TCL's New Thunderbird TVs: 5000-Nit Brightness and 300Hz Gaming Mode Redefine Home Entertainment
Company TCL announced a new series of Thunderbird brand TVs, and contrary to the modern trend, the manufacturer focuses on hardware features rather than AI functions.
What is known
The new Crane 7 Pro TV lineup includes four models with screen sizes ranging from 65 to 98 inches. The main feature of the series is the QD-Mini LED Butterfly Wing HVA matrix — an improved VA panel with a static contrast of 7000:1, providing deep blacks and a high level of detail in dark scenes.
TCL Thunderbird Crane 7 Pro is equipped with an anti-glare coating that reduces reflection levels to 1.8%, enhancing viewing comfort in bright lighting conditions.
The 98” model uses a Mini LED backlighting system with 3840 local dimming zones. The peak brightness reaches 5000 nits in XDR mode. For comparison, many standard TVs provide brightness in the range of 500–800 nits. The Quantum Dot Pro 2026 technology allows coverage of up to 98% of the DCI-P3 color space, ensuring rich and accurate color reproduction.
The audio system is developed in collaboration with Onkyo and has a 2.2.2 configuration with eight speakers. It supports Dolby Atmos and IMAX Enhanced formats.
TVs display images at 4K resolution with a 150Hz refresh rate. In VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) mode, the frequency can increase to 300Hz, making the TCL models optimal for connecting modern gaming consoles.
For gamers, the following are provided:
- four HDMI 2.1 ports;
- support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro smoothing technology;
- automatic low latency mode (ALLM);
- MEMC technology for improved motion smoothness.
The TVs are powered by the MediaTek MT9655 chipset. The devices are equipped with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage, ensuring stable operation of the interface and Smart TV applications.
The Lingkong UI 3.0 is used as the software shell, positioned as a system without built-in ads.
Pre-orders are already open in China. The price for the 65” version starts at $690 (converted from yuan). The official launch of the series is scheduled for March 12. It is expected that in the future the TVs may appear in international markets under the TCL brand.
Source: Gizmochina
