I want to thank everyone for watching this video and for all the comments! I have ( I think ) read them all and thought I would reply here rather than attempt to answer all of you individually. 1) I understand that our poll results are likely skewed and reflective more of an enthusiast percentage rather than reflecting the general population. As stated in the video, the poll was run on our community page as well as on our other social media channels combining for over 9,000 entries resulting in the 93% figure discussed in the video. No doubt, had I parked myself outside a Best Buy for a week and polled 9,000 random consumers the percentage would've likely been higher if not 100%. I think the point I was trying to make though was clear and that you all understood, but yes, many of you are correct in your comment regarding our poll being more of an enthusiast one. 2) With respect to showing before and after calibration results. This is something we already do and have done in all of our TV reviews going back (I think ) 3 years now. If you want to see the before and after numbers for the TCL Q750 they're here: 05:54 By asking for change or what we should do, I was simply putting it out there that maybe there is a better way to "discuss" out of the box performance rather than distilling it down to a number or two that are going to be ambiguous to most. I haven't settled on what to do just yet, but I sincerely appreciate ALL of your thoughtful feedback on the matter and honestly am overwhelmed by the response! You all rock! 3) As for sharing calibration settings. While in theory this is a good idea, it actually doesn't work. There are literally thousands of parts that go into a TV (let alone the backlighting tech itself) and all of these parts have tolerances +/- that are acceptable to the manufacturing process and that would pass QC and allow the TV to be sold to you the consumer. Let's say TV A is perfect, as in ZERO deviation across the board from the factory standard and TV B is 9% off. If I get TV B for review and calibrate it to "perfection" not knowing that my calibration is ALSO accounting for and correcting a 9% skew and then I share those figures with you and you apply them to TV A, guess what, I've just introduced a 9 to 9+% error to your TV effectively making it worse. It's not that my TV (TV B) was bad, it wasn't, it performed within manufacturer tolerances, but by calibrating it to broadcast or HDR standards when compared to itself, I corrected those deficiencies. Passing those figures on to you may have just quasi added them to your display, which is not ideal. Now image if TV A had a 5% margin of error and TV B had a 10%. By passing my corrected figures on to TV A based on TV B, maybe TV A gets "fixed" and maybe it gets 10% worse leaving TV A with a margin of error of say 15%. This is a very basic way of looking at things and this is a VERY SIMPLE example, but hopefully you all get my point. 3b) Now calibration at the factory works because in theory every TV would be measured to the same baseline versus to themselves which is what happens with an in-home calibration. In this instance, so long as the baseline was broadcast or industry standard, every TV that rolled off the line would conform to it. This would be more ideal though potentially time consuming and/or costly, nevertheless, it's doable. 4) As for the director's intent. While directors, directors of photography and colorists in Hollywood can and often alter colors in an attempt to convey a certain look and emotion, know that those colors are still based on and fall within a color space which has standards. If the filmmaker wants the color blue to be more muted rather than royal, that's intentional and part of the mood and emotion of the scene. While you may prefer a richer, more saturated blue, know that by changing the picture to reflect your wants/needs you are changing the intent and possibly even altering the emotion and feel of the film. Imagine taking the film Se7en and bumping up the brightness, contrast and saturation to such a degree that there is virtually no shadows left and the color looks more Barbie movie than thriller? Are the seven deadly sins and John Doe as menacing then? I get that we all want our TVs to look as great as we know them to be, but I stand by my remarks that just because you can make an image look however you essentially want, that doesn't mean you should. Conversely if you don't like the way a film is colored, that doesn't mean the filmmakers are bad or trying to deceive you. Thank you again for watching and for indulging me in my group response. I hope this helps clear things up and answer some of the more common questions that I've seen as a result of this video. Have a great rest of your day! -Andrew
Yeah, the number of folks who calibrate their TVs is probably way lower than 7% and probably less than 1%. I always wonder why the Light Sensor is never reviewed because it's like having the same volume at all times (and Sony's new true tone on their high-end models). The ability to properly light or dim the display as lighting conditions change during the day might be more important than calibration, not to mention make for a much more enjoyable viewing. Imagine listening to 100db sound at night - one'd go deaf but it would be fine if one is trying to hear the dialogue while someone's moving the lawn outside. I think with HDR, the light sensor is even more important with the exception of models that still can't handle HDR but that number is growing everyday as they add more lights.
Personally, I would love a tutorial that covers the very basics of adjusting your general TV settings to and progressively more advanced techniques. Which would involve more professional hardware and software for beginners. Trying to find a guide or tutorial that lays out how to go about becoming a more advanced user for personal use is hard to come by. I watch a lot of TV you-tubers and none of them have tutorials that expand beyond just making TV adjustments from the stock device.
Hi! I think that a reviewer should always measure a TV with specialised equipment. Than to present the viewer the results and and if those results are consistent across the range as the TV is a factory calibrated one or if those results may vary largely so they are not actually indicative of all retail samples. Professional calibration results should be done or discussed or presented only for TVs above a certain value....let's say that a calibration cost should not exceed 15% of the TVs price. Even if the overall majority of customers does not calibrate a TV all customer may tinker with some settings...brightness, contrast, back-light, some advanced picture settings...so you should recommend some settings. In the end if there 's an easy, layman's, quick calibration method you should show it in your review...for example a calibration with and app on the phone or something similar and very easy and at no additional cost...and of course with a final result that should be better than just changing brightness or simple settings. And that should be all for a normal consumer TV with a price that does not justify the additional cost of a professional calibration. I think it's pretty obvious and common sense. 1. Very few even from the enthusiast crowd are calibrating a TV. 2. For a sub 2,000 eur TV to pay 300 to 500 eur for a calibration is wrong as you can go and buy a higher tier TV with better results. 3. For the majority regions of the world you can not find a professional calibrator. Regards,
Please continue giving the before, and after even though less than 10% of buyers at any price point, as a whole, will ever calibrate. Thank you for what you always do.
Slight variation on that theme: given that the standards are objective and measurable, would be good to know how far off the standard various TVs may be out of the box.
One of the first things I do to a new TV, after giving it a little break in time, is to have it professionally calibrated. I only have a sample of two plasmas and one OLED but the difference has always been worth it even though I probably couldn’t exactly describe the differences. I just know things look more natural and better.
I'll add another vote for judging a TV not for LITERAL "out of box" settings, but after settings adjustments that can be made without calibration equipment.
I don’t calibrate my tv but I do play with the settings until I find a setting that comes close to what looks great to me. I don’t just pull it out of the box and that’s it.
I don’t calibrate my phone, tablet, laptop, or monitor, so why should I calibrate my tv? I’ll change the settings of it to get rid of the manufacturer’s choices that detract from the media creator’s choices, because that’s the way I prefer it, but calibration feels like it should be on the manufacturer’s shoulder to get as close to the standard as possible
My understanding is that each individual tv is a bit different. So the settings for calibrating one TV may not be the same as the settings for another TV. There could definitely be an automated calibration process in the factory. But that would add cost and time to manufacturing. Which wouldn't be worth it for budget oriented tvs
Review the TV out of the box, then calibrate by eye without special tools that homeowners do not have. Explain how easy or hard it was to get the TV to fit your needs and picture quality through the "eye" calibration. In the end, consumers want ease of use. They are buying the TV based on what is shown on displays in the big box stores. Most consumers don't want to pay or be inconvenienced by calibration. Plug and play.
The idea that TVs don’t come calibrated is really crazy when you think about it. What other consumer device requires this? Can you imagine if your car required a tune up immediately for beat performance and efficiency? Or if you needed to calibrate your oven for it to be close to the set temp? I blame retailers for pushing this over saturated bright profile but they should at least have a calibrated picture setting buried in the video settings.
Great point on calibration. Ten years ago I paid for a Samsung LED calibration and 8 months later the tvs power supply died. No more paid calibration for me and out of the box is most important point of how good a tv is for most.
Doing “out of the box” while also including the easily accessible settings people can adjust to help improve picture quality would benefit the most consumers.
I personally really appreciate you bringing up the discussion of out of the box viewing vs. Calibrated viewing. GREAT TOPIC OF DISCUSSION! I personally went with a Sony, knowing it would meet my expectations out of the box. I would also see a review using BASIC consumer level calibration tools to be value added. 93% would be out of the box 6% might use some good basic calibration tools 1% would take the time and money to use the top end tools for calibration. Just my 2 cents. Another GREAT VIDEO! I always appreciate your real-world views. All the best.
It'll up the price to calibrate tvs, its why people pay the "Sony Tax" for more accurate calibration from factory. The other option is just buy a Samsung, its smart calibration with a phone camera is supposed to be pretty good.
Brilliant! I can’t believe no one has covered this topic before but you’re REALLY on to something. I’m an audiophile and will go down every rabbit hole to research gear and go to every length to achieve sonic perfection. But TV’s? Well, I want a “nice” one and I can certainly tell the difference between a crappy TV and a good one, but I am NEVER going to go through the trouble of calibrating. When I get a new TV, I’ll cycle through the factory settings, choose the one that looks best to me and forget it. Even though only 7% of the respondents said they calibrate their TV, I would venture to guess that very few of them would even consider a TCL. My hunch is that the “calibration crowd” is typically an LG, Sony, Samsung buyer. TCL, Hisense, and the rest are even less likely to be calibrated. This is some of your best content ever. Very insightful.
Definitely out of the box should be the norm for all TV reviews, while using modified settings that are available for the user as close as possible without full on calibration. Great content as always !
Mentioning out of the box experience in every review is essential. Also pointing out the most colour accurate picture mode would also be amazing for every review. The calibrated numbers can be used besides the actual review for the lucky few who will actually use it that way.
Do not mistake "Not calibrated" for "Out of the box" beeing the same. By beeing in the correct picture mode and having all the onboard settings correct this is far more than out of the box, but still not "calibrated" And I thik this "correct settings state" is what matters most for your viewers.
