The TCL QM851G is the highest-end offering in TCL's 2024 North American QLED lineup and sits above the TCL QM751G. It uses TCL's AIPQ Engine Gen3 processor and is advertised as being over twice as bright as its predecessor, with up to 5000 dimming zones depending on the size. The TV is loaded with features like Dolby Vision and HDR10+, HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 144Hz, 1080p @ 240Hz, and VRR support. It uses the Google TV interface that's loaded with apps and has other smart features like voice control, and it comes with a backlit remote. It has a built-in 2.1.2 channel ONKYO speaker system and supports Dolby and DTS advanced audio formats. We bought and tested the 65-inch model, but it's available in four different sizes: 65, 75, 85, and 98 inches. It's been replaced in 2025 by the TCL QM8K.
Our Verdict
The TCL QM8 is great for mixed usage. It's extremely bright in SDR and HDR, making it suitable for any room context and for watching any content, as highlights really pop on this model. While its reflection handling struggles a bit with direct sources of light, the TV is so bright that it still easily overcomes most glare, although it will be distracting in darker scenes. It has excellent black levels, so its blacks stay deep when bright highlights are also on screen. It's also very colorful overall, so ultimately, it's a stand-out choice for image quality. Unfortunately, it falters when it comes to accuracy in HDR, as its colors aren't nearly as accurate as in SDR, and it struggles with its HDR brightness accuracy. It's a very good TV for gamers due to its fast pixel transitions for an LED model, but it's hampered somewhat by its strange response time behavior with VRR enabled. It also has a narrow viewing angle, so it's not a good choice for watching TV with a group of friends or family.
Excellent black levels deliver deep blacks no matter the room context.
Extremely bright and colorful TV in both SDR and HDR.
- HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 144Hz, 1080p @ 240Hz, and VRR support.
Solid image processing when dealing with low-bitrate and low-resolution content.
Accurate SDR colors prior to being calibrated.
- Image degrades when viewed from the sides.
Sub-par HDR pre-calibration accuracy.
Visible glare in dark scenes when placed directly opposite bright lights or windows.
The TCL QM8 is great for a home theater setup. It has excellent black levels that deliver deep blacks that stay deep when highlights are also on screen, and it has remarkable HDR brightness, so highlights in HDR content really stand out. Colors are also vibrant, lifelike, and bright in HDR due to the TV's outstanding HDR color volume. It removes judder from most sources for smooth motion overall, but there's some noticeable stutter, especially in slow panning shots. It cleans up macro-blocking from low-bitrate streams quite well, and it also upscales SD content, like from DVDs, well. Unfortunately, its HDR color and brightness accuracy are poor; it really doesn't follow the content creator's intent, and it will bother purists.
Excellent black levels deliver deep blacks no matter the room context.
Extremely bright and colorful TV in both SDR and HDR.
- Dolby Vision and DTS audio support.
Solid image processing when dealing with low-bitrate and low-resolution content.
Most content is judder-free.
Sub-par HDR pre-calibration accuracy.
Doesn't follow the content creator's intent well in HDR.
Noticeable stutter in slow panning shots.
The TCL QM8 is excellent for use in a bright room. It has superb SDR brightness, easily bright enough for any room. It does struggle with direct reflections, as its coating doesn't reduce their intensity meaningfully, so glare will be distracting in darker scenes. It's colorful in SDR, and it does an impressive job retaining color vibrancy in a bright room, and its blacks also remain deep in well-lit contexts.
Extremely bright and colorful TV in both SDR and HDR.
Accurate SDR colors prior to being calibrated.
Visible glare in dark scenes when placed directly opposite bright lights or windows.
The TCL QM8 is great for watching sports. The TV's superb SDR brightness makes it bright enough for any room, even with its mediocre direct reflection handling. It also cleans up compression artifacts from online feeds quite well, and it upscales SD content, like a lot of sports watched from cable, proficiently enough for a clean overall viewing experience. It has decent motion handling, with a quick response time that results in clear motion for the most part, but there are significant artifacts on the edges of fast-moving objects. The TV is colorful in SDR, as well as being accurate, so your favorite teams' jerseys look as they should. Unfortunately, its viewing angle is too narrow for a wide seating arrangement.
Extremely bright and colorful TV in both SDR and HDR.
Solid image processing when dealing with low-bitrate and low-resolution content.
Accurate SDR colors prior to being calibrated.
- Image degrades when viewed from the sides.
Significant edge artifacts in fast-moving content.
The TCL QM8 is great for playing video games. It has low input lag for a responsive gaming experience, and while its pixel transitions are only decent at 120Hz, they're fast for an LED TV. Enabling Game Mode has no impact on picture quality, so the TV is still extremely bright and colorful, alongside its excellent black levels, in HDR when gaming. It's also a great TV to pair with modern consoles or gaming PCs since it has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth and supports up to 4k @ 144Hz. It also supports VRR, but there's a distracting issue when the TV hovers around 65Hz.
Excellent black levels deliver deep blacks no matter the room context.
Extremely bright and colorful TV in both SDR and HDR.
- HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 144Hz, 1080p @ 240Hz, and VRR support.
Low input lag for a very responsive experience.
- VRR issues around 65Hz.
- Can't have both chroma 4:4:4 and Game Mode enabled at the same time.
- Only one port is capable of 4k @ 144Hz and 1080p @ 240Hz.
Sub-par HDR pre-calibration accuracy.
The TCL QM8 has outstanding brightness overall. It has superb SDR brightness, so it's more than capable of overcoming glare from any source of light. It also has remarkable HDR brightness, which makes highlights really pop in HDR content.
