We used the following calibration settings to test the TCL A1s. Keep in mind that results can vary slightly between individual units, firmware versions, and picture modes, so you may need small tweaks if your unit looks a bit different.
These settings are meant to provide a solid starting point for accurate SDR playback in a typical living room. They aren't meant to be copied 1:1, and your best results will depend on your screen size, throw distance, room brightness, and wall/screen color.
SDR Picture Settings
For SDR content, you can choose a few different preset picture modes. We used the Movie picture mode for our pre-calibration results, since it's the most accurate out of the box, so if you don't calibrate the projector, it's the picture mode that will most closely follow the content creator's intent. However, we used the Custom picture mode once we calibrated the projector, since it allows for the most customization. Below are some of the settings we used for SDR during the calibration process. All other settings were either left to default, disabled, or left off.
- Picture Mode: Custom
- Brightness Mode: Custom
- Gamma: Middle
- Brightness: 10
- Contrast: 50
- Saturation: 50
- Sharpness: 0
Gaming Settings
From the base SDR settings, very few changes are required for the best gaming experience. Typically, when you start gaming, it's best to enable the Game picture mode, although on this particular model, it doesn't actually seem to do anything of note. The rest of our gaming settings are identical to our regular settings for SDR. Here are our settings for input lag testing:
- Picture Mode: Game
Firmware
The unit we bought and tested was calibrated on software version V14.1.0.1.
Other Settings
For information on any other settings or features that fall outside of the scope of our testing, please refer to TCL's web page for this projector.
White Balance Settings
The following are the results of our unit's white balance and colorspace calibration. They're provided for reference and shouldn't be copied, as the calibration values vary per individual unit due to manufacturing tolerances. If you want to try them, you'll need to enter all the 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.