Three points of reference for reviewing TVs. 1. Out of the Box. 2. Cinema/Movie Maker Mode - literally set it and forget it. 3. Reference Calibration result. Give us your opinion on each, how it compares to others in these three categories. TV Audio sound quality? couldn't care less... I will never watch a TV out of the box, unless Sony or LG profiles their TV in Moviemaker Mode out of the box. And in the same breath, I will also say, I won't bother trying to calibrate our TV to perfection. Moviemaker Mode or it's derivative, depending on which TV brand you purchase, is usually 90-95% there. And since we don't have another TV sitting right next to another, we're never going to have anything else to directly compare it to... For us, Moviemaker Mode is 100% good enough for us.
You ask a great question. There are a few things I want to know on a TV review... What settings will yield the best picture out of the box? How close to "calibrated" could you get it on factory settings? What did you have to do to get it calibrated? Now, my dumb question. If you or some other professional can get it calibrated properly with the right tools... Why didn't the manufacturer provide at least one setting that got you pretty close? I understand showroom marketing, but if the TV is capable af a very well calibrated picture, why do we have to work so hard to get it?
As a general, every day consumer, I don't calibrate my TVs. I instead go off of what can be achieved playing with the settings, and will spend more on a TV that can get close with that alone. I chose a Sony OLED based on that. Those Hisense and TCL TVs are cheaper (for one) because they don't care as much to get the colors right out of the box; that takes effort. So for the people that want a cheaper TV and don't care *as much* about the accurate colors, what can be achieved with settings alone? How close can you get it?
Great points. Also important is that many consumers do not WANT to watch a calibrated D65 profile. There's a reason TV's are set to "Vivid" and "Dynamic" on the show floor, and not "Filmmaker Mode".
THANK YOU! We need a voice of reason in the TV review space. The vast majority of us either can't or won't spend hundreds or thousands for calibration.
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You're making it more complicated than it needs to be. I don't think anyone spending 1k on a set is gonna spend half as much to calibrate it. People who spend to get the best know it won't be it its best if not calibrated. What you should push for is for tvs to be calibrated out the box. Especially the lower end ones so they can compete better. You have more industry connects than I do. Make it happen
EVERY TV should ne judged out of the box PERIOD...........A TV costing between $1000 and $3500 should look GREAT simply by plugging it in and turning it on!!! And btw it should also have a WIDE viewing angle as well.
This is a pretty picky review. My 65Q750G looks great out of the box, but I did install a firmware update. Colors, black levels, uniformity all good. Quite happy.
From my point of view. I don't have the ability to calibrate. What I'd appreciate from your reviews is, out of box performance numbers, calibrated performance numbers and settings you'd recommend to get close to those calibrated numbers. I would accept the massive caveat of "your mileage may vary". I realise all panels aren't created equal. Thanks for all the hard work, love your content.
As a retired news still photographer I think I have a good eye for toning photographs on a computer so I find calibrating a TV by eye pretty easy. I usually do it watching a live local newscast trying to nail the flesh tones. As a note, my son in law just purchased a 75 inch TCL and he’s never calibrated his TVs in the past and I couldn’t stand watching at his house but with his TCL out of the box it was stunning. Go figure, eh?
I love this discussion. When I buy something I buy it for both out of box and what it COULD be under optimal or better conditions. I grow into my equipment. If it looks terrible under calibration then I’m turned off. I think a review of out of the box and preset settings would be useful, and then for the enthusiast further details with calibration results would be fab. That way both sides are satisfied. And sometimes it will be the same end result, good or bad.
There is no reason why TV manufacturers shouldn't be able to put a gun up to a screen and make an almost instantaneous software change, much like an audio EQ that could be performed in a few seconds during manufacturing.
I’m very much in the camp of “what the director intended“. And if TVs have standards and a set doesn’t meet said standards out of the box, that’s a problem.
I appreciate hearing how close to "calibrated" a given picture mode is out of the box. That's most important to me. I do appreciate the effort that goes into a calibration. I'll just likely never have it done.
I’ve been in the market for a new tv for a bit and I’ve found that FOR ME the lack of ASTC 3.0 tuners is a deal breaker. 3.0 is available in my area and with my income I need to, shall we say, future proof as much as possible
Kept thinking about what Kristi said all day. I agree w Andrew that relative to measurement tools, TVs can be more objective …..but TVs might actually be closer to speakers re: subjectivity. Just like we pick speakers based on sonic taste and preferences (accurate vs coloured) I have recently been playing around with TV screen settings to elicit a warmer more saturated presentation. Is it accurate? Nope 😅 but kinda wanted to try something richer than the very accurate but washed out OLED+DolbyVision tones I’ve had for years
My personal take on future TV reviews and settings: Start with a quick summary of the before and after results of professional calibration as a baseline, then spend more time (and show) how to use the TV's controls to get as close the the calibrated baseline as possible. It's fine to also include your (understandably) subjective opinion on how the manual settings look relative to the baseline.
What I find on the reviews is can you adjust the tv decently... Is there enough adjustments to get a picture that most people will enjoy. I haven't seen anybody that actually show what to do in adjusting to make a tv look good. With all the reviews all us regular people get is some mysterious use the force to get these so called amazing results.
When you say Q series it should be mentioned that series of TV encompasses q6, q7, and q8. All different price and performance points. I have the the q7 and calibrated, absolutely fantastic picture, at that price point anyhow.
I think most people just want to know the best t v to buy out of the box that will great to watch. Most people aren't going to go through the calibration or can find someone to do it !! So tell us what TV's are the best to buy for the price range. I'm looking for the 80 something size t v oled.
In my family we never bought the best TV because of the money, but I, who grew up with all the technological changes, try to select the best configuration according to the paper. Now that I want to make a smart purchase and some reviews of this TV say that if you calibrate this TV it could be fantastic, of course I would love to know those settings! After all it is an option. I would love to see reviews divided into two parts, casual review and then advanced (or two videos). So people can choose the one they want, and that would be a complete review.
Great to hear something about the reflective screen in the bright room. I needed to replace an LG C1 since it was like a mirror and unwatchable in my room. Did a ton of research and many liked the qm8 over the hisense u8k. Ended up choosing the u8k since so many had mention how great the u8h was in a bright room. So glad i did as the u8k doing an amazing job with reflection even with direct sunlight on the screen at times. Definitely need more reviews to consider screen reflections imo.
Holy moly Andrew! This is a fantastic review and you’re so easy to listen to. You’re giving Caleb from Digital Trends a run for his money and that says a lot!
So, I know that they say not to do this, but with every new TV that I or family member have purchased, I've gone on RTings and just copied whatever settings are there. I know that "each TV is different", but as long as I can get 90% of the way to correct it, I would rather do that than pay someone $300 to come out and do it.
From a philisophical perspective, as a tech guy with 30 years of IT experience, of course I want the nitty gritty, this is what you can make this thing do when you set it correctly with calibration, review. However...i'm one of the 93% of people who are never going to pay for calibration on my TV, and probably one of the likey people to head down to a rabbit hole looking for numbers that someone else used to calibrate another TV of the same model/sizem, while knowing full well that those numbers are unlikely to work on my specific TV. But in the end...it won't really matter. Because I've never had a professionally calibrated TV, and what I'll be replacing with a TCL Q7 is a Samsung UN55HU8550. So out of the box, as crappy as it could possibly be, it's going to look great compared to what I'm currently using. And I'll keep it for just as long. So I'd just stick with what you're doing, and just throw in your subjective opinion about what it's like uncalibrated and vs the objective standards of what's great. Both perspectives are valuable.
As someone who has worked in the IT field and been the go to person for technology questions in and out of work, I understand that the majority of people just want things to work. The majority of consumers have a ton of technology but really dont understand it outside of basic use. But then you have people like me, who like the technical aspect and want to understand how to evaluate a product so Im not waisting my 💰. Both are important. Please present aspects of both. People experience AV in different ways based on their hearing, vision likes and dislikes. But the two main ways that I've learned people experience technology as a whole is base on their personal space and finances.
I'm in the large percentage that have never had a tv calibrated, but I would love to see a side by side comparison of best settings without use of equipment and calibrated.
I absolutely loved this review! Personally, I would love to have two-part reviews - the first being how the TV performs pre-calibration, and which pre-set picture mode gets the TV to the lowest Delta-E value, then how the TV performs post-calibration. I loved Kristi's comment regarding going down the different rabbit-holes to try and get your TV just right. I recently just did that! haha My wife and I recently purchased the new Hisense 75U8K, and I was all over forums trying to find different settings to try until I finally got the settings that both my wife and I are satisfied with. Now we both love the TV and are SO happy we made the purchase! ^^ Question - as an audiophile, what is your opinion about Nakamichi soundbar systems? Have you tested any? I don't see any videos on the channel.
That's why I put a lot of weight on out of the box color. What you really need to know is what's in that 93%. My guess is near zero % of people buying a sub $1,500 TV are going to pay for calibration. Whereas people buying a $10k TV are far more likely to spend the extra $300-$600 for calibration.
I appreciate knowing how close the picture is to calibrated out of the box, and unless it's wildly out of spec (like the insane green-bias on my cheap projector) I'm confident I can get it, to borrow a phrase from Andrew, as near as makes no difference to calibrated, if it isn't already there. A Disney DVD with test patterns and my eyes are the only tools I use. I look at flesh tones (too orange, too green, just right) and check Star Trek or something similar to confirm space is black and not gray, blue, or brown. My one indulgence is bumping up the saturation a smidgen higher than standard. I can usually arrive at a picture I'm happy to look at for a few years.
