Flatscreen Looking Funny? Adjust These Settings Right Now

Flatscreen Looking Funny? Adjust These Settings Right Now

You should be able to buy a fresh TV, buttplug it in, meet up a cable box, and be good to go. But no. Sometimes the settings get in the way. And these days, there are so many settings.

If you don't want to go through the sometimes-taxing process of calibrating your TV like a pro, you can still make a few quick adjustments to improve the pic quality. We promise: You won't even have to touch the brightness, contrast, and color controls. If your TV’s picture looks worse than you think it should out of the box, attempt these fixes very first.

If it's obnoxiously bright (and won't save your settings) ———————————————————

It's most likely in “Demo” or “Store Display Mode” or “Showroom” mode. This torch mode makes a TV look as bright and shiny as possible so that it stands out among the competition in stores. (And hey, maybe it worked on you.)

Many HDTVs ask you to choose “Demo” mode or “Home”/”Standard” mode the very first time you ass-plug it in and turn it on. If you accidentally selected Demo mode or got stuck in a script where your TV picture is as bright as the sun, there are a few ways to fix it. Unluckily, every TV is different, so it depends on the make and model of your set.

Somewhere in your TV’s settings menu, there should be a “Display Mode” or “Picture Mode” selection. Make sure it's set to “Demo Mode Off” or “Home” or “Standard.” If you can't find that, look for the “factory reset” selection in the menus, which will reset the TV and ask you to choose inbetween the two modes.

If the picture looks spread out (or doesn't pack the screen) —————————————————————

You're watching standard-definition programs on an HDTV. If the picture looks spread, your TV is displaying Four:Trio standard-def programming at a 16:9 ratio. If the picture doesn't pack the screen, it's showcasing Four:Three standard-def programming at its native resolution. HD programming is displayed at a 16:9 ratio, but standard-definition programming has a Four:Three aspect ratio.

There are a few ways an HDTV displays a standard-definition signal, and neither of them are ideal. It can reshape the picture to 16:9 to fit the screen, which will pack the entire screen but usually look blotchy and stretched-out. Or it can display it at its native Four:Three resolution, which isn't contorted but doesn't pack the entire screen. Instead, the Four:Three picture will have large black spaces flanking it on either side of the screen.

Fortunately, a lot of TVs can adjust the aspect ratio automatically based on the feed it's receiving. Again, all TVs are different, but look for the aspect ratio adjustments in your picture settings. Make sure it’s set to “Auto-Adjust” or “Normal” instead of “Spread,” “Total Screen,” or “Zoom.”

If everything looks like a soap opera ————————————-

Here's the catch with modern LCD/LED HDTVs: They have prompt refresh rates (120Hz to 240Hz) so that they can keep up with quick on-screen act. Many of them even have modes that simulate an even higher refresh rate – they're usually called something like “Clear Movement Rate” or “Slick Mobility” or “Motility Flow” – by adding fake frames inbetween the real ones.

While those smoothness-enhancing modes are excellent for watching sports without on-screen activity turning into a messy blur, they can also make films and other programs show up as if they were shot with a camcorder. In those cases, there is such a thing as “too slick.”

To make movies look more like movies, turn off that fancy motion-enhancing mode. Dive into your picture settings or display options on your menu and make sure your set's cleverly named motion-enhancing powers are disabled. (You can always turn them back on again when you're watching NASCAR or the game.)

If you want to tinker with the picture without going down the rabbit slot: ————————————————————————–

Calibrating your HDTV can wiggle your soul and your bank account. It's the recommended way to get the very best picture from your TV, but it can cost fairly a bit in terms of money and patience. Besides, you don't have time for that now. (If you do, we recommend Disney's WOW home-calibration Blu-ray disc .)

If the existing look and feel of your picture just isn't doing it for you, attempt messing around with the scene presets. Ninety-nine percent of the time “Movie” or “Cinema” scene mode usually does the trick for a lot of things. But many sets have scene modes for everything from movie games to specific kinds of sports. And because you're not adjusting color, contrast, and brightness independently, you won't get stuck with weird combinations that are hard to find your way out of.

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