(Image credit: Future)
You’ve got yourself a new TV in the sales: congrats! But maybe you’ve either set it up and thought ‘something doesn’t look right here’ or you just think you can get even more out of it. Well, I’m here to help.
As TechRadar’s TV reviewer, I always make a trip to a TV’s settings before I get testing. Even the best TVs on the market have settings that need changing. Out of the box, a TV can look ‘wrong’ for several reasons: too dim, too sharp, too bright, inaccurate colors, unnatural motion – the list goes on.
While the thought of taking a deep dive into a TV’s settings can be daunting, it can be very rewarding – and you don’t necessarily need to delve …
(Image credit: Future)
You’ve got yourself a new TV in the sales: congrats! But maybe you’ve either set it up and thought ‘something doesn’t look right here’ or you just think you can get even more out of it. Well, I’m here to help.
As TechRadar’s TV reviewer, I always make a trip to a TV’s settings before I get testing. Even the best TVs on the market have settings that need changing. Out of the box, a TV can look ‘wrong’ for several reasons: too dim, too sharp, too bright, inaccurate colors, unnatural motion – the list goes on.
While the thought of taking a deep dive into a TV’s settings can be daunting, it can be very rewarding – and you don’t necessarily need to delve deep to make a big difference. There are tons of settings that I could discuss here, but I’ve picked three essential settings that you should check out on any TV.
Picture mode
Changing your TV’s picture mode can make all the difference (Image credit: Future)
The first setting I check out when testing TVs is picture mode. Several years ago, TVs used to ship in their ‘Vivid’ mode. This is a picture mode we don’t recommend as its colors are often oversaturated and textures are too sharp. While most TVs now ship in ‘Eco’ mode (more on that in a sec), there may still be some out there in ‘Vivid’ mode.
‘Eco’ mode on the other hand, is exactly what it says: an energy-saving picture mode that limits brightness and other settings to save on energy. While this is a useful tool if you’re watching your budget meticulously, it does affect the overall quality of your TV’s picture. Mini-LED TVs, known for their brightness, can look lackluster when set to ‘Eco’ mode so it’s worth switching to another mode.
As for which mode, that’s to everyone’s personal preference. I personally set TVs for testing to Filmmaker Mode as this shows movies in their most ‘pure’ and accurate form. But it’s not always the best choice for everything.
Game mode is obviously good for games, Standard can be good for daytime TV and sports, and Cinema mode can be a brighter option for movies if you find Filmmaker Mode too dim, as I did when testing one of 2025’s best OLED TVs, the LG B5. Whatever your preference, it’s worth checking out different picture modes.
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You can usually change the picture mode on a TV’s quick menu, if it has one; or after pressing the ‘settings’ button on your TV remote; or under a picture settings menu option within its settings. TV manufacturers will usually make this one of the easiest settings to find.
Motion settings
While some TVs can handle images with no motion processing (such as the LG G5 picture above), some need the extra help (Image credit: Future)
Probably one of the most common complaints about modern TVs is their use of motion smoothing. On most TVs, these settings tend to be called Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction. People often complain that with these settings turned on, the images can get what is called the ‘soap opera’ effect (because it looks like a cheaply-shot TV soap opera, rather than a cinematic movie).
These settings try to artificially alter the content on screen but as movies are filmed at 24 frames per second (fps) and sports is filmed at 30fps, adding these artificial frames can cause havoc with what’s on screen, such as the soap opera effects of unnatural motion or the ‘ghosting’ of a ball being kicked during a soccer game (where multiple versions appear in a trail behind it).
There is an argument however, and some purists will disagree, that cheaper TVs need some motion smoothing turned on. Difficult shots, particularly panning ones, can look incredibly juddery on cheaper TVs, as we’ve discovered here at TechRadar using a panning shot of a rocky cliff from No Time To Die as part of how we test TVs. There are various reasons, but the end result is that a small amount of motion smoothing is usually the best option.
At the very least, it’s worth checking out the motion settings and adjusting them or turning them off or to low to suit your taste. These settings can usually be found under picture settings and will sometimes fall under ‘Clarity Settings’.
Energy saving
While useful, energy saving can really dim your TV’s brightness, again affecting the picture. (Image credit: Future)
This one is a little controversial as although we’re all about energy efficiency here at TechRadar, energy saving settings can be a real hindrance on your TV’s performance.
Where these energy saving settings make the most difference is with a TV’s brightness. A common complaint I used to get working in AV retail was that a TV ‘didn’t look like it did in the store’ when a customer had their new TV out of the box, because it was ‘too dark’.
That will either be the Eco picture mode I mentioned before, or the energy saving settings limiting the TV’s brightness.
Where I found this made the biggest difference last year was on LG and Samsung’s OLED TVs. Some OLED TVs already struggle with brightness, so having energy saving on made it worse. A quick trip to the picture settings (or in LG’s case, General Settings > Energy Saving) to turn off energy saving instantly led to a much brighter image.
Many TVs also have ambient brightness settings which adapt the TV’s brightness to balance with the viewing environment. In a dark room, it’ll dim and in a bright room, it will brighten. Using this option can be a useful way to save some energy without having as negative an effect, since it’s adaptive.
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James is the TV Hardware Staff Writer at TechRadar. Before joining the team, he worked at a major UK based AV retailer selling TV and audio equipment, where he was either telling customers the difference between OLED and QLED or being wowed by watching a PS5 run on the LG 65G2. When not writing about the latest TV tech, James can be found gaming, reading, watching rugby or coming up with another idea for a novel.
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