Your review of the Sony X95K and it's decent out of the box performance was a main reason I chose it for a recent upgrade. I knew I wasn't going to calibrate, so I wanted to get something that would be acceptably close out of the box. I think it's important to state the unit's ultimate potential after calibration, but a product should be judged on how it is delivered to the customer at that price point. That also goes for buying a receiver (hello, Marantz) and then having to shell out extra if you want DIRAC. A $1000 TV isn't a $1000 TV if it needs $500 worth of calibration. If reviews start judging TVs by their out of the box performance, maybe manufacturers will start paying attention to calibration before they ship?
Just because someone doesn’t get a professional calibration on their tv, doesn’t mean they don’t tweak the picture to the best of their ability. There isn’t just two possibility here. Cheers!
Thank you for providing the consumer with a voice. I'm willing to bet there are far more videophiles than audiophiles out there (gamers, movie watchers, Days Of Our Lives). I think your videos should be a reference point for buyers before and after purchasing, a place where people can see and realize the potential of their purchases. Perhaps see if creators can make a change for the better by influencing manufacturers to get it right, seeing as this is where the vast majority of purchasers might gravitate towards. 93% is an important stat.
My question would be why the OEM don’t perform this calibration? Then they can add whatever fancy flashy color profile on top, but give us a “normal” profile setting, please!
Interesting video! IMO, basing a review off of post-calibration results is kinda pointless and doesn't really help the average person trying to buy one. As like a side-note or extra in a review that's cool but not as the main focus, because clearly most people don't want to calibrate and probably couldn't even if they wanted to. "...A lot of TVs, even some of the best ones wouldn't receive a passing grade." That says it right there for me-- if it seems like every TV review you watch on youtube is overwhelmingly positive and all TVs are great, this is why. If a pro reviewer/calibrator can tweak even a $600 TV to look like a $3000 OLED and then base their review off that then yeah, all TVs are gonna get great reviews. But that's not helpful for regular people at all (and honestly not that interesting) lol Personally i think what a manufacturer provides out of the box as far as picture quality is a big part of what you're buying obv and we should be judging them based on that.
I doubt most consumers will go even as far as a Spears and Munsil DVD or Ultra HD Blu-ray eyeball calibration. That is probably the most realistic consumer level calibration. A video explaining how to get the best out of those tools would help people understand how to improve their picture. I would love a professional calibration, but I have never found anyone locally who will calibrate an HDR image, so paying $300 to get anything calibrated for just SDR content is just not worth it.
Calibration is one thing, but the dozens of adjustable setting on my LG OLED are so confusing. Is the AI mode just a marketing gimmick or does it actually do something? Most experts say "turn it all off" but that's not how I got the best experience. For example I am anti-SOE but I find turning the motion settings completely off results in pretty bad sports and fast moving scenes. Also kind of weird that your C2 was so far from being calibrated when many other reviewers said their unit was good out of the box, at least in the Expert Dark/Bright modes.
Great video and topic! Orange Andrew was a treat :-) I have never met anyone who had their TV calibrated :-) I am quite a tech obsessed person but as to TVs calibration is out of the question for many reasons (one being that basically there are no such professionals with the proper equipment in my country). Some friends ask me to set up their TVs and the best I can do is play with the settings and different modes to find the most natural picture for their preferred source. That's it. Most of the TVs I've played with come with a terrible picture out of the box and many people just watch them as they come. So calibrated reviews are really pointless for most of the people. I suggest you pay attention to what could be done to have the best performance out of a TV without calibration.
Why chose? I would be happy to see something like: "This TV is a 9 when calibrated, and a 7 with out-of-the-box default settings, and so I am giving it an 8 on average". I think that that format would give the viewer the best chance of making an informed decision. They may prefer an uncalibrated "7", over a calibrated "8" - which is in fact a "6" when uncalibrated - even if the aforementioned "7" model can be considered an "8" when calibrated. Not sure if that makes sense, but hopefully you get my point.
Best Calibrated TV of the year & Best out-of-the-box TV of the Year. Personally I love my Sonys and I don't always bother with the calibration. But I absolutely would for any other brand. I think it is VERY important for reviewers to clearly communicate how they review the TVs. Most "real" reviewers, such as you, HDTVTest, Digital Trends review based on calibration, while casual reviews such as Linus Tech Tips seems to focus on out-of-the-box while generally having a lot more personal opinion as well... I prefer the real version.
I think it would be useful for Andrew as a reviewer to talk about how the calibration process works. It would also be good to get Kristi's experience on calibrating TVs. In doing so would like a cheap calibration approach (Kristi please help me out her) and the full on Andrew professional approach. As others have said measurements on pre and post calibration would be good. Thanks guys love your work
I missed the poll. I don’t do a full on calibration of my TVs, but I don’t rely on out of the box settings either. I’m a fan of Sony TVs and I automatically go to the custom profile, make some tweaks and enjoy.
I think a happy medium would be put a disc in like Spears & Munsil, but then just eyeball it. Don’t hook up calibration equipment to the screen, put the disc in, go through several of the different test screens and patterns, but just use your eyeballs to dial it in to what you feel looks the best. That is what most people do I feel. They take 1 movie they really love, pop it in and set their TV to make that 1 movie look the way they remember it looking. Once they dial that in, how everything else looks, is just because that is how the chips fall. If those other movies look good too, great, those filmmakers made good looking movies like my favorite movie. If those other movies look crappy, those other filmmakers don’t make as good of looking movies as my favorite movie. Using Spears & Munsil in this case would just be using a tiny bit of baseline since everyone has a different favorite movie. But just eyeball it from there. Want a 2nd opinion? Have your wife eyeball it and make adjustments for how she thinks it looks best. Show clips side by side of what you think looks best and what she thinks looks best, then viewers can decide if they prefer your preference or hers. Then when you give your wrap ups at the end someone can decide which person’s opinion to weigh more heavily based on if they agreed with the picture settings from the start. It might be, I liked his settings and he hated the TV anyway, so maybe it isn’t the TV for me. Her settings weren’t to my liking, but she loved the TV, maybe I should look into it more, especially since he was meh on it.
Rate TV with best out of the box options, i.e Movie mode, motion off, contrast 50%, brightness as appropriate. That is the very most anyone without calibration gear will do. No secret menus, no Gamma changes etc.
I do like knowing what the tv is capable of at the end of the day but I definitely think the most important part is how the tv will perform based on the available settings it comes with.
Your calibrated review was extremely useful in my previous purchase and I hope you keep doing them. They would be more useful for people if when you did them did provide some of the settings that you're using because most people can't either afford an additional cost of having it calibrated don't see the value of having it calibrated or don't want to purchase the equipment to Calibrate it themselves but would still end up appreciating a calibrated image
I think that all tv brands should be there best, or close to there best out of the box. I vote for the out of the box reviews People should ask stores if the tv’s they are displaying have been calibrated. Because I have bought tv’s based on how they look on display, and when I got home the difference is noticeable and I was disappointed
Used to calibrate. Don’t anymore. Local calibrator now at $500. Geek squad calibration results are worse than my naked eye. Sooooo I add that $500 and get a higher end TV that has a menu picture setting that’s pleasing to my eye. For reviewers I recommend both, out of the box eval, and a calibrated one. One TV, two scores.
It is actually biggest majority of TV purchases, that will be just taken out of the box, set to preferred mode and that’s it. I’ve seen people return amazing TVs because they didn’t like the look they got out of a specific mode. Calibration is expensive. At least in my area. I think you should include calibration and promote it more so that consumers know just how much they can get out of their purchase. It’s like gaming PCs and overclocking, basically free performance. And in terms of apps, yes. Caleb from Digital Trends does a good job of showing the setup process for all apps on TVs, which helps and makes a difference. Great video and conversation! OLED is still king though. Just saying 😂
Thanks for weighing in, always appreciate your take on the topic at hand. OLED still has a seat at the table, but bigger is "better". 😂 Have a great Sunday!
By showing both the pre-calibration accuracy and what can be achieved post calibration I think your reviews are helpful no matter what camp you are in. As one of the 8% I really appreciate your reviews. There is another level between watch it out of the box and fully calibration though. I think there are a number of folks that will go and check forums to find recommended settings to achieve something better than it was, but short of calibration. It would be informative to me to know if I could copy some user adjustable settings to achieve something to make it close to accurate and skip the calibration.
The problem with copying someone else's settings is manufacturing tolerances, sources, etc. You MIGHT get a bit "better" picture, if you use identical apps/sources, but you also are just as statistically likely to get "worse". I mean just look at how different Andrew's experience was using native apps versus external source.
@@burnsyd17 I'd be curious to see if that's really true. Yes I agree it will not be perfect, but I expect that the model skew off perfectly calibrated will be greater than the difference between individual sets. For instance on model X to calibrate the brightness needs to be raised by +7. Sure, one individual set might need +9 another +5, but all would be improved as opposed to leaving the setting at 0. Ultimately I think the answer to this will vary by model.... the closer the TV is to perfect out of the box the less likely this would be to help.
@burnsyd17 I just raised this concern/question with Andrew. We know that a lot of people look to the internet to find settings in order to get the best out of their TV. I know from personal experience that doing this has resulted in a worse (IMO) picture. I'm curious to see how often these recommended settings actually translate and/or if the people who use them blindly accept what they are seeing as "right" or better or if there is an actual improvement to the image.
@@KristiWright 100% agree Kristi, which is why I try to warn people from blindly accepting/using someone else's settings. It would be very interesting to quantify when using someone else's settings gives a "better" versus "worse" result, but that seems nearly impossible to quantify.
