Forum Discussion

aspidoscelis's avatar
aspidoscelis
Channel Surfer
3 years ago
Solved

Unable to change sharpness from 20 on tcl 4 series latest roku update

Same problem. I see the sharpness setting, but it isn't modifiable.

  • aspidoscelis's avatar
    aspidoscelis
    3 years ago

    Ah. I think I found the solution. You can't change the sharpness setting while anything is plugged in to the HDMI port. All the other settings, yes. Sharpness, no. I wish they'd just tell us so in the documentation!

    Apparently, changing the other settings for an HDMI input can also result in sharpness being unmodifiable even when there is nothing plugged in. I assume a reset of some kind would fix that, but since it's got four HDMI ports and I'm only using two, it's easier to just move the cable.

7 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion
  • RokuNimfa-C's avatar
    RokuNimfa-C
    Retired Moderator
    3 years ago

    Hi aspidoscelis, 

    Welcome to the Roku Community. 

    We'd like to know more about the issue you are seeing so we can best assist you. For clarification, do you have a Roku TV? Are you seeing any error messages or notifications when trying to make changes? Have you tried restarting your Roku TV to see if it helps? 

    Have you tried taking a look here in our Support resources and following the steps to get help: How to improve image quality using picture modes on your Roku TV

    Keep us posted on how it goes.


    Regards,
    Nimfa

    • aspidoscelis's avatar
      aspidoscelis
      Channel Surfer
      3 years ago

      Greetings, Nimfa,

      Hopefully the image below helps to clarify.


      TCL 43S455 Roku TV, using computer input via HDMI. If I hit the * button on the remote, a menu pops up on the left side of the screen (left panel in the image above). If I select "picture settings", it takes me to the 2nd panel from the left. Scrolling down, there's a "fine tune picture" option, and selecting that I end up at the 3rd panel from the left. From there, I can select and modify the backlight, brightness, color, tint, and so on. However, I can not modify the sharpness setting. It says the current setting is "20", but the bar is blacked out and attempting to select that setting has no effect.

      The sharpness setting does change between the picture modes. If I select "movie" mode, it sets sharpness to 20. All other modes apparently set sharpness to 50. I want to set sharpness to 0, but I don't know how to get there.

      I've tried all of the restart / reset options. Chatted with Roku support, they had me do a reset picture settings & factory reset of all settings, no effect. Chatted with TCL support, they had me do those and a couple of other resets (e.g., with the physical button), no effect.

      Oddly, I also have a TCL 43S405 Roku TV, and I know I *was* able to change that sharpness setting in the past—but now I can't. I'm guessing there was a firmware update at some point that killed this functionality? I'm not sure.

    • aspidoscelis's avatar
      aspidoscelis
      Channel Surfer
      3 years ago

      Or, in reference to this web page: https://support.roku.com/article/115007365648

      "Advanced picture settings. The following settings can be adjusted.

      • Dynamic contrast: Manually adjust backlight level for the entire screen
      • Backlight: Adjust peak backlight level of your TV screen
      • Brightness: Adjust how dark black sections appear
      • Contrast: Adjust intensity of white parts of the image
      • Sharpness: Adjust how sharp or soft edges appear
      • Color: Adjust how intense colors look
      • Tint: Adjust to get satisfactory skin tones
      • Color Temperature: Adjust how blue or red the image appears"

      Dynamic contrast & color temperature—don't show up in the list at all, and I don't think they ever have, for me.

      Backlight, brightness, contrast, color and tint—they're all in the list, and I can modify their values.

      Sharpness—it's in the list, but I can't modify the value.

      • aspidoscelis's avatar
        aspidoscelis
        Channel Surfer
        3 years ago

        Ah. I think I found the solution. You can't change the sharpness setting while anything is plugged in to the HDMI port. All the other settings, yes. Sharpness, no. I wish they'd just tell us so in the documentation!

        Apparently, changing the other settings for an HDMI input can also result in sharpness being unmodifiable even when there is nothing plugged in. I assume a reset of some kind would fix that, but since it's got four HDMI ports and I'm only using two, it's easier to just move the cable.