If you want to get the most out of your new television, it is important to pay attention to a few points. What distance should the TV be from your couch? And how does your television deliver the best picture quality? This is how you set up your TV.
It is surprising how regularly we encounter televisions that are poorly set up, or that show a terrible image with exaggerated sharpness and too bright colors. Admittedly, in certain places, for example the fitness club, an optimal set-up is very difficult, if not impossible. But in your living room you still want to aim for the best possible result. It’s also not as difficult as you might think. In terms of placement, you are usually limited by existing furniture, but when it comes to image quality, everyone can make the right choices. Let’s start.
01 Correct viewing distance/screen size
What is the ideal viewing distance for your television? That depends on what you find comfortable and what kind of programs you watch. But there are definitely guidelines. The SMPTE (Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers) recommends a field of view of 30 degrees, which corresponds to a viewing distance of 1.6 screen diagonals. Measure your screen diagonal in centimeters (or multiply the inch size by 2.54) and multiply by 1.6 for the correct viewing distance. If you mainly watch movies, exciting TV series, sports or gaming, then you want to be about that distance. The image then fills a large part of your field of view and that makes for a very immersive experience.
If your viewing material mainly consists of news, soaps and quizzes, then you want to watch TV in a relaxed way, and you prefer to sit a little further. We rather aim for a viewing distance between 2.0 and 2.5 screen diagonals. Ultimately, we advise you to choose a viewing distance that is between 1.5 and 2.5 screen diagonals. Choose what fits best in the living room, and matches your taste and viewing habits.
In ideal circumstances you have taken this into account during the purchase. You then divide the viewing distance (in cm) by 1.5 for the largest screen size (in cm) and by 2.5 for the smallest.
Ideally, you should position the TV so that the center of the screen is approximately at eye level
02 The ideal place
Gone are the days when televisions were hidden in a cupboard. A modern television often has an ultra-slim profile, a very small or almost non-existent frame and a playful foot. That may be seen, but it does not mean that you can place the television everywhere. A common mistake is a television set too high, such as above the fireplace (the horror!). Ideally, position the TV so that the center of the screen is about eye level (when seated in the main seat). If you place the television higher, you risk neck problems because you have to look up all the time.
Avoid clear reflections from light sources in the display. Especially light sources behind the viewing positions are culprits. Move that floor lamp or turn it off. If the television is facing a window, consider a curtain. This does not have to provide complete blackout, but stark white curtains are also not a good choice in terms of reflection.
Wall mounting
A modern television often looks even better if you mount it on the wall. Take into account the same guidelines as with a classic setup (see point 2). Which bracket you choose depends on your wishes. Does the television have to be able to turn, tilt, fold away? Do you want a motorized brace? Also take into account the dimensions and weight of your television. Check beforehand whether all connections remain accessible. And remember that a long arm bracket is a huge lever pulling on the wall mount. Use sturdy plugs!
03 The right picture mode
There is a way to set the best picture in one fell swoop: select the ‘movie picture mode’. It is usually called ‘film’, ‘cinema’, or ‘cinema’. Do you immediately think: this is too bland, or too red? Allow your eyes to get used to the new image for a few days. After that you will notice that other picture modes are often too sharp and intense.
Connect TV
Setting your television as optimal as possible is important, but first make sure that you have connected your TV correctly. It doesn’t seem that difficult to connect a television, insert an HDMI cable and you’re done, but does every HDMI connection provide the same functionality and quality? And what about multi-channel audio? Do you prefer apps on the TV or an external player? And does that still affect your connection? We explain it in this article.
04 Adjust to taste
In movie image mode, a lot of image processing is turned off. However, in many cases it can slightly improve the image, although that is often a matter of taste. You can activate the following settings, but be modest and use the lowest to middle setting to avoid excessive effects.
– sharpness for more visible detail (often a numerical setting; if it goes up to 100, stay between 0 and 20).
