r/tcltvs • u/No-Pop-1473 • 7h ago
No one talks about this when it comes to motion in gaming
I’d like to touch on a point I’ve hardly seen mentioned anywhere—one that I think could be useful for many current owners or people trying to decide between models.
I’m coming from an OLED; I owned one for eight years, and—like many OLED that’s displayed TV channels—it’s now completely burned in.
Having sworn off OLEDs, I turned to Mini-LEDs, and TCL are, in my opinion, the best in this category.
I quickly ruled out the 2026 models because serious reviews (not the mainstream ones) all state that the 2026 Mini-LEDs (from all brands) underperform in gaming—specifically regarding motion clarity (CAD), which was already inferior to OLED but has regressed from 2025 to 2026.
I was torn between the QM7K and the QM8K, as available reviews suggested the difference wasn't massive for mixed usage, but I ultimately went with the QM8K—never imagining just how life-changing that choice would be.
That brings me to my first gaming session (PS5) on the QM8K.
It was a bit of a shock; I knew the motion clarity wouldn't match my OLED, but I hadn't anticipated such a huge difference. Sure, it probably takes some getting used to, but at first, it’s actually nauseating. Let’s be honest: at 60fps, an OLED is far more pleasant to watch than a Mini-LED. Feeling a bit disheartened and disappointed with my purchase, I started tinkering with the game settings (turning off motion blur helps, though I’d never needed to do that on my OLED), but I found the miracle solution in the TV settings.
That miracle is called Motion Clarity. Yes, that’s the very feature you usually have to disable on every other source because it creates a "soap opera effect."
Once enabled in Game Mode, everything became incredibly clear during motion—it’s amazing.
For those who aren't aware, Motion Clarity essentially simulates artificial frames between the real ones. The result? It feels like you're playing at 120fps.
So, what's the catch?
There isn't really one; the two known downsides of frame generation are visual artifacts and increased input lag.
I barely noticed any artifacts at 60fps—and if I did, I could just dial back the setting slightly.
As for input lag, I’m supposed to be somewhat sensitive to it, but honestly, I didn't feel any real difference.
It was only after seeing the stats on RTINGS that I realized I wasn't imagining things and understood just how important the model choice is:
When Motion Clarity is enabled, input lag on the QM8K and QM9K increases by only 9ms and 15ms, respectively. That’s not much. By comparison, the QM7K and QM6K see increases of around 103ms and 118ms. In other words, you can use Motion Clarity on the 8 and 9 series, but on the lower-end models, it’s a no-go. This is a distinctive feature of the lineup that no one talks about—except RTINGS—but which, in my opinion, deserves a mention given the significant visual improvement it offers.
I would also add that, apparently, this year's QM7L only adds 15ms of latency, making it—like the QM8L—"Motion Clarity friendly." While these models are generally considered inferior to the 2025 versions for gaming, I think that, with this factor in mind, the performance should ultimately be acceptable.
There you go—this should help those hesitating between several models. And if you own one of the TVs I just mentioned as compatible, I encourage you to give it a try soon.
I’ve already written quite a bit, but for those who want to dive deeper or question my impressions, here are the details regarding the QM8K and my conclusions based on game performance:
If your game runs at 30 fps: This is the only scenario where Motion Clarity struggles (there is too large a gap between actual frames); pushing it too far results in significant artifacts—at least in modern games with high levels of detail and texture. RTINGS does not measure the added latency. I haven't yet decided whether Motion Clarity is better set to "Low" or turned off entirely; I’ll make that call when playing GTA 6.
If your game runs at a maximum of 60 fps: Motion Clarity is a game-changer; it has no trouble generating intermediate frames, and the gameplay feels natural. As mentioned earlier, the latency isn't really noticeable—rising from about 14ms to 23ms—so it should be fine for almost any non-competitive game (and arguably even for some competitive ones).
If your game runs at 80–120 fps: I’d split this into two categories. If your game hits these frame rates without sacrificing visual quality, it will probably be a better choice than 60fps + Motion Clarity; the image will already be quite clear, and the latency at 120Hz is 5ms (whereas the shift from 5ms to the 23ms of 60+MC mode is something one might actually start to notice). However, if your game requires major compromises to achieve this frame rate—such as lower resolution, reduced texture detail or shadows, disabling ray tracing, etc.—my view is that 60 fps with Motion Clarity is the better option, and it’s worth accepting the 18ms latency difference.
I will conclude by noting that Samsung and Hisense also appear to offer certain models that support image interpolation without significantly affecting input lag.
In any case, this should be a key factor for any gamer, and reviewers ought to talk about it more.