TCL NXTFRAME QLED Calibration Settings

We used the following calibration settings to review the 65-inch TCL NXTFRAME (65A300W), but they're also valid for the 55-inch (55A300W), 75-inch (75A300W), and 85-inch (85A300W) models. These settings apply to most types of content, except for gaming or use as a PC monitor, which requires a few additional changes, listed below.

These settings are meant to provide a starting point; they're not meant to be copied 1:1. They provide the most accurate image in a moderately lit room, but you should adjust them to match your preferences and viewing conditions.

For SDR content, a few different preset picture modes are available. The 'Movie' picture mode delivers the most accurate image out of the box and allows for the most customization, so that's what we used for our calibration and all SDR content. If you prefer a brighter image, the 'Vivid' preset is brighter overall but less accurate.

For our calibration, from the Brightness Settings menu in the Advanced Settings page, we set Brightness to '59'. Note that the Brightness setting controls the intensity of the backlight, so you should adjust this to your viewing conditions and personal preferences. If you have the Adaptive Brightness setting enabled from the Intelligent Picture settings, it will automatically adjust the TV's Brightness setting depending on the ambient light level in your room.

We also set Contrast to '100', Black Level to '50', and Gamma to '2.2' as it's the closest to our calibration target for a moderately lit room, but you should adjust that setting to your viewing conditions. The Local Contrast setting controls the full array local dimming feature. For our testing, we set this to 'High'.

Under the Color menu, we also set Color Saturation to '50', Tint to '50', and we chose the 'Warm' Color Temperature as it's also the closest to our calibration target of 6500K. If you're not satisfied with the picture quality of your set, adjusting the Color Temperature is a good place to start. Finally, we set Sharpness to '0' under the Clarity menu for most of our testing, and we set it to '20' specifically for our upscaling test.

As we aim for an image that's as close as possible to the content creator's intent, we disable most image processing options, including Dynamic Contrast, Black Stretch, Dynamic Brightness, and Micro Contrast. We also disable all noise reduction settings under the Clarity menu. You should adjust these to your personal preference, though.

HDR is automatically enabled for native apps. When you start playing HDR content, a small HDR icon appears in the picture settings menu. Once you start playing HDR content, some of the settings change automatically. Below are the settings we used for HDR10. All other settings were either disabled or left off. 

• HDR Picture Mode: Movie
• Brightness: 100
• Contrast: 100
• Gamma: 2.2
• Micro Contrast: Off
• Color Temperature: Warm -5
• Dynamic Tone Mapping: Off

The TV supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ from native apps and external devices. As with normal HDR content, when you start playing Dolby Vision or HDR10+ content, some settings change automatically. Since we don't specifically test Dolby Vision or HDR10+, we don't have exact settings for them, but they should be the same as our HDR10 settings.

The following are the results of calibrating the white balance of our unit to 6500K in HDR. They are provided for reference and shouldn't be copied as the calibration values vary per individual unit, even for the same model and size as the TV we reviewed, due to manufacturing tolerances. If you want to try them, you'll need to enter all values shown, as all of them are active at the same time. If you end up with worse picture quality, simply reset them to the default values.

Although we usually leave these settings disabled during most of our testing, you should adjust the settings in the Motion menu under Advanced Settings to your liking, as different people prefer different levels of motion interpolation. If you want to enable motion interpolation, turn on the Motion Clarity setting and adjust the Blur Reduction and/or the Judder Reduction sliders until you find the level of soap opera effect you like.

The TCL NXTFRAME QLED automatically removes 24p judder from any source; no additional settings are required.

Game Master is TCL's gaming overlay, which comes with its own gaming-oriented picture modes and enhancements. When enabled, it also automatically turns on the TV's Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), i.e., Game Mode and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) features. When Game Master is set to 'Auto', it will automatically be enabled upon detection of a recent video game console. For signals requiring full bandwidth, you must set the HDMI Mode to 'HDMI 2.1'.

If you want the TCL NXTFRAME QLED to display chroma 4:4:4 when using it as a PC monitor, set the Picture Mode to 'PC' and set the HDMI Mode to '2.1', although VRR does not work in the 'PC' Picture Mode. However, you cannot have Game Mode enabled on this TV when in the 'PC' Picture Mode, so this means that on a PC, you have to choose between either getting chroma 4:4:4 support in 'PC,' or the lowest input lag possible and VRR in Game Mode. The input lag is still quite good in the 'PC' Picture Mode without Game Mode, so it's what we recommend for most users, but if you primarily use your PC for gaming, you might prefer to sacrifice text clarity for the lower possible input lag and a tear-free gaming experience.

The TCL NXTFRAME QLED can pass uncompressed audio to a compatible receiver through a single HDMI connection. For eARC to work with Dolby Atmos formats, set Digital Audio Out to 'Auto', and set it to 'Pass Through' for DTS:X formats.

The NXTFRAME' stand-out feature is its Art Mode, through which you can display artwork or paintings on the TV. It comes with many images built-in, but you can also display your own photo collections.

One of the first things we did was disable all of the extra image processing features, as we didn't want the TV to adjust the image during testing. We disabled the Energy Saver setting in the Power & Energy menu and disabled the Intelligent Picture settings.

The TCL NXTFRAME QLED has a few accessibility features, and the settings are all available in the Accessibility section.