TCL C655 Pro vs Haier K85F

In the HDR effect quality category, the TCL 655 PRO television shows decent capabilities, achieving 550 nits of peak brightness. This allows for enjoyment of HDR effects, which is clearly visible in scenes such as the first from the movie Life of Pi or the last frame from The Meg. However, the limited number of dimming zones causes some problems. While in bright scenes the television performs better than its lower model, in more demanding scenes, such as the second and fourth scenes from Sicario 2, it struggles. The dimming algorithm aims for deep blacks, but at the cost of brightness – which in these moments leads to a decrease in brightness by as much as half. In these more challenging scenes with small elements, it is hard to find any praise, and the HDR effect resembles rather SDR. Nonetheless, the coverage of the color palette deserves commendation, which, like in the version without the PRO suffix, is at a very good level.

Now let's move on to one of the hottest topics in the world of televisions, which is the quality of HDR effect. In the case of the Haier K85F model, we must unfortunately make it clear: if you are looking for equipment to watch content in a wide dynamic range, you should steer clear of this model. The main issue is its very low peak brightness, which during our tests barely reached 250 nits. To give you a better idea of what this means – such a value is okay for watching standard SDR materials, but it is absolutely insufficient to show any real benefits of HDR. The image simply lacks the "power" to generate bright, striking bursts. All our measurements and tests on specialist patterns only confirmed this. As if that weren't enough, the television also struggles with color reproduction. In this budget model, we won't find any technologies that expand the color palette, such as quantum dot layers (known in marketing as "QLED"). As a result, the coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, which is crucial for HDR materials, is only about 80%. In practice, this means that the image will not only be dark but also devoid of vibrant, saturated colors that the director wanted to show us.

Each of our TV tests is conducted in movie mode, which usually offers the best color reproduction. Nevertheless, even this mode is not free from problems, as we noted with the TCL 655 PRO model.

In the case of HD content, the white balance clearly shifts towards red, and this effect becomes particularly noticeable in a scene from Star Wars, where the white elements of the scenery take on a pink hue. For 4K HDR material, the situation looks better, but there is a tendency to excessively enhance the blue color. As a result, the image can appear artificially sharp, which proves to be uncomfortable for the eye over a longer period. The brightness characteristic also leaves much to be desired. The Gamma chart indicates serious difficulties with excessive brightening, causing the overall presentation to look washed out. Additionally, the EOTF curve reveals significant issues with the reproduction of very small elements - they are excessively dimmed, as we detailed in the paragraph regarding HDR effects.

Well, how does the television perform with colors straight from the factory, without any intervention from our side? The Haier K85F offers a full range of picture modes, such as Dynamic or Eco, but for anyone who wants to watch movies according to the creators' intentions, only one really matters: Film mode. This is the mode we focused our tests on, and unfortunately, its name has little to do with reality. The picture in the factory settings is far from what we could call cinematic fidelity and requires many adjustments. Let's start with the white balance, which has a clear lack of red color. In practice, this means that the whole picture has a cool, bluish tint. The situation is even worse when it comes to brightness management, specifically gamma curves (for SDR) and EOTF (for HDR). Their graph resembles a real rollercoaster, which has a disastrous effect on the viewing experience. This results in unnatural dimming of SDR content, causing details in the shadows to get lost, and in the case of HDR – excessive brightness, which further exacerbates the issue of highlights. This combination, meaning too cool white combined with chaotic brightness and excessive blue color saturation, causes enormous errors in color reproduction. Our measurements on a specialized ColorChecker chart showed errors (Delta E) regularly reaching and exceeding values of 8-9. In simpler terms: errors above the threshold of 3 are easily noticeable to the naked eye, so such a result means that the colors on the screen are simply heavily distorted.

After calibrating the TCL 655 PRO television, a noticeable improvement in white balance can be observed, having completely eliminated the tendency for the screen to have an excessive pink hue, which was previously visible in factory mode. The image has taken on more natural tones, especially in white and bright elements, positively affecting the overall perception of the picture. As for brightness characteristics, the Gamma chart has also improved – the screen is no longer excessively bright, which previously made the image look washed out. Nevertheless, there are still some issues with the EOTF curve that are difficult to eliminate due to the design of the television and its limited number of dimming zones. These limitations prevent achieving ideal results in this regard. However, despite this minor flaw, the overall effect after calibration is truly outstanding, providing high image quality and very good color reproduction.

Well, is there anything we can do about this image? Can professional calibration save the situation? The answer is: both yes and no. It must be clearly stated that there are certain things we cannot overcome. The limitations of the construction itself, namely a poor panel and its narrow color coverage, mean that you can forget about achieving meaningful HDR – we won’t sugarcoat it for you. The biggest beneficiary of our adjustments is undoubtedly the SDR mode, and it is precisely for watching such content, after calibration, that this television begins to make sense. We managed to tame the white balance in our own way. Although the TV only offers basic 2-point adjustment (instead of precise 20-point), it’s not perfect, but we successfully eliminated that unpleasant, cold "chill" in the image. Above all, however, we recorded a significant improvement in brightness management. The gamma curve, which previously resembled a rollercoaster, looks like an almost perfectly straight line after calibration. This is a sign that the TV can finally display images without artificially dimming or brightening them. The conclusion is simple: even in the case of such a cheap television, professional adjustment of the settings can achieve a lot and draw out its maximum potential.

