Jump to content

(TCL 55R617) Why quality seems better on Roku apps than PC HDMI input?

hurleyman77

I've owned a TCL 55R617 for a while. I use it as my primary (only) monitor, and it's good for what it is. I recently noticed, however, that when I play a YouTube video through the Roku app or Chromecast, the colors seem to be slightly brighter, and it seems slightly sharper. Conversely, there's a green fringe on some dark gradients on the PC signal that's not present in the Roku apps. 

 

I'm connected via HDMI, and my PC display settings are the native resolution and Full-Range RGB, so I'd expect the same content to look the same on the PC input as on any other high-quality input.

 

The two sources looked different with my GTX 970, and I thought it might improve with a new card, but my new RTX 2060 shows the same discrepancy. I'm not doing any image adjustments in the NVidia control panel, though I did choose to send full range RGB, instead of a compressed range. Windows detects that it's an HDR capable screen, so I've turned that on and it seems to be working. I've tried selecting each of the options for "Content type reported to the display" in the NVidia control panel and I can't tell any difference (except that "auto" flashes the screen each time it changes the content type).

 

It's worth reiterating that the TV color settings are the same for both signals, so I would expect it to display the same content the same way.

 

Is there something different about the content that's available to Roku through the apps, from what's  available in the browser? I doubt it because I'd expect Chromecast from my phone to look the same as the PC video, if the content were the same... but I've been surprised before.

 

Is there something about the signal that my GPU is sending to the TV that's different from what the TV is doing itself? This seems like the most likely scenario. Can I correct that? 

 

What's a good way to quantifiably compare the image in both scenarios? I could take a photo of the screen, but that introduces more uncertainty...

 

Any ideas?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×