I know Vincent does more of "turn this setting on/turn this setting off" types of reviews, so I don't suggest that method is what you need to replicate...but maybe you and Kristi could do a video on the new Spears and Munsil 2023 disk to provide us regular folks the ability to dial in our TVs as best as possible? Clearly your poll was indicative of the fact that many folks won't shell out $$$ for a professional calibration but I bet a lot of folks who watch your channel, (myself included), would spend a couple of hours dialing in our settings on a new TV with a $50 disk like Spears...or another similar solution...hmmm...I wonder if Digital Video Essentials is still used? Anyway, great video and discussion...I love this hobby! :)
I got this tv. You talked about how settings would be changed. This happened to me too. I found there are two locations for picture setting. The first set of settings will be overwritten by the second. The first settings are the ones you see when you hit the setting button on the remote. The second settings will be after you click on the cog icon on that same menu. Once I figured this out it worked perfectly. I was very frustrated before.
personally i think product reviews should be a review of the product as is. it would be like reviewing a car and putting better tires, brakes, tuning the suspension/motor to perfection and then commenting on that - when that's really not the product that the manufacturer offers. in both scenarios the manufacturer offers "settings" (tv brightness/contrast, in the car scenario you could relate it to sport modes or different suspension/transmission options the manufacturer offers) and those 100% should be used to cater to each individual and their preferences and should be included in a review, but to me taking a product and calibrating/modifying isn't a review of the original product, which is what I would like to see the majority of a product review about and is what im looking for. just me though
I would recommend a review structure just as this one; primarily out of the box to highlight performance as ~95% would utilize then close with a calibrated opinion 👍. As far as calibrating a budget TV such as this one, additional comparisons for OOTB performance may lead viewers to a more informed decision for TVs priced equivalent when considering the cost of TV+ calibration. Just my 2 cents. Great review as always. Enjoy the day and good luck with the HEAT!!!
I was torn on my Samsung QN90B out of the box, especially coming from an OLED. I needed a brighter TV though, and the reviews were great, so I i was a bit puzzled. Once I got a new phone though, one capable of the automated calibration that comes on newer Samsung TVs, I was so much happier with the post-calibrated picture. I hope more TVs offer this automated calibration option in the future, to hit the sweet spot between great picture and cost / hassle that 93% of us clearly struggle with!
As a designer, I need accuracy when I'm working, but when I'm casually viewing I prefer comfort. I'm looking for less blue light, and less eye searing brightness in bright scenes, but still good dynamic range in dark scenes, and no soap opera effect. So if you could figure out a way to test for comfort vs accuracy, that would be huge.
I'll never have a TV calibrated as I don't care for directors intent look. But my purchasing decision for a TV is how close to accurate it is put of the box. I like using the best out of box settings and make my own slight adjustment. If a TV is way off from being close to accurate then I'm not interested in it.
I believe that all tv reviews should be exactly talking about out of the box performance and give the alternative option of what can be achieved if calibrated. So many people are spending there money based on calibrated, paid reviews and unrealistic experiences people aren’t getting choosing TVs, so giving both the out of the box to help people choose the right tv for their experience they will actually receive at home and letting them know the calibration results if they choose to do that is a great tool for consumers as well. The vast majority need the facts about out of the box performance. Good review and very genuine and great perspective that needs to be shared more often!
You bring up a great point Andrew. Though it’s great to know how a TV performs when calibrated, how relevant is it really to the vast majority. I consider myself an A/V enthusiast. But like most, I don’t pay for calibration. Thanks for your out-of-the-box reviews.
Calibration has always been an issue for most people, I think sharing before and after on a split screen can definitely help visualize the difference in such cases as red shift for example, but even then most people are watching on non calibrated screens so the actual visualization will be inaccurate 🙃 FWIW, there should be out of box rating and after calibration rating, you're LG OLED review pre calibration is what led me to go to Sony since they are pre-calibrated.
Appreciate you sharing and yes, judging before and afters on a screen that itself is likely NOT calibrated is problematic --no different than "sound demos" on youtube played back by other speakers or headphones.
@@andrewrobinsonreviewsExactly, you're asking the hard questions and shining the light on the elephant in the room, what good does it do to the average consumer that their TV could potientially be accurate given more money and tools, when out of the box they're getting a lackluster performance out of they're new 2k+ TV? True, honest out of the box performance reviews with visual aids but most importantly, your description of visual accuracy is what will we put our trust in.
Out of box accuracy and performance is the single deciding factor for me when I buy a TV. It is the reason I bought the X95J rather than something from other brands.
Wait what? In order for my $1500 tv to perform as advertised I have to have it pay to have it professionally calibrated? That sounds like big pile of miss leading bordering on false advertising. I should be able to use the full potential of the tv using nothing more than the settings.
You are using the settings when you calibrate the TV...you are changing the grayscale and and colours...but if you do it without a calibration device how do you know that what you changed is for the better or not. Of course there are calibration that are done automatically but I was not discussing those...just the change in advance greyscale and colours.
I think one of the biggest problem with TV reviews in general is they have a larger audience than Hi-Fi. 75% of people use their TV speakers, and want the biggest TVs they can buy for the money. They look at a 75 inch TCL 4 series and just want a "yea it's good" or "nah it's bad". They don't care about color accuracy. They care that it doesn't break in 2 weeks/months/years.
No, you're not right. You're wrong. I never knew about "white balance" before my actual TV. Now I learned and found how to get the very best color and tint and the amount of light for the most normal faces across all channels. Why do you degrade the ability of people to appreciate and want a real good normal TV image? We care about color accuracy to view normal faces. Out the box, among others things, black people looked chinease cause there was a huge yellow shift ! I could not stand that! Now I ajusted the TV and it's nice.
I think tv makers should be more aware of this issue. I think that if you are going to pay a high price for a high-end television, calibration should be included. in order to have a maximum experience of the product. This would make it visible that the companies stand behind their product and care about the consumer.
To be 100% honest, my TV purchased was a result of a trip to a big box store where I could A/B compare the 20 models hanging on the wall. I simply picked the one with the picture I liked best and nothing else mattered to me. Essentially I needed the best 70" monitor for my Nvidia TV shield pro streaming device.
Suggestion- on lower end TVs, only review the out of box performance. Upper mid to higher end TVs, do the same but if you think it's worth the effort, calibrate and give those results too as a bonus. The manfacturers should provide property adjusted products out of the box. Its not the old days anymore when they couldn't account for the Earth's magnetic field or nearby metal so the effort wouldn't necessarily pay off. With today's sutomation it shouldn't even be thst hard/ expensive to do in production.
As a consumer I should not have to pay for a manual calibration to get most of the way to what my TV is capable of doing. I already invested a good amount of time reading and looking at reviews to make my buying decision. If this was a car I would have to take it to a pro to use all its horsepower, all the gears? I don't know how far off my Sony OLED is from being calibrated and I will probably never know. I followed some pro calibrater on youtube and his advice for this model and while setting the TV up I noticed that yes, afterwards the picture looked more natural to me. Not to say the Sony was bad. From what I've read they tend to be on the more accurate side out of the box. Still.. how much can it cost a manufacturer to ship their own qc'ed product with a good setup?
Thanks for the great review. I got the 85" TCL M8Q mini LED as part of my starter home theater / media room set up. For price Ive enjoyed it and the bigger size is amazing. I use it for 50% gaming and 50% TV and movies in a room without much daylight.
My take would be this; give the out of the box performance and also the post calibration performance and have the value for money aspect take into account whether a calibration is required to get decent results. E.g. if a £1500 is trash out of the box, but reference post calibration, then it should be compared to c£2000 TVs that are great out of the box. Over simplified, but I think you get it.
You have always been very good about stating both calibrated and out of box results even if sometimes brief about how it looks out of box. This is the only channel I trust when it comes to a TV review. Great video!
Personally, I don’t care what it looks like out of the box in the same way I don’t care how a surround processor measures in my room before running calibration. I want to know what it can do at its best and how that compares to what others can do at their best. I guess I’m in the minority.
How about something like have both the out of the box vs fully calibrated settings available in a link or displayed for 5 seconds as a reference - then do the review primarily based on how we can adjust the out of the box settings to get the pic as close to the calibrated readings short of doing a full calibration (using the settings available in the TV's own on screen settings software) and in effect get a best of both worlds take; thereby you satisfy the 93% & the 7% can reference the calibration chart if desired) ?? hopefully that's as clear as mud.... Love you guys!!
As someone that didnt even know tv calibration was a thing, i think ill be happy just to have 120hz and hrd lol. I currently have a 58 inch samsung from 2020 (TU7000 or something?)that is 60hz and not real hdr.
Funny I just sold everything and moved to Utah and when I got here I decided to give MiniLED a go and got the new QM8 75in from TCL and it’s… waayyyy better than I thought! Even after owning multiple LG oleds
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I want to thank everyone for watching this video and for all the comments! I have ( I think ) read them all and thought I would reply here rather than attempt to answer all of you individually.
1) I understand that our poll results are likely skewed and reflective more of an enthusiast percentage rather than reflecting the general population. As stated in the video, the poll was run on our community page as well as on our other social media channels combining for over 9,000 entries resulting in the 93% figure discussed in the video. No doubt, had I parked myself outside a Best Buy for a week and polled 9,000 random consumers the percentage would've likely been higher if not 100%. I think the point I was trying to make though was clear and that you all understood, but yes, many of you are correct in your comment regarding our poll being more of an enthusiast one.
2) With respect to showing before and after calibration results. This is something we already do and have done in all of our TV reviews going back (I think ) 3 years now. If you want to see the before and after numbers for the TCL Q750 they're here: 05:54 By asking for change or what we should do, I was simply putting it out there that maybe there is a better way to "discuss" out of the box performance rather than distilling it down to a number or two that are going to be ambiguous to most. I haven't settled on what to do just yet, but I sincerely appreciate ALL of your thoughtful feedback on the matter and honestly am overwhelmed by the response! You all rock!
