Skin tones

[Buzz2]

I've just bought a QLED TV 50" and the skin tones look wrong (patchy pink) compared to my old Sony. Any advice?

[Stuvan]

Turn off all picture processing (dynamic contrast has a tendency to make faces look patchy). Don't use vivid or dynamic picture modes and play with the various settings.

TVs out of the box almost always have bad default picture settings.

[JAMES4578]

@Buzz2  Generaly the best picture Modes are Standard,Movie or Filmmaker Mode (present on modern Models)  It is also normally ,  advantageous to keep Auto processing to a minimum , settings may need to be adjusted for different content.

Some information here https://www.samsung.com/uk/tvs/tv-buying-guide/best-picture-quality-tv/ 

https://www.lifewire.com/best-picture-settings-for-samsung-4k-tv-4776573 

[prawlin]

Similar here. 50” QLED Q80. Just got it a week ago as I wanted 4K capabilities and slightly bigger screen etc. I would not describe the flesh tone as patchy, but certainly an unnatural pale pink hue. Makes it look like a shedload of cosmetic face powder has been applied. Interestingly not all face images look like this. Seems worse on studio shots like news etc.  On some programmes it looks quite normal in this regard.  

It spoils the whole thing for me. I’m a stickler for picture quality and I thought this was supposed to be the best in the range. Never had anything like this on my previous 8yr Panasonic 42”.  The picture can look stunningly good sometimes but this pasty pink skin really annoys me. Tried multiple settings but can’t seem to get this sorted. Is it a design flaw of these TVs?

Not too impressed with the software logic either but can probably get used to it eventually. Definitely not intuitive. The cheap handset works but is ergonomically poor.

Problem buying any TV is that it’s a one way trip pure gamble. Did all due diligence and looked at it in the store etc. However, You can’t assess it overall until you’ve bought and paid for it then got it home for a while. Then you’re stuck with it for years! 

[prawlin]

Ok well after playing around and taking inspiration from this thread. I fixed it. Picture quality is great now! A revelation.

My main problem preventing proper adjustment was the “intelligent” mode was set, thus preventing me setting Standard mode properly. Intelligent really sucks. Don’t use it. Turn it off in the “General and Privacy” menu section. I can’t understand why this intelligent mode is even there  it’s rubbish AFAICC.

Then I found in a darkly lit viewing room, the Auto brightness was auto reducing way too much. So go into “Power and Energy saving” (also under same General and Privacy list). In there I set Minimum Brightness slider to 16 (it was at minimum IIRC, Brightness optimisation ON.

Wow, what a revelation. Skin tones great now and general pic quality is stunning but natural too. I’m so pleased (and relieved as it was horrible before this).

So my other settings that matter are currently 

Pic Mode   Standard

Brightness  22

Contrast  50

Colour  20

Local dimming…. Not certain yet but now it’s at High. Needs verification as not sure what effect this ultimately has. Any tips welcome?

Contrast Enhancer Low

Why the heck are important Picture settings that heavily interact, spread across 3 separate menus? It’s so unintuitive (though very powerful once you suss it out).

I hope this might help others get improved results. 
TV Is Samsung 50” 

QE50Q80CA

[Stuvan]

You ALWAYS have to tweak settings in TVs. Even if you buy the most expensive sets. Everyone has their own preferences.

Also, not everything is filmed equally. You can never get everything perfect but with a calibrated TV, you can learn to ignore the stuff that doesn't look perfect, because you know it's not your fault.

[prawlin]

Hi Stuvan. Yes I know and accept that. I’m a retired Electronics Engineer with long experience in digital TV. However, this was not just a personal preference thing. The defaults were awful by any standards. Then due to the extreme non intuitive layout of the menu structure in this complicated TV, I was fiddling around for a week. I know everyone will have different requirements but I listed my present main settings in the hope it might help someone else’s frustration and maybe even buyers remorse. Cheers. Peter. 

[Hodgepott]

Thanks so much, wanted to know you have indeed helped others. Your post described exactly what we were thinking, particularly the heavy make up on studio presenters. Followed your settings and our TV experience transformed, no longer bling settings and whatsit or Fanta people, instead natural colours and skin tones. Many thanks again, was searching everywhere with no joy, would never have found some of the settings you have described. Your post much appreciated 

😊

[prawlin]

You’re welcome. Thanks for replying.

Actually, since getting the tv 6 months ago I’ve honed my preferred settings still further and also applied them to a couple of friends set when they bought the same tv model recently. So I list my latest version settings here now….

Turn off “Intelligent mode” in the “General and Privacy” menu section (Vital!!)

In “Power and energy saving” page (also under same General and Privacy list) set “Brightness optimisation” ON and set “Minimum Brightness” to 25. (Or 20 if you prefer a darker picture when viewing in a very dark room. This sets how low the brightness auto adjusts down to in a dark room. This auto adjustment happens very slowly when ambient light present in the room naturally varies, so beware of this when adjusting or testing this setting. Prove it’s working by shining a strong torch onto the Samsung logo at centre bottom edge when room is dark. Brightness will *very* slowly increase to match the brighter room. It takes at least a minute to react fully either way.

Pic Mode   Standard

Brightness 35

Contrast  50

Colour  25 (or 20 if you prefer less saturated colours)

Local dimming….  High

Contrast Enhancer Low

I hope this might help others get further improved results. 
My TV Is Samsung QLED Direct Full Array 50” QE50Q80CA

Cheers. Peter. 

PS Be aware that if you have “Apply settings” set to “Current source” then your new settings will only work on your present selected signal source. You can set different values stored for each source. So change this to “all” if you want your new present settings to carry across and apply to all signal sources (multiple HDMI inputs, Live Aerial TV, Streaming services etc.)

Truly stunning picture quality now. My visitors all agree how good it is. Even on standard HD let alone on 4K sources. Blacks are true black. No need to go for expensive OLED Screens. 

[Members_vNlIDT5]

Hi I bought a Samsung Qn90d and had the same issue with skin tones faces looked like they had a ton of make up on them I found adjusting the brightness to suit the brightness of the room was the key now the tv looks 👍great