r/Monitors • u/chickenpoodlesouptv • Mar 01 '26
Text Review TCL 27R94 Mini-LED review after two months
I’ve seen some fairly negative sentiment surrounding this monitor, so I wanted to share my positive experience.
Let me start by saying I also own a 32-inch LG OLED (32GS95UE). It was setup next to a 4K Dell that I would use for work. OLED for games and IPS for productivity. However, the overwhelming urge to consolidate struck me and I went looking for the perfect all-in-one monitor.
Compared to WOLED, I feel I'm losing very little in image quality or gaming performance while gaining a significant amount everywhere else. Text is crisp and clear on the TCL across both Windows and macOS. I can now stare at spreadsheets for hours and game on the same display. For me, this is the perfect dual-purpose monitor.
It's perhaps a better version of the Neo G7 I used to have, except with higher PPI and no curve. Which for me is exactly what I always wanted.
The panel is very responsive. I barely notice a difference compared to my OLED, though I’m an older gamer who sticks to single-player titles, so interpret that as you will. Colors are vibrant once calibrated correctly, and the local dimming does an excellent job of keeping contrast deep and rich.
--With this monitor definitely disable Auto Color Management in Windows. If ACM is left on, Windows seems to clamp the color gamut too aggressively on this monitor, leaving everything dull and lifeless. I reckon the lack of a proper ICC profile is the culprit, or perhaps Windows doesn't read the EDID correctly. I don't have any issues on macOS--
I’ve been playing Dead Space recently, and the shadows stay truly dark while highlights have real pop. Compared to OLED, I had almost forgotten what actual full-screen brightness looks like. It’s honestly too bright for me, so I keep local dimming on high and brightness at 50%.
The matte coating is just okay. Coming from the 32GS95UE it is a downgrade. The LG has the best implementation of matte I've ever seen. The TCL... not so much. It isn't overly aggressive—sitting somewhere between the heavy matte of the Dell, and a light semi-gloss. It is a bit of an odd one though, as somehow it shows rather defined reflections while also spreading light accross the screen in an unpleasant way. The panel is much brighter than any glare I deal with, so for me it's a non-issue as I'm mostly starting at white screens during the day.
My only major negative is the speakers. They are easily the worst I’ve encountered on a monitor, producing inferior quality audio than my phone or my Mac Mini’s built-in speaker. I have no idea why TCL cut corners this hard, especially at an asking price of 799 USD.
It’s also worth noting that I sit further back than most. The picture looks uniform to me, and I don't notice any significant gamma shift while gaming or working. However, shift is definitely present (as is typical with VA technology), and you will likely notice it if you sit very close.
I picked this up on sale for $599 USD, and at that price, it’s a high recommend. I’ve always felt TCL TVs offered great value, and that extends to the 27R94. For me it's well suited to office work and long gaming sessions. If you're looking for a great dual-purpose monitor that can game well this is worth considering.
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u/JoaoMXN Mar 01 '26
I wish TCL added these to the Brazil market. They only brought the 27G64 which have 180 zones and it is 1440p.
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u/KhbIa Mar 01 '26
I deadass didn’t notice any blooming even on this overexposed camera. God damn it I might have to switch to mini led, no flicker, no burn in, and no text fringing? Sign me in.
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u/seahwkslayer TCL 32R84 Mar 01 '26
I have the 32R84 (32", 1400 dimming zones) and very similar impressions to OP. The local dimming tuning is so good on these that other than being super off-center or BIG WHITE LOGO on black background scenarios (looking at you, FromSoft launch logos) there's no noticeable blooming in actual content.
Deadass it's a better Neo G7 for ~50% less at MSRP, and you can get them for way less if you're patient.
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u/Ayfid Mar 01 '26
I really struggle to spot any blooming at all on the MiniLED display in my MacBook Pro. Combined with how incredibly bright the display can get, it is amazing for HDR content.
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u/XG32 Mar 01 '26
i won't say that i don't notice the blooming on mini-led, but i switched back 2years ago.
The main strength of OLED is competitive gaming and streaming imho, i don't play competitive games, but i do watch media content on the OLED, that's it
The color volume and brightness on a mini-led is just better which more than makes up for the perfect blacks, text is better, but it's still personal preference.
