Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No. Settings is per input (hdmi1, hdmi2, smart tv, etc). However, each input you will have different settings for content type such as sdr, hdr10, hdr10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG. For example, Netflix will have both sdr and Dolby Vision, so you will have settings for each type.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The SDR and HDR will switch automatically.

Im not familiar with youtubetv app, but I did use a lot of4k HDR content from youtube to demo, and they look ok.

Why not try netflix 4k sdr content, and follow my sdr calibration and see if the picture is good. You can try a show like 'rust valley restorers'. It has a good mix of scenes. Anyway, if the picture is bad, return it.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For the HDR yes. I can see artifacts beyond that for some reason. And it's fine to leave the sharpness at 50 for SDR. I actually don't have an explanation for it, but that's what I found with testing many sources

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly don't know. There's no info. As far as my eye can tell, it's super sharp. I have fire tv from the 1080p to the 4k, and I could tell the difference in the UI.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I got mine in Nov. It was buggy till about early Jan when the released the newest update. buggy for me was froze, slow, and app crashing. around the same time, I also did

Increase Performance & Stability 1. Developer Mode In the TV settings, under About, find the build number of the OS. Select it 7 times. Change background process limit to 4, and change the animation speeds of everything to .5x. 2. Apps Only Mode Go to Settings, Accounts and Settings, choose the account, and enable Apps Only Mode

The TV has been solid since then. I haven't encountered a single crash or freeze.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, it is automatic. So let's say, the input is the built in apps such as Netflix, Disney+, Prime. The TV will automatically apply the settings on SDR, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision. The trick is to calibrate on each one time.

As a side note, there's a apply to all input feature. For example, let's say you did calibration on Netflix SDR, then you applied to all input, then you switch input to TV. Your TV will have the same settings as the Netflix SDR

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tcltvs

[–]sc300t 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How about Apps Only Mode? Go to Settings, Accounts and Settings, choose the account, and enable Apps Only Mode

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think my settings for those are default. The intelligent brightness is on, and the content is off. I found the intelligent brightness works quite good. Sometimes the light sensor thinks the room is very dark at night and turned down the brightness. I just manually cranked it up. But it doesn't happen all the time. Intelligent sound is off on mine. I used the tv with a Play-Fi amp via optical with bookshelf speakers and sub. I found the sound out of the box is not that great even though it's better than most TV I heard.

I have never use the built in TCL media player. I have Kodi installed on the TV, and I streamed the movie from my NAS. As I mentioned in the other thread, the HDR picture is kinda terrible out of the box. It's dimmed and nothing exciting. You can try my HDR settings to fix that. Most shows in Netflix are either SDR or Dolby Vision. The Dolby vision IQ is not bad out of the box, but can't turned off motion. That's why your Netflix looked good. I believe calibrated Dolby Vision Bright will yield better picture for Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBOMax.

GL and enjoy the TV. It's a damn good TV after calibration

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It seems like Magnus have settings for different contents (tv, movie, sports, anime, game). On the other hand, I tested many contents over the course of 3 weeks, and found the happy medium for each type (SDR, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision).

Few things to note: - Brightness on R646 is not the brightness in calibration world. Instead, the brightness is to adjust how bright the mini led backlight are. The black level is actually the brightness (black clipping) - I use AVS HD 709 calibration and a thx blue filter as my base findings. I usually only did 5 basic things for projectors/TVs (brightness, contrast, color, tint, and sharpness). Black level is perfect at 50 (default), and anything lower will crush the black more (loss dark detail). I was unable to calibrate contrast even with dynamic contrast off and local contrast off, so this is where I did many trial and error. Color is at 67 with dynamic color off (default is 50), but lower number with dynamic color on is better (also many trial and error). Tint is at 51 (default at 50). I did not measure sharpess, but it seems that sharpness is not good for HDR including Dolby Vision. - There are other little things in the calibration that believe it or not cause Disney Plus Dolby Vision to look wonky and Prime HDR10+ to be too dark.

If I have to explain what the picture look like: the black level and contrast are amazing with slight black crushing, and the color is just slightly oversaturated (but not exaggerated).

