Here are some renditions from my TCL QM751.
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Damn, I should have waited! lol.
@yepes you may want to check this one out. This is the one I wish I had waited for.
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Sorry for late reply. I’ll check it out!
For my future setup, I’ll probably use a TV, since it will be used by my family too, but since I’m in need of a second monitor for my PC I may end up getting your recommendation!
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Greetings @Nesguy, the first post of this thread is getting a bit long in the tooth. Don’t you think an update is long overdue?
Hope all is well.
Question:
Will any OLED be just fine for CRT Emulation?
Answer:
Definitely not. OLED displays generally don’t have the standard vertical R-G-B/B-G-R striped subpixel layout that subpixel aware CRT Shaders rely on in order to map modern display subpixels to emulated CRT Phosphors.
So only a handful of low TVL Masks can be acceptably emulated and only on WOLED. Due to QD-OLED’s triangular subpixel structure, the CRT-Subpxel Mask emulation is always off/inaccurate.
Only recently OLED panel makers have started to address this.
In addition to that, accurate emulation of Masks/Phosphors and Scanlines demands that most of the pixels of the display are turned off/darkened which makes things very dark. Add BFI/Beam Simulator/Pulsar aka Backlight Strobing and it gets even darker.
The solution? Shaders which compromise accuracy for the sake of brightness or very bright screens.
MiniLED screens far outshine OLED displays in this department. Even a Mid-Range miniLED can be brighter or just as bright as the brightest OLED displays, especially in sustained brightness.
Luckily OLED panels can squeeze some more brightness out of lit pixels the more unlit pixels are off so that can offset the brightness deficit relative to miniLED a bit.
miniLED can’t do that per pixel energy conservation so must rely instead on having much higher brute force sustained brightness potential. Due to their standard subpixel structure, many more mask layouts can be properly emulated and represented via the LCD subpixel structure which is not too dissimilar from an Aperture Grille CRT’s Phosphor structure.
Lastly, while modern OLED displays might be better at handling burn-in, there is always the risk of those emulated scanlines and scanline gaps wearing out unevenly.
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Related to this, if one were to buy an OLED TV in 2026 for emulation (due to the wider viewing angles and deeper blacks), which model would you recommend?
I know miniLED TVs perform better in most cases, but viewing angles still lag behind OLED TVs, so some people might prefer the latter.
Thanks in advance!
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The brightest you can get that doesn’t compromise on gaming or other features/strengths that would also benefit emulation and then secondary uses.
So any WOLED with an MLA panel, LG G3, G4. You can go tandem OLED but as stated before, it’s untested and unproven if current CRT shader subpixel mask layouts would be compatible.
So there might be a little lag before they’re actually fully supported as help would be needed from users and / developer who actually have access to the TVs to fully test the subpixel layout.
Nobody talks about this but it took years before RWBG/WOLED TVs had decent CRT shader support and advocacy to develop, test and implement them in shaders was mostly a done by a tiny handful of vocal folks who had those TVs in the community.
So LG G4, G3 would be easy recommendations although I don’t recommend OLED TVs for this.
LG G6, LG G5, Panasonic Z95B with the caveat about the new subpixel layout and uncertainty about Panasonic’s tonemapping, gaming features and the OS.
I really like the OLED image for emulation, even if it’s not very accurate.
I used to be afraid of burn-in, but a recent test by R-tings showed that LCDs in general suffer much more from it.
I’m starting to get burn-in on my LCD monitor myself, after only 2 years of use…
Interesting statement. While I also like the OLED image for emulation, have you ever experienced good CRT Shader Presets on a good miniLED display with >=720 local dimming zones, Peak 10% Window 1,466 cd/m², Sustained 50% Window 860 cd/m² with BFI before in order to actually compare how it might fare?
Also, not all OLED displays are incapable of accurate subpixel CRT emulation. RWBG/WOLED displays are very capable of accurate CRT emulation, however they are limited in the subpixel mask petterns that they can accurately simulate vs a display with a standard R-G-B/B-G-R vertical subpixel stripe.
No, before buying an OLED I had a regular LED, I even considered a miniLED, but I found the OLED image more pleasing.
TCL X11L
11,000+ Nits Peak Brightness, RGB Subpixel Layout, the closest LCD has come to OLED according to RTINGS and many other review outlets.
Here are some excerpts from RTINGS’ review of the set.
