Something I like to do whenever I get a new TV is immediately dive into its settings menu and explore all the different options it has for improving the picture quality. While a lot of newer TVs have fancy panel technologies like QLED, Mini-LED, OLED, and RGB designed to make the picture look as good as possible, that doesn’t mean the TV is going to look its best right out of the box.
I’ve always found that, with every TV I’ve owned, it takes a bit of playing around with the settings to get the picture quality just right, like making it brighter and more colorful.
Fortunately, most TVs don’t make it hard to fine-tune the picture quality, and you can usually make the necessary adjustments in seconds.
With that in mind, here are three changes I made to my TV to instantly improve the picture quality, which you can easily do too, whether your TV is brand-new or a few years old.
Turn off Energy Saving
A quick way to improve brightness
When I got my new LG TV last year, one of the first things I noticed about the picture quality was that it seemed dimmer than it should be. I prefer my TV to be as bright as possible, whether I’m watching it during the day or at night, so I wanted to fix that. As it turned out, I only needed to disable one key setting: Energy Saving.
Most TVs nowadays come with some form of energy-saving feature enabled by default, which typically reduces the TV’s brightness to help cut down on energy use. In all fairness, this can be useful if you’re trying to save money on your power bill. But if you prefer a brighter picture and don’t mind using a bit more energy, it’s worth turning it off.
Depending on your TV, its energy-saving feature could go by a few different names in the settings menu, such as Eco Mode, Power Saving, Brightness Optimizer, Energy Saving, or Energy Saving Step. Many of these features work in a similar way, using an ambient light sensor to detect the lighting conditions in your room and adjust the TV’s brightness accordingly. Turning the feature off keeps the TV from automatically dimming the picture based on the room’s lighting.
To find your TV’s energy-saving feature, you’ll likely find it under General or Picture settings, although the exact location will vary depending on the TV. On my LG TV, for example, I found it under Settings > General > Energy Saving.
Try a new picture mode
Filmmaker Mode is one of the best
One of the easiest ways to improve your TV’s picture quality is to change its picture mode, since this setting can significantly affect its brightness, color, and contrast.
Most TVs come with a range of picture modes, such as Standard, Cinema, Sports, Vivid, Filmmaker Mode, and Game Optimizer, each tailored to different viewing experiences, whether you’re watching movies, gaming, or enjoying sports.
Filmmaker Mode, in particular, is one of the modes I rely on most because it adjusts your TV’s picture settings to match the look the creative team behind a show or movie intended. If you watch a lot of movies, I highly recommend using Filmmaker Mode, as I’ve found it makes the colors and contrast in movies much more accurate, whether you’re streaming or watching on Blu-ray. Another mode I often use when gaming is Game Optimizer (also known as Game Mode), which disables unnecessary image-processing effects to reduce input lag.
That said, changing the picture mode is a similar process on nearly every TV, and you’ll usually find it in the Picture settings menu. I highly recommend experimenting with all the options and seeing what you like best.
Quiz
4K Streaming vs. DVD
Trivia Challenge
Think higher resolution always means better picture? — think again, and test your knowledge of the tech behind your screen.
StreamingDVDsCompressionResolutionVideo Tech
What video compression format is most commonly used by major 4K streaming services like Netflix and Disney+?
Correct! H.265, also known as HEVC, is the dominant codec for 4K streaming because it compresses video more efficiently than older formats. However, even HEVC has to make significant sacrifices in quality to fit 4K content into manageable bitrates for internet delivery.
Not quite. The answer is H.265 (HEVC). While H.264 is still widely used for HD streaming, 4K content requires the superior compression efficiency of H.265 to keep file sizes practical — though that compression still comes at a visual cost.
What is the maximum bitrate of a standard DVD’s video stream?
Correct! A standard DVD tops out at around 9.8 Mbps for its video stream. While that sounds modest compared to 4K resolutions, the key is that this bitrate is delivering 480p content — meaning far less data is being squeezed, and compression artefacts are far less visible.
Not quite. A standard DVD’s maximum video bitrate is approximately 9.8 Mbps. That figure might seem low, but because it’s only encoding 480p resolution, the compression is far less aggressive and the picture can look surprisingly clean and film-like.
Approximately what bitrate does Netflix typically use to stream 4K HDR content?
Correct! Netflix streams 4K HDR at roughly 15–25 Mbps, which sounds decent but is actually quite compressed for content at that resolution. A 4K Blu-ray disc, by comparison, can deliver bitrates of 80–100 Mbps, which is why physical media still wins on raw picture quality.
