TECHWEEK
TCL is one of the most ardent supporters of LCD TVs with Mini LED backlighting. By reducing prices and offering more choice, it is also helping to make this technology more accessible to ordinary people. In the summer of 2024, TCL’s lineup of TVs was expanded with a new C765 series, available in screen sizes from 55 to 85 inches.
The new product differs from its predecessor TCL C755 (which appeared in 2023) by increased brightness and the number of MiniLED backlight control zones. And judging by the classification adopted by the company by name, the TCL C76 line is more likely to be a 2025 model. What is this series, what are the pros and cons of its use worth paying attention to? In the TCL 65C765 MiniLED 4K HDR review, we will try to cover all these nuances.
Design
The TCL 65C765 TV doesn’t try to impress with its appearance. For a premium TV, as the manufacturer positions it, it’s much more modest in design than some other brands. But, obviously, for most people, design won’t be the main criterion when choosing a TV of this caliber.
The body thickness is 7 cm, which makes the C765 significantly thicker than some other Mini LED TVs, such as the Samsung QN90D . As for the black frames, they are very thin and comparable in thickness to the frames of other models. The back panel is obviously plastic and has a honeycomb textured surface in the style of a starry sky.
Unlike the TCL Q10G and Q10G Pro, the electronics unit is not covered by a separate casing – the panel is now solid. All the connectors are on the left side, facing sideways, and only the power connector is on the right. The niches in which the ports are located have special plastic covers to hide the cables and provide a neater look. Finally, in the center you can see the subwoofer used by the TV’s audio system. The TCL C755 did not have it.
The TCL C765 uses a small central stand, nothing special about it. It’s nice that the stand is made of metal, which makes it more durable, especially for larger TVs. It’s a bit of a shame that the stand has a fixed position, which is suitable for placing a soundbar in front of the screen. But unlike the TCL QM8, you can’t lower the screen below.
As for the remote, it’s the same as other mid-range TCL TVs. The button layout is more reminiscent of Sony than Samsung’s simpler approach. As usual, it comes with a built-in microphone for using the voice control feature. And there are six dedicated buttons for IVI, TCL Channel, OKKO, Kinopoisk, Wink, and the browser.
Image quality
The C765 TV hardware is based on the MT9653 chip, which is Pentonic 700. The memory uses a combination of 3GB + 64GB. This chipset implements the AiPQ PRO processor, which works with six image quality optimization algorithms: Ai-Contrast, Ai-Sharpness, Ai-Color, Ai-Motion, Ai-Image and Ai-HDR.
With these technologies, the TV is able to not only handle color and motion, but also upscale lower resolution content to 4K. The C765 uses a Mini LED backlight system that is precisely controlled by Quantum Matrix quantum dot technology. The C765 series uses the industry’s first global ghosting reduction technology.
It is based on 6-crystal light-emitting elements, yellowing-resistant microlenses, a bidirectional 16-bit backlight brightness control algorithm. Finally, T-SCREEN PRO technology is implemented, when a polyimide polymer is added to liquid crystal molecules, forming a microstructure in the form of a butterfly wing. It significantly increases contrast and eliminates backlight bleeding around bright areas on a dark background.
Different screen sizes use different numbers of dimming zones. The 65″ we’re testing appears to have 1,008 zones, which is about two-thirds of the 1,536 zones included in the 85″. But the number of available zones isn’t the only strong point of the C765’s local dimming. The transition between zones is also very good and relatively fast. As a result, you won’t notice when a bright object moves from one zone to another.
Brightness and HDR
TCL claims that the 65C765 has a peak brightness of 2,200 nits. The TV will have no problem reaching this brightness, even in a very bright room. The TV can get even brighter than this. If you use the Vivid mode, you can get about 10% more brightness. But obviously, the Vivid mode is not that accurate.
The C765 has a stunning 6000:1 contrast ratio, and its local dimming helps make blacks really deep, even in a pitch-black room. The TV comes with a VA panel, and they generally don’t have very good viewing angles. Essentially, the TV works like all other VA-panel TVs.
