Setting up your TVAdvanced settings

To get the best picture out of your new TV, the ideal picture settings listed for every TV we test are a good place to start.

Yet it’s not unusual to be puzzled by the bewildering array of options a modern TV menu can conjure up – even our lab experts were left scratching their heads when faced by Sony’s ‘reality’ and ‘clarity’ adjustment setting.

But reality settings aside, our guide to some of latest picture enhancement features will help sort the useful from the gimmicks.

Movie/Cinema mode

A selectable picture preset for watching movies – it’s intended to smooth out motion judder and/or match colours more closely to the original film.We found it difficult to spot any effect on Sharp, LG, Sony and JVC models. On Philips and Samsung sets it can make panning shots smoother – but looks rather artificial and leaves shimmering effects around moving objects. 

VERDICT: Best switched off. The problems it’s designed to solve are minor and the side-effects are often worse.

Colour temperature

Lets you adjust the white balance of a picture. Most TVs offer a range of colour temperature settings from ‘Warm’, ‘Normal’ and ‘Cool’. Personal preference and ambient lighting have an influence, but over the years our viewing panel have gradually moved to favour the ‘Cool’ blue/white hue. VERDICT Useful to have the choice. Our panel tend to find ‘Cool’ more impressive, but some may feel it unnatural.

Sharpness

Simply makes the picture sharper. Usually leads to unwanted side-effects, such as more picture noise. However, if you’re watching a fuzzy old video tape it can be useful.

VERDICT: Use it sparingly.

Preset pictures

Basic picture presets that adjust colour, brightness and contrast. With names such as ‘Natural’, ‘Vivid’ and ‘Dynamic’ picture presets certainly sound impressive and they allow a whole range of settings to be changed, without fiddling with them individually. The disadvantage is that the changes can be too coarse. 

VERDICT: Presets are often quite stark and ‘Natural’ is usually the best option.

Noise reduction

Meant to reduce blocky and grainy pictures caused by weak reception. NR is designed to tackle either analogue or digital broadcasts – but it’s not always clear which. For instance, ