TCL 43S515 (Update 2, Post Calibration Report)

[tp4tissue]

UDPATE

Post Calibration Report :


White Point: 350.9 cd/mē

Black Point: 0.0528 cd/mē

Contrast Ratio: 6648:1   WOW !!


Average Delta E:   0.32  ( x< 3 = imperceptible)

Max Delta E :  1.21 ( x< 3 = imperceptible)


92.68% DCIP3  Wide Gamut coverage










Just got it.

Without break in (contrast not yet stable/peak).


@ default setting Vivid + Warm + 2.2 gamma setting.

(Vivid gives the largest native gamut w/out clamp, that's how it works with roku tvs)

6800k color temp,  6827:1 contrast,   I fully expect this to go down when tuned to 6504k after break in.   BUT I MUST SAY,  This is AMAZEBALLS Contrast..

The Gamut test, the panel does indeed have Wide-Gamut Colors, 90% DCI-p3 is definitely there.

Peak brightness (AT COLD) 387nits,  That's very high for a $200.  But again, Expect this number to drop when the white point is dialed in. As is, it's essentially Brightness b00sted by the Extra Blue. I expect post-calibration 320-350nit is not out of the question.


NOW,  the bad news. 

So... I can see why TCL gets a bad rep for panel lottery.

TP4 Did not win that lottery.   2 dead pixels in the top left corner.

Heavy Dirty Screen effect + some Jail bars.

Black point uniformity @ peak p0wr is Fairly good though, only slight bleed bottom left corner, not a big deal.

Viewing angle is not-the-best,  but I've seen worse.



On the one hand, I am blown away by the PERFORMANCE specs,    But yes, uniformity/panel lottery is ,,   well this is America,  You get it Exchanged..



Will break it in over 3 hrs and give final numbers.

BOTTOM LINE:::

Spec wise,  FOR $200,  You can not do better.   NO FFn Way.. This is the Holy Grail of $200








https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tcl-43-class-led-5-series-2160p-smart-4k-uhd-tv-with-hdr-roku-tv/6202780.p?skuId=6202780

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TCL-43-Class-LED-5-Series-2160p-Smart-4K-UHD-TV-with-HDR-Roku-TV/192906423852

Really Good deal going on at best buy for this TV, which you can use for a monitor

It has 90% dcip3 color space and 300nit

for $200..


If y'all are using this for a monitor, you gotta be at least 4-5 feet away, VA won't look good from very close due to black stability angles.

This is NOT a quantum dot tv, so while it is wide gamut, Technically in terms of motion clarity  Quantum dot varieties will have a slight edge.  Depending on what you're doing with the tv, it may / may not be important.


The Built in roku is very useful if you don't mind the SPYWARE.

On the Roku you can direct bitstream up to 85mbit 4K isos, This is probably not what most people watch these days, Netflix 4K is only 20mbit.

But the option to use Plex bitstreaming is there on Roku.

Overall the User Interface of Roku TV is the best/ most intuitive among all the brands.

[noisyturtle]

what exactly is a Roku. I feel like a dummy, heard the word a bunch but never bothered to check what it actually is. Is it like a Tivo?

[tp4tissue]

what exactly is a Roku. I feel like a dummy, heard the word a bunch but never bothered to check what it actually is. Is it like a Tivo?

Roku is like a chromecast  only much better + more user friendly.

It's the most user friendly Hdmi-stick right now.

It works with apps and stuff to SPY ON YOU,  in exchange for YOUR SOUL, it lets you stream your Arrgh-matey material to your TV without a PC.


A Roku-TV, is any TV that has Roku built in, and uses the roku User Interface.


The Interface is better than samsung/ sony tvs


The ONLY slight drawback to Roku streaming capability is that it doesn't have Gigabit Ethernet, which is necessary for higher than 85mbit Bluray streaming.


So,, only Nvidia Shield can do that. 



But of course,  for MAXIMUM image quality, Tp4 recommends building an HTPC with a 1080/ 1080Ti  ..   This is required for Best HDR movie quality given the current software situation.

Yes, that is not mis-spoken, Watching latest 4K HDR movies REQUIRE a 1080Ti for best quality. GPU utilization will run between ~70-90% on 1080Ti.

@ Minimum, requires a GTX 1060/1070.

[noisyturtle]

So it just streams content from your comp to your tv?

[tp4tissue]

So it just streams content from your comp to your tv?

yes, it can also stream from internet. like netflix.

[Sintpinty]

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tcl-43-class-led-5-series-2160p-smart-4k-uhd-tv-with-hdr-roku-tv/6202780.p?skuId=6202780

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TCL-43-Class-LED-5-Series-2160p-Smart-4K-UHD-TV-with-HDR-Roku-TV/192906423852

Really Good deal going on at best buy for this TV, which you can use for a monitor

It has 90% dcip3 color space and 300nit

for $200..