The TCL 655 PRO television handles tonal transitions in lower-quality materials quite well. The "Gradual Smoothing" feature at a low setting effectively smooths out tonal transitions; however, this comes at the cost of losing some important details, such as the texture of objects. A positive aspect is that it does not negatively affect film grain, which helps maintain the natural look of the image.

In the context of digital processing, the television adds artificial sharpness. This may appeal to users who prefer a more vivid image. However, those who favor a softer, subtler look may find this to be a drawback. Additionally, a downside is the image cropping due to overscan, which limits the field of view and trims the edges of the frame. This can be problematic in certain scenes - e.g., news tickers.

Let's move on to digital processing and image scaling, that is, how the Haier K85F handles lower resolution signals, for example, from standard television. Right from the start, we encounter an extremely annoying and completely incomprehensible issue – the overscan feature is enabled by default. This means that the television artificially enlarges the image, cropping its edges, and this occurs on every source, even 1080p. To see the full frame, you have to dig into the screen settings every time and manually switch the format to "stretch to 16:9." It's a detail, but incredibly frustrating. The scaling of content to 4K resolution can be described in one word: acceptable. And that's basically it. The image processor does not strip the image of details, nor does it generate jagged edges or other artifacts. It simply does its job, without any fireworks. It's fine, but nothing more. The biggest and most noticeable shortcoming in the digital processing section is the absence of a banding smoothing function. This is an algorithm that could significantly reduce the annoying banding effect we mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not implement such a solution, condemning us to watch the imperfections of the panel and low-quality materials in all their glory.

The TCL C655 PRO TV is equipped with a 4K panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hz, making it ideal for watching movies. Additionally, the "Flicker Reduction" feature allows users to adjust the fluidity of the image, giving them the choice between smoother motion or a cinematic, choppy effect. Moreover, the TV handles lower resolution content well, such as Full HD and 2K, offering a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which will certainly appeal to gamers who can enjoy smoother images, albeit at the cost of lower resolution.

The panel in the K85F model operates at a native refresh rate of 60 Hz, which already sets certain expectations for smoothness of the image right from the start. However, we must admit that we were very positively surprised when we found not one, but two separate sliders for motion control in the settings menu: one labeled "Blur Reduction" and the other "De-Judder." Such generosity in this price segment is an absolute rarity, as usually manufacturers offer at most one common option. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm quickly dwindled as fast as it appeared. It soon became clear why Haier was so "generous" – the slider responsible for blur reduction is simply a dummy. Moving it does not produce any visible effect on the screen; thus, only one of the two options actually works.

The TCL C655 PRO television offers an almost perfect set of features for gamers, supporting all key technologies that significantly improve the gaming experience. The ALLM feature automatically switches the television to low latency mode, resulting in better responsiveness and minimized signal delays – particularly important in dynamic titles. VRR synchronizes the screen refresh rate with the number of frames generated by the console, eliminating screen tearing and thus guaranteeing smoother gameplay.

Support for Dolby Vision in game mode allows for more detailed color and contrast reproduction in games that support this format, while the Game Bar provides quick access to important settings such as response time or latency level. Unfortunately, this model does not support 4K resolution at 120 Hz, which may disappoint the most demanding gamers. However, for those who can forgo 4K, support for Full HD and 2K at 120 Hz offers exceptionally smooth visuals, making it an attractive alternative for enthusiasts of higher refresh rates.

Let's move on to the features for gamers, although we must point out right away that this is more of a proposal for "casual" players. The manufacturer boasts in the specifications about the presence of HDMI 2.1 ports, which looks impressive on paper, but in reality, it is largely a marketing gimmick. What good is a modern port when the heart of the television is a panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hz? It physically cannot display a signal at 120 frames per second, even at lower resolutions, which takes away HDMI 2.1's most important advantage. That's a shame. (That’s why we mark it as HDMI 2.0 ports in our tests). Another oddity is the television's response to attempts to calibrate HDR from the console. Changes in brightness settings cause very unnatural behavior of the image, which might suggest an incorrect implementation of the HGiG standard. To be honest, however, you shouldn't worry too much about this, because as we have mentioned multiple times, we simply do not recommend using any HDR content on this screen. However, to make it not so bitter, the Haier K85F also has two significant and unexpected advantages. The first is the presence of ALLM, or Auto Low Latency Mode, which switches the television to low latency mode as soon as it detects a connected console. The second, even bigger surprise is support for VRR, or Variable Refresh Rate. Although it works in a very modest range of 48-60 Hz, its very presence is commendable. Thanks to this, the image in games can stutter less, which truly improves the gaming experience.