When I first got my LG smart TV, I was impressed by the picture quality and all its features, like its 120Hz refresh rate and four HDMI 2.1 ports. But the more I used it, the more I started noticing things that were bothering me, from the brightness being lower than I expected to the home screen being a mess, not to mention every movie and show suddenly looking unnaturally smooth, like a soap opera.
That’s when I decided to take a deep dive into the settings menu, and I realized that a lot of the things that were frustrating me, along with features I didn’t even know were quietly running in the background and affecting my TV, were things I could easily turn off. And by doing so, I was able to massively improve the experience with my TV without spending a dime.
And this isn’t something that’s unique to LG TVs either. Lots of smart TVs share many of the same features and settings, so whether you have an LG, Samsung, Roku, Fire TV, Hisense, or something else, here are four ways you can upgrade your TV simply by turning off a few features in the settings menu.
Turn off Energy Saving settings
Make your TV brigther and more vivid
A lot of modern smart TVs now come with energy-saving features enabled by default. To be fair, these can be helpful if you’re trying to reduce your TV’s power draw and, in turn, lower your energy bill. But if you’re looking to get the most out of your TV and don’t mind spending a little extra on your power bill, turning off some of these energy-saving features, particularly those that affect brightness, can make a big difference.
For example, my LG TV had two energy-saving settings enabled by default: an Auto Power Save picture mode and something called Energy Saving Step. Both lowered my TV’s brightness to save power. Just by turning them off, I immediately noticed a dramatic improvement in overall brightness, and my TV’s picture instantly looked much more vivid.
Other TV brands have similar settings with different names, such as Eco Mode, Low Power Mode, or simply Energy Saving. So if you’re looking to improve your screen’s brightness and vibrancy, it’s worth checking your TV’s settings menu for anything related to power saving. You might be surprised by how much of a difference simply turning these settings off can make.
Turn off ACR
Protect your privacy
When I was digging through the settings menu on my LG TV, I came across a setting called Live Plus that was enabled by default, and when I found out what it was doing, I instantly turned it off. That’s because Live Plus is LG’s version of Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), which essentially identifies the content you’re watching, whether you’re streaming through the TV’s built-in apps or using an external device connected via HDMI, and uses that data for things like personalized content recommendations and targeted advertising.
I’d rather my TV not keep track of what I’m watching just so that data can be used for targeted advertising or recommendations, which is why I turned it off right away. Not only does it give me a little more peace of mind from a privacy perspective, but it also means one less data-collection feature running in the background on my TV.
Of course, LG isn’t alone in using ACR on its TVs. Unfortunately, ACR has become a common feature across modern smart TVs, though different manufacturers use different names for it. On Samsung TVs, for example, you have to disable a feature called ‘Viewing Information Services,’ while on Roku TVs, you can turn off ‘Use info from TV inputs’ to disable ACR.
Quiz
TV spyware and smart TV privacy
Trivia challenge
Think your TV is just watching shows? Test how much you really know about smart TV tracking and staying safe.
PrivacySecuritySmart TVsBest PracticesSurveillance
What is the term used to describe the technology built into smart TVs that automatically identifies and reports what content you are watching?
Correct! Automatic content recognition, or ACR, is software embedded in most modern smart TVs that silently identifies the content on screen by matching snippets against a database. It works regardless of whether you are streaming, watching cable, or playing a Blu-ray.
Not quite — the correct term is automatic content recognition, or ACR. This technology is built into TVs from brands like Samsung, LG, and Vizio, and it operates quietly in the background, sending viewing data back to manufacturers and their advertising partners.
Which major smart TV manufacturer was fined $2.2 million by the FTC in 2017 for collecting viewing data without proper user consent?
Correct! Vizio was fined $2.2 million by the FTC after it was found to have collected detailed viewing data from 11 million TVs without adequately disclosing this to customers. The settlement required Vizio to make its data collection practices much more transparent going forward.
The correct answer is Vizio. In 2017, the FTC fined Vizio $2.2 million for tracking viewing habits on around 11 million smart TVs and selling that data to third parties — all without obtaining proper informed consent from users.
What is generally considered the most effective first step to reduce smart TV data collection when setting up a new device?
Correct! Most smart TVs present data-sharing options during the initial setup wizard, and opting out at this stage is the most direct and effective way to limit collection. Many users skip through these screens quickly, unknowingly agreeing to extensive data sharing.
The best first step is to opt out of ACR and data collection during the initial setup. Manufacturers are now required to present these options, but they are often buried in long terms and conditions or pre-ticked by default, so reading carefully before tapping ‘agree’ really matters.
Smart TV ACR technology can track viewing data even when you are watching content from which of the following sources?
