7 ways to improve your TV picture quality (for free)

When you buy a new TV, it’s only right to expect picture quality to wow straight out of the box – and most of the time, it will: brighter images, better contrast, flawless detail, expanded colour – all that good stuff.

Then the doubts set in: why does motion look weird? Why is HDR so dark? Have I wall-mounted my television wrong? Well, fret not. We’ve got seven simple fixes for the most common picture quality queries, with no technical knowledge needed, time wasted or credit card required. Read on to have your TV looking the best it possibly can…

1. Improve your picture quality with ambient light

OLED and LED-based picture technologies are fundamentally different, and the way you watch could have a profound impact on your viewing experience.

Self-illuminating OLED panels like those found on the Panasonic Z95A and Philips OLED809 traditionally offer optimum picture quality in darker rooms. Bat caves showcase OLED’s ability to display images with inky blacks, nuanced shadow detail and vibrant hues. However, until recently, they’ve struggled to maintain such visual excellence when viewed in rooms with higher levels of ambient brightness. So for the best picture quality with OLED screens, watch them in rooms with subdued lighting.

LED-based TVs, by contrast, rely on backlighting technology, which means they can more easily display a bright image in high ambient light. However, in dim, or no light, this backlight will cause black levels to grey out, as the set takes on a more torch-like demeanour. For the best picture quality, watch LED screens such as the TCL C855K or Hisense U8N in rooms with at least some ambient light, and always avoid full darkness.

If your TV offers a dynamic picture adjustment setting that uses sensors to monitor and react to ambient lighting conditions, it’s worth switching this on.

2. Unleash the full glory of HDR

Often called UHD, 4K resolution was heralded as the next big thing in the evolution of TVs, as it dramatically increased the potential clarity of the shows you watch. But many viewers appreciate HDR (High Dynamic Range) even more because it can have a far more immediate impact.

With HDR, white highlights shine brighter, and low brightness shadow detail displays more nuance, resulting in an image with greater visual depth and dynamic snap. Most modern TVs are compatible with HDR-encoded content from streaming service providers like Netflix, Apple TV+ and Disney+, as well as the BBC (via iPlayer).

Your TV will typically default to a supported HDR format when accessing content this way, though it’s worth noting that HDR format support differs from television to television. For instance, Samsung TVs such as the Mini LED Samsung QN95D do not support Dolby Vision, while the LG C4 and LG G4 support Dolby Vision but not HDR10+. So for optimal viewing, you’ll want to make sure the TV you’re using supports the same HDR formats as the platform you’re watching content on.

If you’re watching an HDR programme from an external source, be it a streaming stick or set-top box, and feel it’s not giving you that HDR tingle you were hoping for, you may not be seeing HDR at all.

To check, roll up your sleeves and head to the setting that governs your HDMI inputs. Depending on your make of telly, this could be under Picture or General Settings. Here you’ll see that all HDMI inputs can be designated either Standard or Optimal (sometimes called Enhanced, or Input Signal Plus). Ensure this HDMI setting is set to Optimal, as it’s this option that supports both 4K UHD and HDR signals.

Now, when watching an HDR show, your TV should give an onscreen notification to confirm HDR metadata is being received from your source component.

3. What to do if your HDR picture is too dark

It’s a simple truth that not all HDR TVs are created equal. While pretty much every set you’ll find in stores these days sports some form of HDR branding, all perform differently, which is the reason why we measure their HDR performance when testing.

Premium TVs tend to work well with HDR. They have enough inherent brightness to make the most of HDR content, with or without the help of tech trickery like tone mapping. Inexpensive TVs are typically less well equipped, even though they wear the same HDR badge.

As a consequence, they often can’t accurately display a full dynamic range, resulting in an often overly dark image, even when compared to SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) shows, the kind you might see on linear free-to-air TV.

However, you can improve subjective picture quality from a connected source, like a Fire TV Stick or Sky box, by counterintuitively downgrading the aforementioned HDR setting from Optimal to Standard. This works well with notoriously difficult programmes such as House of the Dragon. Watching this with your display in its basic Standard HDMI mode will give you an image that’s 4K but SDR, which will result in a higher (brighter) APL (Average Picture Level), so you can see what’s going on.

4. Banish reflections for better image quality

There’s nothing more distracting when you’ve settled in for movie night, than someone switching on a table lamp, allowing the reflection of the bulb to glow back at you. So, when installing your TV, make sure picture quality won’t be compromised by ensuring lights and windows (less easy to manage, granted) are out of reflective view.

Incidentally, Samsung is the first of the big TV brands looking to solve this issue, launching TV sets with screens that include a non-glare filter – like the Samsung S95D – but until you own one such TV, manage what can be reflected in the panel.

5. How to improve subjective picture resolution

If you’ve purchased a new 4K TV but are disappointed that UHD programs don’t look any sharper than those on your old HD screen, perhaps you’re simply sitting too far away from the screen.

In the days of yore, viewers were encouraged to sit away from the TV because the picture would reveal more flaws if you sat too close. New 4K screens (and their 8K counterparts) are the opposite. Their resolution benefit is directly related to viewing distance.

To improve image clarity, watch from a distance that exploits those extra pixels (typically one and a half times the screen (diagonal) size. If you need to rearrange your furniture to get closer, so be it. Remember: picture perfection always trumps Feng Shui.

6. Viewing position tips

TV images look their best when viewed straight on. Sit too far off-axis, or place your screen too high, and you’ll lose contrast and colour.

We have one golden rule when it comes to TV placement: ensure your screen is level with your eye-line, so contrast and colour are optimised. Placing your TV, using the supplied pedestal stand or feet, on low AV furniture, or a credenza, is ideal.

Alternatively, wall mount your screen at eye height from your sitting position (not above the fireplace). VESA TV mounts are a universal standard and there’s a wide choice available from specialist brands.

7. Finally, switch off image smoothing

If you’ve ever wondered why blockbuster movies look cheap on your shiny new TV, then you’ve probably got motion smoothing turned on. This insidious picture mode has the unique ability to turn epic cinema into something that resembles a daytime soap opera (hence the term ‘Soap Opera’ effect), by interpolating frame rates from 24fps to 50fps.

Image interpolation is used to eliminate the motion judder that can be seen with 24fps film content when it’s viewed at home (when smooth pans exhibit a stepped judder). Unfortunately, it also robs movies of their characteristic filmic look, by artificially smoothing out movement. Tom Cruise famously led an industry backlash against it, rallying support from other cinematic heavyweights, including James Gunn and Rian Johnson.

The technique adds frames to prevent such stuttering, giving images an icy smoothness. Films simply look better if the setting is switched off. Motion Smoothing has different names, depending on the TV manufacturer. LG calls it TruMotion, Sony calls it MotionFlow, others call it Picture Clarity and so on. Alternatively, instead of switching it off, you can simply select a picture preset that has motion smoothing disengaged or severely muted by default. Filmmaker mode turns it off entirely while dedicated Cinema presets typically dial it back significantly.