00:00:00
I'm not sure if you know this but in the
00:00:02
ISF CA which trains calibrators it's
00:00:05
often thought that contrast is the most
00:00:08
important attribute of picture quality
00:00:10
and the 75 in TCL c855 I'm reviewing
00:00:14
today is a mini LED contrast King let me
00:00:17
explain why one it uses a v type LCD
00:00:21
panel that boast a native contrast ratio
00:00:23
of 7,000 to1 as measured on a 4x4 UNC
00:00:27
checkerboard pattern with local dimming
00:00:29
disabled Which is higher than that we've
00:00:31
recorded on any other non-cl mini LED TV
00:00:34
so far this is helped in no small part
00:00:38
by tcl's decision to refrain from
00:00:40
implementing a viewing angle
00:00:41
compensation filter which would have not
00:00:43
only lowered the negative contrast but
00:00:46
also introduced distracting rainbow
00:00:48
Reflections across a larger area on
00:00:50
screen when hit by light two the 75 in
00:00:54
TCL c855 is equipped with
00:00:58
2,160 independently zones in a 60 * 36
00:01:02
grid translating to the highest number
00:01:05
of local dimming zones we've counted on
00:01:07
the 75in mini LED TV and three tcl's
00:01:11
local dimming algorithm prioritizes
00:01:13
achieving higher contrast over
00:01:15
preserving picture accuracy so overall
00:01:18
you should see inkar blacks and less
00:01:20
blooming artifacts than competing non-
00:01:22
TCL mini LED televisions on the market
00:01:26
however to obtain such a result certain
00:01:29
compromisers would have to be made such
00:01:31
as some crushing of Shadow detail not to
00:01:34
mention small bright elements being
00:01:36
deemed down against a dark background to
00:01:38
minimize halation which is also
00:01:41
responsible for a viting effect at the
00:01:44
periphery of bright objects on screen
00:01:47
next colors now calibration software
00:01:51
providers portrait displays and in
00:01:53
particular light illusion have worked
00:01:55
with TCL to add support for 3D light
00:01:58
calibration but we think it a bit of an
00:02:00
Overkill because similar to recent TCL
00:02:03
TVs we tested to date engaging local
00:02:07
dimming on the c855 would cause the
00:02:09
luminance gamma and color temperature to
00:02:12
vary between different window sizes and
00:02:14
apls which means that even though you
00:02:17
have calibrated the TV to Perfection on
00:02:19
a 10% window the resulting luminance and
00:02:22
color accuracy won't transfer across to
00:02:25
real world content in a faithful manner
00:02:27
anyway the same phenomenon can be seen
00:02:30
in hdr10 mode 2 where the eotf could
00:02:33
track fairly close to PQ after
00:02:36
calibration on a 10% window but then
00:02:39
would measure significantly brighter
00:02:41
than reference on a slightly larger 15%
00:02:44
window as a direct Consequence the TCL
00:02:47
c855 would display most HDR scenes in a
00:02:50
noticeably brighter manner than what's
00:02:52
presented by a Sony HX 3110 mastering
00:02:55
monitor therefore deviating from the
00:02:58
creative intent respect calibrator Mach
00:03:01
coper of vb.tv in Poland who reviewed
00:03:05
the c855 a few months ago tipped me off
00:03:08
that you can use the hdrp brightness
00:03:10
setting in the picture menu to adjust
00:03:12
the tone curve and after a lot of
00:03:15
experimentation since the measurement
00:03:17
charts did not reflect real world
00:03:19
presentation anyway entering a figure of
00:03:22
5,000 nits on our review unit got it
00:03:25
reasonably close to reference in terms
00:03:27
of APL across many HDR titles
00:03:30
although this would also cause darker
00:03:33
portions of the image to look more
00:03:34
washed out and lacking in Shadow detail
00:03:38
this is unfortunately a limitation of
00:03:40
tcl's local dimming algorithm that
00:03:42
cannot be rectified through picture
00:03:44
settings
00:03:45
adjustments when it came to actual
00:03:47
measurements the TCL c855 featured an
00:03:51
undefeatable boost mode that could
00:03:52
temporarily Drive hdrp brightness to
00:03:55
above 4,000 nits for a few seconds
00:03:57
before settling down at around 20 400
