Brightness 6,500 nits and five thousand dimming zones. Flagship TCL dropped by CZK 25,000

Six and a half thousand nits is a number that only appears in the top category of TVs – and five thousand local dimming zones too. The TCL 85C9K now costs CZK 49,717 with code ALZADNY15 instead of CZK 74,990, a discount of over CZK 25,000. The TV also holds the EISA Best Product award, granted by the association of European audiovisual technology experts.

👍 Get it if you want picture quality on par with the best Mini LED TVs and play on console or PC.
🤔 Hesitate if you monitor power consumption – 465 kWh per thousand hours in HDR is a lot, and the TV weighs almost 38 kg.
💰 Price: CZK 49,717 for a TV with 6,500 nits brightness and 5,184 zones.

Five Thousand Zones Make Mini LED Almost OLED

The number of local dimming zones determines how precisely the TV dims individual parts of the image. Cheap Mini LED models have dozens, good ones hundreds, top-tier ones around two thousand – this one has 5,184. In practice, this means deep blacks without a grey veil and minimal halos around subtitles or lights in a night scene. Together with a maximum brightness of 6,500 nits, this means HDR picture quality that OLED technically cannot achieve – OLED operates in the hundreds of nits range.

The anti-reflective screen surface is also crucial: with 85 inches, glare from a window is a problem that is significantly reduced here. The TV supports all HDR formats – Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG, has 10-bit color depth, is Calman Ready for professional calibration, and offers Filmmaker Mode for watching movies as the director intended.

For gamers, the equipment is complete: all four HDMI 2.1 ports, a 120 Hz panel and 144 Hz in game mode, VRR, and Ideal for PlayStation 5 certification. Steam Link is also included, so you can play PC games on the TV wirelessly.

Sound by Bang & Olufsen and built-in subwoofer

Audio is usually the weakest link in TVs – not here. A 90W system tuned by the Danish brand Bang & Olufsen with a built-in subwoofer, support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and automatic room sound calibration means you can do without a soundbar longer than is typical for TVs.

The Google TV system has a complete Czech offering (Oneplay, Prima+, SledováníTV, Telly, Skylink, Kuki, Vodafone TV) as well as all global services including Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max. It is compatible with Google Assistant, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit, and also features AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and Wi-Fi 6.

What to Consider

The most noticeable aspect is power consumption: energy class E in SDR is good given the size, but 465 kWh per thousand hours in HDR (class G) is a lot and will be reflected in your electricity bill. This is the price for 6,500 nits brightness – the brighter the panel, the higher the consumption.

A practical consideration: the TV weighs 37.9 kg and measures 216 centimeters in width, so you won’t be able to lift or mount it by yourself. Fortunately, Alza offers delivery to your floor and professional wall mounting. And as with all eighty-five-inch TVs, you need a viewing distance of at least three and a half meters. A minor criticism at the end: a single USB port is stingy for a TV of this class.

Would you choose a flagship Mini LED, or rather a smaller OLED for the same price?