Correct! ACR works by analysing the actual pixels on the TV screen, which means it can identify content regardless of how it gets there — streaming apps, a connected Blu-ray player, a games console, or a cable box are all fair game.
The correct answer is that ACR can track content from any source displayed on screen. Because the technology samples what is visually on the display rather than intercepting a data stream, it captures content from external HDMI devices just as easily as from built-in apps.
In 2019, the FBI issued a public warning about smart TV security. What was the primary vulnerability they highlighted?
Correct! The FBI’s Portland field office warned consumers that bad actors — as well as TV manufacturers themselves — could potentially exploit built-in cameras and microphones on smart TVs to spy on users in their own homes. They recommended covering cameras with black tape as a precaution.
The FBI’s 2019 warning focused on the risk that hackers and even TV manufacturers could gain access to built-in cameras and microphones on smart TVs. The bureau specifically recommended placing black tape over any camera lens and checking TV settings for microphone controls.
Which network security practice is recommended to help isolate a smart TV from more sensitive devices like laptops and smartphones on your home network?
Correct! Placing your smart TV on a separate guest or dedicated IoT Wi-Fi network means that even if the TV is compromised, attackers cannot easily pivot to your laptop, phone, or NAS drive. Most modern routers support this network segmentation feature.
The recommended practice is to put your smart TV on a separate guest or IoT network. This isolates it from your more sensitive devices, so a compromised TV cannot be used as a stepping stone to access your personal data on other gadgets sharing the same network.
What does the privacy setting often labelled ‘Samba Interactive TV’ or ‘Nielsen Measurement’ refer to on many smart TVs?
Correct! Labels like ‘Samba Interactive TV’ and ‘Nielsen Measurement’ refer to third-party data analytics companies that partner with TV manufacturers to collect and monetise your viewing habits. These can often be disabled in the TV’s privacy or account settings.
These labels actually refer to third-party audience measurement and ACR services embedded by TV manufacturers as part of commercial data-sharing agreements. Companies like Samba TV pay manufacturers to include their software, and the collected viewing data is then sold to advertisers and media companies.
If you want to keep using smart TV streaming apps but minimise tracking, which combination of steps offers the strongest privacy protection?
Correct! Disabling ACR removes the most pervasive layer of passive tracking, turning off personalised ads cuts down on data being used to profile you, and reviewing app permissions ensures no individual app is quietly accessing your microphone or location without good reason.
The strongest practical approach is to disable ACR, opt out of personalised advertising, and regularly audit app permissions. A PIN or screen lock does nothing to stop background data collection, and factory resets only offer a temporary fix before the same data collection resumes once you log back in.
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Turn off Motion Smoothing
Get rid of the soap opera effect on your TV
Motion smoothing has long been one of the most hated features on smart TVs, and for good reason. It tries to make motion appear smoother on your TV by artificially adding extra “fake” frames between the real ones. It’s often called the soap opera effect because it can make movies and TV shows look cheap and unnaturally fluid.
I didn’t fully understand just how distracting motion smoothing could be until I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark on my TV for the first time. Within a few minutes of the boulder scene, I could tell something was off. The motion looked incredibly strange and almost artificially sped up, and that’s when I knew I had to turn motion smoothing off ASAP.
Fortunately, while it’s frustrating that motion smoothing is turned on by default on many smart TVs, it’s pretty simple to disable. You can typically find it in your TV’s picture settings, although it may go by different names depending on the manufacturer, such as Auto Motion Plus, Picture Clarity, or TruMotion. Also, if you switch your TV’s picture mode to Filmmaker Mode, it will typically disable motion smoothing automatically when you’re watching movies and TV shows.
Turn off Wi-Fi
You might not necessarily need Wi-Fi on your TV
I know this last suggestion might be controversial, but hear me out. One of the best ways I’ve improved my TV recently was simply turning off Wi-Fi entirely. I know it may sound crazy, but if you don’t use your TV’s built-in streaming apps, you really don’t need Wi-Fi enabled on it in the first place.
The biggest benefit I noticed immediately was that turning off Wi-Fi stopped ads and recommendations from appearing on my TV’s home screen. In turn, it made my TV look less like an advertising billboard in my living room and more like, well, a TV.
Now, the big caveat here is that if you rely on your TV’s built-in apps for streaming, this obviously isn’t something you can do. But if you rely on other devices connected to your TV for streaming, like a PS5, Roku, or Fire Stick, then this is definitely worth trying, especially if you want to eliminate a lot of the unnecessary bloat that comes with smart TVs nowadays through the internet.
- Brand
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LG
- Display Size
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42, 48, 55, 65, 77, or 83 inches
- Operating System
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webOS
- Display Type
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OLED