If y'all are using this for a monitor, you gotta be at least 4-5 feet away, VA won't look good from very close due to black stability angles.

This is NOT a quantum dot tv, so while it is wide gamut, Technically in terms of motion clarity  Quantum dot varieties will have a slight edge.  Depending on what you're doing with the tv, it may / may not be important.


The Built in roku is very useful if you don't mind the SPYWARE.

On the Roku you can direct bitstream up to 85mbit 4K isos, This is probably not what most people watch these days, Netflix 4K is only 20mbit.

But the option to use Plex bitstreaming is there on Roku.

Overall the User Interface of Roku TV is the best/ most intuitive among all the brands.

I'd get a monitor from the thrift shop, am too broke to afford this one

[Sniping]

i saw this deal come up before i went to sleep last night, slept on it and bought one this morning. not too sure how i should check for the quality of the panel though. i'll have to follow your little backlight bleed uniformity test when i get the tv. i am glad i finally found a decent panel at a very good price.

[tp4tissue]

i saw this deal come up before i went to sleep last night, slept on it and bought one this morning. not too sure how i should check for the quality of the panel though. i'll have to follow your little backlight bleed uniformity test when i get the tv. i am glad i finally found a decent panel at a very good price.

Yea, backlight to 100% turn off all power saving / eco mode features/ dynamic contrast


For DSE (dirty screen effect), use a dark green or dark gray screen, you should be able to see the uneven patches if they exist.


I will measure my panel and let you know if the gamut and contrast measure up to Rtings..

[Sniping]

got my panel in today, i didn't do a true blb test but with normal monitor settings i couldn't see any bleeding, looks good to me. i have my windows scaling set to 175% and everything's looking pretty good so far.

i flux the hell out of my screen at night so everything's super yellow at night so i can't see any improvement with it on, but it definitely looks better than my old QNIX monitor (samsung pls) with flux off.

[tp4tissue]

got my panel in today, i didn't do a true blb test but with normal monitor settings i couldn't see any bleeding, looks good to me. i have my windows scaling set to 175% and everything's looking pretty good so far.

i flux the hell out of my screen at night so everything's super yellow at night so i can't see any improvement with it on, but it definitely looks better than my old QNIX monitor (samsung pls) with flux off.

should be getting mine today or tomorrow. xcite

[tp4tissue]

Just got it.

Without break in (contrast not yet stable/peak).


@ default setting Vivid + Warm + 2.2 gamma setting.

(Vivid gives the largest native gamut w/out clamp, that's how it works with roku tvs)

6800k color temp,  6827:1 contrast,   I fully expect this to go down when tuned to 6504k after break in.   BUT I MUST SAY,  This is AMAZEBALLS Contrast..

The Gamut test, the panel does indeed have Wide-Gamut Colors, 90% DCI-p3 is definitely there.

Peak brightness (AT COLD) 387nits,  That's very high for a $200.  But again, Expect this number to drop when the white point is dialed in. As is, it's essentially Brightness b00sted by the Extra Blue. I expect post-calibration 320-350nit is not out of the question.


NOW,  the bad news. 

So... I can see why this tv gets a bad rep for panel lottery.

TP4 Did not win that lottery.   2 dead pixels in the top left corner.

Heavy Dirty Screen effect + some Jail bars.

Black point uniformity @ peak p0wr is Fairly good though, only slight bleed bottom left corner, not a big deal.

Viewing angle is not-the-best,  but I've seen worse.



On the one hand, I am blown away by the PERFORMANCE specs,    But yes, uniformity/panel lottery is ,,   well this is America,  You get it Exchanged..



Will break it in over 3 hrs and give final numbers.

BOTTOM LINE:::

Spec wise,  FOR $200,  You can not do better.   NO FFn Way.. This is the Holy Grail of $200

[dgneo]

what exactly is a Roku. I feel like a dummy, heard the word a bunch but never bothered to check what it actually is. Is it like a Tivo?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+roku

[tp4tissue]

@ sniping, can you go to the windows background setting.

Set it to solid green, click custom color, move the brightness slider down to 23% from the bottom so it's a very deep dark green.. (doesn't have to be precise)

THEN  go into the tv video setting, Vivid, then Color,   Move that bar (on the tv) up and down between 40-100,  are there any instances where the screen begins to flicker ?


I suspect what's happening is they skimped on the panel's color engine chip, so the frc engine is not high enough bit-depth,  leading to flicker as its picking between truncated values too far from one another.


This type a thing is not unique to TCL, but the flicker i'm seeing here seems m0ar flickery than I've seen on other panels. 