3) As for sharing calibration settings. While in theory this is a good idea, it actually doesn't work. There are literally thousands of parts that go into a TV (let alone the backlighting tech itself) and all of these parts have tolerances +/- that are acceptable to the manufacturing process and that would pass QC and allow the TV to be sold to you the consumer. Let's say TV A is perfect, as in ZERO deviation across the board from the factory standard and TV B is 9% off. If I get TV B for review and calibrate it to "perfection" not knowing that my calibration is ALSO accounting for and correcting a 9% skew and then I share those figures with you and you apply them to TV A, guess what, I've just introduced a 9 to 9+% error to your TV effectively making it worse. It's not that my TV (TV B) was bad, it wasn't, it performed within manufacturer tolerances, but by calibrating it to broadcast or HDR standards when compared to itself, I corrected those deficiencies. Passing those figures on to you may have just quasi added them to your display, which is not ideal. Now image if TV A had a 5% margin of error and TV B had a 10%. By passing my corrected figures on to TV A based on TV B, maybe TV A gets "fixed" and maybe it gets 10% worse leaving TV A with a margin of error of say 15%. This is a very basic way of looking at things and this is a VERY SIMPLE example, but hopefully you all get my point.
3b) Now calibration at the factory works because in theory every TV would be measured to the same baseline versus to themselves which is what happens with an in-home calibration. In this instance, so long as the baseline was broadcast or industry standard, every TV that rolled off the line would conform to it. This would be more ideal though potentially time consuming and/or costly, nevertheless, it's doable.
4) As for the director's intent. While directors, directors of photography and colorists in Hollywood can and often alter colors in an attempt to convey a certain look and emotion, know that those colors are still based on and fall within a color space which has standards. If the filmmaker wants the color blue to be more muted rather than royal, that's intentional and part of the mood and emotion of the scene. While you may prefer a richer, more saturated blue, know that by changing the picture to reflect your wants/needs you are changing the intent and possibly even altering the emotion and feel of the film. Imagine taking the film Se7en and bumping up the brightness, contrast and saturation to such a degree that there is virtually no shadows left and the color looks more Barbie movie than thriller? Are the seven deadly sins and John Doe as menacing then? I get that we all want our TVs to look as great as we know them to be, but I stand by my remarks that just because you can make an image look however you essentially want, that doesn't mean you should. Conversely if you don't like the way a film is colored, that doesn't mean the filmmakers are bad or trying to deceive you.
Thank you again for watching and for indulging me in my group response. I hope this helps clear things up and answer some of the more common questions that I've seen as a result of this video. Have a great rest of your day!
-Andrew
Yeah, the number of folks who calibrate their TVs is probably way lower than 7% and probably less than 1%.
I always wonder why the Light Sensor is never reviewed because it's like having the same volume at all times (and Sony's new true tone on their high-end models). The ability to properly light or dim the display as lighting conditions change during the day might be more important than calibration, not to mention make for a much more enjoyable viewing.
Imagine listening to 100db sound at night - one'd go deaf but it would be fine if one is trying to hear the dialogue while someone's moving the lawn outside.
I think with HDR, the light sensor is even more important with the exception of models that still can't handle HDR but that number is growing everyday as they add more lights.
Personally, I would love a tutorial that covers the very basics of adjusting your general TV settings to and progressively more advanced techniques. Which would involve more professional hardware and software for beginners. Trying to find a guide or tutorial that lays out how to go about becoming a more advanced user for personal use is hard to come by. I watch a lot of TV you-tubers and none of them have tutorials that expand beyond just making TV adjustments from the stock device.
out of the box
The answer is VERY clear here..............Review and judge OUT OF THE BOX performance...period...end of story.
Hi!
I think that a reviewer should always measure a TV with specialised equipment. Than to present the viewer the results and and if those results are consistent across the range as the TV is a factory calibrated one or if those results may vary largely so they are not actually indicative of all retail samples.
Professional calibration results should be done or discussed or presented only for TVs above a certain value....let's say that a calibration cost should not exceed 15% of the TVs price.
Even if the overall majority of customers does not calibrate a TV all customer may tinker with some settings...brightness, contrast, back-light, some advanced picture settings...so you should recommend some settings. In the end if there 's an easy, layman's, quick calibration method you should show it in your review...for example a calibration with and app on the phone or something similar and very easy and at no additional cost...and of course with a final result that should be better than just changing brightness or simple settings.
And that should be all for a normal consumer TV with a price that does not justify the additional cost of a professional calibration.
I think it's pretty obvious and common sense.
1. Very few even from the enthusiast crowd are calibrating a TV. 2. For a sub 2,000 eur TV to pay 300 to 500 eur for a calibration is wrong as you can go and buy a higher tier TV with better results.
3. For the majority regions of the world you can not find a professional calibrator.
Regards,
Please continue giving the before, and after even though less than 10% of buyers at any price point, as a whole, will ever calibrate. Thank you for what you always do.
Noted, thanks for weighing in.
Slight variation on that theme: given that the standards are objective and measurable, would be good to know how far off the standard various TVs may be out of the box.
One of the first things I do to a new TV, after giving it a little break in time, is to have it professionally calibrated. I only have a sample of two plasmas and one OLED but the difference has always been worth it even though I probably couldn’t exactly describe the differences. I just know things look more natural and better.
Agreed. You should absolutely give two grades and make it a big deal. Perhaps this will wake up TV companies.
I'll add another vote for judging a TV not for LITERAL "out of box" settings, but after settings adjustments that can be made without calibration equipment.
I don’t calibrate my tv but I do play with the settings until I find a setting that comes close to what looks great to me.
I don’t just pull it out of the box and that’s it.
I don't think you're alone. Thanks for watching!
Yes I like reviews where they tell you the presetting that is closest to calibrated.
I don’t calibrate my phone, tablet, laptop, or monitor, so why should I calibrate my tv? I’ll change the settings of it to get rid of the manufacturer’s choices that detract from the media creator’s choices, because that’s the way I prefer it, but calibration feels like it should be on the manufacturer’s shoulder to get as close to the standard as possible
My understanding is that each individual tv is a bit different. So the settings for calibrating one TV may not be the same as the settings for another TV.
There could definitely be an automated calibration process in the factory. But that would add cost and time to manufacturing. Which wouldn't be worth it for budget oriented tvs
Review the TV out of the box, then calibrate by eye without special tools that homeowners do not have. Explain how easy or hard it was to get the TV to fit your needs and picture quality through the "eye" calibration.
In the end, consumers want ease of use. They are buying the TV based on what is shown on displays in the big box stores.
Most consumers don't want to pay or be inconvenienced by calibration.
Plug and play.
The idea that TVs don’t come calibrated is really crazy when you think about it. What other consumer device requires this? Can you imagine if your car required a tune up immediately for beat performance and efficiency? Or if you needed to calibrate your oven for it to be close to the set temp?
I blame retailers for pushing this over saturated bright profile but they should at least have a calibrated picture setting buried in the video settings.
Great point on calibration. Ten years ago I paid for a Samsung LED calibration and 8 months later the tvs power supply died. No more paid calibration for me and out of the box is most important point of how good a tv is for most.
Doing “out of the box” while also including the easily accessible settings people can adjust to help improve picture quality would benefit the most consumers.
I personally really appreciate you bringing up the discussion of out of the box viewing vs. Calibrated viewing. GREAT TOPIC OF DISCUSSION! I personally went with a Sony, knowing it would meet my expectations out of the box. I would also see a review using BASIC consumer level calibration tools to be value added.
93% would be out of the box
6% might use some good basic calibration tools
1% would take the time and money to use the top end tools for calibration.
Just my 2 cents.
Another GREAT VIDEO!
I always appreciate your real-world views.
All the best.
Maybe it's time we should start demanding factory calibration?
100% agree. I have a $900 computer monitor that came with a factory calibration. Why shouldn't a TV have one too?
It'll up the price to calibrate tvs, its why people pay the "Sony Tax" for more accurate calibration from factory. The other option is just buy a Samsung, its smart calibration with a phone camera is supposed to be pretty good.
Brilliant! I can’t believe no one has covered this topic before but you’re REALLY on to something. I’m an audiophile and will go down every rabbit hole to research gear and go to every length to achieve sonic perfection. But TV’s? Well, I want a “nice” one and I can certainly tell the difference between a crappy TV and a good one, but I am NEVER going to go through the trouble of calibrating. When I get a new TV, I’ll cycle through the factory settings, choose the one that looks best to me and forget it.
Even though only 7% of the respondents said they calibrate their TV, I would venture to guess that very few of them would even consider a TCL. My hunch is that the “calibration crowd” is typically an LG, Sony, Samsung buyer. TCL, Hisense, and the rest are even less likely to be calibrated.
This is some of your best content ever. Very insightful.
Definitely out of the box should be the norm for all TV reviews, while using modified settings that are available for the user as close as possible without full on calibration. Great content as always !
Mentioning out of the box experience in every review is essential. Also pointing out the most colour accurate picture mode would also be amazing for every review. The calibrated numbers can be used besides the actual review for the lucky few who will actually use it that way.
I agree - I would also like to see the standard mode vs the calibrated mode as they did here. I think that was quite eye opening.
Do not mistake "Not calibrated" for "Out of the box" beeing the same. By beeing in the correct picture mode and having all the onboard settings correct this is far more than out of the box, but still not "calibrated" And I thik this "correct settings state" is what matters most for your viewers.
Three points of reference for reviewing TVs.
1. Out of the Box.
2. Cinema/Movie Maker Mode - literally set it and forget it.
3. Reference Calibration result.
Give us your opinion on each, how it compares to others in these three categories. TV Audio sound quality? couldn't care less...
I will never watch a TV out of the box, unless Sony or LG profiles their TV in Moviemaker Mode out of the box. And in the same breath, I will also say, I won't bother trying to calibrate our TV to perfection. Moviemaker Mode or it's derivative, depending on which TV brand you purchase, is usually 90-95% there. And since we don't have another TV sitting right next to another, we're never going to have anything else to directly compare it to...