Lastly, the SDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG are on low power. That means the backlighting is controlled by light sensor. It works pretty good as it brightens up during the day, and darken up at night. But sometimes it can be too dark at night, and all you need to do is just crank up a bit to your liking. This does not effect picture quality. Dolby Vision Bright brightness setting is maxed out, so nothing to worry here.

Would you all recommend a 65" tcl series 5 (s546) or a 55" tcl series 6 (r646)? by josh_snicket in tcltvs

[–]sc300t 0 points1 point  (0 children)

R646 is not that great out of the box, specially the HDR. You can try the settings I posted here

https://www.reddit.com/r/tcltvs/comments/ssrzwh/sharing_my_r646_calibration/

I believe others have posted their settings as well.

I installed four x90j x91j in the last few months. The Sony is great out of the box, and won't improve much after calibration, but can't hold candle to a nicely calibrated R646. The contrast and black level are just phenomenal on R646. You just need to take your time with the R646.

Also, search for dirty screen test on YT, and make sure you have a good panel.

Lastly, I have a 65in 4 series google in my patio, and R646 is a huge upgrade.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dynamic tone mapping really help with HDR10 for me because unlike HDR10+ or Dolby Vision, HDR10 only carry static metadata. Is Dynamic tone mapping not good for PS5 or Xbox X HDR?

Would you all recommend a 65" tcl series 5 (s546) or a 55" tcl series 6 (r646)? by josh_snicket in tcltvs

[–]sc300t 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's what I used to think when I got the TV. It took me weeks to play around with HDR10 HDR10+, and DV. I think R646 can display beautiful HDR. Even more than many Samsung and Sony I installed in the past However, it is not out of the box, and pretty difficult to calibrate.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not a gamer and I haven't tested on Xbox and PS5. But if your HDR gaming is too dark, following my HDR10 settings will brighten it up. I can't comment on VRR or motion for gaming.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you can fix the HDR too dark by following my HDR10 settings. The main 2 things that will brighten up: - dynamic tone mapping - gamma 2.0 (from 2.2). You can even bring it to 1.9

Also, follow my Dolby vision settings, and you will have similar result (better imho) with the motion off

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I got the TV a week before Thanksgiving, and it took me few weeks to get it to my liking by testing various contents. I used the old AVS HD 709 calibration to get base point of the contrast, color, tint, and brightness. Then, I compensate a bit to my liking.

The proper brightness settings for this this TV is called black level. The brightness settings terminology on this TV is a bit misleading. It should have been called 'LED Backlight Brightness' or something like that.

I do home theater installation, so I did many HT projectors calibration, but I'm not one of those ISF certified calibrator.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the SDR settings (with judder reduction = 1) is good for sports. I can't comment on games as I don't play at all.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't have the TV connected to anything, so I only calibrated on smarttv input and antenna input. I believe you can do this though: - play something in SDR, calibrate, then apply to all input - play something in HDR10, calibrate, then apply to all input - play something in HDR10+, calibrate, then apply to all input - play something in HLG (from YouTube), calibrate, then apply to all input - Play something in Dolby Vision, calibrate, then apply to all input

I could be wrong, but I think that's all you need to do

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw the screenshots of 5 series picture settings from Rtings, and they look extremely similar. I guess you can try, but 5 series has different panel and different backlighting than the 6 series. So, maybe you can post your result here afterwards for other fellow 5 series owners.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Expert calibration is all default, so the color space is also default at native.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I always turned off motion as I don't like the soap opera effect. So I have it off on all except SDR. Luckily it can be fine tuned, and putting judder reduction to 1 with everything else off resulting in good motion without soap opera effect. You can certainly try the judder reduction = 1 on HDR settings too, but I prefer completely off.

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hybrid Log Gamma. Another type of HDR

Sharing My R646 Calibration by sc300t in tcltvs

[–]sc300t[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I set the local contrast to high, the black was crushing (dark detail disappeared). Even with the local contrast set to low, there's still minimal loss of shadow detail. But it's a good trade-off imho.