Compare Samsung S85H OLED vs TCL QM7L Pro

Perfect blacks, punchy color and crisp textures give the S85H a compelling picture for its price. Premium OLEDs can look brighter, more natural and more finely detailed.

Color, contrast and fine detail make a powerful impression, but the image becomes less convincing from the sides and during fast action.

Some Blu-ray audio formats cannot be passed through.

High-quality uncompressed audio and major formats can pass to a receiver or soundbar, making an external sound system straightforward to use.

Fast inputs, nearly instantaneous response and flexible sync make this a standout entry-level gaming TV. Dolby Vision gaming is unavailable.

Control response is a standout, yet fast-moving objects leave blur and soft trails. This is a responsive gaming TV rather than a particularly sharp one in motion.

Explosions, engines and other low-frequency effects lack force, making action-heavy movies feel much smaller than they look.

Bass carries more weight than many built-in TV speakers, giving music and movie effects some fullness. At high volume, thumping and loss of balance become distracting.

Self-emissive pixels create flawless local dimming-like precision.

Local dimming supports strong dark-scene contrast, though halos around highlights become more conspicuous from an angle.

Ordinary daylight is manageable, but very bright rooms expose the S85H’s limited light output and reflective screen. Windows facing the panel are particularly troublesome.

The screen remains punchy in well-lit rooms, with blacks holding up against indirect light. Facing a strong light source can create distracting streaks.

HDR highlights can look striking against perfect blacks, but the S85H lacks the full intensity of pricier OLEDs. Large bright scenes are especially restrained.

Bright highlights are a recurring strength, giving HDR footage vivid impact and a realistic sense of illumination.

Overall SDR accuracy is strong with some HDR deviations.

HDR colors can look convincing out of the box, but SDR leans too warm and certain HDR scenes render at the wrong brightness.

Near-infinite OLED contrast makes bright highlights stand out sharply against rich dark backgrounds, producing a convincing sense of depth.

Dark movie scenes show convincing depth between light and dark areas, helped by deep black reproduction.

Filmmaker mode gives the most faithful colors and can look excellent without calibration. Default presets and some HDR scenes exaggerate warm tones, reds or blues.

Color judgments differ by material and evaluation: one assessment notes a warm, reddish SDR cast, while another finds natural skin tones and good HDR color.

Brightness is respectable for a basic OLED, especially in smaller bright areas. It struggles to maintain punch when much of the picture is bright.

HDR highlights can be exceptionally bright. A short-lived Boost burst should not be mistaken for the same sustained brightness or a clear advantage over the QM7L and QM8L.

The S85H looks its best in a dim room, where its inky blacks and vivid HDR effects make films and games feel immersive.

Deep blacks and emphatic HDR highlights give films strong impact in dim rooms. The most precise HDR brightness balance is less consistent.

Foot placement leaves practical soundbar space.

The higher stand setting creates enough clearance for almost any soundbar to fit below the panel.

Built-in sound is adequate for casual programs, but several tests find it muffled, underpowered or lacking cinematic impact. A soundbar is a worthwhile addition.

Audio is acceptable at ordinary listening volumes, with some bass fullness. Loud playback can become unbalanced and less intelligible.

Most HDR movies and games look vivid and contrasty, but the image lacks flagship brightness and sometimes renders highlights too aggressively.

HDR content looks striking thanks to deep blacks, colorful scenes and strong highlights. Fine highlight detail and scene-to-scene brightness balance are less reliable.

A larger bright area causes the image to dim considerably, limiting the impact of snowfields, bright skies and full-screen highlights.

The brightest Boost output lasts only briefly, so exceptional peak measurements do not translate into constant luminance.

Sports and games appear clean and crisp thanks to fast pixel response. Low-frame-rate material can still show stutter or persistence blur.

Motion performance is inconsistent across assessments. Some moving scenes appear reasonably clean, but fast sports and games can show significant blur or artifacts.

Game Mode delivers extremely quick controls, with measurements around single-digit milliseconds. Optional game interpolation adds substantial latency.

Input delay is extraordinarily low in Game Master, particularly at higher refresh rates, keeping controller actions immediate.

Settings and apps are easier to navigate.

An uncluttered, backlit remote makes basic control straightforward, even in a darkened room.

OLED pixels transition almost instantly, leaving fast objects with very little trailing blur. Minor overshoot is generally hard to see.

Slow pixel changes smear action even at 120Hz and 144Hz, undermining motion clarity despite the low input lag.

G-SYNC compatibility is effective with supported sources.

NVIDIA systems locked to 60Hz can fail to use variable refresh correctly. Higher-refresh PC modes avoid the specific problem.

