Conclave Sets New Standards for TV Picture Quality Testing with Striking Visuals
How Conclave Became the Go-To Film for Display Reviews
If you want to know what separates an average TV from a jaw-dropping one, it’s not just about cranking up the brightness or playing the latest blockbuster. Experts now turn to Conclave—a movie that’s quietly become the industry’s secret weapon for putting TVs through the wringer. What makes it so special? The filmmakers decided to stick with a pared-down color scheme: deep reds, icy whites, and brooding blacks. Everything in the film—from the sharp glare of artificial lights to the subtleties of skin tone—pushes display technologies right to the edge.
Imagine this: most scenes are bathed in cold, harsh lighting. You get characters grouped under unforgiving white lamps in a university lecture hall, with every detail on their faces laid bare. If a TV can’t deliver delicate gradations here, you’ll spot it instantly. Reds might bleed into oranges, while skin tones could drift into the uncanny valley—too gray or suddenly neon. It’s a nightmare for displays relying on old processing tricks.
That’s where the latest OLED and Mini LED technologies come in. OLED panels, which are famous for their perfect blacks and brilliant highlights, step up with incredible brightness—but sometimes they make faces look a tad too dramatic under the harsh white lights. On the other hand, Mini LED systems, known for pinpoint backlight control, handle the balance better. In these tough scenes, Mini LEDs seem to preserve more natural-looking skin, capturing the complexity of light bouncing off real people under real-world conditions. There’s no hiding; if a display’s backlight uniformity or color mapping falls short, Conclave exposes it.
Putting TVs to the Ultimate Test
Reviewers like Robyn Quick from What Hi-Fi? have highlighted how Conclave exposes the strengths and weaknesses of new TVs more clearly than standard test films. It’s no longer enough for a TV to show a sunset or a car chase in punchy colors; Conclave asks it to get the basics right where it really matters: realism and accuracy. Are shadows crushed into murky blobs? Do highlights blow out vital facial detail? Is red a true red, or does it drift into purple or orange?
This has turned Conclave into a must-watch not just for film lovers but for anyone serious about buying a high-end TV. It’s now featured in the testing arsenal of reviewers comparing OLED versus Mini LED, helping shoppers see which screen actually performs best when pushed to its limits. With more brands debuting new panel tech each year, using a visually demanding movie like Conclave offers a real-world stress test—one that makes all the marketing claims around deep blacks and vibrant colors a lot more meaningful. If you want to make sure your next TV isn’t just shiny on paper, look out for how it handles a film as uncompromising as this one.