I’ve talked about bringing IMAX into your living room, but this time I actually get to experience it firsthand in a way that I haven’t previously. When I set out to get a TCL TV to talk about Gemini on Google TV, they offered to send me one of their models that was the first on the market to get Gemini. So, we’re going to talk about that, as well as the Gemini on Google TV experience, in this article.

I have in my living room TCL’s new entry-level model in their Super QLED – Mini LED lineup for 2026. It’s actually a mid-range smart tv, though. This is the 75QM7L 4K UHD Smart TV with Google TV.

4/5

Brand

TCL

Display Size

75-inch

Dimensions

65.60″ x 39.20″ x 14.50″ with stand

Operating System

Google TV

Pros & Cons

• Bright
• Solid color reproduction
• Solid port selection
• SQD-Mini LED
• Dolby Vision/Atmos support

• Glossy screen shows reflections
• Viewing angles could be better at extremes

Price, availability, specs

The TCL 75QM7L is currently available from TCL.com, Amazon, and brick and mortar retailers for $1,200 at the time of this article’s publishing. TCL’s website shows MSRP as $2,000.

A “real” home theater

That’s what it feels like

Size and space have a massive impact on immersion. Give a pair of stereo speakers some distance between them, and you create a greater perception of “immersion.” Walk into my living room right now, and it’ll feel like you’re walking into one of those small theater auditoriums where the less popular movies are playing. In fact, I don’t think I’d go to the movies that much anymore if I bought one. Sure, there’d be IMAX movies like Sinners that are worth the money, and I’m already selective, but I’d be downright discriminating about my movie outings. Why?

The 75QM7L not only has a truly immersive screen, but its gorgeous image quality adds to the immersion. I went into detail about what SQD – Mini LED is in this article, so I’ll skip the deep dive here. In my 31 years in entertainment, on the technical side, I’ve looked at a lot of monitors, and the QM7L’s color reproduction, the ability to handle vivid colors with minimal halo effect, or as we call it in the biz, “blooming,” and contrast are all noteworthy.

Let’s back up a bit. The unit has everything most people need in terms of connections: four HDMI 2.1 ports, including two rated for 4K at 144Hz, two for 4K at 60Hz, and one with eARC. You’ll also get Ethernet and USB ports. Since it runs Google TV, you get Chromecast support and Google Home integration, but you also get Apple AirPlay, Apple Home compatibility, and Bluetooth 5.4.

And the Google TV operating system implementation on TCL is fast, no lag. It’s easy to customize, and intuitive. Any issues I have with the operating system are really just small complaints, like the apps being a single row that you scroll horizontally on the Home screen. That issue is easily remedied by going to the Apps tab on the top of the interface, though. Getting to things on Google TV is easy, and I really like the quick settings menus, which go a long way to making this an easy interface to navigate. Back to what you’re really going to do and that’s watch things!

Watching the very bright title sequence from Deadpool vs Wolverine, it had an engrossing 3D-like quality to it, while dark movies like Sinners allow you to immerse yourself in beautifully shot dark skin tones that stood out with nuance against dark, shadowy backdrops, thanks to 3000 nits of brightness and 2100 discrete dimming zones, Halo Control System, and panel tech that TCL has used.

For the vast majority of people, the QM7L is going to be outstanding in the areas that matter most. I have 31 years of professional experience with reference monitors, so I’ve noticed things most won’t. Unless you have motion smoothing active and set to 2 or 3, there’s a fair amount of motion blur and stutter in some sports and when I play Call of Duty. I think the issue most viewers will notice is glare. This is a glossy display, not a matte one, and I get some weird glare streaks from ambient lights in my living room. I turn those off, and the problem is solved, but it’s worth noting that the QM7L’s display is pretty reflective.

Hey Google! Let’s talk Gemini

A Smart TV with smart controls

This is a Google TV and the QM7L was one of the first on the market to get Gemini AI added to the software. Theoretically, an upgrade from Google Assistant on TCL TVs. Some people may have privacy concerns about Gemini being on board, so I’ll discuss that in an upcoming article about privacy, ACR, Gemini, and how to turn it all off in detail.

Google has done some fun things with Gemini on Google TV OS. First, you get the basics. You can control many of the TV’s features with your voice. The TV can listen all the time, switch to different “alertness” states, or use the hardware switch on the back to turn the built-in microphones off altogether. I have the microphones turned off because every time I talk to Google Home through my Nest Hub Max, the TV pauses whatever is playing.

No worries, the excellent, backlit remote that comes with the QM7L has a microphone button you can press to address the TV without saying the wake word. That makes basic functions like increasing the volume, pausing a movie, or playing intuitive. Watching the most recent Fantastic Four movie, I held the mic button and told it to skip forward two minutes, and it worked. Then, five minutes, and it worked. The operation was smooth, picked up where I asked, and kept playing from there.

More advanced functions confused me a bit. While watching a program, you can press the hamburger menu button on the remote to bring up a quick settings menu at the bottom of the screen. You can also press the settings cog on the remote to bring up a settings overlay that is somewhat ofa quick settings option but it goes a bit deeper than the one the hamburger menu provides. Both allow you to stay on your current program and make “hot” adjustments. When you use your voice with Gemini, you’re taken completely out of your program and into the full settings menu, so that when you’re done, you actually have to navigate back to your program and pick up where you left off. It’s not the most intuitive when you can do it faster and more frictionlessly with the remote manually. Using Gemini to control the TV is like using Siri, or Google, or Bixby to control a phone, so I’m sure that as I have the TV to put it through its paces longer, I’ll uncover more functionality. Maybe.

Gemini and generative AI

Generative AI in your living room

Google has baked generative AI into Gemini on your TV, and for the curious, the creative, and the kids, it’s pretty cool. When you click the Gemini button in the upper left of your home screen, you are taken to a screen with four cards that show what you can do with Gemini on your TCL TV. Invoking the AI agent for a learning experience launches an immersive visual slideshow that should grab anyone’s attention. I asked about the moon and high tides, and the QM7L gave me a beautifully illustrated slideshow that talked about the moon’s gravitational pull on our oceans. I moved on to the generative card and played with it, creating a still of a penguin in a business suit. The magic for your little ones comes when you ask Gemini to animate that penguin, and it creates a visually compelling short video of that penguin in a suit, walking through an office.

Keeping in mind all of the caveats inherent in the use of generative AI, the experience on a screen as large as the 75QM7L is highly visual and one that I could see folding into a game night, or edutainment activities with children, or any activity that you could creatively think of to involve trivia or generating images on a 75” display.

After living with this TV for a few weeks, I can honestly say this is likely the best TV in TCL’s current lineup for most shoppers. Personally, I’d spend a few hundred more for the QM8L as it has a few parts that are a bit better quality than what is on the QM7L, but that’s because I tend to notice the kinds of things that those parts improve upon. But, for picture quality, ease of use, and the ability to customize what is already a solid experience out of the box, and at the price point at the time of this article which is $1,199.00 (40% off MSRP), the 75” TCL QM7L should be on your short list.

With regard to Google Gemini, at this point, I just don’t see the TV controls being as frictionless as the physical remote control, except for turning the TV off with a voice command. Gemini’s generative and agentic functions are a different matter, and I really liked them for very specific purposes. Do I think I’d use that functionality that often? Probably not, but it’s fun to have it when you want it.

Brand

TCL

Display Size

75-inch

Dimensions

65.60″ x 39.20″ x 14.50″ with stand

Operating System

Google TV

Display Type

SQD-Mini LED

Display Resolution

4K UHD (3840 x 2160)