The sheer enormity of the TCL QM89 requires its own unveiling . Pictures do n’t do it justness , even if you ’re able-bodied to see the scale of this thing . So just sop this in for a second . And then understand that this is the most fun I ’ve ever had reviewing a television .
And , yeah , that 115 - inch size has everything to do with it .
OK , not everyone require a monumental TV . Or peradventure they do n’t think they do , until they know one themselves . But for some folks , bringing the film theater experience home — and perhaps even outdo it — is a life history goal . A dreaming . And I ’m here to tell you , this TV can make that pipe dream a reality , ifyou’re willing to spend big , too . Because while this goggle box ’s cost is certain to decrease ( probably quite precipitously in the calendar month ahead ) , it presently retails for about $ 20,000 . Before revenue enhancement .
allow ’s be honest with ourselves : not many of us are going to buy this TV . And that ’s just fine — it ’s OK to goggle . So go ahead , take a good look .
But for those of you in that small club who are in the marketplace for a television that costs four - fifth of a new Honda Civic , stick around . I have some very significant information for you to consider before laying down that credit card .
Video review
Big, big basics
Let ’s speak about what you ’re getting with the 115 - inch TCL QM89 . In a nutshell , you ’re getting TCL ’s infrangible secure , which probably does n’t come as a surprise . Because it is such a huge QLED TV with an equally huge ( and in advance ) mini - LED backlight scheme , it needs a limited central processing unit . The processor is everything in a TV , so we ’re going to be talking about what it does quite a bit in this review .
The backlight system is contain of untold tens of thousands of mini - LEDs broken down into roughly 20,000 local dimming zones .
That CPU would be the AiPQ Ultra — TCL ’s salutary processor yet , turbo - charged to handle the monolithic requirement of this as monumental television set .
It also has the most advanced audio system TCL has ever put into a TV . you may see some of it , courtesy of two Onkyo - badged subwoofers on the back . But what you ca n’t well see is the regalia of drivers hidden behind perforated sections sprinkled along the back and top of the telly . Save the “ Atmos ” speaker system at the top of the TV ’s cabinet , this telly lark about a rear - arouse sound system of rules . And while we ’ve had assorted final result with that kind of design in the yesteryear , the 115 - inch QM8 here do pretty well . More on that shortly .
This 115 - in telecasting is big , but it ’s not bulky . Everyone who has visited our studio to check out this TV has comment that it ’s not almost as chummy as they await . This TV will look awesome mounted on the rampart . I ’d highly encourage you to impinge on three stud poker with a robust wall mount rat to handle at least 200 pounds — but , yes , it can be wall climb up . And though you ’ll need to buy that wall mount yourself , many retailers will let in rampart - mounting with the purchase . TCL has confirmed that is included if you , for example .
If you do n’t bulwark - mount , you have two other pick . you’re able to habituate the feet that are included in the box . But with a roughly 93 - inch - panoptic position , you will require either a very tumid credence or an remarkably wide spiritualist console .
And that ’s part of the reason why I in person prefer the optional legs you may grease one’s palms for this TV . They are rock-and-roll sold , offer some cable management , and place the video at the optimal viewing top , eliminating even the slender amount of cervix craning .
The backlight scheme is comprised of untold ten-spot of thousands of miniskirt - LEDs separate down into or so 20,000 local dim zones . repetition : 20,000 zone . But telling numbers do n’t always translate into starring picture quality .
The TV is claimed to strike 5,000 nit of peak brightness — again , we ’ll see — and it ’s got almost all of the other spectacles you may require . Here fall an onslaught of acronym :
want more ? You get a backlit Google TV remote with vocalism control condition as well as a voice mic on the boob tube itself , plus a build up - in way sensor for robotic light and colour temperature ascendence .
Yes, it can be too big
OK , so , I ’ll get into some measurements and mouth about the motion-picture show quality in a consequence . But candidly , what I ’m about to tell you first is the most value information I can offer you in this review .
This TV ’s size is its most notable asset and its greatest reward . But its sizing also is a financial obligation of sorting , just not for the reasons you might retrieve .
This TV can be viewed from what a pot of common people would see a “ normal ” consider space .
Sure , you ’re gon na need some blank for your 115 - column inch television . But I suppose that most common people considering this goggle box plan to put it in a dedicated distance where there ’s potential a wall at least 8 feet wide .
And I reckon a lot of you folks might be think : “ well , it ’s so huge , you ’d have to sit at least 15 feet off from it , right ? ” No , you do n’t have to . While it ’s true that many “ optimum showing distance ” calculators will propose a viewing length of at least 12 feet , I ’m here to tell you that I ’ve been sitting just 9.5 foot away from this 115 - in boob tube and have have — well , almost every minute of it . There ’s a caveat there that I ’m going to get to in a minute .
The central takeaway here is that this telly can be viewed from what a lot of folks would look at a “ normal ” regard distance without it feeling overwhelming , and without understand single pixels . It is staggeringly immersive . It can occupy your entire field of view and really put you in the subject without you feel like you ’re missing any part of the scene .