Extremely bright TV in SDR and HDR.
The TCL QM8 has excellent black levels. It has incredibly effective local dimming, giving it amazing contrast and very good black uniformity with almost no visible blooming.
Excellent black levels deliver deep blacks no matter the room context.
The TCL QM8 has very good color performance overall. It has outstanding color volume in HDR and good color volume in SDR, so it's quite colorful, no matter the content. It's also pretty accurate in SDR, but unfortunately, not so much in HDR, so home theater purists will want to calibrate this TV for the best possible viewing experience in HDR.
Very colorful in SDR and especially HDR.
Accurate SDR colors prior to being calibrated.
Sub-par HDR pre-calibration accuracy.
The TCL QM851G has decent motion handling. It has a quick response time that results in clear motion for the most part, but there are noticeable artifacts on the edges of fast-moving objects. This quick transition time also results in noticeable stutter, but its motion interpolation feature is good at reducing it without adding any soap opera effect. It also removes judder from most sources, and there's barely any micro judder.
Motion interpolation feature is good at reducing stutter.
Most content is judder-free.
Noticeable stutter in slow panning shots.
Significant edge artifacts in fast-moving content.
The TCL QM8 is responsive in Game Mode, with its low input lag, support for a variety of VRR modes, and a large amount of supported resolutions. Its pixel transitions are fast, especially for an LED TV, but there's still noticeable motion blur, especially at 60Hz and 120Hz; PC gamers should stick to 144Hz for the fastest pixel transitions possible. The TV's VRR feature is also uneven, as the TV's response time changes depending on whether its refresh rate is below or above 65Hz, which adds to the TV's response time issues.
- HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 144Hz, 1080p @ 240Hz, and VRR support.
Low input lag for a very responsive experience.
- VRR issues around 65Hz.
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 QM8's image processing is okay overall, but unfortunately, it doesn't respect the content creator's intent when it comes to HDR brightness. Aside from that, it's quite good; It cleans up macro-blocking from low-bitrate content very well, and it also does a good job when upscaling low-resolution content, such as from DVDs. It's also hard to notice any banding in HDR content, although there is some in grays.
Handles HDR native gradients well, with limited banding.
Solid image processing when dealing with low-bitrate and low-resolution content.
Doesn't follow the content creator's intent well in HDR.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Mar 13, 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.
- Updated Feb 05, 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.
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Updated Jul 31, 2025:
We bought and tested the TV that replaces this model, the TCL QM8K, and added a mention of it in the PQ EOTF Tracking section.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the 65-inch TCL QM8/QM851G QLED (65QM851G), and these results are also valid for the 75, 85, and 98-inch models. The larger models perform similarly, although they should have better dark scene performance than the 65-inch model due to having more local dimming zones. The TCL QM851G is currently only available in North America; in Europe, TCL released the similar TCL X955. Typically, similar models from other regions perform differently, so these results aren't valid for it.
| Size | Model | Dimming Zones |
|---|---|---|
| 65" | 65QM851G | 2880 |
| 75" | 75QM851G | Currently Unknown |
| 85" | 85QM851G | Currently Unknown |
| 98" | 98QM851G | Currently Unknown |
Our unit was manufactured in April 2024.
Popular TV Comparisons
The TCL QM8/QM851G QLED is a great TV overall that's affordable and is loaded with pretty much any feature you can ask for. It provides excellent overall picture quality whether you're streaming shows, watching sports on cable, watching movies on physical media, or playing video games. It is a very good TV for gaming, but it's held back a little by its inconsistent VRR feature and the fact that HDMI 1 is the only port capable of 144Hz and 240Hz. It's very similar to the Hisense U8/U8N, but the TCL is even brighter overall. However, the Hisense has slightly better reflection handling, with better contrast, and is also the more accurate TV of the two. If you really care about accuracy, also consider the Sony BRAVIA 7, which isn't nearly as bright or as impactful as the TCL and Hisense models, but it does have superior image processing, making it an enticing prospect for home theater purists.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best TVs for bright rooms, the best 65-inch TVs, and the best TVs for gaming.
The TCL QM851G and the Hisense U8QG offer a very similar experience overall, and there's no clear winner. The TCL takes a slightly more conservative approach to HDR brightness, so most real scenes and very bright content is brighter overall, but small specular highlights are brighter on the Hisense. The Hisense has slightly better contrast, but its local dimming system isn't as precise. Overall, the Hisense delivers a slightly punchier image, whereas the TCL goes for overall brightness instead of small details.
The TCL QM851G is better than the TCL QM751G. With a few exceptions, the QM851G does most things better than the QM751G. The QM851G 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 QM751G, making it a far better option if you like to watch TV in extremely bright rooms. Still, the QM751G is more accurate in HDR and has better color volume in SDR. But, overall, the QM851G is a noticeable upgrade over the QM751G.
The TCL QM8K is an improvement over the TV it replaces, the TCL QM851G. The QM851G is brighter in most real content, but this comes at the expense of accuracy. The QM8K respects creative intent better, with better EOTF tracking and better processing in general. All of this results in a slightly less impactful, but more well-rounded viewing experience.
The TCL QM851G is better than the TCL QM7K. While the QM7K has the better contrast, the QM8's local dimming solution is noticeably faster and more precise, giving the TV better overall black levels. The QM851G is also the more colorful TV overall. Unfortunately, the QM851G's HDR brightness accuracy is quite poor, while the QM7K's is great, so it follows the content creator's intent much more closely.
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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