Verdict
While its picture are n’t quite as accomplished as those of some of TCL ’s smaller but higher - end television , the 98Q9BK is bright , colourful and never less than Rex - sized fun .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
After year of slow and steady ontogeny in the typical television cover sizes we home entertainment buff are prepared to earmark into our homes , the past 12 months have dead seen sales of 98 - inch and more explode .
Why ? Because of TVs like TCL ’s 98Q9BK . This does n’t just cede an larger-than-life 98 - inches of screen ; it also fill those 98 - inch with in reality good calibre picture show for just £ 3249 .
That ’s the sort of money some 65 - in tv set still cost . Now turning one of your walls into a TV does n’t seem so inconceivable , does it ?
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Availability
The 98Q9BK is availableexclusively in the UK from Costco stores for £ 3249 – a very aggressive price for such a huge goggle box .
While you ca n’t buy a 98Q9BK outside the UK , a theoretical account with extremely similar specification , the 98C765 K , is useable in other European territories for around € 3759 .
Design
The most blindingly obvious thing about the 98Q9BK is how Brobdingnagian it is . The leap in blind acreage from all those 65- and even 75 - inch TV is a spate to lay eyes on , full complete the jump from ‘ TV ’ to home cinema .
Clearly a telly this large is more than just an imposition on your room decor . Unless your living or theatre room happen to be erectile , the 98Q9BK becomes moderately much the only affair you see .
While TCL ’s big boy ships with a pair of rather canonic - wait blade style feet , its astonishingly slender rear for such a huge television and flat back panel make it quite well suited to wall hang . ply your rampart , climb wall bracket and team you put together to wall mount it can manage its 55 kg weight and cosmopolitan awkward massiveness .
While you ’ll sputter to see anything other than its enormous pictorial matter when watching it , TCL has nonetheless gone to the bother of applying a fairly opulent - looking metal finish to the telly ’s kayoed edges .
The 98Q9BK use a VA case of LCD panel , so if you have to watch it from a wide slant you will find its color saturations and contrast both decreasing slenderly . Blooming effects from its otherwise excellent backlight organisation become more noticeable , too .
This is the way with middling much all aggressively price VA jury though , and the 98Q9BK is far from the worst viewing angle offender I ’ve seen . Plus , its sheer scale makes it severe for viewing audience to find themselves at a really substantive angle to the screen .
The screen does n’t have a light - absorbing filter on it , so while it copes well enough with world-wide ambient light , try on not to have a strong loose generator directly opposite it .
User Experience
The 98Q9BK ’s interface is built around theGoogle TVinterface , with all the pros and cons relate with that .
On the upside , Google TV is nothing if not rich in content , delivering hundreds of information , gambling and cyclosis apps and services . Typically , this hefty mental object listing would not let in all of the gimmick up services for the UK ’s main sublunary broadcasters – admit the BBC iPlayer .
TCL has worked round this job by negociate to separately carry theFreeview Playservice that provides an umbrella interface for all the UK ’s main telluric TV grab up services .
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The 98Q9BK also runs Google goggle box reasonably glibly , with the menus responding apace to command and system crash being throttle to only a couple of illustration in the three weeks or so I dwell with the TV .
Google TV is also more generally attractive than its Android television predecessor , feeling at least a bit more like it ’s been designed for a telly rather than a smartphone or tablet . I still find the way Google television set presents and organises its content a bit overpowering and autocratic , and there is n’t as much compass for tailor-make the home page ’s layout as there is with some rival systems .
As usual , the integrating of the 98Q9BK ’s set up menus into the wider Google TV interface is n’t particularly nonrational . But I guess most people wo n’t need to delve into the exercise set up menus too often once initial set up is done .
The 98Q9BK ’s outside restraint features plasticky physique lineament and a large , button - fill up design that feels a fleck erstwhile - school for such a argument product . It does at least comport a mic button , though , so that you may manipulate the TV just by talking to it if that ’s your bag . Google Assistant is build in , but it also work with Apple Home twist .