Now , I can see potentially see motion sickness being an proceeds for some folks if they are especially sensitive . That ’s just cathartic and biology . But , while I ’ve gotten a little queasy feeling in the past tense in some dramaturgy scenarios , I have not generate once felt inauspicious at ease with this tv set . Now , super rickety television camera social movement ? Well , that ’s just annoying , and there ’s nothing you may do about that . Maybe pass over anything with Jason Bourne .
The real liability outcome with size is that a large screen like this just gives you more of everything . It founder you more smartness , more contrast , more color , more immersion , more just straight - up fun and excitement .
But just as it amplifies all those good things , it also amplifies the bad thing .
There ’s no hiding the failing of the content when your viewing distance to screen size ratio is at this layer .
And in this context , I ’m babble out about the amplification of poor - caliber message . To be clear , high - caliber content calculate just awesome . Pull up a 4 special K or 4 K HDR show on Netflix or Disney+ , or Max — any of the stream services with mellow - resolution or eminent - bitrate message — and it looks outstanding . Like , whang - it - right field - out - of - the - parking area amazing .
But low - quality mental object — and this is less about resolution than it is highly - compressed content or contentedness capture by less - than - stellar camera ? It ’s just blatantly obvious that it is lower - calibre content . And before you jump to reason out that means this TV ’s processing , upscaling , and digital enhancements are wanting , rent me assure you that ’s not the culprit . There ’s only so much any TZ processor can do when the source textile is n’t good .
And that ’s really what ’s at play here . There ’s no concealment the failings of the depicted object when your viewing aloofness to screen size proportion is at this level . Even an 85 - inch TV shows it less than what you ’ll see on the QM89 .
It ’s really just a mathematics job . This 115 - inch television receiver has just shy of four multiplication the screen airfoil area as a 65 - in boob tube . That ’s like zooming in on the depicted object with 4X magnification . It ’s kind of like the photos you take on your phone . They can look fantastic on your phone , pad of paper , and maybe even a laptop computer sieve . But put them on a large screen , and suddenly you could see all their fault .
It ’s not just video subject , either . If an app developer phoned it in on the firmness of an app roofing tile for Google TV , or the computer graphic from a television receiver internet is n’t up to snuff — anything that was n’t made at a resolution high-pitched enough to look estimable at this scale , well , you ’re going to see some notched edge . That can be genuine for game artwork , as well . If developer decided to skimp here or there not anticipating their plot would ever get played on a screenland larger than 85 column inch , well , you ’re gon na see it . It kinda feel like catch someone slacking , to be honest . I do n’t hate it .
I think that most folks who grease one’s palms this TV are going to use it for watch high-pitched - quality subject matter . But if you plan on using this TV to watch oldSeinfeldepisodes , or YouTube content captured by inexpensive photographic camera , you involve to be prepared to see all of what ’s in the content . And some of it — possibly even a peck of it — just is not as proficient as you conceive it is from watching it on smaller screens .
Sound, heat, and picture
Now that we ’ve shroud the big - screen experience from several angles . I desire chaffer the audio system of rules . It ’s pretty impressive . And I expect it to be because if you make a TV this big , it better put up some big audio . It ca n’t match a proper surroundings organization with subwoofer , but you will not be disappointed with this on - instrument panel speaker unit organisation . The upfiring drivers , rear - dismission drivers , and subwoofer drivers all combine to offer a huge sound . And unlike most TVs , this one is across-the-board enough to offer some real stereo separation and stereo width , the likes of which I ’ve not hear from even the advantageously - sounding Sony OLED goggle box . I still think folks should check this to a killer home theater audio — this television receiver deserves that pairing . But for anyone who does n’t desire to deplume out the big guns for everything they watch , this television receiver can put out some all-fired impressive sound .
A big television set probably intend swelled heat , correct ? If I spot - hitch this TV with my laser thermometer , I do n’t get readings any high than , say , the 65 - inchTCL QM8 from 2023 . However , you do have to take into report the amount of screenland field here — it essentially makes the TV an even bigger radiator . Anecdotally , I can tell you that , yeah , when you take the air by it you’re able to palpate some warmth coming off it . But any TV at this size is going to bring forth more heat than a comparably equipped 65- or 75 - in idiot box . I suppose if it is in a small-scale room — which seems unlikely because , again , the size of it — you ’d remark it warming things up that much quicker . But is it likely to jack up your A / C bill perceptibly ? I kind of doubt it .
Let ’s get down to some picture - character clobber . As it ’s execute now — this unit of measurement I ’m testing — if you want truth , you ’ll need to pay for a standardization .
I turned off the way sensing element and placed the tv set in the Movie mode film preset . The nonpayment brightness setting for SDR Movie mode is 30 . You ’ll still see a gullible leaf here in the menu , but that is not an indication that eco manner is still on . It just signals that the TV uses less great power . That leaf disappear at 50 and up .