Fast-moving objects stay sharp, making dynamic games and sport broadcasts particularly satisfying.

This is one of the biggest disagreements: one test found minimal blurring, while others report obvious softness, ghosting and slow pixel transitions.

Adjustable feet support different cabinet widths, but the plastic pieces feel cheap and can wobble slightly.

The height-adjustable center stand offers useful placement options and takes up relatively little furniture space.

Static logos and HUD elements carry a risk of permanent burn-in over time. Built-in protections help, and varied viewing is less concerning.

LCD construction avoids permanent image burn-in, an advantage for static interfaces and prolonged use.

Calibration is easy but changes little for SDR.

HDR picture adjustments are limited, which matters because some scenes appear too bright or too dark. Careful buyers should not assume every imbalance can be corrected.

OLED blacks create atmosphere, but fine detail in nearly black scenes can be crushed or swallowed. Results depend on the content and processing settings.

Nuanced tones in dark scenes are preserved well, bringing out texture that flatter-looking images may obscure.

Dark gray and green show mild banding.

Near-black shading looks smooth with no obvious vertical banding, and gradual HDR tones also transition cleanly.

Bright subtitles and small highlights sit cleanly against dark backgrounds without the glowing halos that can surround them on many LCD TVs.

Bright-object halos become more noticeable when viewed from the side, so local-dimming artifacts can intrude for off-center seats.

Smoothing helps but brings a soap-opera effect.

Frame interpolation noticeably reduces stutter and can smooth gameplay without a major input-lag penalty.

Off-center seating retains convincing color and contrast, making the panel a good fit for wider couches or seating arrangements.

This is a disputed weakness: two reports flag strong degradation from the sides, while other evaluations find typical off-center seating more acceptable.

120Hz OLED motion is crisp for consoles and most PC gaming, but fast competitive PCs can benefit from higher refresh rates offered elsewhere.

Fast 4K and 1080p modes look appealing on paper, but pixel transitions make 144Hz action surprisingly blurry.

DVDs and standard-definition streams remain watchable, though the picture can be somewhat soft and fine details may disappear.

Older HD broadcasts are cleaned up effectively, with smooth upconverted edges and strong 1080i deinterlacing.

Color gradients are generally smooth with some darker banding. Dark gradients can show posterization.

Gradual color and brightness changes remain smooth, with no obvious banding across gently shaded HDR areas.

Near-black scenes can reveal vertical bands, even though ordinary bright and dark content often looks uniform.

Near-black shading is very even, although the edges can appear slightly dimmer than the center.

Slow frame-rate motion can stutter noticeably.

Relatively low stutter keeps most panning footage watchable, though slow pans can still look slightly choppy.

Processing is competent for everyday sources, and crisp textures help the picture look detailed. Compression cleanup, over-sharpening and aggressive HDR treatment are less consistent.

The upgraded processor provides cleaner scaling and smoothing of low-quality video, a useful strength beyond the extra HDMI ports.

Direct lamps and windows remain clearly visible on the screen. The S85H cannot match the anti-glare coatings on Samsung’s step-up OLEDs.

Indirect room light is reasonably manageable, but lamps or windows reflecting directly off the screen can create a distracting band or rainbow smear.

Older movies and low-resolution streams generally look clear and well defined. Some competing models preserve more sharpness and texture from weaker sources.

Upscaling is one of the stronger areas, keeping HD-to-4K edges smooth and improving lower-quality feeds.

BFI helps only at 60Hz and leaves some blur.

Optional backlight strobing operates at 60Hz and 120Hz but introduces image duplication and fails to eliminate the television’s motion softness.

Included foot clips help organize exposed cables.

A dedicated channel through the stand helps keep wires tidy, particularly with several HDMI devices connected.

Everyday movies show rich, saturated color, with strong DCI-P3 coverage. Extreme Rec.2020 reds and greens are not as intense as on premium OLEDs.

The in-store picture looks notably vibrant and colorful, an immediate part of its visual appeal.

Most film cadence is handled cleanly.

Most film judder is removed effectively, but 1080i film compensation and unusual 25p-in-60p signals are less polished.

The RGWB arrangement improves computer text rendering.

Full chroma 4:4:4 and an RGB subpixel layout help desktop lettering stay legible.

Adaptive synchronization remains effective across the refresh range, including lower frame rates when compensation is available.

Low Framerate Compensation helps games stay nearly free of tearing even when performance dips sharply.

Minimal buttons keep the remote tidy, but it can be easy to lose and difficult to use in darkness. Some common functions require on-screen menus.