Features
The 98Q9BK ’s 98 - inch 4 yard resolution VA panel can support refresh rates up to 144Hz and is illuminated by a mini LED lighting system bet on up by a counted and verified 1000 + dimming zones .
This is an telling centre stipulation for such an affordable king - sized covert .
It uses this light engine to deliver brightness as high as 2100 nits on a 10 % HDR trial run windowpane , too – enough if it ’s put to good use by the TV ’s HDR system to fork out a potentially severely punchy and wide - ranging HDR experience . particularly if all those thousand - plus dimming zones enable all that smartness to be accompany by win over black tones .
Sticking with the HDR theme , the 98Q9BK can play all four of the main HDR picture formats : HDR10,HLGand the step - upHDR10+and Dolby Vision formats that add extra scenery - by - vista figure information to the HDR data stream to help compatible TVs deliver more accurate and dynamic pictures .
A built - in light sensing element additionally signify the TV can take reward of theDolby Vision IQsystem , where the premium HDR format can adapt its ikon to ambient room condition .
Supporting all four HDR data format mean the 98Q9BK can take in the best quality adaptation of any content you post its room . The 98Q9BK uses Quantum Dots to make its colouring , too . This should enable it to bring forth a more vibrant , nuanced and expansive palette of color than you get with basic RGB filter technology .
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Gaming
TCL has been at the forefront of contribute premium gaming features down to more low-priced TVs – a vogue the 98Q9BK continues .
For starters , the lot is open of plow 144Hz signals if you have a microcomputer capable of outputting such framing rate . Provided that you prefer theone HDMIport capable of handling that much data and expend the TV ’s menus to enable its 144Hz characteristic . A second HDMI endorse 4 K up to 120Hz .
The 98Q9BK supports HDR gaming too , include a Dolby Vision Game Mode so that you could game in Dolby ’s premium format without have to put up with high lag . In fact , the fourth dimension the screen take to furnish computer graphic in its Game mode gets down to a very honorable – though not course of study contribute – 17.4ms .
varying refresh rates are usable from 48Hz up , too . In fact , TCL ’s giant TV patronize the AMD FreeSync Premium Pro standard as well as the basicHDMI VRR data format . The TV ’s compatibility with HDMI 2.1 ’s Auto Low Latency Mode ( ALLM ) feature think of it automatically activates its modest reaction time Game modal value when a biz beginning is detected , and there ’s a consecrated gambling on cover carte that leave item on the incoming gambling nontextual matter and access to a few gambling aid .
In brusk , the 98Q9BK does far more than you ’ve any right to carry for its money to make play on a 98 - in screenland every chip as much fun as you might imagine it to be .
Connectivity
The 98Q9BK is well machine-accessible for such an affordable TV giant . There are four HDMI port , for starter , two with an extensive list ofHDMI 2.1features .
There are also a couple of USB Type A ports for multimedia file cabinet playback , an optical digital audio production , a headphone turnout , and , of line , an RF stimulant to feed the built - in Freeview HD tuner .
Any modernistic TV worth its table salt will also support wireless connectivity . In the display case of the Google tv set - equipped 98Q9BK you get Google Casting , DLNA , Bluetooth 5.2 andApple Airplay .
Picture Quality
TCL has pretty much re - written the rulebook over the preceding distich of class when it come to the kind of features and performance we can expect from sharply priced LCD TVs . Can this run of ground - break form really extend to a projection screen as unforgivingly massive as 98 - inches , though ?
In many way , yes it can . I was instantly come across by how burnished it is . Measurements taken with Portrait Displays ’ Calman Ultimate software , G1 signaling generator and C6 HDR5000 tintometer reveal a huge peak light source output of 2150 nits on a 10 % of screen area test windowpane .
The screen also manages to hold back almost 700 nits of light on a 100 % HDR exam windowpane – and the subjective impact that variety of brightness has when it ’s blast out of a 98 - inch screen make the measured brightness figures feel conservative . You in reality feel like you ’re in the desert with Mad Max , or research the seas and skies of Pandora with the Nav’i .
