Costco is offering the TCL Q77K series at unbelievable prices, and a complementary multi-year warranty only sweetens the deal. The final product is an affordable QLED TV that can easily become a gamer’s best friend, rendering your favorite content in stunning 4 K resolution.
If this offer has caught your attention, take a look at our TCL Q77K review to see if the TV’s performance lives up to its specifications.
TCL Q77K review: A quick walk-through of the specifications
Before we talk about specs, it’s worth mentioning that the TCL Q77K comes with metal legs. This is noteworthy for a budget TV and highlights the panel’s solid construction. You also get easy access to a column of ports at the right edge of the TV.
The specs, at a glance
The Q77K is a 4K QLED panel with a native 144Hz refresh rate. Like most QLED TVs, the Q77K is a VA panel with (expected) narrow viewing angles.
The panel is not too bright and struggles to reach brightness levels of 600 nits. For reference, a TV that holds its own in a sunlit room should be able to maintain an average brightness level of 800 nits. The relative dimness of the Q77K limits its native contrast, along with its lack of local dimming and black hues that could be darker.
Like most QLED panels, the Q77K offers wide coverage of most color space standards, which aids in accurate color reproduction.
Gamers can expect smooth motion handling from the TCL Q77K, thanks to its high refresh rate and low lag. The panel’s pixels also have a decent response time, which reduces the risk of motion blur in fast-moving content. Two of the four HDMI ports on the TV support 4K/120 content, including large and demanding titles on your gaming console.
Here’s what the specs of the TCL Q77K mean in the real world.
1. An excellent gaming companion
For a budget TV, the TCL Q77K excels at rendering your favorite console games. The screen’s high frame rate and low lag translate into smooth, responsive gameplay, where all your commands are reflected in real-time.
Graphics render beautifully, and movement in fast-action games unfolds like a dream. The motion handling of the Q77K is impressive, especially with high-resolution, high-frame-rate games.
The icing on the cake is TCL’s gaming bar, which provides easy access to menus and gaming presets during gameplay. This one-stop control panel allows you to adjust almost every aspect of your gaming experience without pausing the game.
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2. It does a good job with your streaming apps
Streaming on the TCL Q77K is enjoyable, with scenes from your favorite shows coming alive with good lighting and realistic colors. Content with lower resolution appears decent, as the Q77K does its best to upscale the video to 4 K quality. Still, video from streaming apps looks better than what the Q77 renders from lower-resolution sources, such as cable.
3. Dim in a bright or sunlit room, which works for dark room viewing
Daytime viewing with the Q77K needs a room with low or moderate ambient light. In a bright room, the display looks dim, and you’ll have a hard time seeing what’s happening on-screen. Drawing the curtains or blinds in a sunlit room helps to some extent.
Dark room viewing allows the TCL Q77 to showcase its ability to create beautiful images that immerse you in scenes that unfold like portals to different worlds. While black hues may appear a little gray or washed out, the TV still produces images with rich, nuanced color and a lot of detail.
4. Narrow viewing angles limit the size of the crowd you invite to movie night
The image quality of the TCL Q77K deteriorates as you move away from the center of the screen. This means that you need to put distance between the screen and the audience in an effort to ‘widen’ the viewing angle. Still, clever seating arrangements don’t guarantee a good viewing experience for a big group.
5. Slight motion blur with sports content
A pixel in the Q77K changes color in 13 milliseconds on average, which is a reasonably decent response time. The speed allows the screen’s pixels to keep up with an input signal without much blurring.
Still, fast-action sports content may exhibit slight motion blur, which doesn’t significantly distract from the game. You should enjoy watching sports on this TV, provided you take into account the screen’s narrow viewing angle.
6. Smooth user interface and useful smart features
TCL chose Google TV to be the user interface that runs on the Q77K. Google TV is a powerful platform with numerous streaming apps, although it lacks support for Spectrum and Xfinity apps.
The Google platform also has useful tools for smart home integration, including support for most home security systems. This means that you can use the Q77K to interface with doorbell cameras, smart lights, and smart speakers. Voice commands work seamlessly with the TV, offering native support for Alexa and Google Assistant.
Navigating the Google TV interface is fun, thanks to the hardware’s low lag and computing power. Scrolling through icons and menu items is a smooth experience that’s made possible by a capable processor, and it only takes a split second to load a menu item or start a streaming app.
7. Remote
The remote that comes with the Q77K has a simple layout and a button that allows you to issue voice commands to the TV. Most importantly, the remote features a backlight that makes it easier to use in dark environments.
Pros
- Affordable
- Good build quality
- The TCL Q77K is an excellent TV for gaming and streaming
- Decent picture quality
- A good selection of ports lets you connect most of your devices at the same time
Cons
- The TCL Q77K is dim compared to similar budget TVs from competing brands
- Low native contrast limits what the Q77K can do with HDR content
- Narrow viewing angles
TCL Q77K review verdict: Worth more than its asking price
The TCL Q77K excels as a gaming screen and performs well with other types of content. For a few hundred dollars, TCL and Costco will deliver a QLED TV with many perks and valuable features. This TCL Q77K review reveals a TV that provides real value for money. Click here to shop prices and explore options.
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