The TCL Q77K is an entry-level 4k TV released in 2025 as a Costco exclusive in North America. It's surprisingly feature-packed for the price, including HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, with a maximum 288Hz refresh rate at 1080p or 144Hz at 4k, and VRR support to reduce tearing. It uses an HVA panel with no local dimming. It supports all main HDR formats, including Dolby Vision. It's powered by the Google TV 12 smart interface, and it comes with an impressive array of smart features, including hands-free voice control. We bought and tested the 75-inch model, but it's also available in a 55, 65, 85, and 98-inch size.
Our Verdict
The TCL Q77K is disappointing for most uses. It's best suited for a moderately lit room, with some lights on but nothing directly opposite the TV due to its poor reflection handling. It's also best suited for gaming with high refresh rate sources like a PC, thanks to its high maximum refresh rate and low input lag, and it supports VRR to reduce tearing. It's a mediocre choice for watching sports due to its slow response time at low refresh rates, and it doesn't look good in a dark room due to its low contrast and lack of local dimming. It supports HDR, but it's better-suited for watching SDR content as it has mediocre colors and isn't bright enough to bring out HDR content properly.
Decent viewing angle.
Fantastic format support.
Motion is very blurry at 60Hz.
Can't reduce the intensity of direct, mirror-like reflections.
Just okay upscaling.
The TCL Q77 Series is a poor choice for home theater usage. It has great format support, including all main HDR formats and audio codecs, but it's best suited for watching SDR content. HDR is flat and dull, as it has limited coverage of HDR color spaces, and it can't get bright enough to bring out bright highlights. It also lacks a local dimming feature and has low contrast, so it's not a good choice for dark room viewing. Finally, it has decent motion handling. It removes judder from most sources perfectly, but there's some stutter in slow-panning shots.
Fantastic format support.
Excellent PQ EOTF tracking.
Removes judder from most sources.
Low contrast and no local dimming means dark scenes are washed out.
Not bright enough to deliver an impactful HDR experience.
Can't display a wide range of colors in HDR.
Noticeable color artifacts in all content.
Noticeable stutter in slow panning shots.
The TCL Q77K is a sub-par choice for a bright room. It has poor direct reflection handling, as the glossy coating does very little to reduce mirror-like reflections, and there are noticeable diffraction artifacts. It's not bright enough to overcome glare, either, so it's best suited for use in a light-controlled room.
Ambient light has no impact on black levels.
Not bright enough in SDR to overcome glare.
Can't reduce the intensity of direct, mirror-like reflections.
The TCL Q77K is a mediocre choice for watching sports. It has a decent viewing angle, making it an okay choice for a wide seating arrangement, but it has poor reflection handling, and it's not bright enough to overcome glare during the day. It also has mediocre uniformity, and our unit has a noticeable pinch in the panel. It has a slow response time at 60Hz, resulting in blurry motion in fast-paced action, and transitions aren't smooth, with blurry edges and color artifacts around rapidly changing colors.
Decent viewing angle.
Not bright enough in SDR to overcome glare.
Motion is very blurry at 60Hz.
Can't reduce the intensity of direct, mirror-like reflections.
Noticeable color artifacts in all content.
The TCL Q77K is a mediocre TV for gaming. It has an incredible array of gaming features, including its high refresh rate, HDMI 2.1 support, and VRR, and it feels responsive overall thanks to its incredibly low input lag. It doesn't deliver very good picture quality, though, and the response time at 60Hz is very slow, resulting in blurry motion. Overall, it's best suited for PC gamers aiming to run it at a very high refresh rate, but only if you care more about responsiveness than picture quality.
Extremely low input lag.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, up to 4k @ 144Hz and 1080p @ 288Hz, and VRR support.
Not bright enough in SDR to overcome glare.
Poor picture quality in HDR.
The TCL Q77 has bad peak brightness. It's not bright enough to overcome glare, even in SDR, and in HDR, specular highlights aren't bright enough to stand out at all. Very bright scenes are dull and flat overall.
Not bright enough in SDR to overcome glare.
Not bright enough to deliver an impactful HDR experience.
The TCL Q77 has poor black levels. It has a decent native contrast ratio, but since it lacks both global and local dimming, blacks are always raised and look washed out.
Low contrast and no local dimming means dark scenes are washed out.
The TCL Q77 has mediocre colors. It has okay color volume in SDR, but it struggles with saturated colors in wider color spaces, so HDR content isn't very vivid. It also has mediocre accuracy out of the box, but it calibrates incredibly well even in HDR.
Can't display a wide range of colors in HDR.
Mediocre accuracy out of the box.
