Samsung TU690T Calibration Settings

We used the following calibration settings to review the 65-inch Samsung TU690T, but they're also valid for the 43, 50, 55, 58, 60, 70, 75, and 85-inch sizes. These settings apply to most types of content, except for gaming or use as a PC monitor, which requires a few additional changes, listed below.

These settings are meant to provide a starting point; they're not meant to be copied 1:1. They provide the most accurate image, but you should adjust them to match your preferences and viewing conditions.

For SDR content, a few different preset picture modes are available to choose from. The 'Movie' Picture Mode delivers the most accurate image out of the box and allows for the most customization, so that's what we used for our calibration and all SDR content. If you prefer a brighter image, the 'Dynamic' preset is slightly brighter overall but less accurate.

From the Expert Settings menu, the Brightness setting controls the intensity of the backlight. You should adjust this to your viewing conditions and personal preferences. Changing this setting has no impact on the overall picture quality. If you have the Brightness Optimization setting enabled from the Power and Energy Saving menu, this setting will adjust automatically depending on the level of ambient light in your room.

We left Contrast at '45' and Sharpness at '5'. We also left Color at the default value of '25' and Tint (G/R) at '0'. Finally, we chose the 'Warm2' Color Tone, as it's closest to our calibration target of 6500K. If you're not satisfied with the picture quality of your set, adjusting the Color Tone is a good place to start. We set the Gamma to '2.2', as that's also closest to our calibration target for a dark room. You should adjust that setting to your viewing conditions. As we aim for the most accurate image possible, we left Contrast Enhancer disabled for our testing.

HDR is automatically enabled for native apps. When you start playing HDR content, a small HDR icon appears next to the picture mode on the quick settings menu, and some of the settings change automatically, including Brightness, which increases to 'Max.' We left all the picture settings at their defaults in HDR, but you should adjust them to whatever looks best. In HDR, the Movie delivers the most accurate image overall, as it tracks the PQ EOTF the best. This TV also supports FILMMAKER MODE, which is very similar to Movie, but it locks down some settings so it's less customizable to your viewing conditions and personal preferences.

For HDR to work from external devices, Input Signal Plus usually has to be enabled from the External Device Manager menu for the input you are using.

The following are the results of calibrating the white balance of our unit to 6500K in HDR. They are provided for reference and shouldn't be copied as the calibration values vary per individual unit, even for the same model and size as the TV we tested, due to manufacturing tolerances. If you want to try them, you'll need to enter all values shown, as all of them are active simultaneously. If you have worse picture quality, simply reset them to the default values.

Although we disable most motion-enhancing functions for most of our tests, you should adjust these to whatever looks best. Some settings may need to be adjusted depending on the specific content you are watching or your preferences.

Although we usually leave these settings disabled during most of our testing, you should adjust the settings in the Picture Clarity Settings menu to your liking, as different people prefer different levels of motion interpolation. If you want to enable motion interpolation, set Picture Clarity to 'Custom', and adjust the Judder Reduction slider. The LED Clear motion setting controls the backlight strobing, or black frame insertion, feature on the Samsung TU690T.

The Samsung TU690T removes judder from native 24p sources and the built-in apps automatically; no additional settings are needed.

From the base SDR and HDR settings, very few changes are required for a great gaming experience. When you start gaming, it's best to enable Game Mode from the Game Mode Settings tab in the External Device Manager to get the lowest input lag and then use the same settings for SDR or HDR. In HDR, we enabled the Game HDR setting, which controls the HGIG feature on this TV.

For low input lag and proper chroma 4:4:4 support, you have to change the input device type to 'PC' and enable Game Mode.

The Samsung TU690T supports both ARC and eARC, allowing it to pass high-quality audio from a connected source to a connected soundbar or home theater receiver. You must set the HDMI eARC Mode to 'Auto' and the Digital Output Audio Format to 'Pass-Through' to use it.

You may need to adjust the Digital Output Audio Delay setting if you notice any delay between the action on-screen and the audio. The setting needed varies depending on the audio device, so you'll have to play with the setting to get the audio to match. For eARC devices, this should adjust automatically, but you might still need to adjust it.

From the Power and Energy Saving menu, we left everything disabled, as we don't want the screen to change while taking measurements. There are a few helpful settings here that you may wish to enable, though. The Brightness Optimization feature automatically adjusts the brightness level based on the ambient light level in your room, so if you watch at night, it automatically dims the TV from your daytime viewing setting. If this setting is enabled, you can set a minimum brightness level by adjusting the Minimum Brightness setting.

The Brightness Reduction and Motion Lighting settings are power-saving modes. Again, we left these disabled, but if you want to limit the power consumption of the TV, these settings help.