– Dynamic Contrast for some more punch to the image.
– noise reduction if you’re watching older sources like DVD or poor quality YouTube.
Bias Lighting
Those who like to watch TV in a darkened room would do well to provide some ‘Bias Lighting’. In concrete terms, this is soft, indirect light on the wall behind the screen. This ensures, thanks to the psychology of perception, that you see better contrast on the screen and deeper blacks. It is an effect that is also used in a lot of optical deception: the color or light around an object influences its perception. It also makes watching TV calmer for your eyes.
Bias lighting works best when the wall behind it is approximately white, and ideally you use a daylight lamp (color temperature 6500 K). Classic lamps for indoors give much too warm light (often 1800 K to 2500 K) but are a good temporary solution. There are LED strips that you can easily attach to the back of the television.
05 Motion Interpolation
In order to make as much detail as possible visible in a moving image, televisions often use techniques such as ‘motion interpolation’ or ‘black frame insertion’. The first calculates intermediate frames from a 24 or 50fps stream to make it a 100fps stream. Fast camera movements no longer show stuttering effects. This method is not appreciated by everyone, as it sometimes gives movies the appearance of a TV series. Other people still prefer the flowing effect. The second method shows a black image for a short time during successive frames to ensure that fast-moving objects are in sharp focus. Otherwise they will show a faint or double border.
You can set this for any brand, but unfortunately the name is brand dependent. Philips uses Perfect Natural Motion, LG Trumotion, Samsung Auto Motion Plus, Panasonic Intelligent Frame Control and Sony Motionflow.
The institution Bright eliminates the blurred edges (a must for sports), and Flowing adds stutter-free images to that. Standard is in between these two. What you choose is completely personal. You can also disable it, but we don’t recommend that.
06 The game mode
Gamers have their own priorities, and one of them is the lowest possible input lag. Almost every television therefore offers a game picture mode. A lot of image processing is disabled in it to minimize input lag. Often, however, that game mode is very hard on your eyes. But you can adjust those settings yourself: look up the contrast, sharpness and color temperature settings in the movie picture mode and use those values ​​in game mode as well. Your eyes will thank you.
07 Watching in high or low ambient light
During the week you watch a movie in the evening with most of the lights out, on Sunday afternoon you follow your favorite sport while the sun shines through the windows. Watching in different ambient light: you should take that into account in your image settings. The easiest way is to use the light sensor. It adjusts the brightness of the image based on the ambient light. You can find it in the menus under the image settings or eco settings, under the name light sensor or energy saving.
If your television is not equipped with a light sensor or if you find the varying brightness disturbing, you should set two picture modes. We have just set the mode for movies, use it for watching during eclipse. For viewing in more ambient light, choose Standard or Natural mode. As the only adjustment you take the values ​​for the color temperature and sharpness, and the settings for motion interpolation from your film mode.
08 Experimenting and the reset button
With the above guidelines you will arrive at the picture that is closest to the relevant standards. If you want to see the footage as the filmmaker really wanted it, it’s best not to deviate too much from it. But of course it is your TV, and if you still want to adjust certain settings or prefer a different picture mode, that is of course your own choice. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the settings. And if you’re afraid you’ve completely screwed up, there’s still the reset button. Every television has the option in its picture modes to reset it to factory settings.
Don’t forget sound!
If modern televisions have an Achilles heel, it is in almost all cases their sound quality. All the more reason to also look around in the sound settings. The preset for movies gives you a pseudo-surround effect and the preset music usually sounds a bit fuller. Often there are options to give the bass reproduction or dialogues a small boost. On many models you will also find an equalizer so that you can adjust the sound yourself. Some models even offer an option to match the sound to the acoustics of the room. You then go through a short procedure with the built-in microphone of the remote control. Make your settings based on a favorite piece of music, a bit of dialogue, and a movie soundtrack, so that you have a good universal solution. For even better sound, you have to rely on external audio solutions, such as a soundbar.
