Turn on the TV and everything is fine? Not even close! Because your TV can do more than you think. TECHBOOK gives a few tips to get the most out of your screen.
Modern televisions usually offer a sharp picture, bright colors and a great sound? That’s true, at least if users make the appropriate settings. Because even the most expensive models often do not exploit their potential well enough ex works. Just a few clicks are enough to improve TV enjoyment. TECHBOOK explains which settings on the television you should change in order to get a particularly beautiful picture.
Our tips for a particularly beautiful TV picture are also bundled in the video:
Settings on the TV that you should change
Set sharpness to “0”.
It may sound strange, but you should turn your TV’s sharpness all the way down in the settings. Because the higher the sharpness, the greater the loss of optical detail. It takes a little getting used to at first, but it’s worth it. Just try!
Also read: Why you should almost always turn down the sharpness on the TV
Correct color settings on TV
Does your TV picture look somehow pale and lacking in contrast despite the latest OLED or QLED technology? In many cases, this is due to the wrong color settings. If you don’t configure it correctly here, you will either have a picture that is too milky or give the news anchor a reddish skin tone. Manufacturers offer settings such as “Dynamic” or “Cinema” in the picture options of their televisions, which you should definitely try.
However, TECHBOOK cannot give a basic tip as to which settings are best for your television – tastes are too different in this regard. If you are not satisfied with any of the presets, select the most suitable one and adjust the contrast, brightness and color manually until you are satisfied.
Enable HDR in settings
Many Germans now own a 4K television. With such TV sets, you should – if available – activate the High Dynamic Range (HDR) TV technology. It offers brighter colors and better contrasts for supported content. To be able to benefit from this for games and films, however, you must first activate the function for each source in your television settings.
With manufacturers such as Sony, LG, Samsung and Philips, the function is sometimes quite hidden. Although Philips and LG list HDR in the general settings menu, they hide it behind the terms “HDMI Ultra HD” or “Ultra HD Deep Color”.
With Samsung, HDR is activated as follows: Settings > Picture > Expert settings > Switch on HDMI UHD Color for the HDMI port used. For Sony: Settings > External inputs > HDMI signal format > Optimized format.
Try gaming settings on the TV
Do you like to gamble on the game console? Then you should definitely know that many televisions come with special settings for games. In the so-called game mode, a smoother image display and, above all, less delay (input lag) is promised. This is particularly important in online games and can be a crucial advantage in first-person shooters.
More tips for a good TV experience
Adjust the sound settings on the TV
When watching TV, do you sometimes have trouble understanding dialogue? This may be because new devices have far worse speakers. Flat smart TVs simply don’t have the space for large speakers with rich sound, especially in models with smaller display diagonals. For more intelligibility during conversations, activate the “Clear voice” option in the audio settings on your TV.
But there are also other settings that you can use to improve the sound on the television. Alternatively, you can of course also use external boxes, Bluetooth speakers, soundbars, etc.
The right seat pitch
A great TV is of no use to anyone if they can’t maintain the appropriate seat spacing. To determine this, use the following formula: the screen size of the television in centimeters (found on the back of the device) multiplied by a factor of 2.1. For a 40-inch TV, this means: 101.6 cm x 2.1 = 213.36 cm. So you should sit a good two meters away. If you watch the program in SD quality, the multiplier increases to 3, with 4K content it shrinks to 1.5.
Also read: Finding the right TV size for your living room
Note time of day and positioning
In general, of course, you should remain flexible with the settings. Just because a certain setting goes well with a prime-time football game when it’s dark outside doesn’t mean that the picture and sound are then also suitable for breakfast television.
That’s why it’s worth examining the possibilities of your own TV set. Then you can react appropriately to the time of day, incidence of light, atmosphere and situation.