The color gamut of the TCL C765 is very good: almost 100% of the sRGB color space and 95% of Adobe RGB. It meets all the color requirements that can be displayed in movies. In terms of color rendering, the measured △E value is only 0.49, indicating very high accuracy, comparable to professional monitors.
The TCL C765 TV supports not only the basic HDR10 format, but also HLG, which is used for streaming content. Dynamic metadata is used in HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The C765 also works with Dolby Vision IQ. This technology takes into account ambient light, making HDR more accurate when displayed in a particular room.
Motion and Game Processing
The C765 series comes with a 120Hz panel, which is pretty standard for a flagship TV. Interestingly, not only does it support 120Hz, but it also supports 240Hz in Game Accelerator mode at 1080p. There is some noticeable stuttering when it comes to low frame rate content, which is common with all TVs with fast response times.
To smooth out motion, the TV is equipped with a standard Motion Interpolation function. When quickly panning the camera and moving objects at high speed, interpolation does not have time to work. As a result, many artifacts appear on the screen. There is also an alternative interpolation method – this is inserting a black frame.
According to various measurements, the TV shows an average image output delay of 15 ms at 1080p and 4K60 resolutions. For 120 Hz, the average value is two times lower. Surprisingly, for 144 Hz and 240 Hz, the values are slightly higher at 16 ms. Outside of the game mode, the input lag does not exceed 130 ms. A bit too much, but it will do for regular games.
Also, don’t forget that the TKL C765 TV supports ALLM together with modern gaming consoles. Among the VRR options, you’ll see HDMI Forum VRR, AMD FreeSync, and NVIDIA G-Sync. Keep in mind that for 1440p and 4K, VRR works up to 144 Hz. For 1080p, on the other hand, it can reach 240 Hz.
The TCL C765 also has a Game Bar feature. So, every time you play a game on, you can quickly open the Game Bar to switch game presets according to different game settings or game scenarios. In addition, the addition of an auxiliary sight greatly improves the experience of FPS games.
Smart TV
The C765 comes with the latest version of Google TV, which keeps the overall interface layout unchanged. Google TV is basically Android TV, but with an extra layer on top of it, just like smartphones. Most Android device makers put their own layer on top of the OS, which gives their user interface something unique in both appearance and functionality.
Google TV OS is designed around recommendations, whether it’s movies, TV shows, or apps. This is the main focus of all recent OSes in general. During setup, the wizard asks you what specific streaming services you use to customize the recommendations on the home screen. The interface itself feels smoother, more consistent, and easier to navigate.
The TV supports Chromecast and Airplay 2. And you can’t do without the voice control function. The C765 not only works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, it also supports Apple Homekit. The new model can play a wide range of files and codecs via its USB port, as well as using the smartphone screen mirroring function.
Sound
The TCL C 765 TV’s audio system consists of two full-range speakers and one subwoofer. The power of the 2.1-channel system is 50 watts. It can work with Dolby Atmos, as well as DTS-HD and DTS Virtual X. Of course, if you want to get the most out of your TV, you’ll definitely need a dedicated audio system or at least a soundbar with surround speakers. For everyday use, the sound is quite good thanks to high volume and clear dialogue. But for cinematic immersion, the C765’s audio system is not enough.
Connections
There is an Ethernet port for a wired connection to a local network, four HDMI ports (two of them are version 2.1, and one has eARC ), antenna jacks, USB ports, a composite video jack, a headphone output, and a digital optical audio output. Wireless connectivity includes WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0.
Conclusion
This is a TV with incredible peak brightness, accurate colors, and a backlight that does a great job of reducing ghosting. The TV also has solid motion and gaming performance. On the downside, viewing angles are mediocre due to the VA panel used. And we can’t help but notice that brightness levels aren’t very accurate, regardless of picture mode. So if you’re not tied to any of the other big TV brands, the C765 is a great choice.
