Calibrating your TV is one way to improve the picture quality for a more complete experience when watching movies or TV shows. However, you need to set it up correctly, otherwise you could end up with an overly bright or dark picture.
If you’ve just bought a TV with an LED, OLED, AMOLED, QLED or Nanocell screen , you’re sure to be amazed by the image quality it offers. Whether you’re watching movies and series or playing video games, these TVs offer you an unrivalled visual experience .
But even if the content looks amazing straight out of the box, there’s always room for improvement. To get the most out of your Smart TV and enjoy an even more spectacular image, tailored to your tastes and needs, it’s essential to calibrate it correctly.
Calibrating your TV involves adjusting the different image parameters, such as colour, brightness, contrast or sharpness , to achieve optimal viewing. This is important because every TV is different and each person has their own visual preferences.
Here’s how to calibrate your Smart TV to improve image quality
Additionally, the environment you are in, as well as the lighting in the room and the type of content you are going to watch, also influence the ideal configuration.
Most modern TVs offer calibration options in their settings menu. However, if you want more accurate and professional results, you can turn to expert recommendations or use specific test patterns.
- Picture Mode: This is a preset that adjusts several parameters simultaneously. Common modes are Cinema, Sport, Game, and Dynamic. Most of the time, Cinema or Movie mode is best suited for watching movies and TV shows, as it tends to offer more accurate colors and adequate brightness.
- Brightness: Adjusts the intensity of the light emitted by the screen. If the room is brightly lit, you’ll need a higher brightness level. On the other hand, if you’re watching TV in the dark, reduce the brightness to avoid the image being too bright.
- Contrast: Determines the difference between the lightest and darkest areas of the image, therefore, high contrast can make colors look more vivid, but can also cause details to be lost in the shadows.
- Sharpness: This affects the clarity of edges and details in the image. Too high a sharpness can make the image look artificial and over-processed, while too low a sharpness can make the image look blurry, so you want to find a level where details are clear without being overdone.
- Color: This setting controls the saturation of colors in the image, so too much color can make the image look unreal, while too little color will make it look dull. Cinema or Movie modes often offer good settings for more natural tones.
- Tint: Adjusting the tint can help correct color deviations. Cinema or Movie presets are usually well calibrated, but you can make minor adjustments if you notice colors looking unnatural.
- White Balance: Ensures that white colors in the picture actually look white. This setting adjusts the basic color values and is best left at the default setting, as most Smart TVs are well calibrated out of the box in this regard.
- Motion: The motion setting creates intermediate frames in videos to make them look smoother, but it can cause some content to have that obnoxious soap opera effect , which isn’t to everyone’s taste. It’s recommended to turn this off for movies and TV shows, but it can be useful for live sporting events.
To access these features, you must first access the settings menu using the remote control and pressing the Menu button . Then, navigate to the Picture or Picture Settings section . Finally, adjust each of the parameters according to your preferences.
Please note that these are just some of the settings you can modify on your Smart TV . Additionally, each model and brand may have additional options, so we recommend that you consult your TV’s instruction manual for detailed information on each setting.