Poor picture quality in new smart TV? Improve with these 5 settings

smart TV: While purchasing a new TV, most people believe that its picture quality will be better than the previous one, but many times a different picture emerges on the very first day. Blacks appear gray, faces sometimes appear redder and sometimes paler, and movements appear unusual, as if a TV serial is being played. In such a situation, doubts arise about the purchase. However, in most of the cases there is no problem with the TV, it just has its factory settings as per the bright lights of the showroom. Changing a little setting can set everything right in just a few minutes. Let us know what those settings are.

Choose the right picture mode

If your TV’s Picture Mode is currently set to Standard, Dynamic or Vivid, this is where the problem starts. If your TV has Filmmaker Mode available, select it. Otherwise, opt for Movie or Cinema Mode. This change will make colors appear more natural and reduce over-processing. If there is only one setting to change, this is the most important one.

Turn off motion smoothing

If movies appear smoother than necessary, it is a sign that motion processing is active. Different brands offer this option under different names, such as TruMotion, Auto Motion Plus, MotionFlow, Motion Clarity or Picture Clarity. Go to these settings and turn it off. It can be turned on slightly during games, but for movies and web series it is better to keep it off.

Set color temperature to ‘Warm’

If faces appear strange or pale on the TV, there is no need to change settings again and again. Go directly to Color Temperature or White Tone and choose Warm, Warm 1 or Warm 2 options. Don’t use Cool mode, as it may look bright in the showroom, but at home it turns the screen blue, making skin tones look less natural.

Increase Local Dimming for LCD or Mini LED TV

This setting applies to LCD, QLED, and Mini LED TVs, while it is not required for OLED TVs. Go to TV settings and keep Local Dimming on High. This makes blacks appear deeper and contrast is also better in dark scenes. If the subtitles seem too bright or there is diffuse light around the logo, turn it to Medium.

Turn off Eco setting and check HDMI input mode

There are two little tasks that can save you a lot of trouble. First of all, turn off Eco, Power Saving or Energy Saving mode in the TV. If your TV has an Ambient Light Sensor and it is changing the brightness automatically from time to time, then turn it off as well.

Second, if you’re using a set-top box, streaming stick, game console, or laptop, be sure to check the HDMI port settings. The HDMI ports on many TVs are in Basic mode by default unless you activate the high-bandwidth option. For this, find options like HDMI Enhanced, Input Signal Plus, UHD Colour, Deep Color or Enhanced Format and turn it on on the same HDMI port in which your device is connected.