EVEN the fanciest TV models can have their pictures sabotaged by your dodgy settings.
If you want to make sure your telly looks as good as possible, there are some features you’ll want to take a look at.
Don’t let your expensive TV look bad when you’ve forked out so much cash[/caption]
Some might need increasing or decreasing – and others should be switched off completely.
Keep in mind: your main TV settings affect everything that you watch.
That’s true even if you’re plugging in a Fire TV Stick, watching via an app like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, or just watching regular telly.
The Sun has picked out seven common TV setting mistakes that you’ll definitely want to avoid.
THE LIST OF SEVEN TERRIBLE TELLY MISTAKES
Here’s what you should be watching out for.
But bear in mind that these settings might have different names depending on the model of your TV.
So look out for similarly titled settings, rather than exact matches.
#1 – Motion Smoothing
When your TV is playing video, it’s actually just showing pictures really quick. Many TVs have a “refresh rate” of 60Hz – so the image is refreshed 60 times a second.
But lots of movies are produced at 24 frames per second, which doesn’t match.
Motion Smoothing inserts fake frames to bring movies up to 60 frames per second for a smoother look.
But cinema fans say it’s rubbish, makes films look like TV soaps, and should be switched off. Hollywood tends to agree.
#2 – Noise Reduction
Noise is common when you’re watching older telly on your fancy modern TV.
Settings with Motion in the name can make movies look artificial and strange[/caption]
It’s those visual artifacts that make the image look “noisy”, although some people see it as characterful.
Noise reduction attempts to smooth this out so you have a nice clean image – and a little bit can be useful.
But too much noise reduction can make your TV’s picture look way too soft. So check it and bring it down, if needed.
#3– Eco-Mode
Modern TVs often come with some kind of eco-mode or energy saver setting.
It reduces the power that your TV needs to run, making it a great way to slightly reduce your electricity bills.
But Eco-Mode usually means reducing the brightness and contrast.
This can make it look dim (which is especially bad if you’re watching in a bright room), and leave colours looking weak. Switch it off if you’re watching a blockbuster. Please.
#4 – Vivid Mode
Vivid can sometimes look good – but it can be serious overkill[/caption]
Vivid is another mode that might seem good, but has its downsides.
It tries to make your telly’s picture pop more – so expect to see boosted brightness and saturated colours.
But it can often go way too far with saturating colours, making everything look garish and horrible.
You’ll probably find that most content looks just fine without Vivid switched on. However, you might like it on old telly where the image can look naturally washed out.
What is 4K, Ultra HD and UHD?
Here’s an easy guide to what 4K means…
- 4K, Ultra HD and UHD are all different names for the same type of TV screen. 4K refers to the number of pixels on your TV screen – or the “image resolution”
- The pixels are the tiny dots of colour that make up the image you see on your telly. A pixellated image is one where the pixels are really obvious, because there aren’t many. But images with lots of pixels – like a 4K movie – generally look sharper and clearer
- A true 4K screen has 4096 x 2160 pixels. That means on your TV screen there are 3840 pixels across, and 2160 pixels vertically. That’s roughly 8.3 million pixels on the display in total
- 4K gets it’s name because it’s got four times the number of pixels as a standard Full HD TV
- Full HD (or 1080p) screens have 1920 pixels across, and 1080 pixels going upwards – for around two million pixels in total. So 4K just means your TV has many more pixels on the screen compared to a more common Full HD display
- Ultra HD, or UHD, is basically the same as 4K. If you buy a UHD telly in a shop, you’ll be able to watch 4K content on it with no bother
- But there is a small difference. Almost every TV you ever buy has an aspect ratio of 16:9. That means for every 16 pixels horizontally, there are 9 vertically
- True 4K footage doesn’t quite fit in with that ratio, so you won’t often find TVs with 4096 x 2160 pixels. Instead, to fit with the 16:9 ratio, most 4K TVs will have 3840 x 2160 pixels instead
- If it doesn’t make sense, grab a calculator and divide 2160 by 9. Then multiply it by 16, and you’ll get 3840. That’s the aspect ratio working its magic. So when you see an Ultra HD TV, it just means it’s a 4K image with slightly fewer vertical pixels
- If you try watching a 4K video on a non-4K TV, the video will still play – but it won’t be in 4K quality. To watch a 4K video in 4K quality, you’ll need to fork out for a 4K TV. Similarly, if you’re watching standard or HD footage on a 4K TV, it won’t magically become 4K quality
- Some TVs promise “4K upscaling”, which converts your standard or HD footage to near-4K quality. This works by using software to guess what colours would fill the extra empty pixels missing in HD footage, and then filling them in. This creates a 4K-like effect, but it’s not true 4K
Picture Credit: Samsung
#5 – Dynamic Mode
Dynamic Mode is a tricky one, because it can work brilliantly – or terribly.
It’s a little bit like Vivid in that it’s trying to make the picture look better.
But this can sometimes go too far, leaving you with something that looks ugly and inaccurate.
#6 – Sharpness
Sharpness is meant to make the edges of objects on your screen more clear.
Sharpness can make a picture look very noisy if it’s cranked up too high[/caption]
This can be handy if an image is very soft and you want everything to look nice and defined.
But if sharpness is put up too high, it can create noise and strange artifacts around images.
So if you’re using the Sharpness setting, keep it nice and low – and only make very small changes.
#7 – Colour temperature
Finally, there’s colour temperature.
Used by a skilled telly expert, this can be a handy tool – but it’s probably not worth touching as a regular user.
So if you’ve played with it, set it back to normal.
That’s because colour temperature affects how warm or cool your TV’s picture looks.
Many TV modes can affect colour temperature – changing how cool or warm the picture looks[/caption]
Cooler temperatures lead to a more blue image, while warmth tends to make it more yellow.
Movie-makers spend a lot of time getting the colours just right in their films, so you could be ruining their hard work. It’s best to leave it as is.