For us, Moviemaker Mode is 100% good enough for us.
You ask a great question. There are a few things I want to know on a TV review... What settings will yield the best picture out of the box? How close to "calibrated" could you get it on factory settings? What did you have to do to get it calibrated? Now, my dumb question. If you or some other professional can get it calibrated properly with the right tools... Why didn't the manufacturer provide at least one setting that got you pretty close? I understand showroom marketing, but if the TV is capable af a very well calibrated picture, why do we have to work so hard to get it?
As a general, every day consumer, I don't calibrate my TVs. I instead go off of what can be achieved playing with the settings, and will spend more on a TV that can get close with that alone. I chose a Sony OLED based on that. Those Hisense and TCL TVs are cheaper (for one) because they don't care as much to get the colors right out of the box; that takes effort. So for the people that want a cheaper TV and don't care *as much* about the accurate colors, what can be achieved with settings alone? How close can you get it?
Great points. Also important is that many consumers do not WANT to watch a calibrated D65 profile. There's a reason TV's are set to "Vivid" and "Dynamic" on the show floor, and not "Filmmaker Mode".
THANK YOU! We need a voice of reason in the TV review space. The vast majority of us either can't or won't spend hundreds or thousands for calibration.
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Hi!@@westcoast708
You're making it more complicated than it needs to be. I don't think anyone spending 1k on a set is gonna spend half as much to calibrate it. People who spend to get the best know it won't be it its best if not calibrated. What you should push for is for tvs to be calibrated out the box. Especially the lower end ones so they can compete better. You have more industry connects than I do. Make it happen
We literally say as much in the video,@@juan.gonzalez03
EVERY TV should ne judged out of the box PERIOD...........A TV costing between $1000 and $3500 should look GREAT simply by plugging it in and turning it on!!! And btw it should also have a WIDE viewing angle as well.
This is a pretty picky review. My 65Q750G looks great out of the box, but I did install a firmware update. Colors, black levels, uniformity all good. Quite happy.
From my point of view. I don't have the ability to calibrate.
What I'd appreciate from your reviews is, out of box performance numbers, calibrated performance numbers and settings you'd recommend to get close to those calibrated numbers.
I would accept the massive caveat of "your mileage may vary". I realise all panels aren't created equal.
Thanks for all the hard work, love your content.
search "Rtings TCL Q7/Q750G QLED Calibration Settings"
@@dreriffic88 Thanks for that tip!
As a retired news still photographer I think I have a good eye for toning photographs on a computer so I find calibrating a TV by eye pretty easy. I usually do it watching a live local newscast trying to nail the flesh tones. As a note, my son in law just purchased a 75 inch TCL and he’s never calibrated his TVs in the past and I couldn’t stand watching at his house but with his TCL out of the box it was stunning. Go figure, eh?
You should do both. And consider the fact that a lot of people who watch your channel, want to set up their tv to look it’s best.
I love this discussion. When I buy something I buy it for both out of box and what it COULD be under optimal or better conditions. I grow into my equipment. If it looks terrible under calibration then I’m turned off. I think a review of out of the box and preset settings would be useful, and then for the enthusiast further details with calibration results would be fab. That way both sides are satisfied. And sometimes it will be the same end result, good or bad.
There is no reason why TV manufacturers shouldn't be able to put a gun up to a screen and make an almost instantaneous software change, much like an audio EQ that could be performed in a few seconds during manufacturing.
I’m very much in the camp of “what the director intended“. And if TVs have standards and a set doesn’t meet said standards out of the box, that’s a problem.
I appreciate hearing how close to "calibrated" a given picture mode is out of the box. That's most important to me. I do appreciate the effort that goes into a calibration. I'll just likely never have it done.
I’ve been in the market for a new tv for a bit and I’ve found that FOR ME the lack of ASTC 3.0 tuners is a deal breaker. 3.0 is available in my area and with my income I need to, shall we say, future proof as much as possible
Kept thinking about what Kristi said all day. I agree w Andrew that relative to measurement tools, TVs can be more objective …..but TVs might actually be closer to speakers re: subjectivity.
Just like we pick speakers based on sonic taste and preferences (accurate vs coloured) I have recently been playing around with TV screen settings to elicit a warmer more saturated presentation. Is it accurate? Nope 😅 but kinda wanted to try something richer than the very accurate but washed out OLED+DolbyVision tones I’ve had for years
Most people do not have a clue how to calibrate. So out of the box is most important.
Manufacturers should head in that direction.
My personal take on future TV reviews and settings: Start with a quick summary of the before and after results of professional calibration as a baseline, then spend more time (and show) how to use the TV's controls to get as close the the calibrated baseline as possible. It's fine to also include your (understandably) subjective opinion on how the manual settings look relative to the baseline.
What I find on the reviews is can you adjust the tv decently... Is there enough adjustments to get a picture that most people will enjoy. I haven't seen anybody that actually show what to do in adjusting to make a tv look good. With all the reviews all us regular people get is some mysterious use the force to get these so called amazing results.
When you say Q series it should be mentioned that series of TV encompasses q6, q7, and q8. All different price and performance points. I have the the q7 and calibrated, absolutely fantastic picture, at that price point anyhow.
I think most people just want to know the best t v to buy out of the box that will great to watch. Most people aren't going to go through the calibration or can find someone to do it !! So tell us what TV's are the best to buy for the price range. I'm looking for the 80 something size t v oled.
In my family we never bought the best TV because of the money, but I, who grew up with all the technological changes, try to select the best configuration according to the paper. Now that I want to make a smart purchase and some reviews of this TV say that if you calibrate this TV it could be fantastic, of course I would love to know those settings! After all it is an option.
I would love to see reviews divided into two parts, casual review and then advanced (or two videos). So people can choose the one they want, and that would be a complete review.
Great to hear something about the reflective screen in the bright room. I needed to replace an LG C1 since it was like a mirror and unwatchable in my room. Did a ton of research and many liked the qm8 over the hisense u8k. Ended up choosing the u8k since so many had mention how great the u8h was in a bright room. So glad i did as the u8k doing an amazing job with reflection even with direct sunlight on the screen at times. Definitely need more reviews to consider screen reflections imo.
Noted and thanks for the feedback!
Holy moly Andrew! This is a fantastic review and you’re so easy to listen to. You’re giving Caleb from Digital Trends a run for his money and that says a lot!
So, I know that they say not to do this, but with every new TV that I or family member have purchased, I've gone on RTings and just copied whatever settings are there. I know that "each TV is different", but as long as I can get 90% of the way to correct it, I would rather do that than pay someone $300 to come out and do it.
From a philisophical perspective, as a tech guy with 30 years of IT experience, of course I want the nitty gritty, this is what you can make this thing do when you set it correctly with calibration, review.
However...i'm one of the 93% of people who are never going to pay for calibration on my TV, and probably one of the likey people to head down to a rabbit hole looking for numbers that someone else used to calibrate another TV of the same model/sizem, while knowing full well that those numbers are unlikely to work on my specific TV.
But in the end...it won't really matter. Because I've never had a professionally calibrated TV, and what I'll be replacing with a TCL Q7 is a Samsung UN55HU8550. So out of the box, as crappy as it could possibly be, it's going to look great compared to what I'm currently using. And I'll keep it for just as long.
So I'd just stick with what you're doing, and just throw in your subjective opinion about what it's like uncalibrated and vs the objective standards of what's great. Both perspectives are valuable.
As someone who has worked in the IT field and been the go to person for technology questions in and out of work, I understand that the majority of people just want things to work. The majority of consumers have a ton of technology but really dont understand it outside of basic use. But then you have people like me, who like the technical aspect and want to understand how to evaluate a product so Im not waisting my 💰. Both are important. Please present aspects of both. People experience AV in different ways based on their hearing, vision likes and dislikes. But the two main ways that I've learned people experience technology as a whole is base on their personal space and finances.
I'm in the large percentage that have never had a tv calibrated, but I would love to see a side by side comparison of best settings without use of equipment and calibrated.
I absolutely loved this review! Personally, I would love to have two-part reviews - the first being how the TV performs pre-calibration, and which pre-set picture mode gets the TV to the lowest Delta-E value, then how the TV performs post-calibration. I loved Kristi's comment regarding going down the different rabbit-holes to try and get your TV just right. I recently just did that! haha My wife and I recently purchased the new Hisense 75U8K, and I was all over forums trying to find different settings to try until I finally got the settings that both my wife and I are satisfied with. Now we both love the TV and are SO happy we made the purchase! ^^
Question - as an audiophile, what is your opinion about Nakamichi soundbar systems? Have you tested any? I don't see any videos on the channel.
That's why I put a lot of weight on out of the box color. What you really need to know is what's in that 93%. My guess is near zero % of people buying a sub $1,500 TV are going to pay for calibration. Whereas people buying a $10k TV are far more likely to spend the extra $300-$600 for calibration.
I appreciate knowing how close the picture is to calibrated out of the box, and unless it's wildly out of spec (like the insane green-bias on my cheap projector) I'm confident I can get it, to borrow a phrase from Andrew, as near as makes no difference to calibrated, if it isn't already there. A Disney DVD with test patterns and my eyes are the only tools I use. I look at flesh tones (too orange, too green, just right) and check Star Trek or something similar to confirm space is black and not gray, blue, or brown. My one indulgence is bumping up the saturation a smidgen higher than standard. I can usually arrive at a picture I'm happy to look at for a few years.
Your review of the Sony X95K and it's decent out of the box performance was a main reason I chose it for a recent upgrade. I knew I wasn't going to calibrate, so I wanted to get something that would be acceptably close out of the box. I think it's important to state the unit's ultimate potential after calibration, but a product should be judged on how it is delivered to the customer at that price point. That also goes for buying a receiver (hello, Marantz) and then having to shell out extra if you want DIRAC.