Mod Edit: Fixed the text size for you

[Sintpinty]

I love how you call it "yarrg content"

[tp4tissue]

Post Calibration Report :

@ 6535 K color temperature.

White Point: 350.9 cd/mē

Black Point: 0.0528 cd/mē

Contrast Ratio: 6648:1   WOW !!


Average Delta E:   0.32  ( x< 3 = imperceptibly accurate)

Max Delta E :  1.21 ( x< 3 = imperceptibly accurate)


92.68% DCIP3  Wide Gamut coverage






Mod Edit: Fixed the text size for you

[Sniping]

@ sniping, can you go to the windows background setting.

Set it to solid green, click custom color, move the brightness slider down to 23% from the bottom so it's a very deep dark green.. (doesn't have to be precise)

THEN  go into the tv video setting, Vivid, then Color,   Move that bar (on the tv) up and down between 40-100,  are there any instances where the screen begins to flicker ?


I suspect what's happening is they skimped on the panel's color engine chip, so the frc engine is not high enough bit-depth,  leading to flicker as its picking between truncated values too far from one another.


This type a thing is not unique to TCL, but the flicker i'm seeing here seems m0ar flickery than I've seen on other panels. 

man, maybe i'm just not looking for the right things but i really can't find anything wrong with my monitor. i followed your instructions and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, and i looked at two dirty screen effect tests and couldn't find anything either. i was worried a bit because i was running the monitor at 30hz but i just had to change the settings to 60hz, surprised it defaulted to 30.

[tp4tissue]

DSE
 

To see dse, don't look for any online test.

Just put on a solid color, dark green,  and look at how uniform it is.  w/ backlight at maximum.

The green has to be quite dark a green, almost into the black area of the slider.

the roku menu is ,  TV brightness (brighter), advanced picture setting (backlight 100)



But yea, you might've just won the lottery so, Congrats.

Mod Edit: Fixed the text size for you

[tp4tissue]

Hay Sniping,

Have you ran it at peak brightness yet ?

The bottom of the screen, super hot right ?

I went to move it a little just now, and it felt really h0t.. measures 117f (47c)

Mod Edit: Fixed the text size for you

[Sniping]

whoops, was meaning to reply to this thread but had a seriously hectic week. so i still can't tell if there's DSE. i did the dark green screen test and at some times it looked like there was some dirty effect but at other times I was pretty convinced that it was just reflection. it looks completely fine when i'm on geekhack, for example, and i'd say i'm happy with it, whether the DSE was real or imagined. i haven't run it at max brightness, i just keep it at normal where it's barely warm, but i guess it's running within normal spec right? like just how macbook airs would idle at like 70C, i feel like i don't really care if it gets hot. it is a little surprising that a fairly efficient TV would feel hot though. eh, i don't care.

[tp4tissue]

Doing a side by side between this tv and my samsung ,  the extra 100nit on the TCL really makes the HDR pop more than my samsung.

I'm still on the fence..  Gonna test it some more..   The wide gamut, the 350 nit,  mmm.....

If I decide on the TCL, definitely gonna hook up some fans to it..  They are overdriving the hell out of these leds..

These will almost certainly fail if used at peak brightness for a few thousand hours.

Mod Edit: Fixed the text size for you

[Sniping]

i haven't given the hdr a shot yet. am i only supposed to keep it on for movies? i feel like it'd be useless when i'm just browsing the internet.

i'm sure they were pressed to keep the whole chassis rather compact so if you crack open the back maybe you can hack a better cooling solution without too much effort

[tp4tissue]

i haven't given the hdr a shot yet. am i only supposed to keep it on for movies? i feel like it'd be useless when i'm just browsing the internet.

i'm sure they were pressed to keep the whole chassis rather compact so if you crack open the back maybe you can hack a better cooling solution without too much effort

HDR only affects movies that are encoded in HDR.

You should not turn on windows HDR for -the internet-,  websites are typically not aware that your screen processes HDR or has a wide color gamut.

The windows HDR mode is only intended for some games/ apps which specifically require it to tell the TV to operate in HDR. like the Monster Hunter PCGame.

CHROME Browser can be set to assume the display runs in P3 gamut, chrome://flags -> search color -> p3,      This has nothing to do with HDR, it just works better with the gradient of p3 monitors such as (this one).

For more Accurate general computer use, you have to be in Roku Movie mode, and color mode set to Warm. For example, if you were making your own website, this mode more closely mirrors what other people will see. In this mode, you want to force Chrome to output in SRGB instead of p3.

Movie Mode + Warm, clamps the monitor's colorspace to SRGB, which is the intended target of nearly all web material and computer software.


