The Hidden Vizio TV Settings That Can Dramatically Improve Picture Quality Now

2 days ago 2

The best TVs offer a superior viewing experience for movies, shows and games. But when you first take those TVs out of the box, the standard settings aren't optimal for the home.

You don't need specialized gear or know-how to get more out of your TV. You'll just need to spend a little time in your settings menus. Even something as simple as choosing the right picture mode can dramatically enhance the image.

There are a lot of setting options outlined below, but I'd recommend making one change at a time and checking how it looks. That way, if there's something you don't like, it's easy to switch back. Let's get into it.

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Navigating basic picture settings

After you connect your various HDMI cables, get the TV onto your Wi-Fi, opt out (if possible) of any data "sharing" policies, you'll be ready to start adjusting the TV's picture settings. Depending on the year and series of your TV, the menus may look slightly different, but the layout and names should be similar.

Important note: With most Vizio TVs, picture settings are typically set per input and sometimes per picture mode. However, if you want to apply the same look to every input, just choose the mode you prefer from the picture menu. If you need to edit an individual input, you can create a new mode specifically for that. Look for picture mode edit in your menu.

Picture mode

Changing the picture mode is the single biggest adjustment you can make on any TV because it alters multiple aspects of the picture simultaneously. You'll recognize modes like standard, calibrated, calibrated dark, bright, vivid and so on.

For the most realistic and accurate images, try calibrated and calibrated dark. The latter is better for nighttime viewing or when there isn't a lot of ambient light. Settings like vivid, and to a lesser extent standard, will have more exaggerated colors, contrast and other settings that may appear less natural compared to what movie and TV show creators intended.

While you can easily stop here, there are additional settings that will help you fine-tune your picture.

Backlight or brightness

With most Vizio TVs, you can adjust how bright the TV is in general, aka its total light output, like dimming a light bulb.

Historically, the brightness control only adjusted the shadows, but it's now often more accurately referred to as the black level control (more on that in a moment). You can generally set the backlight control to your preferred level and/or adjust the amount of ambient light in the room. Higher levels can be harder to watch at night and will use marginally more electricity. It's worth noting that this control will be disabled in some picture modes and for certain content.

If your model has an auto brightness or ambient light sensor feature, this will detect the ambient light in the room and adjust the TV's brightness accordingly. If you find this feature dims the TV too aggressively, try one of its lower settings.

Contrast

Contrast control adjusts the brightness of the brightest parts of an image. Imagine an image of the sky with little fluffy clouds. If you adjust this setting too high, the clouds will stop looking like clouds and instead look like featureless, white blotches. If you set the brightness too low, the image will appear dark.

The contrast setting will likely be close to correct out of the box, but it's worth experimenting with a few steps in either direction using some bright daytime content. There's also a contrast enhancer feature found on some Vizio TVs, typically located in the clarity submenu, which adjusts the contrast and brightness settings to enhance the appearance. I'd recommend leaving this off, as it can negatively impact the image.

Black level

On some TVs, black level will be called brightness, a confusing holdover from the old TV days. This setting doesn't change the overall light output of the TV. Instead, it changes how bright only the darkest parts of the image are. Shadows, for instance, will become brighter/grayer. If you set this too low, it'll be hard to see any detail in the darkest parts of the image. A dark alley becomes a black hole of nothing. If you set it too high, the image will seem washed out.

Like the contrast control, this setting should be fairly accurate out of the box. To check, find movies that have a lot of dark scenes. (Most of the Batman movies are good for testing this.) Adjust a few steps in either direction to see how it looks.

Color and hue

You shouldn't have to adjust these at all. They should be correct out of the box.

Gamma

While contrast affects the bright parts of the image and brightness (or black level) adjusts the dark parts of the image, gamma adjusts the brightness of medium-bright objects in the image. It's more complex than that, but that's the easiest way to understand it. Higher numbers will make the image more "contrasty" but might seem too dark with some content. Lower numbers will seem brighter, but also might seem washed out and "flat" with some content. I typically start with 2.2 and adjust from there to preference.

Sharpness and clarity settings

Many Vizio TVs will have an entire submenu called clarity. The sharpness control should be set at or close to zero. This is because the sharpness control doesn't "add" sharpness; it adds edge enhancement, which adds noise and can actually mask fine detail.

Other settings in this menu, including super resolution, should be used with caution, as it's impossible to truly add detail to an image. A TV can enhance the perception of detail, but that may also cause other issues, such as noise. Most modern 4K content can't have additional resolution added, regardless. It's already sharp.

This menu also features noise reduction options, including signal noise, block noise and contour smoothing. These might soften the image in an attempt to reduce noise that's supposed to be in the content.

The only time you should consider any of these features is if you're watching lower-resolution content like DVDs or standard-definition cable/satellite channels. In those cases, they might improve the image somewhat, but no TV (or technology) can make SD content look like HD or 4K. I turn all these features off with any display I'm reviewing.

Color temperature

This setting adjusts how "warm" (orange/red) or "cool" (blue) the image is, which is most noticeable with white objects. With most TVs, the warm setting is the closest to appearing most realistic. However, if you're accustomed to the look of your TV in the cool or standard setting, this might be surprising, as the warm setting will appear quite reddish. Allow yourself a day or so to adjust to the new setting. If you switch back, the cool and standard settings might look too blue.

For more details on these basic settings: Instantly Improve Your TV's Picture by Changing These Simple Settings

Advanced settings

Vizio TVs have a lot more features that are worth tweaking if you have the time and interest. Not all of the settings below will be available for every model, but most should have either this exact setting or a similar one.

Active full array

This controls the TV's local dimming backlight. Some models with this setting will have different levels. Generally, you want active full array on to some extent, as it will improve the contrast of the image.

The potential downside is a phenomenon known as blooming, where the area around small, bright objects appears brighter than it should. Imagine a streetlight on a dark road or the moon in the night sky. Instead of a black background, these bright objects would be surrounded by gray, more or less. This blooming bothers some people more than others. I'd recommend starting with the middle setting, and when you find a scene like I just described, adjust and see what you like better.

Motion control

The motion control submenu is crucial in ensuring your TV doesn't exhibit "weird motion." It controls features also known as motion enhancement, motion estimation, motion compensation, MEMC, or colloquially, the soap opera effect.

No matter what the feature is called, if it has "motion" in its name, it's designed to reduce motion blur, typically by generating new images (called frames) and inserting them into the content you're watching. The result, at least with scripted TV and movie content, is making movement look artificial or "too smooth." Many people, including the creators who make the content you're watching, hate this technology. I recommend turning it all off. With sports and games, the added frames can make the image appear sharper.

If your TV has individual adjustments for these settings, the one to be wary of is judder reduction, which I recommend turning to zero. Film mode set to on will minimize issues with content that can be negatively affected by motion enhancement features. Another option, if your model supports it, is clear action, which uses black frame insertion to enhance sharpness and eliminate the artifacts mentioned above. However, the image will appear darker, and some people may notice the image flickering.

In addition to covering audio and display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more.

Also, check out Budget Travel for Dummies and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.

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