LG UA75006LA (VA) vs TCL V6C

The LG UA7500 with a VA panel has a brightness that hovers around 350 nits, which, by today’s standards, isn't very impressive. It's hard to talk about a true HDR experience here – most content looks more like classic SDR with a slight attempt at highlights enhancement. One advantage is that regardless of the test pattern, the effect remained relatively stable. However, we noticed that in very extreme scenes with a lot of fine detail, the television can slightly dim the image to achieve better black levels, but this comes at the cost of visibility of bright effects. Additionally, it should be noted that the UA7500 is not equipped with any extra technologies for expanding color. It is neither a QLED panel nor a PFS LED, which is why the coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette is only 80%, causing many HDR movies to appear flat and not fully represent the variety of colors.

When it comes to HDR, the TCK V6C clearly shows that it is not its strong suit. Peak brightness around 200 nits makes it difficult to talk about true HDR effects – the image simply remains too dark to extract details in bright scenes or convey the appropriate dynamics. Although the TV formally supports many HDR formats, in practice it is not adapted for such demanding content. The lack of additional coatings that enhance colors, such as QLED or PFS LED, further limits the appeal of the image – in more spectacular productions, colors may seem washed out compared to more expensive models. Therefore, the V6C will primarily serve as a television for everyday TV, YouTube, or SDR materials, rather than as equipment for high-quality cinematic experiences.

The Filmmaker mode on the LG UA7500 performs better than one might expect from such a budget TV, but let's not get carried away with the praise. The picture is put together quite sensibly and at first glance is not irritating; however, its weaknesses quickly start to show. This is most apparent in scenes with bright points – lamps in the background or reflections of light on the skin are clearly exaggerated. Characters' faces often look unnatural, as if they have been "burned out." Additionally, the default gamma settings brighten even the smallest details, causing the image to lose subtlety in darker areas. Nevertheless, the fact remains that, for its price range, the UA7500 in factory mode provides a decent starting point. However, it's clear that without additional correction, these issues cannot be avoided, which is why – as with other TVs – we decided to check what could be achieved after calibration.

We started the color reproduction tests with the Filmmaker mode, which in theory should be the best choice right after taking the television out of the box. It certainly performs better than the Eco or Dynamic modes, which heavily interfere with the image and spoil its natural character. As you can see in the charts, the factory tuning of the V6C is not ideal, although it’s not a disaster either. The biggest problem turned out to be a lack of red – the television clearly "cools" the image, which is particularly noticeable on human faces, giving a "corpse skin" effect. This issue was the most bothersome in daily viewing. Looking at the color palette in HDR content, the deficiencies in red are also noticeable, and their source is the relatively narrow coverage of the color space. Of course, every television can be calibrated, so we decided to check how the V6C would perform after such an adjustment.

We noticed the greatest improvement when calibrating the mode intended for daily SDR content. We managed to smooth the white balance in an acceptable way and tackle the issue of excessive brightening of small elements by the gamma characteristic. As a result, the image gained the consistency and naturalness that were lacking in the factory settings. After such correction, we can confidently state that for daily television content, programs, or materials from YouTube, the LG UA7500 performs really well – especially after professional calibration. The situation is somewhat different for HDR content. Here, the calibration did allow us to tame the white balance and slightly improve brightness management, but the limitations of the design are immediately apparent. The lack of additional filters to widen the color palette means that the most vivid colors appear flat, and the image does not have the intensity we would expect from good HDR. In SDR, the UA7500 performs quite decently, but in HDR – despite corrections – it remains far behind, and this is a characteristic that one must accept when choosing this television.

My dear friends – we haven't had such a difficult "calibration battle" in years. The V6C turned out to be one of the most stubborn TVs we've dealt with in the editorial office. The calibration trials alone took us several working hours and required a lot of patience. We finally managed to slightly warm up the skin tones, which made the faces stop looking like they were straight out of a horror film, a flaw in the factory settings. Unfortunately, that's not the end of it – the TV reacted to our adjustments in white balance in a completely unpredictable way. Where we expected image stabilization in a given area, new errors appeared, and the Color Checker measurements showed deviations that couldn't be rationally explained. It's hard to say whether the software or the construction itself was to blame, but one thing is certain – the V6C offered exceptionally strong resistance. In the end, the calibration brought improvement, especially in SDR content, where the image became more pleasant and natural. However, it must be clearly stated that the design limitations remained. The TV still flattens the image in HDR material and has significant deficiencies in color reproduction. This is equipment rather intended for everyday TV watching or SDR materials than for cinematic screenings in the highest quality.