Note: Due to the high peak brightness of the TV, we had to use different measuring equipment for many of our tests, as the TV exceeds the peak luminance of our Colorimetry Research CR-100, which we normally use. As such, we combined our CR-100 with a Colorimetry Research CR-250 when necessary, as it’s designed for higher luminance measurements, but it’s not as sensitive as the CR-100 in low-light conditions.
11,000+ Nits Peak Brightness anyone?
HDR Brightness In Game Mode
Peak 2% Window 11,020 cd/m²
Peak 10% Window 4,547 cd/m²
Peak 25% Window 3,002 cd/m²
Peak 50% Window 1,571 cd/m²
Peak 100% Window 805 cd/m²
Sustained 2% Window 774 cd/m²
Sustained 10% Window 397 cd/m²
Sustained 25% Window 791 cd/m²
Sustained 50% Window 562 cd/m²
Sustained 100% Window 804 cd/m²
Content mastered in the BT.2020 color space is where the improved quantum dots on this TV really shines, and it has better coverage of the BT.2020 color space than any other LED TV tested up until now.
It displays dark, saturated colors well, and bright highlights aren’t washed out by whites at all.
Panel Technology
Panel Type: LCD
Sub-Type: VA
Subpixel Layout: RGB
The TCL X11L uses a combination of new panel technologies, including an improved color filter, a new WHVA 2.0 panel structure, and improved quantum dots, which TCL calls Super Quantum Dots.
The spectral power distribution shows the impact of the SQD layer. Compared to the TCL QM8K, we can see that there’s no change at all to the blue backlight, but the green peak has shifted 10 nm towards blue. The biggest change is with the reds, which are far more powerful and more precise, and the center wavelength has increased by 20 nm. This results in a far greater separation between green and red, resulting in more precise, saturated reds.
HDMI 4 (4x HDMI 2.1)
HDMI 2.1 Rated Speed 48 Gbps
ATSC Tuner 3.0 (NEXTGEN TV)
USB Ports3
USB 3.0 Yes (1)
Audio Out 3.5mm 0
Wi-FiYes (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz)
Ethernet Speed 100 Mbps
Composite In 0
Digital Optical Audio Out 1
The TCL X11L is the first TCL TV on the market to feature four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports. There’s also an additional USB port on the side bezel of the TV.
Running the AIDA64 app on the TV confirms that it’s powered by the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset, with 2.5GB of RAM and 48GB of internal memory.
What do you think about TCL’s claim of “up to 100% BT.2020 coverage, with a possible deviation of ≤5%,” in relation to your measured results?
Exact copy and paste from their website: *100% BT.2020 refers to a typical value of the area ratio under the BT.2020 color gamut standard. The test data comes from TCL laboratories. Due to differences in test environments/test standards/test equipment, as well as other reasonable and objective factors such as different products/production batches, a deviation of ≤5% may occur.
That’s most likely referring to flat color gamut coverage, whereas our test looks at gamut rings instead. They’re not comparable. It’s not just different methodology or equipment; it’s a completely different test.
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While it sounds great on paper, I’ve read some concerns about this TV regarding input lag and motion blur. Do you think these two aspects could affect this TV’s potential as an emulation TV?
I don’t rush to believe everything I read or see in a review. I take stuff like that along with anecdotal accounts with a huge helping of salt. Sometimes it’s user error, laziness, a user just not understanding a new or different design choice from they were accustomed to, a firmware bug e.t.c.
So I try to look beyond stuff like that and see if there’s a fundamental issue with the hardware and technology itself that would be the underlying cause of such.
I’ve seen people say all sorts of things about certain TCL models, while other users have not had the same experiences.
Some TVs or systems in general may perform to one’s liking out of the box while others may need some adjustments.
I’m saying this also from the perspective of someone who has used high end and mid-range TVs from multiple manufacturers who now owns and uses a TCL QM751G as my daily driver.
Based on most of the reviews I looked at on YouTube, there doesn’t seem to be any cause for concern in that regard. There was one very vocal reviewer who had negative things to say about that one area you mentioned but what is the context of those statements?
Different people are sensitive to different things, firmware is still relatively early as well. I’ve had an extremely positive experience with the updates I’ve received on my QM751G over the last year and a half.
In closing, there was nothing in the RTINGS review which was any cause for concern especially when it came to motion and gaming performance.
