{"id":4572,"date":"2025-03-26T09:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T09:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/?p=4572"},"modified":"2025-03-26T09:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T09:24:17","slug":"turn-off-these-3-tv-features-for-better-picture-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/turn-off-these-3-tv-features-for-better-picture-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Turn Off These 3 TV Features for Better Picture Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the first wave of new 2024 TV<\/a><\/strong>s hitting the market, you might be in the market for a new set\u2014maybe to catch all the Major League Baseball action or to watch blockbuster movies in all their 4K HDR glory. But you could be disappointed to find your new TV<\/a><\/strong> doesn\u2019t look quite as awesome as you imagined once you bring it home and set it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, everything looks a bit fake and unnatural, not what you anticipated when you plunked down your credit card for a state-of-the-art television<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you race back to your local TV<\/a><\/strong> barn to demand a refund, take a deep breath: You may be a victim of your TV\u2019s out-of-the-box settings rather than a lackluster piece of technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many new TVs come with a bevy of optional display features that are turned on by default, and a few could be robbing your set of the best picture possible. Below are three features we recommend you shut off\u2014or at least turn way down\u2014when you get a new TV<\/a><\/strong> home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One bit of good news is that it has been getting easier to get a great picture on new TVs. Useful new features include Filmmaker Mode and, to a lesser extent, Netflix Calibrated Mode<\/a><\/strong>, which we describe in more detail below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to turning off the following three features, you can adjust other TV settings, such as black levels and color, to get the best picture quality. And CR members can consult our TV Screen Optimizer<\/a><\/strong> to find the best settings for their own TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Noise Reduction<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey,\u201d you might say, \u201cwhy do I want to turn off noise reduction? I don\u2019t want to see any noise on my TV!\u201d That would seem to make sense, except it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noise\u2014sometimes called \u201csnow\u201d on account of the black and white dots in the picture\u2014was a big issue with older analog TVs<\/a><\/strong>, especially with low-definition analog signals. When TVs upconvert video signals from low-quality sources, you may still see some noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for the most part, you\u2019re getting much cleaner, higher-quality digital source content these days, whether you\u2019re using over-the-air digital broadcasts, high-def signals from cable or satellite TV services<\/a><\/strong>, streaming service signals, or pristine video from Blu-ray discs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with noise reduction is that it comes at the expense of detail and fine texture; these tend to get smoothed over when the feature is active. The picture can get soft-looking. Turn off noise reduction and you\u2019ll have a more natural-looking image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Become a member of Consumer Reports to get access to our TV Screen Optimizer<\/a><\/strong>, which will help you get the perfect picture on your TV in just minutes. Join today to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Sharpness Control\/Edge Enhancement<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another entry in the \u201csounds good but really isn\u2019t\u201d department is sharpness control, which doesn\u2019t actually make the image sharper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it really does is accentuate the edges of images. At first glance, this might give the impression of greater detail, but in reality it masks fine detail\u2014and oversharpened images can add a halo around objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So turn it way down or completely off. Some TV<\/a><\/strong>s have a zero setting in the center of the control. That\u2019s what you should use. Lower it beyond that point and you might actually soften the image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Motion Smoothing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One issue with LCD-based TVs in particular is that the image can blur during fast-moving scenes, especially in action movies or sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV manufacturers use various technologies to reduce motion blur, such as repeating frames or inserting black frames into the video signal. These techniques go by a number of names, including Auto Motion Plus (Samsung<\/a><\/strong>), Motionflow (Sony), and TruMotion (LG).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the first wave of new 2024 TVs hitting the market, you might be in the market for a new set\u2014maybe to catch all the Major League Baseball action or to watch blockbuster movies in all their 4K HDR glory. But you could be disappointed to find your new TV doesn\u2019t look quite as awesome as you imagined … Continue reading “Turn Off These 3 TV Features for Better Picture Quality”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[107,7,2446,348,2445,2444],"class_list":["post-4572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lg","tag-samsung","tag-satellite-tv","tag-sony","tag-tv","tag-tv-screen-optimizer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4573,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4572\/revisions\/4573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}