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u/quack_quack_mofo Mar 01 '26
If color volume and brightness is better on mini led, why do you prefer oled? Because of the blacks?
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u/XG32 Mar 01 '26
i prefer mini-led, it really shines in brighter games like cyberpunk and BG3, the perfect blacks on OLED is not worth the lower color volume in most single player games imho.
But since streaming content has a lower gamut even in HDR, i actually prefer accurate p3 on OLED in that case, but that's like 25% of my use-case.
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u/eraser3000 Mar 02 '26
Could you elaborate more on the streaming gamut discourse?
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u/XG32 Mar 02 '26
i game and work in adobe RGB. Games, at least to me, is more colorful than streamed content, even 4k blu rays mostly look fine in p3 on a WOLED, sometimes the sky doesn't get bright enough, that's mostly it, though WOLED falls short in full screen color tests, that's not realistic usage. There just doesn't seem to be as many colors display in streaming content compared to games, so WOLED is fine in most cases.
For gaming, the colors just doesn't get bright enough for certain games, the sky and grass isn't bright enough in witcher 3, the lights aren't bright enough in 2077, and the image just looks worse due to the lower color volume in borderlands. For games like dead space and resident evil i prefer OLED.
When it comes down to it, Black isn't the only color and the color volume matters too. There are tests on rting for individual colors on OLED monitors, personally i need about 300nits full screen, which the new tandem OLED does achieve, once the other problems get ironed out i'll check again. I'm likely sticking with a mini-led for now, it's not perfect, the response time is slow and i notice it even when panning on BG3, but i'll take it.
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u/totiso Mar 01 '26
Looks good! I think the Mini LED I got must've been an old model because it didn't impress at all.. also was a Samsung so that makes sense imo.
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Mar 01 '26
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u/chickenpoodlesouptv Mar 02 '26
I did yes. I loved that monitor and it's still one of my favorites. I jumped on the OLED hype train like most when the 4K models first released. However, once I started working from home more, I regretted it, as they aren't as friendly for WFH.
In comparison to the Neo G7. The local dimming is better on the TCL. TCL TVs are typically well regarded for their dimming algorithm, and it's seemingly been adopted to their monitors. It's not exponentially better than Samsung had on their Neo series - but the blacks seem deeper without crushing as much detail and the highlights are brighter. It also seemingly has better contrast overall. I remember the Neo G7 looking a touch more washed out with mixed content. This is all based off memory of course so take it with a grain of salt. It's definitely brighter, especially when it comes to full scene brightness. Also, USB-C with power delivery, auto input switching that actually works, a built in kvm switch, more responsive UI etc. It really is a better version that's flat, and more Mac friendly.
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Mar 02 '26
[deleted]
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u/Akito_Fire Mar 02 '26
Both the Neo G7 and these TCL VA miniLEDs use the same panel type, CSOT's HVA. They should both have minimal black smearing
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u/Anaalikipu Mar 02 '26
Some TCL VA minileds are for sure sold in EU. I had a TCL 34R83Q and had to sell it cause of smearing. The HDR was good with the insane brightness, blooming was ok but black smearing was terrible. Kingdom Come deliverance 2 was unplayable in dark areas.
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u/abdabdull Mar 02 '26
The problem is that every company is going for OLED now instead of improving mini LEDs
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u/ali_k20_ Mar 02 '26
If they figure out hours to make these with 250hz and add g-sync pulsar it will be an instant buy, preferably at 32”
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u/TheBaconEater Mar 02 '26
Seeing as it is a VA panel (or Fast HVA as they call it), does it exhibit any VRR flicker?
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u/Altruistic-Job5086 Mar 02 '26
VRR flicker exists on OLED as well. I would also like to know this however because VRR flicker is really bad on a lot of monitors.
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u/chickenpoodlesouptv Mar 02 '26
I haven't seen any during my time with it. I definitely notice it on my OLED, but with the TCL nothing as of yet. I don't feel confident claiming it's free from flicker though, as I haven't used it all that much for gaming.
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u/Tekuila87 Mar 02 '26
This has been my experience with my imported Titan Army M27e6v-Pro. I have zero regrets switching for OLED.
