When you buy a new smart TV, you expect a quality viewing experience as soon as you turn it on. Still, by keeping the default settings, you may be inadvertently accepting poor image quality, unreliable connections, and privacy issues. The best performance gains are within the device you already own. By following these steps, you can correct these distortions, stabilize the flow, stop data tracking, and speed up your tv to what is now standard in the industry.
Disabling motion smoothing
Fix this weird serial look
If you’re watching a movie on your new smart TV and it looks weird, you’re probably seeing motion smoothing. This setting creates a soap opera effect that makes movies look like they were filmed on a main home camera. Most shows are shot at 24 frames per second to create natural motion blur. Because there are modern TVs 60Hz or 120Hz refresh ratethey use motion interpolation, or MEMC, to bridge the gap between these rates.
The TV processor guesses what images should go between real frames and inserts artificial ones to make them look fluid. While it helps reduce blur in live sports, it deconstructs fictional shows by making them seem hyper-real.
You can adjust this in your settings. Brands use different names for this, such as Samsung Auto Motion Plus, LG TruMotion, Vizio Clear Action or Sony Motionflow. You can too Switch to filmmaker mode or Cinema Mode to automatically turn it off and get a natural viewing experience.
Switch to wired Ethernet connections
Stop buffering for good
Hannah Stryker / How To
Wi-Fi is convenient, but it’s usually unstable and prone to interference from things like microwave ovens, walls, or your neighbor’s network. When the signal drops, streaming services degrade your video quality, causing pixelation and audio errors. Connecting an Ethernet cable directly to your TV provides a more stable connection.
Using a physical cable protects your data transmission from the environmental problems that affect wireless networks. Most smart TVs use 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports. That’s a plus for reliability, even if it’s not gigabit speed. Services like Netflix and YouTube only need between 15 and 25 Mbps to stream 4K content, so a stable 100 Mbps connection gives you plenty of bandwidth.
A wired connection also reduces latency, so movies start playing the moment you press a button. You also won’t have to worry about retyping Wi-Fi passwords with the remote control.
Calibration of image parameters
Get better colors without straining the eyes
Newer TVs are usually not configured for the best viewing in the home. Manufacturers ship them with brightness and color saturation set very high, using modes like Vivid, Dynamic, or Standard. These settings are designed to get you noticed in a flashy store, but they’re too harsh for a typical living room.
They wash out details in the shadows and cause eyestrain, especially if you’re watching in a dark room. Changing your picture preset to Filmmaker Mode, Movie Mode, or Movie Mode is one of the easiest free adjustments you can make. These presets change colors and contrast with real levels and use warmer color temperatures that feel more comfortable.
They also turn off unnecessary post-processing, such as artificial sharpening, which creates halos around objects. By using these settings, you’re making sure you’re treating the film as the director intended, without the artificial look intended for retail.
Automatic content recognition (ACR) is disabled
Stop your TV from spying on you
Modern smart TVs track your viewing habits through a technology called Automatic Content Recognition, or ACR. This feature controls the content displayed on your screen, which includes sources such as cable boxes, game consoles and laptops connected with HDMI cables.
It works by capturing voice fingerprints or taking screenshots as often as every 500 milliseconds. Some brands analyze 7,200 photos every hour to create a profile of your habits. When TV identifies content, it combines that information with your IP address and location to sell to data brokers.
Companies use this to create household profiles for targeted advertising. You can stop this by adjusting the ACR settings, although brands use names that aren’t obvious to them. Samsung calls it Data Viewing Services, LG calls it Live Plus or Data Viewing Agreement, Vizio uses the term Data Viewing, and Roku calls it Using data from TV inputs. Your TV will work without these settings, and may even work better.
Installation of smartphone remotes
Use your phone to write more easily
Losing physical remotes is common and typing passwords or movie titles with them can be tedious. You can solve this problem by downloading the official remote software from your TV manufacturer. Apps like Samsung SmartThings, LG ThinQ, Roku Mobile or the Google TV app connect to your TV over your Wi-Fi network.
If your phone and TV are on the same network, setting them up takes less than 90 seconds. This app provides a full numeric keypad that allows you to quickly type credentials and search queries. They also include touch navigation and scrolling controls that are faster than pressing buttons on a physical remote.
Because the apps use Wi-Fi rather than infrared signals, you don’t need a direct line of sight to the TV. You can even use the voice assistant on your phone to open apps. This puts a spare controller in your pocket so that a misplaced remote doesn’t interrupt your evening.
Don’t settle for default settings
You only need a few minutes to adjust these settings. Manufacturers designate these devices to look good on store shelves and collect your data. Televisions should focus on delivering your entertainment services instead of showing you targeted ads or suffering from pixelation. This checklist works for all major brands and helps you avoid factory defaults. You should stop accepting the default configuration and get the display performance you pay for.
7/10
- Brand
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TCL
- Screen Size
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85-in
- Dimensions
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74 x 42 x 2.3 (without stand)
- Operating system
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Google TV