Default carrying into action for SDR movie style — the 10 % livid window register at a blasting 2,400 nits — is way too bright for SDR accuracy in a sullen way . But it count respectable to the average viewer . Juice the brightness to the max , and you get 3,900 nits .
The TV does deliver on its promise to hit about 5,000 nits for HDR highlights .
Two - pointedness white equaliser was not bad ! Under a delta vitamin E of 3 on both points assess , and that ’s great . But when we measure the grayscale , we see that it is well off the mark in all but the darkest and brightest areas of the grayscale charts . I conceive for the Leontyne Price you pay , this needs to be better . And I believe TCL can remedy this , unless I just have a rogue building block here .
Color accuracy is kind of a similar narrative . The primary coil bet all right . But when we boom to a wider palette of color , we see the mistake are well above what we ’d want to see in a premium tv set . It ’s unexpended that the primaries are solid , but all the other colors are not .
In HDR , I got peak luminance measurements of about 4,000 nit . Again , this breaks from the measurement I got off the 98 - inch mannikin that was made available to me for test at TCL ’s consequence in New York , where even with trial pattern windows , I saw readings up near the 6,000 - nit territorial dominion . Specular highlighting do look brighter than the smallest test patterns windows , which point that the TV does deport on its hope to hit about 5,000 nits for HDR highlights . But since the AiPQ central processing unit is in charge of that commercial enterprise , it ’s hard to measure .
HDR color without luminance error was passably good . But with luminance errors , it ’s pretty out . Again , base on the readings I ’m getting , it look calibration will be all-important for cinephiles who want truth out of this TV . And I imagine good out - of - box seat truth than what I ’m getting should be expected given the Leontyne Price of the television .
The want of truth did n’t get in the way of my thoroughly enjoying the TV . But there ’s something else that did — something TCL say it ’s about to fix with an update . And this bug may really be responsible for some of the grayscale errors I see as well . We ’ve had instances where the entire screenland dims just more or less and then pop back up when captions are usher . As the caption come up , the screen dims . Then as they disappear , the screen goes back to its original APL .
This television can get much bright than most phratry demand , if you campaign it to do so .
Now , if we got into Dolby Vision Bright mood , which has a much high APL by force , it ’s so difficult to see the fluctuation that it will probably go unnoticed . And , to be clean , most kinfolk I speak to did n’t . Still , since it was indicative of a software or microcode issue and not a hardware problem , I was certain to share it with TCL . They replicated it , catch to the bottom of it , and will set up it in an update . And I ’m bright the update may change some other aspects of the TV ’s truth as well . That think we ’ll have to revisit this TV post - update to see what ’s changed .
Here are my key takeout food on the pic character : Most of the time , it is spectacular . And , yes , a bunch of that is due to the sheer exfoliation of the image . But this TV can get much shining than most folks need , if you push it to do so . The local blur system is capable of doing a great occupation of palliate bloom and halo so you get deep blacks and impressive contrast in most scenes . The color is middle - popping , if not quite as well saturated at the brightest levels as , say , a QD - OLED goggle box . Cinematic movement looks great without the care of motion smoothing , though if you get any frame drops due to a slow net connection , that will feel a bit more jarring because of the screen size .
I entail , the moving-picture show timbre you get at this screen sizing is — it ’s just breathtaking , even if it is n’t Hollywood - grade accurate . I grin ear to ear every sentence I turn this TV on because I know I ’m in for a whole pile of fun . And the smiles I see on others ’ face when they see this television ? That ’s worth a tidy sum as well . You just ca n’t deny it is literally awesome .
If cost were no object and you had the infinite , I ’d say run , do n’t take the air , to get one . There ’s no shot you ’d be the least bit thwarted . It ’s just a riot , this goggle box .
But in a $ 20,000 goggle box , cost is an object . So , the existent trouble with this TV is that more people wo n’t be able to enjoy it because it is just so expensive . I do n’t reckon we should be surprised that it costs so much . The first 4 special K TV was extremely expensive . The first 8 yard TV was extremely expensive . The first 85 - inch and 98 - in TVs were passing expensive . Of course the world ’s first 115 - inch consumer - grade TV was pass to be extremely expensive .
But I think there ’s hope , because the Mary Leontyne Price is go to come down . It will get along down this year — still not enough to be affordable for most folk , but it will hail down . And next yr it will be a trivial less , and again the year after that . And the fact that this TV exists , and that its price will be coming down ? That just means that other large - screen sizes — like the 85s and 98s — will become even more affordable than they are already becoming .
That local - dimming bug I mentioned before is likely secure via a private firmware update ( which should go public before long ) , but I still wait serious truth , peculiarly since I ’ve measured better out of the 98 - in version of this series . patently , TCL can do it . You should not drop twenty grand on a TV and have to deal with those issues .
But I give this TV my whole - hearted , unreserved testimonial to anyone with the means to own it . There ’s nothing else like it on the market , and the experience you get from it is simply peerless .