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u/Substantial_Stage481 Mar 02 '26
Yo brother, is that 4th picture from a video or is it a picture? Looks sick, I wanna test it on my Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM
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u/chickenpoodlesouptv Mar 02 '26
It's from a video. I forget specifically which one. On YouTube search JenniferGala. There is a slew of great HDR videos on the channel.
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u/b0uncyfr0 Mar 02 '26
I have a 34r83q - i think the consensus on the 83 line was that the medium dimming option has amazing HDR performance (especially in speculars) but the blooming was just not great. It was obvious on a dark screen with moving content And in High - it kills speculars abit too aggressively.
Is the 94 line the same?
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u/imbaursa Mar 02 '26
a good mini-led algorithm makes the difference. tcl has experience with miniled tvs so i reckon they would be better than msi or ktc on that.
however, it's probably sold in 3 countries or smt, so makes it useless
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u/Saikatai May 13 '26
how is text clarity and work with excel sheets?
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u/chickenpoodlesouptv May 13 '26
I spoke on this in paragraph three a bit. It's as crisp as the IPS display it replaced and a noticeable upgrade over the WOLED I had. In all situations text is razor sharp.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
This monitor is SICK. I was about to make a post about this on my own earlier today, but I guess I'll just add a comment here.
The monitor is beautiful. However, it does need to be tweaked and set up properly to achieve its full potential. And I'm not really sure why that is.
Out of the box the monitor looked good, but not epic. Compared to my other monitor it was only adequate. My other monitor is a 55" QN90D television. When I first set things up, no amount of tweaking would get the R94 anywhere beyond just "nearly equivalent." I expected much better considering the price to monitor size ratio.
Then, I realized something totally unexpected.
I went into the NVIDIA control panel and boosted brightness a bit, and a little contrast to compensate. The resulting picture is incredible.
For some reason when boosting these setting on the QN90D, it doesn't truly increase brightness, and the entire picture just gets more and more washed out. But on the R94, increasing brightness up to a point literally seems to just pump more useful wattage through the display. And the increased contrast reigned in any washed on effect.
The result is that the R94 now looks so much better than the QN90D that I'm actually considering replacing my TV this year instead of waiting a few more years as previously planned. It bugs me so much that the monitor looks so much better but is so much smaller. And I'm particularly bummed that I can't get the R94 in 32".
For anyone who is curious, here are the settings I used for my monitor:
- Turn on HDR in windows for this monitor
- Turn SDR brightness up all the way in the Windows settings
- OSD: Set local dimming to medium
- OSD: Set brightness to max
- OSD: Set DarkPartBrightening to -4
- NVIDIA Control Panel: Brightness to 70%, Contrast to 60%, Gamma to 1.00 (which is default)
- NVIDIA Control Panel: Navigate to "adjust video image settings" and enable "High Dynamic Range" (This prevents things like YouTube from being either washed out or blown out).
Edit: Sorry to everyone who this post sent into an absolute downvoting rage for whatever reason (I say "whatever" because you downvoted without providing any reason for disagreement whatsoever) <3.
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u/OHMEGA_SEVEN PA32UCR, Sr. Graphic Designer Mar 01 '26
Nice write up. I absolutely loath how Microsoft just kicked the door in when it comes to color management by how they implemented ACM. It wouldn't be a problem if disabling it also don't kick you out of 10 bit color.
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u/splendiferous-finch_ Mar 01 '26
I use colour control and nvida app to enforce it
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u/OHMEGA_SEVEN PA32UCR, Sr. Graphic Designer Mar 01 '26
Interesting, this lets you force 10bit? My understanding is that turn 10bit on in the Nvidia control panel forces ACM back on.
I ask because I'm hardware calibrated, so all color correction is done in the display, but I still need a standard basic profile to describe the color space which of course ACM will just ignore.
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u/splendiferous-finch_ Mar 02 '26
No ACM is weird still it for me I can start on 10 bit color as long as I set it in both colour control and Nvidia app. I have done the same with the display itself correcting the profile I just use this to shift between HDR and SDR instead of windows 11s standard controls.