The TCL Q77K has decent motion handling when watching content. It removes judder from most sources, including 25p European content, but there's some micro judder when watching 25p content sent from a 60Hz source. There's some noticeable stutter, especially in wide, slow-panning shots, but its motion interpolation feature is very good at reducing it. Unfortunately, color transitions aren't smooth or even, resulting in noticeable ghosting around the edges of fast-moving elements, and there's a noticeable red tint around fast-changing colors.
Removes judder from most sources.
Noticeable color artifacts in all content.
Noticeable stutter in slow panning shots.
The TCL Q77 has good responsiveness in Game Mode. It has incredibly low input lag, especially if you're a PC gamer running it at the max refresh rate. It also supports a wide range of resolutions and refresh rates with VRR, so you can get the most out of any connected source. Unfortunately, it has a slow response time at 60Hz, so it's not as well-suited for console gaming or sources that are limited to a low refresh rate.
Extremely low input lag.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, up to 4k @ 144Hz and 1080p @ 288Hz, and VRR support.
Motion is very blurry at 60Hz.
Note: We're in the process of improving our tests related to image processing, but this score should give you a general idea of how a TV performs overall with its image processing capabilities.
The TCL Q77 has decent processing. It does a decent job cleaning up low-quality content, but there's some loss of fine details that gives the image a slightly waxy look. Fine details in upscaled content can also be a bit hard to make out. On the other hand, it has excellent PQ EOTF tracking and good gradient handling, with just a bit of banding in darker shades.
Excellent PQ EOTF tracking.
Good gradient handling.
Just okay upscaling.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Mar 11, 2026:
We added text to our new Cinematic Motion Handling performance usage and our new Transition Artifacts and Stutter Reduction Via Interpolation test sections after converting the review to TV 2.2.
- Updated Mar 10, 2026: This review has been updated to TV 2.2. We've added new sections for Transition Artifacts and Stutter Reduction Via Interpolation, and updated the way we test Stutter. Additionally, we removed the 'Broken' disclaimer from our Motion Handling usage.
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Updated Jan 21, 2026:
We bought and tested the Samsung U7900F, and added a comparison in the Variable Refresh Rate and HDR Brightness sections.
- Updated Jan 20, 2026: We added text to the new Micro-Judder section and refreshed the text in the updated Judder and Response Time Stutter sections after converting the review to TV 2.1.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the 75-inch TCL Q77K, and most of these results are also valid for the 55, 65, 85, and 98-inch models. The 55-inch model has a lower maximum refresh rate at 1080p, and the 85-inch and 98-inch models both have a matte anti-reflective coating, so they handle light better in a bright room.
| Size | Model | Max 1080p Refresh Rate | Screen Coating | Speakers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55" | TCL 55Q77K | 240Hz | Glossy | 20W |
| 65" | TCL 65Q77K | 288Hz | Glossy | 20W |
| 75" | TCL 75Q77K | 288Hz | Glossy | 30W |
| 85" | TCL 85Q77K | 288Hz | Matte | 40W |
| 98" | TCL 98Q77K | 288Hz | Matte | 40W |
Our unit was made in Mexico in May 2025.
Popular TV Comparisons
The TCL Q77K is an extremely odd TV. It has an incredible range of features not typically found on TVs at this price point, like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, VRR support, and a very high refresh rate for gaming. On the other hand, it has very disappointing picture quality, with a narrow color gamut, low peak brightness, and no local dimming to improve dark room performance. It delivers a similar overall experience to the Hisense QD7N, but is otherwise unique on the market.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best TVs under $1,000, the best TVs for gaming, or the best 80-83-85 inch TVs.
The Samsung U8000F and the TCL Q77K are similar TVs overall, but the TCL is the slightly better choice, especially for gamers. Both models deliver similarly lackluster picture quality, but the TCL supports a much higher refresh rate, resulting in much smoother motion when gaming, especially from a PC.
The TCL Q77K and the Samsung U7900F are both sub-par TVs, but the TCL is slightly better overall and significantly better for gaming. The TCL gets a bit brighter, so it can overcome more glare in a moderately-lit room. The biggest difference is for gaming, where the TCL shines thanks to its much higher refresh rate and better VRR support, ensuring a nearly tear-free gaming experience with any source.
The TCL QM6K is significantly better than the TCL Q77K. They both offer very similar features, with the same max refresh rate and gaming features, but the QM6K delivers much better picture quality. It's a significant improvement in both SDR and HDR thanks to its higher peak brightness and Mini LED local dimming, resulting in deeper blacks and brighter peaks.
The TCL Q651G is slightly better than the TCL Q77K for most users, but the Q77K is a bit better for gaming. Although neither TV delivers great picture quality, the Q651G is a bit better, with higher peak brightness and a higher native contrast ratio. The Q77 has better gaming features, though, including better format support and a higher maximum refresh rate, up to an impressive 288Hz for PC gaming, whereas the Q651G is limited to 120Hz.
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
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