TCL P755 vs SHARP JP7765E

TCL P755 provides average HDR effect quality. The maximum brightness of the television is slightly below 300 nits. Such brightness limits the intensity of bright areas in HDR content. In practice, this means that bright elements may not be sufficiently pronounced, which affects the overall impression of contrast. However, the television offers a wide coverage of the DCI P3 colour gamut, reaching around 93%. As a result, colours are vibrant and saturated, significantly improving colour reproduction quality in HDR content. Despite the limited brightness, the wide colour range allows for richer and more realistic shades.

So how does the brightness of the Sharp JP7 fare in the most demanding titles? Honestly, at first, we were quite surprised. The television is capable of achieving over 1000 nits of brightness, which is an outstanding and rare result for a device costing just under 2000 PLN (for 55 inches). Watching bright, full-screen scenes, one might feel they are dealing with really good equipment. Unfortunately, though, we have to return to the problem we mentioned earlier regarding local dimming management. When small bright areas appear on a dark background (as in the test scenes from the films Life of Pi or Sicario 2), it is evident how poorly the JP7 handles zones. The television dims them almost to the maximum, crushing the entire HDR effect, which in such moments resembles a flat SDR image (less than 200 nits). This instability means that in demanding, contrast-heavy films, the image on the JP7 unfortunately loses its appeal.

As a consolation, it is worth noting that the panel has the potential for good colour display. It features a PFS (phosphor) filter, which allows for a solid 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 palette. The manufacturer calls its product a “QLED,” even though it is primarily based on the aforementioned PFS filter. Given the recent market battles of manufacturers over what may or may not be called QLED, we leave the question of the correctness of this naming to your assessment. However, it remains a fact that the potential for reproducing saturated colours in this panel is simply good.

The colour reproduction in the P755 in "Movie" mode, although it is the best factory setting, leaves much to be desired. The biggest problem is the white balance, where the graph clearly shows a spike in red and a drop in green. This leads to a shift in colours towards red, making the colours on the screen less natural and potentially looking incorrect, especially in scenes with a white or neutral background. This is confirmed by the "Colour Checker" test, which reveals that the colours are indeed skewed towards red, affecting the realism of the image and reducing the perception of colour depth. In terms of contrast, the gamma chart analysis shows considerable fluctuations, particularly in dark areas of the image, where values drop below the optimal level of 2.4. This results in darker areas being displayed brighter than they should be. Additionally, the EOTF curve, responsible for brightness reproduction, is slightly above the reference curve. The graph shows a slight boost in brightness to around 50%, followed by only a minor decrease. This leads to excessive brightness enhancement in the mid-tones of the image and may result in loss of detail and distortion in brighter scenes.

When it comes to out-of-the-box colours, the Sharp JP7 was tested in Film mode, which traditionally offers the most consistent image compared to the yellowed “Eco” mode or the glaring blue of the “Dynamic” mode. Although this is the best choice among the available settings, the results are still far from ideal. The white balance clearly lacked red and blue components, causing many scenes to take on an unnatural greenish tint. Another issue was the gamma – during full-screen scenes, the television provides excessive brightness, which completely diminishes its cinematic character. All of this resulted in colour reproduction errors, especially in shades of grey, which exceeded a value of Delta E 10. For reference: errors above 2-3 are already visible to the human eye, so we are dealing with a significant distortion of reality here.

In HDR mode, the situation is reversed, but not any better. Here, the blue colour dominates the white balance, which gives the image an unnatural, almost “retail” sharpness, reminiscent of aggressive demonstration modes. Furthermore, measurements of the EOTF curve emphasise the retail character of the image. The graph clearly shows that the television generates an image significantly brighter than the standards predict, resulting in an artificially boosted and unrealistic final effect. The Sharp JP7 is evidently trying to appear stronger than it actually is, but it does so at the cost of fidelity to the content.

After calibration, the colour reproduction on the television improves significantly when it comes to SDR content. The colour curves are now close to the ideal value, and the gamma is more stable. Although the drop at the beginning of the graph to value is still present, the overall accuracy of colour reproduction is much better. The "Colour Checker" test shows that most colour samples have errors below level 2, indicating improved colour fidelity. A few deviations are present, but generally, the colours are now more realistic and consistent with reality.

Calibration also brings improvement in HDR content. The white balance has been improved, resulting in a more natural colour reproduction. The EOTF curve, although now closer to the reference curve, still shows a slight boost in brightness at the beginning of the graph. This leads to minor distortions in very bright scenes, but the overall tonal quality and detail have been enhanced. Dynamic tone mapping works more effectively, improving image quality in bright areas and retaining more detail.

Although the device's picture does not achieve complete perfection, calibration brings significant improvement. After adjusting the settings, the television presents itself much better, offering a more realistic and accurate colour reproduction in SDR and HDR content. While some shortcomings can still be noticed, calibration effectively eliminates many previous issues, ensuring better image quality and more natural colours.

We subjected the JP7 to our standard calibration procedure and really... the television gained a new lease of life thanks to it, particularly with SDR content (YouTube, classic television, series, or older films). As a result of our precise adjustment of the white balance and stabilisation of the gamma, colour errors fell to a value of below 3. This is a level at which the human eye has difficulty detecting distortions. In this scenario, the Sharp JP7 delivers an image with truly excellent colour precision, which is a significant advantage in this price class. However, content with HDR turned out to be much more problematic. Here, despite our efforts and interventions in the settings, the television simply would not cooperate. In the JP7 menu, we don't find any option that would allow for real control over brightness management (EOTF). Although a significant portion of the colour errors was reduced, the image still remained unnaturally oversaturated. It's a bit of a shame, as the potential of the mini-LED backlit panel is great, but the software presents a clear barrier here.

