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Take a trip to the TV aisle of any brick-and-mortar retail shop and you’re bound to see some dazzling pictures. All TVs — from the ultra-affordable to the best TVs you can buy — arrive with a slew of settings enabled by default, and most of them are designed to make the picture look as good as possible under the harsh fluorescent lighting of a big-box store.
The problem is, filmmakers and teams of artists work at length to light, color-correct and edit scenes. Many of these default settings dramatically alter the look and feel of a creator’s work.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with watching the type of picture that makes you happy. But if you want the experience to be closer to what the director intended, take it from a film aficionado and TV expert — these are the three settings to change right away.
1. Disable any and all energy-saving settings
Just about every TV comes with an energy-saving setting enabled by default. This feature leverages a built-in light sensor within the TV that constantly makes adjustments to the screen’s luminance, and it's all dependent upon the ambient lighting conditions of whichever room you're in.
Check out my guide on when to use Eco mode
I’ve heard from folks who choose to keep this setting enabled, usually due to their living space or electricity use, and I certainly respect this decision. Personally, I'd rather not have dynamic picture adjustments happening while I’m watching something cinematic.
Many (if not most) of the ambient light sensors I’ve tested throughout the years are wildly inconsistent — they either fluctuate on a delay or fluctuate too severely. It's the last thing I want to notice when immersed in a movie.
If you're looking to disable this feature, you should first check your TV's settings menu for options like Power, Energy or Energy Saving. On some sets, this toggle is located within the TV's Brightness menu. Others keep it in a more generalized submenu (like General Settings).
Be aware, though: On some TVs, the primary energy-saving option is an entire picture mode. These modes are often called Eco or Energy Saving mode. On these sets, I suggest choosing a different mode altogether. And even if your TV doesn't feature a dedicated, eco-friendly picture mode, I still recommend changing picture modes in most cases.
2. Avoid 'Vivid' or 'Dynamic' — choose an accurate picture mode instead
Most of the time, picture modes with names like Vivid or Dynamic offer a brighter presentation with punchy, bold color. This can even be the case with a more generic-sounding picture mode like Standard.
TVs also tend to arrive with their pictures set to modes like Standard, Vivid or Dynamic by default. It's all in service of making them look as eye-catching as possible in a harshly lit retail environment.
Unfortunately, these modes also tend to produce oversaturated colors, an overly cool color temperature and over-sharpened details. It's pretty far from what most artists aim for when shooting and mastering filmic content. For this reason, I recommend choosing a picture mode that more closely targets reference standards used by folks who make movies for a living.
I recommend choosing a picture mode that more closely targets reference standards.
First, check to see if your TV offers something called Filmmaker mode. This setting has been available on LG, Samsung and Hisense TVs for quite some time. TCL recently adopted Filmmaker mode for its TVs, too.
On older Sony TVs, the de-facto mode for picture purists was the brand's Custom picture mode. These days, your best bet on newer Sony TVs is a picture mode labeled Professional.
In my experience, I've found that picture modes carrying names like Cinema, Movie and Theater are usually reliable, too. And, if you have an LG TV that's getting up there in age, you might want to check out ISF Expert.
If your TV offers versions of these more-accurate modes that include the words “Bright,” “Day” or “Home” — like Theater Day or Cinema Home — you can expect them to be on the brighter side. These are the modes I'd recommend if you value reference accuracy but still want to eke out more brightness.
3. Turn down (or disable) motion smoothing
Ever wonder why your TV looks weird? Do you sometimes feel like its picture resembles one you might find at a pub or in a hotel room? There’s a good chance motion smoothing is to blame.
Motion-smoothing enhancements — often called Action Motion, TruMotion, MotionFlow or Auto Motion Plus — are supposed to make motion on your TV look more fluid and natural.
Unfortunately, they often arrive in an over-cranked state right out of the box. The bizarre look (which is especially noticeable during movies) has come to be known as the "soap opera effect."
The simplified explanation for this effect is that motion-smoothing settings are interpolating extra frames to push cinematic content beyond the 24 frames-per-second rate in which it was originally shot. The result is an altogether different presentation than what the filmmakers intended.
Adjusting these settings comes down to the make and model of your TV. Some TVs offer granular motion-enhancement settings in the form of sliders rather than on/off toggles, and these are better suited for getting your motion handling dialed-in to your liking. If you only have a basic toggle at your disposal, I recommend turning these settings off altogether.
Sports broadcasts aren't as negatively affected by some motion-related settings (like Blur Reduction), in large part because most are broadcast at 60fps.
Remember: Very few TVs look their best right out of the box. This is especially true if you want to get as close as possible to reference accuracy. Taking a few moments to make these adjustments might not make your $300 look like a $3,000 model, but it can make a sizable improvement to whatever picture you're working with.
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