Not quite. Netflix typically streams 4K HDR at around 15–25 Mbps. This is dramatically lower than a 4K Blu-ray disc’s potential 80–100 Mbps, meaning the streaming version must discard a significant amount of visual information to fit through your internet connection.
What visual artefact is most commonly caused by heavy video compression in 4K streaming?
Correct! Banding — where smooth colour gradients appear as stepped blocks — and blocking artefacts are the telltale signs of aggressive compression. You’ll often notice banding in dark skies or shadowy scenes in 4K streams, something far less common on physical media.
Not quite. The answer is banding and blocking artefacts. These appear when a codec discards too much colour and detail data to save space. Smooth gradients like dark skies can show visible ‘steps’ of colour, and fast motion can break into blocky patches — both common in heavily compressed 4K streams.
What is the native resolution of a standard DVD?
Correct! DVDs store video at 720×480 pixels for NTSC regions (like the US) or 720×576 for PAL regions (like Europe). Despite this relatively low resolution, the efficient use of bitrate and lack of heavy compression can make DVDs appear remarkably sharp and film-like on a modest screen.
Not quite. The answer is 720×480 for NTSC or 720×576 for PAL. These resolutions are a fraction of 4K’s 3840×2160, yet a well-mastered DVD can still look impressive because the compression is far less severe relative to the amount of picture detail being encoded.
In what year was the DVD format officially launched for consumers in the United States?
Correct! DVDs launched in the US in 1997, following an earlier debut in Japan in late 1996. The format was a massive leap over VHS, offering cleaner picture, chapter selection, and surround sound — and it dominated home video for over a decade before streaming began to take hold.
Not quite. The DVD launched in the United States in 1997. It had debuted in Japan a year earlier in 1996, and its combination of better picture, digital audio, and durability over VHS quickly made it the dominant home video format well into the 2000s.
What does ‘HDR’ stand for in the context of modern 4K streaming and display technology?
Correct! HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and it refers to a wider range of brightness levels and colours that a display can show. When properly implemented, HDR can make a bigger perceptual difference than the jump to 4K resolution alone — but poor streaming compression can undermine its impact.
Not quite. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It allows displays to show brighter highlights and deeper shadows simultaneously, with a wider colour gamut. Ironically, the heavy compression used in 4K streaming can introduce artefacts that make HDR content look worse than well-mastered SDR video on disc.
What is the term for the process where a video codec selectively discards information deemed less visible to the human eye in order to reduce file size?
Correct! Lossy compression is the technique at the heart of all major streaming video codecs. By discarding data the human eye supposedly won’t notice — fine textures, subtle colour differences — codecs dramatically reduce file sizes. But at low bitrates, those shortcuts become very noticeable indeed.
Not quite. The answer is lossy compression. Unlike lossless encoding, which preserves every bit of data, lossy compression permanently discards information to shrink file sizes. At the low bitrates used by streaming services, this can strip away fine detail, crush shadow gradients, and introduce the artefacts that make 4K streams look worse than a DVD.
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Say farewell to Motion Smoothing
Make movies look cinematic again
If I had to pinpoint the most controversial setting enabled by default on many smart TVs that affects picture quality, it would hands down be Motion Smoothing. This setting gets a lot of flak, and rightfully so, because it makes motion on your TV appear much smoother than it should by adding extra “fake” frames between the real ones, effectively increasing a movie’s or show’s frame rate. The result is an image that looks unnaturally fluid and uncinematic, and it can straight up ruin the look of a lot of movies and shows. It’s often called the “soap opera” effect because it can make movies look hyper-smooth, similar to how many soap operas look.
The difference when you turn off Motion Smoothing can be night and day, especially with movies. I was playing around with it on my TV just recently, and in movies like Mission: Impossible or Dune, Motion Smoothing makes the action feel artificially sped up. But the moment you turn it off, that effect is gone, and the movie returns to its cinematic look. Most movies are shot at 24 FPS for a reason, as it gives them that familiar cinematic feel with balanced motion, and Motion Smoothing just ruins it.
To turn off Motion Smoothing on your TV, you’ll usually find it under the Picture settings. Some TVs call it something different, though, such as TruMotion, Auto Motion Plus, or Picture Clarity. It’s also worth noting that switching your TV’s picture mode to Filmmaker Mode will automatically turn off Motion Smoothing. However, I still recommend turning it off entirely, as it can come back on if you switch to another picture mode.
