TCL A300W NXTVision vs LG MRGB85B

When it comes to brightness, the TCL A300W is definitely the dimmest TV among all frame-style models, such as Samsung The Frame or Hisense CanvasTV – and unfortunately, you can see that right away. In our measurements, peak luminance reached only around 400 nits, and on test movie screens, this value dropped to 350 nits. That’s definitely too little to feel the real "magic" of bright HDR effects. As a consolation – the TV is equipped with a PFS LED coating (which is something like QLED), which provides very good coverage of a wide colour gamut, both DCI-P3 and BT.2020. In addition, there is full support for all popular HDR formats – HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision – which somewhat compensates for the shortcomings in brightness and helps improve the overall experience of materials in this quality.

LG MRGB85 offers moderate brightness. On test patterns it reaches around 700 nits, which is a decent result in itself. In real movie scenes, however, values are lower and most often fall in the 400 to 600 nits range. Bright, wide shots look best. In scenes with large areas of black the TV noticeably reduces luminance, attempting to keep contrast as high as possible. The HDR effect is therefore visible, but it is far from the level offered by more advanced Mini-LED designs. Particularly in darker parts of films, the limitations of the edge-lit backlight and imprecise local dimming become apparent again.

HDR colours

A much stronger suit of the MRGB85 is its colour. The TV covers around 95% of the DCI-P3 colour space and 74% of BT.2020, so HDR content can look vivid and impressive. Colours are well saturated, and the difference compared with basic LCD TVs is clearly noticeable. It is worth noting, however, that this is not a classic RGB backlight, where each of the three primary colours is generated by a separate diode. Red is produced by a PFS phosphor, which expands the palette and achieves more saturated red tones. This solution performs well for colour reproduction, but it does not change the limitations of the local dimming. The diodes are not driven independently in the way the series name might suggest... so it turns out that Mini RGB is not the same as Mini-LED RGB!

TCL A300 offers several picture modes, but without a doubt, the movie mode performs the best. Unfortunately, even though it is the best option available, it is not free from errors. Both in HD and HDR content, the image has a noticeably too warm hue – it has a slight pink tint, which is particularly noticeable in snowy scenes. Instead of pure white, we get a pinkish coating that spoils the natural perception of colours.

The management of brightness is also lacking. In the case of older HD materials, the image often seems too dark – confirmed by an elevated gamma value. Conversely, with HDR content, the effect is the opposite – the image is overly bright, as we observed in scenes from the film Pan. Such a lack of consistency also affects colour accuracy – a test with a ColorChecker showed that many samples clearly deviate from reference values.

Fortunately, TCL allows for manual adjustment of settings, so we decided to check how the television would perform after our professional calibration. The effects of this adjustment are described below.

We tested the TV in Filmmaker Mode because, of the available presets, it produced the image closest to reference. The out-of-the-box colour reproduction wasn’t perfect, though. The biggest deviations were in the white balance, with too much red and not enough blue in the image, so the overall picture shifted noticeably towards warmer tones. Whites took on a slightly yellowish tint, and skin tones and bright areas didn’t always look natural. It wasn’t a fault that ruined the viewing experience, but in a direct comparison with the same panel after calibration the difference was clearly visible.

After our professional calibration, the TCL A300 has literally been given a new lease on life. The image has stopped being too warm, and the colours finally look as they should – as confirmed by the ColorChecker test, where the colour samples finally started hitting their marks, at least to some reasonable degree. It was also possible to partially correct the brightness management – the image is now more balanced and less "wobbly" between different types of content. Of course, certain limitations can't be bypassed – a slightly visible blooming effect still occurs, but that's a characteristic of the technology, not something that can be eliminated even after professional settings.

Generally: after calibration, the A300 looks significantly better and gains a whole new quality.

