Simple TV Picture Settings That Improve Streaming Quality

Most TVs ship with picture settings tuned for a bright showroom floor, not a living room — a few adjustments usually make a real difference at home.

Settings worth checking first

• Switch out of "Vivid" or "Dynamic" picture mode, which tends to oversaturate colors
• Turn down motion smoothing if film and TV content looks unnaturally smooth
• Adjust brightness and backlight to suit your room's actual lighting, not maximum

A quick starting point

"Movie" or "Cinema" picture mode is usually the closest preset to accurate color out of the box, and a reasonable starting point before making any manual adjustments.

If the picture still looks off

Rule out the cable and connection next — our HDMI cable guide and our explainer on why 4K content sometimes looks like HD cover common causes.