TCL S5/S551G Calibration Settings

We used the following calibration settings to review the 75-inch TCL S5/S551G (75S551G), but they're also valid for the 43-inch (43S551G), 50-inch (50S551G), 55-inch (55S551G), 65-inch (65S551G), and 85-inch (85S551G) models. These settings apply to most types of content, except for gaming or use as a PC monitor, which require 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. For our calibration, from the Brightness Settings menu on the Advanced Settings page, we set Brightness to '52.' Note that the Brightness setting controls the intensity of the backlight, so you should adjust this to your viewing conditions and personal preferences.

We also set Contrast to '99,' 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.

Under the Color menu, we also set Color Saturation to '50' and Tint to '50', and we chose the '-5' (Warm) Color Temperature, as it's also the closest to our calibration target of 6500K.

In the Clarity menu, we set Sharpness to '0' under the Clarity menu, as this setting delivers the sharpest image with no oversharpening. From that same menu, we left Digital Noise Reduction, Noise Reduction, and Gradation Clear disabled for most of our testing, as we don't want to add any artificial processing or artifacts.

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.

HDR is automatically enabled for native apps. Once you start playing HDR content, some settings change automatically, including Brightness, which increases to '100.' We left all the picture settings at their defaults in HDR, but you should adjust them to whatever looks best.

It's usually best to leave Color Space set to 'Auto,' as the TV automatically chooses the color gamut to match the content.

The TCL S5/S551G supports Dolby Vision from native apps and most external devices. As with normal HDR content, some settings change automatically when you start playing Dolby Vision content. We recommend leaving these settings as-is; don't copy our SDR settings over.

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 simultaneously. If you have 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 Judder Reduction slider until you find the level of soap opera effect you like.

To remove judder from 24p sources, the Nature Cinema setting must be enabled from the 'Motion' menu.

This TV can enter Game Mode from any picture mode. When you start gaming, set the Picture Mode to 'Game' to get the lowest possible input lag. Continue using the same settings for SDR or HDR. This TV also supports Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), as long as the Auto Low Latency Mode setting is enabled. When connected to supported gaming devices, the TV automatically enters Game Mode when it detects a game is running and leaves it when the game stops.

For clear text and proper chroma 4:4:4 support from a PC, set the Picture Mode to 'PC.' This ensures low input lag while still displaying text properly.

The TCL S5/S511G can pass uncompressed audio to a compatible receiver through a single HDMI connection. For eARC to work with Dolby formats, set Digital Audio Out to 'Pass Through.'

As we don't want the picture settings changing while testing the TV, we disabled the Adaptive Content setting in the Intelligent Picture and Intelligent Sound menus.

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 ensured the Sleep Timer feature was set to 'Off.'

This TV has a good selection of accessibility features. It supports automatic closed captioning, text-to-speech, and an experimental high-contrast text mode, just to name a few. There's also an option to disable the picture entirely, leaving the audio, which is great if you want to listen to music and don't need the screen on.