“On paper” measurements are very important metrics as they help to rule out conclusions based on potentially subjective, biased and flawed testing.
Another thing about that TV and my reason for including it here is the mere fact that we have reached to this point in our history where we have more than enough brigtness headroom for accurate CRT emulation, in a TV with an R-G-B subpixel layout and probably the largest colour gamut, contrast and blooming performance of any LCD display before it!
Look at the price of that thing though. It’s hardly a mainstream offering. So I look forward to seeing what the QM8L and QM7L can bring to this space.
I also await more reviews and updates regarding RGB miniLED technology. One camp is saying that there are issues with colour crosstalk but Sony just revealed their offering and that phenomenon was nowhere in sight and those who witnessed it had nothing bad to say about that. If Sony can figure it out maybe other manufacturers can as well.
I’m sure you’re aware that TCL recently acquired Sony’s TV and consumer electronics business. So let’s see what that brings to the table in the not too distant future.
One thing I wanted to add, it’s TCL, a company known for making great budget TVs which gamers have enjoyed for over a decade which have excellent input lag. The TV uses the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 SOC which is a more powerful processing chip than the ones in its predecessors. We’ve seen WHVA 2.0 in action before in the QM8K and QM9K.
It’s input selection is finally on par with LG’s boating 4 full bandwidth 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 ports.
What would have to happen under the hood for it to have issues with input lag and motion blur?
The only thing that comes to mind besides immature firmware is probably heat. Maybe the internals get so hot that it can affect the SOC performance under certain conditions? Who knows? It’s still early days though and the vast majority of reviews didn’t seem to have any of those issues.
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More 2026 TCL Models dropping.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tcltvs/s/o9HFa75AMb
https://www.reddit.com/r/tcltvs/s/vyhazG6vtN
PSA: Anyone looking to pickup one of these extremely bright QM8L TVs at launch, Best Buy and Amazon has the 75" on sale for US$1,000 and US$770 off respectively!
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Hey guys. Is there a way to give ownership of a thread/post to another user? Cyber has posted here more times than I have and I’d be happy if he wanted to take it over.
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The only thing that can be done, AFAIK, is granting someone overall moderation powers. You may be able to unsubscribe from the thread, even as the owner, though, if you’re just tired of notifications.
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Hey man, welcome back. Can you imagine we’re at the point of having over 11,000 nits TVs, that have awesome black levels, way better than the ones in your first post, much faster response times, no burn-in risk and R-G-B subpixel layout!
Even the lower models have >6,000 nits and >3,000!
I’m having a time with my 2024 QM751G which only has an advertised peak of about 2,400 nits.
I was doing some additional tweaking and testing, finally lowered the brightness to 60 from 100 on all modes where I don’t use the built-in BFI and adjusted the tonemapping settings and Gamma in the ones that I do use BFI to further compensate for the reduces brightness. I was able to achieve a quite noticeable jump in brightness. Maybe I can go back to using some mid to lower TVL masks now.
Even with the brightness reduction to 60 on the other mode, the TV is still very bright and brighter than the modes with BFI on and it’s a bit easier on the eyes I guess.
I reckon that anyone with a QM8K, QM9K, X11K, QM8L, X11L are in for an immaculate CRT shader experience. The only reason I didn’t include the QM851G was due to it having a BGR subpixel layout.
I also tested ShaderBeam. I think it’s a game changer. It worked for me where the CRT Beam Shader didn’t. I guess it’s easier to setup and probably less likely to have issues with other RetroArch settings messing things up and the instructions are very detailed and the GUI is simple.
My next stop might have to be a GPU upgrade in order to fully tap into 4K HDR +120Hz+ refresh rate and it’s benefits. Right now I’m stuck at 100Hz.
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Meet the Hisense UR9 RGB miniLED TV. RGB miniLED plus 180Hz panel refresh rate!
The Hisense UR9 (2026) is a flagship RGB Mini-LED TV featuring 4K resolution, 180Hz native refresh rate, and up to 5,000 nits peak brightness, designed to compete with high-end OLEDs. Key specs include 4.1.2-channel Devialet audio, three HDMI 2.1 ports, dedicated USB-C DisplayPort (180Hz), and Google TV with Gemini AI, available in 65–100 inch sizes.
Updated TCL X11L Review:
https://www.youtube.com/live/kbaz29rwbQM?si=taVMWv4ALzMHlmqZ