00:04:00
nits on a 10% window after calibration
00:04:02
to d65 White Point full screen luminance
00:04:06
was 800 nits which should be more than
00:04:09
bright enough to overcome ambient light
00:04:11
in even the sunniest UK living room dcip
00:04:14
sh col gut coverage came in at 97% in UV
00:04:18
terms whereas R 2020 coverage was
00:04:22
78% with the underlying spectral power
00:04:24
distribution showing beautifully
00:04:26
distinct red green and blue paks typical
00:04:29
of quantum dot
00:04:30
technology besides Vila hdr10 and hlg
00:04:35
the TCL c855 also supports HDR 10 plus
00:04:38
and Dolby Vision Dynamic metadata
00:04:41
formats however even in the most
00:04:44
accurate Dolby Vision dark picture
00:04:46
preset the Doby Vision presentation was
00:04:49
far too bright according to both
00:04:51
objective measurements and subjective
00:04:53
viewing using a 4,000 knit reference
00:04:55
monitor displaying the hdr10 version as
00:04:58
Benchmark which unfort fortunately
00:05:00
couldn't be rectified using the
00:05:01
aforementioned hdrp brightness trick
00:05:04
since the setting isn't even available
00:05:07
in Doby Vision mode even with motion
00:05:09
Clarity disabled the TCL c855 correctly
00:05:13
performed 55 pull down to display slow
00:05:16
panning shots in 24 frames per second
00:05:18
movies with a telesonic judder engaging
00:05:21
motion Clarity would unlock further
00:05:23
motion processing options namely LED
00:05:26
motion clear backlight scanning as well
00:05:28
as blurry reduction and J reduction
00:05:31
motion interpolation settings which are
00:05:33
independently adjustable to enhance
00:05:36
motion Clarity or smoothness
00:05:37
respectively depending on your
00:05:40
requirements tcl's motion algorithm was
00:05:43
still not as polished as that seen on a
00:05:46
brands with the c855 exhibiting the odd
00:05:49
micro stutter immediately after scene
00:05:51
Cuts in 50 HZ football broadcast even
00:05:55
with motion Clarity set to off the same
00:05:58
can be said of the upscaling quality on
00:06:01
the
00:06:02
c855 where up conversion of this SM
00:06:05
smpte rp33 test card looked slightly
00:06:08
softer and noisier than TVs from
00:06:10
Japanese and South Korean manufacturers
00:06:13
but at least overscan can be disabl with
00:06:16
standard definition
00:06:17
content thanks to the implementation of
00:06:20
a new medatech pentonic 700 chipset
00:06:23
native 10bit gradation was supremely
00:06:25
impressive on the TCL
00:06:27
c855 outperforming even the pricier Sony
00:06:31
Bravia 9 in dark gradiation for instance
00:06:34
during this low light sequence from the
00:06:36
4K Blu-ray of the Green Knight when
00:06:38
played in HDR 10 furthermore our 75 in
00:06:42
TCL c855 review unit was one of the
00:06:45
cleanest mini LED TVs have come across
00:06:48
when it comes to screen uniformity
00:06:50
manifesting minimal bending and 30
00:06:52
screen effect on full field gray slids
00:06:55
though the sides appeared noticeably
00:06:56
tinted and darker owing to the narrower
00:06:59
viewing angle Les of the VA type LCD
00:07:01
panel in game mode input leg measured 15
00:07:05
milliseconds at 60 frames per second
00:07:07
which could be reduced further to 9.5
00:07:10
milliseconds by setting refresh rate to
00:07:12
Performance mode that essentially
00:07:14
performs frame doubling to 120 FPS
00:07:17
feeding the TCL c855 a true 120 frames
00:07:21
per second video signal resulted in an
00:07:23
impressively low input L of 5.5
00:07:26
milliseconds but that's a catch you see
00:07:30
on the latest firmware version at the
00:07:32
time we tested this TV in November
00:07:35
2024 engaging local dimming even on the
00:07:39
least aggressive low setting would
00:07:42
increase input lag by almost 18
00:07:44
milliseconds making the 75 c855
00:07:47
uncompetitive for playing fast action
00:07:50
games if you want to enjoy Inky blacks
00:07:52
and better picture quality otherwise the
00:07:55
new biach pentonic 700 s so not only
00:07:58
allowed for for 4 K 120 HZ do Vision
00:08:01
gaming from the Xbox series X but also
00:08:04
