// ZDNET — SPAZIO & SCIENZA
The TCL QM8L proves it's worth the upgrade in our lab testing
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
If you're anything like me, when you find a piece of tech you like, you want to replace it with the exact same thing when it's time for an upgrade or something breaks. Or, at least, you want as close to the same thing as you can get. Thankfully, that's easier to do with TVs than it is with other smart devices.
For the past few years, each brand's flagship TVs have featured more software-focused upgrades than physical tech innovations. And the TCL QM8L which was released in April, splits the difference with a host of both physical and digital features that help it stand out from the 2024 model. But are the new features enough to justify the $700 price increase?
Also: We tested 7 TVs for color accuracy and we found two winners
When testing TVs in ZDNET's Louisville lab, I not only focus on practicality and visual appeal, but I also test against specific claims brands make about features like color accuracy and screen brightness. At first glance, the differences between the 2024 and 2026 versions of the QM8 might not seem all that significant, but they can make a big difference in how your favorite shows, movies, and video games look, sound, and perform.
Looking at what kind of panel each TV uses, it just seems like a lot of letters that don't mean much. However, the QM8L (2026) packs a punch with an impressive display that blows the 2024 model's picture quality out of the water.
The Super Quantum Dot (SQD) Mini LED panel strikes a balance between OLED and traditional LED, delivering incredible color accuracy and contrast without sacrificing brightness or risking burn-in. In addition to serving as a buzzworthy marketing term, the Quantum Dot layer is a highly engineered color filter set in front of a refined lighting panel that uses blue LEDs rather than white LEDs to increase the number of colors the display can reproduce. TCL claims the QM8L (2026) can recreate up to 100% of the BT.2020 color spectrum, and our Calman testing achieved an impressively spot-on 99.9% (compared to the QM8K's respectable 90%).