A $1000 TV isn't a $1000 TV if it needs $500 worth of calibration.
If reviews start judging TVs by their out of the box performance, maybe manufacturers will start paying attention to calibration before they ship?
Just because someone doesn’t get a professional calibration on their tv, doesn’t mean they don’t tweak the picture to the best of their ability. There isn’t just two possibility here. Cheers!
how bout you make a calibration tutorial video??
Thank you for providing the consumer with a voice. I'm willing to bet there are far more videophiles than audiophiles out there (gamers, movie watchers, Days Of Our Lives). I think your videos should be a reference point for buyers before and after purchasing, a place where people can see and realize the potential of their purchases. Perhaps see if creators can make a change for the better by influencing manufacturers to get it right, seeing as this is where the vast majority of purchasers might gravitate towards. 93% is an important stat.
My question would be why the OEM don’t perform this calibration? Then they can add whatever fancy flashy color profile on top, but give us a “normal” profile setting, please!
Your reviews are always so thought provoking. Excellent job!
Thanks so much!
I have my eye on the LG G3 Oled evo, but for the money, I absolutely love our TCL display.
It is important to keep calling out the issues with factory default versus calibrated. Keep up the good work.
Interesting video! IMO, basing a review off of post-calibration results is kinda pointless and doesn't really help the average person trying to buy one. As like a side-note or extra in a review that's cool but not as the main focus, because clearly most people don't want to calibrate and probably couldn't even if they wanted to. "...A lot of TVs, even some of the best ones wouldn't receive a passing grade." That says it right there for me-- if it seems like every TV review you watch on youtube is overwhelmingly positive and all TVs are great, this is why. If a pro reviewer/calibrator can tweak even a $600 TV to look like a $3000 OLED and then base their review off that then yeah, all TVs are gonna get great reviews. But that's not helpful for regular people at all (and honestly not that interesting) lol Personally i think what a manufacturer provides out of the box as far as picture quality is a big part of what you're buying obv and we should be judging them based on that.
I love your comment and appreciate you sharing!
Why don't you teach us the best possible way to calibrate without having it professionally done? There must be a way to get it half done?
Maybe they could review the new Spears and Munsil 2023 disk and teach us regular HT folks the best 10-15 tests/calibrations etc to do? :)
@@PorshaHomeTheater Yeah something along those lines would be good.
I doubt most consumers will go even as far as a Spears and Munsil DVD or Ultra HD Blu-ray eyeball calibration. That is probably the most realistic consumer level calibration. A video explaining how to get the best out of those tools would help people understand how to improve their picture. I would love a professional calibration, but I have never found anyone locally who will calibrate an HDR image, so paying $300 to get anything calibrated for just SDR content is just not worth it.
Calibration is one thing, but the dozens of adjustable setting on my LG OLED are so confusing. Is the AI mode just a marketing gimmick or does it actually do something? Most experts say "turn it all off" but that's not how I got the best experience. For example I am anti-SOE but I find turning the motion settings completely off results in pretty bad sports and fast moving scenes.
Also kind of weird that your C2 was so far from being calibrated when many other reviewers said their unit was good out of the box, at least in the Expert Dark/Bright modes.
Great video and topic! Orange Andrew was a treat :-) I have never met anyone who had their TV calibrated :-) I am quite a tech obsessed person but as to TVs calibration is out of the question for many reasons (one being that basically there are no such professionals with the proper equipment in my country). Some friends ask me to set up their TVs and the best I can do is play with the settings and different modes to find the most natural picture for their preferred source. That's it. Most of the TVs I've played with come with a terrible picture out of the box and many people just watch them as they come. So calibrated reviews are really pointless for most of the people. I suggest you pay attention to what could be done to have the best performance out of a TV without calibration.
Why chose?
I would be happy to see something like: "This TV is a 9 when calibrated, and a 7 with out-of-the-box default settings, and so I am giving it an 8 on average".
I think that that format would give the viewer the best chance of making an informed decision.
They may prefer an uncalibrated "7", over a calibrated "8" - which is in fact a "6" when uncalibrated - even if the aforementioned "7" model can be considered an "8" when calibrated.
Not sure if that makes sense, but hopefully you get my point.
Best Calibrated TV of the year & Best out-of-the-box TV of the Year.
Personally I love my Sonys and I don't always bother with the calibration. But I absolutely would for any other brand.
I think it is VERY important for reviewers to clearly communicate how they review the TVs. Most "real" reviewers, such as you, HDTVTest, Digital Trends review based on calibration, while casual reviews such as Linus Tech Tips seems to focus on out-of-the-box while generally having a lot more personal opinion as well... I prefer the real version.
I think it would be useful for Andrew as a reviewer to talk about how the calibration process works. It would also be good to get Kristi's experience on calibrating TVs. In doing so would like a cheap calibration approach (Kristi please help me out her) and the full on Andrew professional approach.
As others have said measurements on pre and post calibration would be good.
Thanks guys love your work
I missed the poll. I don’t do a full on calibration of my TVs, but I don’t rely on out of the box settings either. I’m a fan of Sony TVs and I automatically go to the custom profile, make some tweaks and enjoy.
I think a happy medium would be put a disc in like Spears & Munsil, but then just eyeball it. Don’t hook up calibration equipment to the screen, put the disc in, go through several of the different test screens and patterns, but just use your eyeballs to dial it in to what you feel looks the best. That is what most people do I feel. They take 1 movie they really love, pop it in and set their TV to make that 1 movie look the way they remember it looking. Once they dial that in, how everything else looks, is just because that is how the chips fall. If those other movies look good too, great, those filmmakers made good looking movies like my favorite movie. If those other movies look crappy, those other filmmakers don’t make as good of looking movies as my favorite movie. Using Spears & Munsil in this case would just be using a tiny bit of baseline since everyone has a different favorite movie. But just eyeball it from there. Want a 2nd opinion? Have your wife eyeball it and make adjustments for how she thinks it looks best. Show clips side by side of what you think looks best and what she thinks looks best, then viewers can decide if they prefer your preference or hers. Then when you give your wrap ups at the end someone can decide which person’s opinion to weigh more heavily based on if they agreed with the picture settings from the start. It might be, I liked his settings and he hated the TV anyway, so maybe it isn’t the TV for me. Her settings weren’t to my liking, but she loved the TV, maybe I should look into it more, especially since he was meh on it.
Rate TV with best out of the box options, i.e Movie mode, motion off, contrast 50%, brightness as appropriate. That is the very most anyone without calibration gear will do. No secret menus, no Gamma changes etc.
I do like knowing what the tv is capable of at the end of the day but I definitely think the most important part is how the tv will perform based on the available settings it comes with.
Your calibrated review was extremely useful in my previous purchase and I hope you keep doing them. They would be more useful for people if when you did them did provide some of the settings that you're using because most people can't either afford an additional cost of having it calibrated don't see the value of having it calibrated or don't want to purchase the equipment to Calibrate it themselves but would still end up appreciating a calibrated image
I think that all tv brands should be there best, or close to there best out of the box.
I vote for the out of the box reviews
People should ask stores if the tv’s they are displaying have been calibrated.
Because I have bought tv’s based on how they look on display, and when I got home the difference is noticeable and I was disappointed
Lower-end Tvs/speaker reviews like these are helpful to fully understand what is gained when going high end.
Used to calibrate. Don’t anymore. Local calibrator now at $500. Geek squad calibration results are worse than my naked eye. Sooooo I add that $500 and get a higher end TV that has a menu picture setting that’s pleasing to my eye. For reviewers I recommend both, out of the box eval, and a calibrated one. One TV, two scores.
It is actually biggest majority of TV purchases, that will be just taken out of the box, set to preferred mode and that’s it. I’ve seen people return amazing TVs because they didn’t like the look they got out of a specific mode. Calibration is expensive. At least in my area. I think you should include calibration and promote it more so that consumers know just how much they can get out of their purchase. It’s like gaming PCs and overclocking, basically free performance. And in terms of apps, yes. Caleb from Digital Trends does a good job of showing the setup process for all apps on TVs, which helps and makes a difference.
Great video and conversation!
OLED is still king though. Just saying 😂
Thanks for weighing in, always appreciate your take on the topic at hand. OLED still has a seat at the table, but bigger is "better". 😂 Have a great Sunday!
By showing both the pre-calibration accuracy and what can be achieved post calibration I think your reviews are helpful no matter what camp you are in. As one of the 8% I really appreciate your reviews. There is another level between watch it out of the box and fully calibration though. I think there are a number of folks that will go and check forums to find recommended settings to achieve something better than it was, but short of calibration. It would be informative to me to know if I could copy some user adjustable settings to achieve something to make it close to accurate and skip the calibration.
The problem with copying someone else's settings is manufacturing tolerances, sources, etc. You MIGHT get a bit "better" picture, if you use identical apps/sources, but you also are just as statistically likely to get "worse".
I mean just look at how different Andrew's experience was using native apps versus external source.
@@burnsyd17 I'd be curious to see if that's really true. Yes I agree it will not be perfect, but I expect that the model skew off perfectly calibrated will be greater than the difference between individual sets. For instance on model X to calibrate the brightness needs to be raised by +7. Sure, one individual set might need +9 another +5, but all would be improved as opposed to leaving the setting at 0. Ultimately I think the answer to this will vary by model.... the closer the TV is to perfect out of the box the less likely this would be to help.
@burnsyd17 I just raised this concern/question with Andrew. We know that a lot of people look to the internet to find settings in order to get the best out of their TV. I know from personal experience that doing this has resulted in a worse (IMO) picture. I'm curious to see how often these recommended settings actually translate and/or if the people who use them blindly accept what they are seeing as "right" or better or if there is an actual improvement to the image.