A small selection of buttons keeps the remote straightforward rather than crowded.

Adaptive refresh works smoothly across much of the panel’s range and helps keep gameplay free of tearing.

VRR works well for consoles and AMD graphics and reduces tearing at low frame rates. NVIDIA systems locked to 60Hz remain a specific exception.

The set can be mounted using standard VESA hardware, but recessed ports are harder to reach when installed flush against a wall.

The slim body sits close to the wall and the side-facing inputs are relatively accessible even after mounting.

Two foot positions make it easier to fit the TV on narrower furniture or make space for a soundbar.

The compact stand footprint makes it easier to position the TV on a smaller cabinet.

The compact SolarCell remote is a favorite for its simple controls and rechargeable battery. Missing backlighting and small size can be inconvenient.

Backlit buttons are a welcome convenience when using the TV in darkness.

Interface ads cannot be removed entirely.

Google TV serves advertisements that cannot be disabled while keeping the full smart interface. Basic TV mode avoids them, but strips out most smart features.

Some panel variations are difficult to notice from normal distance.

A little screen unevenness appears near the center and the edges look dimmer, though the dirty-screen pattern is not severe.

Minor refresh-linked brightness pulsing remains.

The backlight flickers at an extremely high frequency that should be imperceptible to most viewers; particularly sensitive people may still notice discomfort.

High volume creates compression that hurts intelligibility.

Assessments disagree about how loud its speakers can play: one finds them adequate for a quiet room, another hears limited output and worsening dialogue at higher levels.

Colors are lively for an entry OLED, but highly saturated HDR highlights can look washed out compared with stronger QD-OLED or tandem panels.

Colors retain their visual strength in ambient light. Apparent advantages over neighboring TCL models partly come from a fleeting brightness boost rather than a lasting improvement.

The S85H earns strong praise for its OLED picture, extensive gaming features and accessible pricing. Bright-room visibility and audio quality remain the most common reservations.

The thin design and striking store-display picture leave a strongly positive first impression, although those impressions do not resolve the deeper motion tradeoffs.

Black areas look genuinely inky, with individual OLED pixels switching fully off. This is one of the TV’s clearest advantages over comparable LCD displays.

Deep blacks give dark scenes convincing weight and remain surprisingly stable under ambient light. That makes contrast a particular strength for centered viewers.

Speech is generally audible at moderate levels, but the sound can become muffled or compressed when the volume climbs.

Speech sounds clear at modest listening levels but becomes hard to follow when the speakers are pushed to maximum volume.

120Hz capability suits console gaming.

4K up to 144Hz and 1080p up to 288Hz provide broad high-refresh input options, subject to the capabilities of the connected system.

Glossy reflections are a major weakness compared with Samsung’s S90H and S95H. A controllable, moderately lit room is the safest setting.

Direct reflections are conspicuous in dark content despite respectable overall reflection reduction; positioning matters.

Automatic low-latency switching removes a gaming setup step.

The TV switches into its low-lag game setting automatically with compatible consoles, avoiding manual mode changes.

The TV can preserve bright effects with careful tone mapping, but overly bright skin highlights and demanding HDR masters sometimes lose subtle detail.

The brightest specular areas can lose fine detail even while the TV creates an otherwise impressive sense of luminance.

Pure black regions are impressively uniform and free of haloing around bright objects. Some near-black scenes still reveal vertical bands.

Near-black areas are impressively even, with no apparent vertical bands and only small differences in darkness.

Game Mode offers useful tools and responsiveness.

Game Master mode delivers exceptionally low lag and responsive control. Motion interpolation can make play appear smoother without adding much delay.

All four HDMI ports offer full gaming bandwidth, making the S85H practical for households with several consoles or a gaming PC.

Four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs are a practical upgrade over the standard QM7L for several consoles or other demanding sources.

Four capable HDMI sockets provide plenty of room for consoles, streaming hardware and other sources.

Four HDMI connections let multiple devices stay plugged in without constantly swapping cables.

Most panel problems are not expected to occur quickly, but potential burn-in and eventual edge-pixel defects deserve consideration.

The panel design is judged at low risk for common degradation problems, while individual stuck pixels and failed LEDs remain possible over time.

Audio connectivity accommodates external soundbars.

eARC can deliver uncompressed audio to a compatible soundbar or receiver, helping the TV pair with better external speakers.

Premium-looking OLED contrast and a broad gaming toolset come at an appealing entry-level price. LG B6 deals or discounted older Samsung models can sometimes offer stronger value.

The showroom impression is that the picture and slim design look good for the asking price, although price comparisons with other TCL models need care.

FreeSync provides tear-free play.

