6 settings I change on every smart TV I buy (and you should too)

29 Mar 2025, 19:59 by Stanley Martin · Android Police

If you bought that smart TV you’ve been admiring, you are about to experience the best picture and audio quality. However, not all TVs come out of the box with the best performance settings. You’ll likely find something bizarre about the picture or the colors. Maybe the motion is extremely smooth, or the screen gets darker and brighter randomly. Did you buy the wrong set? No, that’s how most modern new TVs are.

With their advanced functionalities and features come many settings you can tinker with to get your unit looking its best. Here are the settings I change on every smart TV I buy to jack up its performance.

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6 Turn off Motion smoothing

For natural fluidity

Source: Samsung

When you play a video shot at 24 frames per second on a TV with a higher frame rate, you will likely notice an effect popularly known as judder. This effect causes artifacts, flatter cinematography, or other problems in playback. The judder effect usually appears when displaying 24fps content on a TV with a refresh rate of 60Hz or above. To counter this effect, television manufacturers developed a feature called Motion Smoothing or Motion interpolation.

When the feature is enabled, as is the norm on most new TVs in the United States, a movie’s fps is amplified to match the frame rates on the TV. It tries to smooth things out by creating additional frames to bridge the difference in frame rates between what is in most movies (24fps to 30fps) and your TV’s frame rates. This is great for watching high-paced content like sports, games, or fast-moving movie scenes, as it offers more clarity.

However, for films, it can lead to a weird, uncanny, and cheaper look or what many refer to as the “soap opera effect.” For the best visual experience, disable motion smoothing on your TV. Go into your set’s settings to find where to deactivate it. Depending on your TV brand or model, it might be called “frame interpolation” or “motion interpolation.” On LG TVs, it is called TruMotion, while on Samsung units, it is called Auto Motion Plus. To deactivate the feature on most Samsung TVs, navigate to Picture > Expert Settings > Auto Motion Plus and switch it off.

Alternatively, you can turn on Filmmaker Mode. The feature removes the soap opera effect plus other artifacts when it detects a film playing. Units from Vizio, Samsung, LG, and Hisense have the Filmmaker Mode feature. Also, Netflix’s Calibrated Mode eliminates the smooth motioning effect by adjusting contrast brightness and color. However, this only works on the streaming platform’s original shows and movies like Narcos and Money Heist.

5 Check the sound

A good visual experience should be complemented with good audio

Source: TCL and Roku

Poor audio can ruin a good visual experience. Most modern TVs allow you to change the sound produced by the set. The main options you should adjust are the treble and bass intensity, which refer to the high and low sound frequencies of your unit, respectively. If the sound is too loud, bring it down a little bit. If you are a fan of intense booming bass, bring it up a few notches.

Additionally, if you have a home theater system or soundbar, enable ARC (Audio Return Channel) under settings. This reroutes all the audio output in your space, including cable boxes and game consoles, to the home theater for a more immersive sound experience.

4 Update/enable auto-updates

Fix bugs and general security issues

Source: samsung

Updating your new TV is important for rectifying bugs, maintaining security, and boosting general performance. Brands usually release updates regularly to enhance the TV’s drivers, apps, operating system, and compatibility. This helps counter common problems like freezing, screen unresponsiveness, and compatibility problems.

Most TVs notify you when there is an update or have an auto-update feature, ensuring that your TV’s software is always up-to-date. I recommend searching the settings section and finding the update option to be sure. If the auto-update option is not available on your TV, check regularly for the update prompt and update it manually.

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3 Disable energy-saving features

For a better picture punch

Source: Samsung

Most new smart TVs have the power/energy saving feature enabled by default. While the feature helps you save money on electricity bills by minimizing your TV’s power draw, it can affect its visuals. It works by changing the brightness depending on how lit the space is. This means dimmer colors, lower brightness, and sub-par performance.

While saving power is a good idea, what is the point of spending hundreds of dollars on a high–end TV set if you are going to limit its performance? In that regard, I recommend disabling the feature. If you are worried about energy consumption, a good approach would be to enable and disable the Power/energy-saving feature depending on what you want to watch. For quick access, add the setting to your unit’s Quick Menu.

Regarding the alternative picture setting you should use, go for any that appeals to you. A good example is the ISF-certified picture mode, also known as Calibrated. If it does not cut it for you, go for the standard picture mode. To turn the feature off on a Samsung TV, navigate to All Settings > General & Privacy > Power and Energy Saving and toggle off Energy Saving solution.

2 Enable Enhanced HDMI and Game Mode

A call to gamers

Source: Samsung

These changes are not important for all TVs. However, if you want to use your TV to play titles on your PS5 or Xbox Series X smoothly, consider changing them. Tucked away in your TV settings, Enhanced HDMI supports 4K resolution at a 120Hz refresh rate. This means better clarity and smoothness for fast-paced titles with less input lag.

While this feature is turned on by default on HDMI 2.1 ports on many units, check to be sure. This ensures your games run at the best possible resolution and frame rates on your TV. Also, check the Game mode feature and enable it when playing games. The feature disables other image processing features, making gaming lag-free and natural.

1 Do a privacy review

Know what data is being collected about you

Source:LG TV

After optimizing your picture and sound settings, audit your privacy settings. TV brands and their marketers love your information. That’s why setting up a new TV usually involves accepting terms and conditions about monitoring your TV usage or the information they collect about you.

Take a few minutes and review what you signed up for. The location for these settings on your set varies depending on the brand, but look for anything related to User Agreements or content recognition. On LG smart TVs, navigate to Settings > About This TV > User Agreements and carefully review everything. You can opt out of agreements like voice command control and targeted advertising. If it is a Roku TV, navigate to Settings > Privacy > Smart TV Experience and limit features like targeted advertising and tracking what you watch.

Instantly boost your smart TV’s performance

Impression can be a strange phenomenon when it comes to audiovisual entertainment. If you have used a TV for some time, you can become conditioned to the sound and picture, making you feel like the technology and settings are the best. That’s until you experience better visuals and sound on another TV and wonder how you enjoyed the mediocre performance for so long.

That is why I tinker with every smart TV I buy or come across. The settings in this guide will help you get your new device looking and sounding great without professional help.