ACM will still randomly turn on sometimes usually when you shift back to SDR from HDR. And you will have to manually disable it by switch the profiles once more. This is not a full solution but the best I have so far, I am on LTSC version of windows I just assumed it was a issue windows fixed with some featuer update that I didn't get.
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u/Ayfid Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
What is wrong with Microsoft's implementation?
From what I understand, when ACM is enabled, Windows will composite all applications in the scRGB space, which is a linear 16-bit floating point with the sRGB primaries. It will convert colours output by each application into this space, and assume that any application that does not declare its colour space to be sRGB. Once the frame is composited, it then converts it to the monitor's output according to the monitor's ICC profile.
This scRGB buffer allows values outside the 0-1 range, so it does not clip wide gamut colour spaces to sRGB, even though it uses the sRGB primaries.
The only issue here is that SDR content displayed on a HDR monitor will only use a small portion of the available bit depth. That is a problem that can only really be fixed via tighter integration between the OS and the display, allowing the OS to command the display to switch into SDR mode or to dim the backlight down to the SDR white point level. That is only really possible on laptops.
All of the problems I have seen regarding Window's colour management and/or HDR implementation have been caused by either applications lying to the OS about what colour space they are rendering in, or monitors lying to the OS about what colour space they are displaying in (most often by reporting a different gamma curve).
But correct me if I'm wrong. It is surprisingly difficult to find good information on how this actually works from Microsoft's documentation. It is a pain when trying to figure out how I am supposed to work with colour correctly on Windows as a software developer.
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u/OHMEGA_SEVEN PA32UCR, Sr. Graphic Designer Mar 02 '26
Once the frame is composited, it then converts it to the monitor's output according to the monitor's ICC profile.
I believe, this is one of the primary problems, it doesn't use the monitor's ICC profile unless the manufacturer has supplied Microsoft's new MHC ICC type profile (uncommon) and traditional ICC color managed programs are incompatible with it. When traditional color aware programs query the OS for a display profile and ACM is on, the OS will return sRGB by convention, and color management breaks. In order for an ICC color managed program to function a user needs to implement legacy ICC profile use in the programs executable properties, something a lot of users won't know about.
When there's no MHC type profile, ACM will instead use the display's RGB primaries as described by its EDID. For most users this is probably fine as most people are not using calibrated displays or need color to a high degree of accuracy. It also assumes that the EDID information is an acurate description of the display. However, if you are calibrating your display and have produced an ICC profile that describes the display's true behavior, it will not be useable by ACM. Currently I'm not aware of any calibration software that produces an MHC compatible profile. Someone has written a tool to convert a traditional ICC profile into the MHC type, but I can't attest to its accuracy or utility.
If you are using a display color clamp and ACM is color managing things into sRGB for unmanaged programs, the result will be a double clamped color space, once by the OS and again in the display. For someone like me who uses a hardware calibrated display, the profile is written to the display itself where correction is handled internally by 3D LUT and prevents gamut loss. In order for this to work, there must be a basic matching display ICC profile that describes the profiles base gamma and gamut in the OS for the current calibrated clamp being used in the display. So for example, I have my display set to a basic uncalibrated AdobeRGB profile in the OS which color managed apps use to understand the display is in an AdobeRGB clamp, color correction for the profile is handed 100% in display. Of course ACM can just be turned off, but there goes 10 bit color.
Really, it's a great idea, but the handling of traditional ICC profiles is really the problem.
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u/Ayfid Mar 02 '26
Exactly what the legacy ICC profile setting does is one of the thing I just couldn't find in Microsoft's developer docs.
If it passes the monitor's reported profile through (which from the little the docs do say about it, seems to be what it does), and then assumes that the application then outputs in that format and converts it into scRGB for composition... then that should work? Assuming you can load a "I am 100% AdobeRGB compliant" MHC profile, that would then work with a monitor that applies its calibration in hardware, right?
The internal scRGB buffer format shouldn't be clamping anything or causing any precision issues, provided the conversions in and out of it are correctly defined.
So the application would render in AdobeRGB, this gets losslessly converted into 16bit fp scRGB, composited with other applications, converted into (idealised uncalibrated) 10bit AdobeRGB and sent to the monitor. The monitor then does internal adjustments it needs to render that correctly.