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Far from HDR being expose as a challenge too far for jumbo telly , the 98Q9BK make you realise that HDR is actually made for big - screen experiences .
uttermost luminance can cause colours to look a moment lave out and/or lots of elusive blending information to flare out of an HDR picture if a video does n’t have the colour range to keep all that brightness troupe .
Here again , the TCL 98Q9BK outperforms expectations . Its Quantum Dot colour system has more than enough range and subtlety at its electric pig to keep the brightness befittingly pictorial company . So you get a vivacious but also natural and nuanced colour palette that help make HDR images look more realistic . peculiarly as TCL ’s processing is up to the job of marshalling colours into a good mixture of punchy for its Standard preset and amazingly balanced and nuanced for its Movie mode .
Calman Ultimate tests discover that the Movie style does n’t track peculiarly closely to HDR industriousness standard , despite being the 98Q9BK ’s most seemingly ‘ exact ’ preset . Colour Checker and Colour Match run in Movie manner both reveal DeltaE 2000 average errors considerably outside the three level expert agree is necessary to block errors from becoming visible to the human centre .
Most people wo n’t have a professional extension monitor sat alongside their 98Q9BK , though , so unless you have very highly trained eyes you ’re more likely to chance yourself merely enjoying how dear a occupation the Movie preset does of budge its focus to trying to render as much of an HDR germ ’s full light cooking stove as the screen can treat .
This intend that while the service line brightness of the Movie musical mode is a fair bit down on that of the nonremittal Standard mode , the Movie preset maintain subtleties of blending and color in the brightest parts of the mental picture that tend to be ‘ prune out ’ from the Standard setting , which focuses more heavily on HDR ’s vivid , copious , shinier elements .
It ’s worth notice that even in Movie style the 98Q9BK still manages to peak at only a fraction under 2000 nits on 10 % and 25 % HDR trial windows .
While I ’m on the case of the 98Q9BK ’s different image presets , and their mostly likeable attempts to satisfy different taste and motivation , I might as well add that with SDR footage the Movie mode actually does get very close to industry standards , recording DeltaE 2000 mistake level below 1.5 for all of our people of color test .
The Movie mode ’s SDR image bet quite a bit brighter than they would if they were 100 % focused on the manufacture standard , I think . But this in reality feel very easy to dwell with – enjoyable even – when the color accuracy remains so intact .
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Eye - get and enjoyable as the TCL 98Q9BK ’s brightness level and colour potentiality are , especially with HDR , it ’s only part of the pictorial matter quality equation . Happily , though , the 98Q9BK handle most other parts well , too .
peculiarly telling is how well the TV ’s backlight manages to deliver effective black floor and immersive dark scene despite its high brightness and the unforgiving enormity of its screen . There ’s a tinge more grey present in dark scene than you get with TCL ’s more gamy - death TV ranges , but not enough to make such scenes feel flat , empty or off - colour , and lighting blooming around brook - out shiny object in the image is impressively faint .
The level of wakeful control is n’t quite as tight as I expected from a TV – even a 98 - column inch one – that ’s using more than 1000 disjoined local slur zones . The areas of bloom are so dim that it becomes clear that TCL has opted for a comparatively ‘ blended ’ approach to using all those dimming zones , rather than going for potentially abstruse blacks and littler but more acute areas of blooming .
The more time I spend with the exercise set , the more I felt as if TCL had on symmetry made the best dim decision within the context of this 98 - inch panel ’s overall capacity .
Aside from the slender infusion of greyness in dark fit , there are a couple of other issues to name with the 98Q9BK ’s video . First , even native 4 chiliad paradigm calculate a little softer than they do both on either smaller TCL TV and some of the other ( more expensive ) Martin Luther King Jr. - sized tv set I ’ve tested .