@@KristiWright 100% agree Kristi, which is why I try to warn people from blindly accepting/using someone else's settings. It would be very interesting to quantify when using someone else's settings gives a "better" versus "worse" result, but that seems nearly impossible to quantify.
The reviews should be based on NOT calibrating them, if 90+% only use factory provided settings.
I know Vincent does more of "turn this setting on/turn this setting off" types of reviews, so I don't suggest that method is what you need to replicate...but maybe you and Kristi could do a video on the new Spears and Munsil 2023 disk to provide us regular folks the ability to dial in our TVs as best as possible? Clearly your poll was indicative of the fact that many folks won't shell out $$$ for a professional calibration but I bet a lot of folks who watch your channel, (myself included), would spend a couple of hours dialing in our settings on a new TV with a $50 disk like Spears...or another similar solution...hmmm...I wonder if Digital Video Essentials is still used? Anyway, great video and discussion...I love this hobby! :)
I got this tv. You talked about how settings would be changed. This happened to me too. I found there are two locations for picture setting. The first set of settings will be overwritten by the second. The first settings are the ones you see when you hit the setting button on the remote. The second settings will be after you click on the cog icon on that same menu. Once I figured this out it worked perfectly. I was very frustrated before.
personally i think product reviews should be a review of the product as is. it would be like reviewing a car and putting better tires, brakes, tuning the suspension/motor to perfection and then commenting on that - when that's really not the product that the manufacturer offers. in both scenarios the manufacturer offers "settings" (tv brightness/contrast, in the car scenario you could relate it to sport modes or different suspension/transmission options the manufacturer offers) and those 100% should be used to cater to each individual and their preferences and should be included in a review, but to me taking a product and calibrating/modifying isn't a review of the original product, which is what I would like to see the majority of a product review about and is what im looking for. just me though
I would recommend a review structure just as this one; primarily out of the box to highlight performance as ~95% would utilize then close with a calibrated opinion 👍.
As far as calibrating a budget TV such as this one, additional comparisons for OOTB performance may lead viewers to a more informed decision for TVs priced equivalent when considering the cost of TV+ calibration.
Just my 2 cents. Great review as always. Enjoy the day and good luck with the HEAT!!!
I was torn on my Samsung QN90B out of the box, especially coming from an OLED. I needed a brighter TV though, and the reviews were great, so I i was a bit puzzled. Once I got a new phone though, one capable of the automated calibration that comes on newer Samsung TVs, I was so much happier with the post-calibrated picture. I hope more TVs offer this automated calibration option in the future, to hit the sweet spot between great picture and cost / hassle that 93% of us clearly struggle with!
As a designer, I need accuracy when I'm working, but when I'm casually viewing I prefer comfort. I'm looking for less blue light, and less eye searing brightness in bright scenes, but still good dynamic range in dark scenes, and no soap opera effect. So if you could figure out a way to test for comfort vs accuracy, that would be huge.
I’d certainly have two segments - out of the box score. And after calibration score. ❤
I'll never have a TV calibrated as I don't care for directors intent look. But my purchasing decision for a TV is how close to accurate it is put of the box. I like using the best out of box settings and make my own slight adjustment. If a TV is way off from being close to accurate then I'm not interested in it.
I believe that all tv reviews should be exactly talking about out of the box performance and give the alternative option of what can be achieved if calibrated. So many people are spending there money based on calibrated, paid reviews and unrealistic experiences people aren’t getting choosing TVs, so giving both the out of the box to help people choose the right tv for their experience they will actually receive at home and letting them know the calibration results if they choose to do that is a great tool for consumers as well. The vast majority need the facts about out of the box performance. Good review and very genuine and great perspective that needs to be shared more often!
You bring up a great point Andrew. Though it’s great to know how a TV performs when calibrated, how relevant is it really to the vast majority. I consider myself an A/V enthusiast. But like most, I don’t pay for calibration. Thanks for your out-of-the-box reviews.
I grabbed the 85” Q7 for $1499. This morning. Looking forward to it.
Best TV never had. Doesn’t have those OLED blacks (damn close though) but its brightness and contrast more than make up for it.
@@ParadigmfusionHow’s it holding up??
@@Spidr-Man great. It’s an awesome tv.
Calibration has always been an issue for most people, I think sharing before and after on a split screen can definitely help visualize the difference in such cases as red shift for example, but even then most people are watching on non calibrated screens so the actual visualization will be inaccurate 🙃 FWIW, there should be out of box rating and after calibration rating, you're LG OLED review pre calibration is what led me to go to Sony since they are pre-calibrated.
Appreciate you sharing and yes, judging before and afters on a screen that itself is likely NOT calibrated is problematic --no different than "sound demos" on youtube played back by other speakers or headphones.
@@andrewrobinsonreviewsExactly, you're asking the hard questions and shining the light on the elephant in the room, what good does it do to the average consumer that their TV could potientially be accurate given more money and tools, when out of the box they're getting a lackluster performance out of they're new 2k+ TV? True, honest out of the box performance reviews with visual aids but most importantly, your description of visual accuracy is what will we put our trust in.
Out of box accuracy and performance is the single deciding factor for me when I buy a TV. It is the reason I bought the X95J rather than something from other brands.
I got a sony A9G for this reason as well! It's stunning!
Wait what? In order for my $1500 tv to perform as advertised I have to have it pay to have it professionally calibrated? That sounds like big pile of miss leading bordering on false advertising. I should be able to use the full potential of the tv using nothing more than the settings.
You are using the settings when you calibrate the TV...you are changing the grayscale and and colours...but if you do it without a calibration device how do you know that what you changed is for the better or not. Of course there are calibration that are done automatically but I was not discussing those...just the change in advance greyscale and colours.
I agree that's the way it should come. If it can't do it outta the box or needs a helping hand. Well that's already a negative.
I think one of the biggest problem with TV reviews in general is they have a larger audience than Hi-Fi. 75% of people use their TV speakers, and want the biggest TVs they can buy for the money. They look at a 75 inch TCL 4 series and just want a "yea it's good" or "nah it's bad". They don't care about color accuracy. They care that it doesn't break in 2 weeks/months/years.
No, you're not right. You're wrong. I never knew about "white balance" before my actual TV. Now I learned and found how to get the very best color and tint and the amount of light for the most normal faces across all channels. Why do you degrade the ability of people to appreciate and want a real good normal TV image? We care about color accuracy to view normal faces. Out the box, among others things, black people looked chinease cause there was a huge yellow shift ! I could not stand that! Now I ajusted the TV and it's nice.
I think tv makers should be more aware of this issue. I think that if you are going to pay a high price for a high-end television, calibration should be included. in order to have a maximum experience of the product. This would make it visible that the companies stand behind their product and care about the consumer.
To be 100% honest, my TV purchased was a result of a trip to a big box store where I could A/B compare the 20 models hanging on the wall. I simply picked the one with the picture I liked best and nothing else mattered to me. Essentially I needed the best 70" monitor for my Nvidia TV shield pro streaming device.
If you’ve ever watched a calibrated tv, it’s extremely difficult to watch on a tv which hasn’t been. It’s an absolute must.
Suggestion- on lower end TVs, only review the out of box performance. Upper mid to higher end TVs, do the same but if you think it's worth the effort, calibrate and give those results too as a bonus.
The manfacturers should provide property adjusted products out of the box. Its not the old days anymore when they couldn't account for the Earth's magnetic field or nearby metal so the effort wouldn't necessarily pay off.
With today's sutomation it shouldn't even be thst hard/ expensive to do in production.
As a consumer I should not have to pay for a manual calibration to get most of the way to what my TV is capable of doing. I already invested a good amount of time reading and looking at reviews to make my buying decision. If this was a car I would have to take it to a pro to use all its horsepower, all the gears?
I don't know how far off my Sony OLED is from being calibrated and I will probably never know. I followed some pro calibrater on youtube and his advice for this model and while setting the TV up I noticed that yes, afterwards the picture looked more natural to me. Not to say the Sony was bad. From what I've read they tend to be on the more accurate side out of the box.
Still.. how much can it cost a manufacturer to ship their own qc'ed product with a good setup?
Thanks for the great review. I got the 85" TCL M8Q mini LED as part of my starter home theater / media room set up. For price Ive enjoyed it and the bigger size is amazing. I use it for 50% gaming and 50% TV and movies in a room without much daylight.
My take would be this; give the out of the box performance and also the post calibration performance and have the value for money aspect take into account whether a calibration is required to get decent results. E.g. if a £1500 is trash out of the box, but reference post calibration, then it should be compared to c£2000 TVs that are great out of the box. Over simplified, but I think you get it.
You have always been very good about stating both calibrated and out of box results even if sometimes brief about how it looks out of box. This is the only channel I trust when it comes to a TV review. Great video!
Thank you!
Personally, I don’t care what it looks like out of the box in the same way I don’t care how a surround processor measures in my room before running calibration. I want to know what it can do at its best and how that compares to what others can do at their best. I guess I’m in the minority.
How about something like have both the out of the box vs fully calibrated settings available in a link or displayed for 5 seconds as a reference - then do the review primarily based on how we can adjust the out of the box settings to get the pic as close to the calibrated readings short of doing a full calibration (using the settings available in the TV's own on screen settings software)
and in effect get a best of both worlds take; thereby you satisfy the 93% & the 7% can reference the calibration chart if desired) ?? hopefully that's as clear as mud....
Love you guys!!
As someone that didnt even know tv calibration was a thing, i think ill be happy just to have 120hz and hrd lol. I currently have a 58 inch samsung from 2020 (TU7000 or something?)that is 60hz and not real hdr.
Funny I just sold everything and moved to Utah and when I got here I decided to give MiniLED a go and got the new QM8 75in from TCL and it’s… waayyyy better than I thought! Even after owning multiple LG oleds