Variable refresh works well with AMD graphics hardware and compatible consoles, reducing visible tearing as frame rates vary.

Current-generation consoles can run at 4K and 120Hz with VRR support. Enthusiast PC gamers may miss a higher 144Hz or 165Hz ceiling.

The television handles the 4K/120Hz output offered by current PlayStation and Xbox consoles, making it an easy match for their higher-frame-rate modes.

4K console play is strongly supported aside from Dolby Vision.

Current Xbox and PlayStation feature sets are well covered, including 4K/120Hz output. Players still need to tolerate motion blur in quick sequences.

All HDMI sockets carry the full gaming bandwidth.

Every HDMI socket offers modern high-bandwidth video capability, giving buyers more flexibility than sets with only one or two fast inputs.

Sizes from 48 to 83 inches cover everything from smaller rooms to large living rooms, adding flexibility within the entry-level OLED range.

The range of larger panels offers room-matching flexibility, but bigger is not automatically better if it strains furniture placement or budget.

The thin design looks attractive from the front but uses fairly inexpensive plastic, with some fragility during handling.

Mostly plastic construction nonetheless feels solid and convincingly finished.

A very thin panel and narrow bezels make the S85H attractive from the front, while the plastic stand and rear are less premium.

The thin chassis has a premium appearance, even though much of the housing is plastic. It looks especially sleek mounted close to a wall.

The redesigned Tizen layout feels improved.

Google TV offers the familiar connected experience, but advertisements cannot be disabled without switching to a stripped-down Basic TV mode.

Overall tonal tracking can be impressive, though some scenes expose exaggerated highlights and loss of shadow detail. A brighter setting can further trade accuracy for punch.

Some HDR material renders too bright or too dark, so the otherwise appealing image is not perfectly balanced in every scene.

All four HDMI connections support 4K at 144Hz, a useful advantage for compatible gaming PCs. The ability to accept those signals is much stronger than the clarity of fast-moving images.

Sharing Galaxy media to the TV is straightforward.

The Gaming Hub makes supported titles accessible without connecting a console, though a compatible service subscription is needed.

Dolby Vision is missing for both movies and games, although HDR10 and HDR10+ are available. This is a real consideration for Dolby Vision-heavy libraries.

DTS tracks are unsupported, which can complicate lossless surround audio from Blu-ray discs.

HDR10+ mitigates some of the missing Dolby Vision functionality.

Available HDR formats are useful, but Dolby Vision is excluded.

Installation benefits from another person and careful handling.

No ATSC 3.0 option for next-gen broadcasts.

AI speech mode helps intermittently, at times making sound thin.

Artifacts remain after the TV processes low-quality material.

Picture-in-picture is missing, preventing two sources from sharing the screen at once.

Fine image textures and detail reproduce excellently in tested content.

There is some useful separation and direction between sounds, though weak dynamics and bass limit the overall sense of space.

Out-of-box SDR whites are close to reference, with only a small cool cast. Filmmaker settings help deliver a natural-looking image.

Abundant AI extras fail to add obvious utility.

The soccer preset brightens the pitch and can enhance stadium sound, but it can also make colors look excessive and needs manual switching on this model.

Low frequencies fail to convey crashes and engines.

Personalized recommendations are better integrated.

AI energy settings can cut power use.

Optional interpolation makes 30fps single-player games look smoother, but it substantially raises latency and is less suitable for competitive action.

Samsung’s Game Bar puts VRR information and gaming controls close at hand, while the Gaming Hub helps with console-free cloud play.

Colored trails, ghosting and soft edges can follow moving objects, particularly in fast sports and gameplay.

The remote works without direct line of sight and makes everyday navigation easier.

4K resolution shows strong detail on large panels.

Built-in speakers are generally serviceable for routine TV, but they lack the polish and balance of stronger sound systems.

Traditional broadcast viewers cannot record tuner programs directly to a USB drive.

Several demanding devices can stay connected simultaneously.

Streaming apps work reliably.

The major streaming platforms are present, with services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV working well.

Bluetooth soundbar pairing works smoothly.

Switching inputs and settings is intuitive.

Navigation feels brisk. Tizen improves organization rather than raw speed.

Ad targeting can be disabled, but ads themselves remain.

Built-in smart home control is versatile.

Samsung’s promise of up to seven years of Tizen updates is a welcome long-term benefit.

Bright effects are controlled effectively. Tone mapping sometimes flattens image depth.

Modern wireless compatibility is a welcome upgrade.

The thin borders keep attention on the image.

Solar recharging and a USB-C backup eliminate regular battery changes, a convenience rarely found on budget televisions.