The LG UA7500 with a VA panel has shown a really good performance in this category. The image scaling from Full HD content or even SD was surprisingly smooth. The picture looked smooth, edges weren't excessively jagged, and the television maintained a significant amount of detail, which meant that even older movies didn't lose their character. It particularly excelled with faces – there were no artificial contours or the "mask" effect, which often occurs in cheaper models. The way the television handled tonal transitions in lower-quality materials is also noteworthy. Thanks to digital processing, colors didn't blend together, and gradients looked natural and smooth. There was no intrusive image smoothing or loss of cinematic grain. This makes the UA7500 great for everyday content – from terrestrial television, through sports, to YouTube, where we often watch materials in various resolutions.

When it comes to upscaling, the V6C does not bring anything groundbreaking. Lower quality content is heavily sharpened, making the image look very unnatural, sometimes even artificially. This can be partially mitigated by lowering the sharpness level in the settings, but the effect is not spectacular. The image still remains far from ideal. The digital processing itself performs better. The function responsible for smoothing tonal transitions works quite effectively, especially at the medium setting, where the image indeed appears smoother. Unfortunately, its operation is quite aggressive – it heavily interferes with the overall scene, causing the actors in the foreground to start looking like characters from super smooth telenovelas. Therefore, we would not recommend using this option if natural reception of the image is important to us.

LG UA7500 is a television with a 60 Hz panel, so it’s hard to expect any awe in this category. It’s more of a screen intended for everyday content or an evening movie session rather than for following dynamic sports events or playing action games. It’s clear that the manufacturer directed this model specifically to that group of consumers – and in that regard, it performs correctly. We have the TruMotion function at our disposal, which is a motion smoother. It’s simple, has only one slider, but it can make a noticeable difference. At lower settings, the image appears more raw and cinematic, while at higher values, motion becomes smoother and more pleasing to the eye.

Motion smoothing and motion fluidity is an area where the V6C quickly reveals its limitations. It is a 60 Hz TV, so it was hard to expect miracles here. In dynamic sports scenes, the picture comes off rather average. This is most noticeable in darker scenes, where clear smears and blurry "halos" trail behind moving objects, which can be quite distracting. This is definitely a weaker point of this model. Fortunately, there is also a small plus. The V6C is equipped with motion interpolation, which works while watching movies. Thanks to it, productions recorded at 24 frames per second, meaning practically all cinematic titles as well as series, can look smoother than they were actually recorded. Importantly, the intensity of the effect can be adjusted to personal preferences – from slight smoothing to full "soap opera effect."

LG UA7500 is a television that can be safely recommended to "casual" gamers. While it does not have a 120 Hz panel or HDMI 2.1 ports, so fully utilizing the potential of modern consoles is out of the question. However, the manufacturer has taken care to include a few extras that can make gaming more enjoyable. Notably, the Game Bar deserves mention – a very nicely designed panel where you can quickly view and change the most important settings. From this panel, we have access to features such as ALLM (automatic switching to game mode) and frame synchronization, which is VRR. The range of VRR is limited – it works from 48 to 60 Hz – but the mere presence of this feature in such an affordable television leaves a positive impression.

Additionally, there is support for HGiG, which is HDR calibration mode for gaming. It sounds good, but based on testing experiences, we already know that with the UA7500, this option doesn't make much sense. The television does not handle HDR very well, so paradoxically we achieved better results with this mode turned off. This is another signal that the UA7500 is more of a screen for occasional gamers who value simplicity and convenience rather than for those looking for full immersion from the latest consoles.

Although the V6C is not a television designed with avid gamers in mind, TCL has included a few features that may appeal to more casual users. There is no 120 Hz panel or HDMI 2.1 ports, but there is an ALLM mode that automatically switches the TV to low-latency mode. Additionally, there is a quite practical Game Bar – a simple panel that allows you to view basic parameters, change the picture mode, or even enable a virtual crosshair on the screen. An interesting feature is also the support for Dolby Vision Gaming, intended for Xbox Series S/X consoles – a nice addition, though in practice it doesn't offer as much as in more expensive models. However, the biggest problem remains HDR configuration. The HGiG feature, which adjusts the brightness and contrast of games to the panel's capabilities, does not respond as we would expect – the image can end up being overly dark or too flat. As a result, a better solution turns out to be simply playing in SDR mode, where the V6C performs stably and does not try to pretend to be an HDR TV.