Using the TV's Normal/ Vivid Mode will map to Wide Gamut DCI-P3.  This is not the intended color of the content, and will look irradiated/ glowingly saturated.  Some people like this, punch in the face w/ color. Bananas will be shockingly yellow.

If you want to watch REALLY Gud' HDR Movies,  you need MPCHC + Madvr + @least 1060GTX.


Went 2 bestbuy on my Time-out. Exchanged the first panel. The second one has much better uniformity. not perfect but much better than the first. Measurement specs are approximately the same.


Mod Edit: Fixed the text size for you

[JP]

Woot! TP4 not ded 

[tp4tissue]

Woot! TP4 not ded 

As long as monitors that are uncalibrated Exist. Tp4 will not rest until everyone has Hurd the G-ud'Wurd.



Mod Edit: Fixed the text size for you

[Sniping]

i haven't given the hdr a shot yet. am i only supposed to keep it on for movies? i feel like it'd be useless when i'm just browsing the internet.

i'm sure they were pressed to keep the whole chassis rather compact so if you crack open the back maybe you can hack a better cooling solution without too much effort

HDR only affects movies that are encoded in HDR.

You should not turn on windows HDR for -the internet-,  websites are typically not aware that your screen processes HDR or has a wide color gamut.

The windows HDR mode is only intended for some games/ apps which specifically require it to tell the TV to operate in HDR. like the Monster Hunter PCGame.

CHROME Browser can be set to assume the display runs in P3 gamut, chrome://flags -> search color -> p3,      This has nothing to do with HDR, it just works better with the gradient of p3 monitors such as (this one).

For more Accurate general computer use, you have to be in Roku Movie mode, and color mode set to Warm. For example, if you were making your own website, this mode more closely mirrors what other people will see. In this mode, you want to force Chrome to output in SRGB instead of p3.

Movie Mode + Warm, clamps the monitor's colorspace to SRGB, which is the intended target of nearly all web material and computer software.


Using the TV's Normal/ Vivid Mode will map to Wide Gamut DCI-P3.  This is not the intended color of the content, and will look irradiated/ glowingly saturated.  Some people like this, punch in the face w/ color. Bananas will be shockingly yellow.

If you want to watch REALLY Gud' HDR Movies,  you need MPCHC + Madvr + @least 1060GTX.


Went 2 bestbuy on my Time-out. Exchanged the first panel. The second one has much better uniformity. not perfect but much better than the first. Measurement specs are approximately the same.


Mod Edit: Fixed the text size for you

Geez, what is hoffman doing over here. why the hell are your comments in 4pt, i actually can't read them now. anyways, i have been keeping the TV on normal mode and it looks like a pretty conventional picture to me, so maybe i'm already used to an oversaturated color profile. seems pretty similar to how people love oversaturated audio sound signatures to me. glad you got better luck on your second roll, i've been away from home so no chance to enjoy my tv 

[tp4tissue]

Geez, what is hoffman doing over here. why the hell are your comments in 4pt, i actually can't read them now. anyways, i have been keeping the TV on normal mode and it looks like a pretty conventional picture to me, so maybe i'm already used to an oversaturated color profile. seems pretty similar to how people love oversaturated audio sound signatures to me. glad you got better luck on your second roll, i've been away from home so no chance to enjoy my tv 

IDK,  I think it must be a new mod,  Tp4 txt is better, if anything everyone should use Tp4 style.

This is borderline cyber bullying. Original Hoff had already OK-ed Tp4's txt styling.  Tp4 Teal has already been established as a Gekhak Specialty. for over 2 years. !!

But yea, overall the oversaturated colors are OK-ish for most people, that's how it is on most samsung oled phones, they're running in p3 for nearly everything.

It's only a problem if you're a creative, because if you edited a web element on your p3 Monitor, in reverse, for anyone using regular gamut, it will look DE-Saturated/ washed out.

The other issue is, On your end, using p3 will cause color clipping when you view certain images.

The right most blue bars might be clipped if the software is expecting SRGB output, but the monitor is running p3., at least it did for me on latest chrome without setting chrome to p3 mode.

[tp4tissue]

Update on Shimmering.

Turns out it's not shimmering.

Tp4 has determined that it LOOKS like shimmering because the pixel -spacing- at the distance which they were being observed (8 inches) is right around the resolving resolution on the eye. Which caused visual Moire.

Similar to camera sensors, the human eye can exhibit this phenomenon. given the right circumstances.

Determination was made by filming the panel in 120fps. no pixel shimmer detected.

[tp4tissue]

Just tried some Starcraft-(remastered) on this monitor..

Overall.. in -wide- gamut mode,   the colors are a bit too intense.

The game uses broad flat color surfaces; the more muted look of regular srgb is more appropriate.

The monitor HAS an srgb mode so, not a problem, just an observation.