Calibration primarily corrected the white balance and removed the previously noticeable warm cast. After the correction, whites no longer had a yellow tint and colours became more neutral and natural. The biggest improvement was seen in SDR material, where the picture looked even and much closer to the reference. A similar effect was achieved in HDR. After calibration the image became more controlled, although not all of the TV’s limitations could be eliminated. The main issue remained intense reds, which were not always reproduced with sufficient precision. In practice the MRGB85 handles everyday SDR content very well, but in more demanding HDR material its limitations are still clearly visible.

TCL A300 handles tonal transitions in high-quality films very well, but the question arises – how does it perform with weaker materials? The TV is equipped with a tonal smoothing feature; however, its effectiveness can be described in one word: “random”. In one scene, it may work and improve the gradation, but when turned off… the effect remains the same. There is a lack of consistency and predictability here.

Image scaling is also not one of A300's strong points. On the test pattern, the main character actually looked better than on the raw signal, but with thin lines – like fonts or background details – there was noticeable jaggedness and aliasing. On the plus side, the TV does not cut off the image and has no issues with overscan, but the overall quality of scaling is rather average.

Upscaling and digital image processing perform quite well in the LG MRGB85. The Alpha 8 AI 4K Gen7 processor efficiently upscales lower-resolution material, and you can easily turn off overscan regardless of the source. The TV also handles compression artefacts well. The "Smooth Gradation" function can effectively reduce visible banding and tonal unevenness, but it isn't always precise. At higher settings it can also smooth out fine details, such as the texture of materials. A plus is that it doesn't remove film grain. The safest option is the "Low" or "Medium" setting, which offers the best compromise between artefact reduction and preserving detail.

TCL A300 is equipped with a 144 Hz panel, which should instantly satisfy virtually everyone - both gamers and sports fans. Motion is fluid and the image is clear even during fast scenes. Additionally, the television offers a motion enhancement feature called "Motion," where we find two sliders on a 10-point scale. These allow you to adjust the effect to your own preferences - from a classic, filmic look with visible frames to a very smooth (though already unnatural) image reminiscent of a soap opera effect. This way, everyone can find a setting that suits them.

The LG MRGB85 is fitted with a VA panel with a native 144 Hz refresh rate, so its motion handling is very good. The TV easily handles 120 Hz content from consoles and higher refresh rates when connected to a PC. That matters not only for gaming but also when watching sport, where camera motion is noticeably smoother than on basic 60 Hz panels. There’s also the TruMotion system, which lets you set the level of motion smoothing yourself. You can keep a more cinematic motion or increase smoothness, which works well for live sports and TV programmes. The adjustment range is wide, so you can easily tailor the motion smoothing to your own preferences.

The TCL A300 is a television designed not only to transport us to a digital art museum but also into the full-fledged world of gaming. It offers practically everything you can expect from gaming hardware: two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, 144 Hz refresh rate, support for VRR and ALLM.

It also deserves credit for the proper implementation of the HGIG mode – something that competing Hisense sometimes struggles with. The television handles lower resolutions (e.g., Full HD) with ease while maintaining high refresh rates, which will be appreciated by owners of older consoles or PCs.

Additionally, there's an attractive and clear GameBar that facilitates quick access to settings for gamers. The A300 is indeed well-prepared for gaming at the highest level – it’s just a shame that issues with ghosting somewhat detract from its overall appeal as a gaming device.

When it comes to gaming, the LG MRGB85 performs by far the best. The manufacturer hasn’t skimped on the kit and has essentially carried over the full suite of features from pricier TVs into this model. You get three HDMI 2.1 ports with full 48 Gb/s bandwidth. Each supports 4K 120 Hz from a console, and when connected to a PC also 4K 144 Hz. So you don’t need to worry which port to plug your console or PC into, as they all offer the same set of capabilities.

On board you’ll also find VRR, AMD FreeSync Premium, NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible, ALLM and HGiG. Dolby Vision Gaming is included too, allowing supported games to use high refresh rates and dynamic HDR simultaneously on Xbox. Rounding it off is Game Optimizer, a handy in-game menu. Without leaving the game you can change the picture profile, brighten shadow detail or check the current frame rate. In terms of gaming features, the MRGB85 therefore offers almost the same as significantly more expensive LG models.