yielded smoother gradation on the
00:08:06
display HDR app as well as full 444
00:08:10
chroma at 4K 144 HZ three upgrades over
00:08:14
last year's c845 we tested without a
00:08:17
pentonic chipset as before only two out
00:08:21
of four HDMI ports supported the full
00:08:23
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth of 48 gbits per
00:08:26
second thankfully TCL has at least
00:08:29
managed to migrate e functionality to
00:08:32
one of the two 4K 60 HZ HDMI 2.0 PS on
00:08:35
the c855 This truly freeing up the two
00:08:38
HDMI1 PS for those intending to use e
00:08:41
with an external Soundbar or home
00:08:42
theater system when it came to adjusting
00:08:46
the HD values in the HDR calibration
00:08:48
screen on the Xbox series X the TCL c855
00:08:52
clipped at 900 nits which is much
00:08:54
earlier than expected given the TV's
00:08:56
measured Peak brightness likely caused
00:08:59
by by tcl's hdr10 algorithm which tended
00:09:02
to over brighten the picture VR
00:09:05
including Nvidia g-sync worked well to
00:09:07
eliminate tearing and frame drops and
00:09:10
unlike on olet TVs with the lower black
00:09:12
floor VR flicker was virtually
00:09:15
non-existent on the TCL c855 when tested
00:09:18
using this challenging intro from tell
00:09:21
me why at the back of the TV you can
00:09:24
find an onio branded woofer and upfiring
00:09:27
speakers which contribute to the on
00:09:29
board 2.1.2 sound system delivering
00:09:32
above average audio by TV standards with
00:09:35
decent base and volume sufficient for
00:09:38
casual viewing listening to feedback TCL
00:09:41
has made the mute icon go away a few
00:09:44
seconds after muting the volume but
00:09:46
there were still a few software quirks
00:09:49
do not be tempted to switch apply all
00:09:52
picture mode from the default factory
00:09:53
setting of current source to all Source
00:09:56
otherwise the SDR brightness value will
00:09:59
car car over to HDR and vice versa
00:10:03
interestingly the W Vision picture modes
00:10:05
are not equipped with the apply all
00:10:07
picture mode setting so occasionally the
00:10:10
lower SDR brightness value would carry
00:10:13
over to Dolby Vision requiring manual
00:10:16
adjustments to unlock the highest peak
00:10:18
brightness which can be pretty
00:10:20
frustrating at times in addition the go
00:10:24
to last input option would occasionally
00:10:27
have no effect on our review unit with
00:10:29
the the latest firmware installed
00:10:31
causing the TV to default to the Google
00:10:34
TV home screen from time to time upon
00:10:36
power up let's summarize the TCL c855 is
00:10:41
a highly speced mini LED TV providing
00:10:45
several Hardware upgrades over last
00:10:47
year's
00:10:48
c845 such as higher Peak brightness more
00:10:51
local dimming zones and most importantly
00:10:54
a new beatch pentonic 700 chipset which
00:10:57
brings smoother native 10 gradation and
00:11:00
4K 144 HZ do Vision gaming support among
00:11:03
other things the TV also features a vype
00:11:07
LCD panel with the highest native
00:11:10
contrast ratio on the market quantum dot
00:11:12
colors and multi HDR support yet somehow
00:11:16
this 75 in model cost just a smidgen
00:11:19
over1 15500 in the UK and so the TCL
00:11:23
c855 receives our recommended best value
00:11:27
award now at this price you have to
00:11:30
understand that the c855 would't be the
00:11:32
last word in picture accuracy and video
00:11:35
processing its motion handling and
00:11:37
upscaling were not as refined as those
00:11:40
observed on a Brands while its HDR
00:11:43
presentation tended to deviate from the
00:11:45
creative intent due to the company's
00:11:48
aggressive local dimming algorithm and
00:11:51
of course no mini LED TV can match the
00:11:54
blacks and Shadow detail accuracy of
00:11:56
olet televisions that boast pixel level
00:11:59
light control but some of you may still
00:12:02
prefer to buy a mini LED TV over an OLED
00:12:05
TV especially in light of several issues
00:12:08
which are unique to olad which I've
00:12:10
covered in this video you can watch by
00:12:12
clicking here
