limited to ATSC 1.0, so you can't stream 4k content over the air.

Inputs
Input Photos
Inputs
Total Inputs
HDMI 3
USB 1
Digital Optical Audio Out 1
Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 1
Analog Audio Out RCA 0
Component In 0
Composite In 1 (adapter required, not incl.)
Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1
Ethernet 1
DisplayPort 0
IR In 0
Inputs
Audio Passthrough
ARC/eARC Port
eARC
eARC: Dolby Atmos Over Dolby Digital Plus
Yes
eARC: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Yes
eARC: LPCM 7.1 Over Dolby MAT
Yes
eARC: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Yes
eARC: DTS:X Over DTS-HD MA
No
eARC: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
No
eARC: LPCM Channels (Bitstream)
2.0
ARC: Dolby Digital 5.1
Yes
ARC: DTS 5.1
Yes
Optical: Dolby Digital 5.1
Yes
Optical: DTS 5.1
Yes

The TCL Q650G supports eARC, allowing you to pass high-quality, uncompressed audio to a compatible receiver. While the TV can pass DTS 5.1 through ARC and Optical connections, it can't pass the full 7.1 DTS:X or DTS-HD formats through eARC, which is disappointing as many UHD Blu-ray discs use these as their main audio track. However, it can pass Dolby advanced audio formats through eARC.

If you want a similar TV with DTS audio support, take a look at the 2024 TCL Q6/Q651G QLED.

Sound Quality
5.7
Sound Quality
Frequency Response
Low-Frequency Extension
142.54 Hz
Std. Dev. @ 70
5.75 dB
Std. Dev. @ 80
5.85 dB
Std. Dev. @ Max
6.30 dB
Max
90.0 dB SPL
Dynamic Range Compression
2.87 dB

The TV has a middling frequency response. TVs tend to have awful bass, and this TV is no different; there's no thump and rumble at all. That said, the TV gets pretty loud and has surprisingly little pumping or compression artifacts at max volume. Otherwise, it doesn't sound great, with inaccurate sound reproduction across the board.

7.2
Sound Quality
Distortion
Weighted THD @ 80
0.030
Weighted THD @ Max
0.194
IMD @ 80
2.56%
IMD @ Max
24.90%

This TV's handling of sound distortion is decent. Sound is distorted at max volume, which sounds unpleasant, especially if you're sensitive to it. At lower volumes, however, it sounds good, and it's hard to notice any harsh or unexpected frequencies when listening at moderate volume levels.

Smart Features
8.0
Smart Features
Interface
Smart OS Google TV
Version 11
Ease of Use
Average
Smoothness
Very Smooth
Time Taken to Select YouTube
1 s
Time Taken to Change Backlight
2 s
Advanced Options
Many

The TV uses version 11 of Google's popular Google TV OS. It's relatively easy to use and runs well, with a large selection of apps.

0
Smart Features
Ad-Free
Ads
Yes
Opt-out
No
Suggested Content in Home
Yes
Opt-out of Suggested Content
No

Like most TVs on the market, this TV has ads throughout the interface, and you can't disable them.

9.0
Smart Features
Apps and Features
App Selection
Great
App Smoothness
Very Smooth
Cast Capable
Yes
USB Drive Playback
Yes
USB Drive HDR Playback
Yes
HDR in Netflix
Yes
HDR in YouTube
Yes

The TV has a great selection of streaming apps, with every popular streaming app being present. The interface is very smooth and pleasant to use.

8.5
Smart Features
Remote
Size
Medium
Voice Control
Many Features
CEC Menu Control
Yes
Other Smart Features
No
Remote App Android TV

The TV's remote is medium-sized and has a simple layout. It has a series of dedicated buttons for the most popular streaming apps. The remote has an integrated microphone for voice commands, and these work pretty well; you can change inputs, search within apps, and ask for the weather.

Smart Features
TV Controls

The power button is on the bottom bezel of the TV below the TCL branding. Outside of turning the TV on or off, you can also use it to change channels, the volume, or the inputs.

Smart Features
In The Box

  • Remote (with 2x batteries)
  • Power cable
  • Manuals

Smart Features
Misc
Power Consumption 42 W
Power Consumption (Max) 182 W
Firmware V8-R51MT08-LF1V049.021060