Second , the combination of the CRT screen ’s brightness and size can make judder with 24p informant feel a little strong without using any motion insertion . But in this case you could improve thing by setting the provided judder and blur reducing dick to low-toned - ish influence preferences without introducing lots of distract side effects .
Upscaling
Despite the 98Q9BK looking a feeling soft even with native 4 K sources , it ’s really a middling solid upscaler of HD sources . The results do n’t wait noisy or process , and colours do n’t appear ‘ simplified ’ to the point where they become coarse or cartoonish .
Upscaled HD picture calculate slightly softer again than aboriginal 4 green , but arguably that helps disguise the sort of randomness and grittiness that often accompanies upscaled images on screen this size .
stock definition sources are a stretch , aboveboard – but they ’re at least watchable , and precious few power - sized TVs can say much more than that with the same tier of source .
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Sound Quality
The 98Q9BK sports a 2.1 - channel verbaliser organization design with audio brand Onkyo – and for the most part the link with such a illustrious audio world partner pays off handsomely .
The audio is both powerful and well dispersed enough to feel as if it belongs with a screen as cinematically Brobdingnagian as 98 - inch . There ’s nothing brickly or forced about the scale of the audio staging either . Details sound clean without becoming over - bright or harsh , and they ’re placed around the screenland and surrounding area with fairish accuracy and dynamism .
voice commonly go unclouded without losing linguistic context , and there ’s enough dynamic headroom in the speakers to let them expand their audio quite aggressively when a flash moving-picture show mix demands it .
The built - in subwoofer is moderately enthusiastic , without becoming overwhelming or contribute in easily to distortions or crackling .
The sub ’s speech sound is a bit raw and canonical compared with the other loudspeaker , and while voices are mostly clean some deep manlike lecture can initiate to become a little muddy and ‘ electronic ’ sounding .
Overall , though , the 98Q9BK ’s sound is good enough to at least tide you over until you may open to add agood soundbar – and that ’s more than honest enough when you ’re getting so much telly for so comparatively short money .
Should you buy it?
Watching motion picture and video shows on a 98 - inch screen subject of pumping out as much brightness , colour and contrast as the 98Q9BK can is an experience that never grows old . play is striking fun , too .
adulterate image to 98 inches leave behind them – even native 4 K ones – looking a little softer than they do on pocket-size agio TCL TVs . Though there ’s actually something quite cinematic about this in the way it disguises noise and extravagant food grain .
Final Thoughts
extradite a 98 - in television for just £ 3,250 has mean a few modest compromises to the 98Q9BK ’s picture execution compared with TCL ’s most recent insurance premium ranges – but it ’s still a bright , colourful , immersive watch that micturate an enjoyably epic dwelling cinema experience possible without breaking the cant .
Trusted Score
How we test
The 98 - inch TCL 98Q9BK was quiz over a period of 20 days , in a variety of preferences . With a team of uncoerced assistants on mitt to help me move such a monolithic simulation around !
This examination metre included a couple of weeks as a primary life elbow room TV , as well as many hours of being fed a roll of our favourite film and test sequence from a mix of 4 K Blu - ray , HD Blu - ray and streaming reference in a blacked out test room .
We also put theTCL 98Q9BK TV through its paces with Portrait Studios ’ Calman Ultimate presentation analysis / calibration software , G1 test signal source and C6 C5000 light / colour meter .
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FAQs
Mini LED are , as their name suggests , much small light sources than the normal LEDs traditionally used in LCD television . This aid TVs deliver more brightness and importantly skillful wakeful control .
QLED TVs like the 98Q9BK employment layers of Quantum Dots ( diminutive particles that give out different colour wavelength depending on their size ) to create their colour , rather than traditional RGB filter . This results in a wider colour range and more stability at in high spirits luminosity levels .
The 98Q9BK can play all four of the main HDR formats : HDR10 , HLG , Dolby Vision and HDR10 + . The Dolby Vision support extend to the data format ’s ‘ IQ ’ system , too , where the images are adjust to take elbow room conditions into business relationship .
Test Data
Full Specs
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