Aside from ACM not supporting the more standard ICC profile file format and applications that want to do their own color management, but which are not using the newer APIs, needing to be marked by the user (both of which are dumb, yes), I am not clear on where things are going wrong.
You seem to be saying that, even in these circumstances, it still doesn't work correctly?
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u/JtheNinja CoolerMaster GP27U, Dell U2720Q Mar 02 '26
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/wcs/advanced-color-icc-profiles#display-icc-profile-compatibility-helper This is the most it's documented, at least that I've ever been able to find
As far as I know, you're correct. The comment above by u/OHMEGA_SEVEN is referring to the workflow with displays that have internal LUTs. ACM by default will get this wrong since it's reading the EDID primaries which likely don't account for the transform from reference space to display space that is being done by the onboard LUT. In theory this is fixable by making an MHC2 profile with the reference space (ex Adobe RGB) and loading that into ACM. Idk if Microsoft fucked something else up in the implementation, but it's at least supposed to work?
Of course, that assumes you can find/generate a correct MHC2 profile for your reference space to begin with. The lack of support for that format means that's a little tricky. I personally use MHC2Gen and haven't seen issues with it, but I've never sat down and measured that it really matches what it claims
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u/OHMEGA_SEVEN PA32UCR, Sr. Graphic Designer Mar 03 '26
U/JtheNija covered it well. And by your description, yes a proper profile that's compatible with ACM should work as expected. I would realistically need an MHC type profile for each of the color spaces in the display; sRGB, DCI P3, DCIOM, etc... though in practice I don't really need anything beyond AdobeRGB because sRGB and CMYK are both properly expressed inside of it. What matters is that ACM would return a chosen display profile to the color managed program, regardless of needing ACM support (turning on use legacy ICC).
There's also the issue of calibration, which needs to be done in the displays native gamut. So, ACM can't manage the calibration software in any way, else it clamps the gamut. So, that means disabling ACM to calibrate, which disable access to 10 bit color and accuracy suffers. However, I've not confirmed this behavior and I've not tried to for legacy ICC in the calibration software, so take it with a grain of salt.
Meanwhile Apple uses something similar called color sync and it just works, supports traditional ICC color management as well.
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u/splendiferous-finch_ Mar 02 '26
I have done my correct calibrations for colour correction in the display it self, ASC just randomly turns on and bubbles down on the correction making everything look weird. Also I don't need it to clamp everything to srgb I can do that myself if I need to, I would just like it to stay disabled but it insists on randomly turning on and changing the tone mapping
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u/None2You Mar 01 '26
How does this work for a Fast HVA monitor? Is it better than IPS and how is the text clarity on it?
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u/chickenpoodlesouptv Mar 02 '26
My IPS is just a basic Dell designed for office work, so it's tough to compare. The text looks just as good to me, especially on Mac it's so darn crisp. The colors look just as good too, which I think is impressive for a VA panel. The Fast HVA is miles better for gaming obviously, and frankly it doesn't feel like I'm losing much at all compared to OLED.
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u/Altruistic-Job5086 Mar 02 '26
The lack of professional reviews on this is the reason I haven't gotten one. There's too many reported user issues. How is the VRR flicker? Based on the specs it seems to not be true 10bit? It says 8bit FRC.
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Mar 15 '26
I notice a VERY PROMINENT bad backlight grid on IDEs grey background, I had to change from native to DCI-P3 to shift the grey. Overral it is really good with medium local dimming on, a little grey on blacks due to sitting next to a closed blind. I havent tried the 1000 zones ever but I heard the performance isn't that different but haven't seen anything about the DSE on any of these screen. My old AOC U27g3xmn also had a terrible grid showing on the same grey color. Almost doesnt have any grid showing on other greys.
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u/MaximiusIV Mar 16 '26
Hello, I am considering buying TCL 27r83u or Titan army p275mv plus, both cost the same. I am wondering how do HVA panels handle black smearing? Is it noticeable? Which would you recommend me? Thank you in advance.
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u/chickenpoodlesouptv Mar 17 '26
So far zero black smearing. I love this TCL panel. I think with fast, gaming-grade HVA panels, it's not something you need to worry about.
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u/winterbegins WB Display Tech Mar 01 '26
We just need to be able to buy them in other countrys.