The conclusion is simple: when watching less demanding content (SDR) on the JP7, you can expect an image that is more than satisfactory, but in HDR, you must come to terms with a certain degree of "artificiality" that cannot be circumvented even with professional equipment.

The "Gradual Smoothing" function works quite well, effectively eliminating visible boundaries between different shades of the same colour. Thanks to it, tonal transitions are smoother. Unfortunately, this function is not available in HDR mode, which may affect the quality of tonal gradations in higher dynamic range materials.

When it comes to image scaling, the television does not perform at its best. There are noticeable edge cuts, particularly evident on the figure of the model and the branches of trees. The blurring of details in these areas affects the overall sharpness of the image. This may be noticeable when watching content in a lower resolution. Moreover, SD quality images are displayed with slight cropping at the top as well as the bottom.

In the case of lower quality materials and how the Sharp JP7 handles them, the situation is ambiguous. Let's start with the upscaling itself – here we have no major objections. The process of scaling the image to a higher resolution is correct; the picture remains readable and sharp, without the overscan effect, meaning no cropped edges. Of course, it is not at the level of top models, and at times one can notice slight jaggedness on the contours, but in this price range, the effect is fully acceptable.

However, the actual digital image processing performs significantly worse, which, apart from the upscaling, effectively does not exist. In the JP7 menu, we will not find any option that would effectively smooth out unwanted tonal transitions or reduce noise in the image. As a result, the signal reaches the panel in a very raw form, which, with heavily compressed materials (e.g. from YouTube), leads to visible posterisation. Either it is a flaw in the software or a very strange design decision, because in earlier Sharp models this function was available and, crucially, worked with noticeable effect. Here, we are left to deal with whatever the source provides us, without any digital support from the image processor.

The television offers decent, although not perfect, results in terms of motion fluidity. For films, the television features a “Flicker Reduction” function that allows for motion fluidity adjustment on a scale from 1 to 10. With this option, we can customise the appearance of the image to a cinematic or more theatrical preference (with a slower or faster pace).

The motion fluidity on the Sharp JP7 is quite mediocre, and the reason is simple: the television uses a 60Hz panel. This instantly makes it difficult to recommend for watching sports or serious gaming, where higher refresh rates are already the standard. The only real plus is the presence of a smoothness feature, which we can control in films using a slider called De-judder. Lower settings provide a more raw, "cinematic" (framey) image, while higher settings add artificial smoothness. We suggest setting it somewhere in the middle of the scale, that is in the range of 3-5 – this is the best compromise to avoid the soap opera effect while also eliminating the tiring stuttering of the image. Interestingly, in the menu, we also find a "motion blur removal" slider, which usually indicates the presence of a 120Hz panel. However, with the JP7, it does not enhance the image at all and serves rather as a dummy – it is meant to look good in the settings, but technically it has no right to operate on this panel.

The device offers a range of features useful for gamers, such as ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), Dolby Vision for gamers, and Game Bar. ALLM automatically switches the television to low latency mode, significantly improving response to commands from the controller and minimising input lag. VRR synchronises the screen refresh rate with the number of frames generated by the console, eliminating screen tearing and providing smoother gameplay. Dolby Vision for gamers enhances picture quality, offering better colour and contrast reproduction in games that support this format. The Game Bar feature allows quick access to game settings and monitoring of key parameters such as reaction time.

However, the television has certain limitations. The 60 Hz panel prevents the display of higher refresh rate signals at various resolutions, which may affect the smoothness of the image in dynamic games. Additionally, the lack of support for G-Sync technology for PC may impact gameplay quality on a computer. It is also worth noting that the HGiG mode, which aims to improve picture quality in HDR games, does not function correctly in this model, negatively affecting the visual experience in HDR-supported games.

As we mentioned earlier, the 60Hz panel is not a feature that will attract gamers to the Sharp JP7. Perhaps for the casual player, whose console still generates most titles at 60 frames per second, there might be something interesting? When it comes to specific additions, we find here:

• ALLM Mode: Automatically switches the television to low latency game mode (input lag).

• Game Menu: Which is hard to call a full-fledged “Game Bar,” as the functionality here is minimal. Aside from enabling ALLM, there’s only a game-specific motion smoother which we recommend avoiding as it introduces very noticeable artifacts and worsens responsiveness.

• Dolby Vision Gaming: For Microsoft consoles.

Unfortunately, the list of shortcomings is significantly longer and more painful than the positives. The biggest disappointment is the lack of support for 120Hz, even when reducing the resolution to Full HD. The presence of 120Hz would allow for performance modes to be activated in many games on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Another shortcoming is VRR, which means that during frame drops, we are exposed to screen tearing. The lack of proper implementation of the HGiG standard is also very problematic. This results in the fact that during HDR calibration in the console menu, it is very easy to "overshoot" the brightness settings. As a result, instead of clear details in the highlights, we end up with an unnaturally over-bright image with cut-off details. Sharp JP7 is a proposition solely for very casual gamers.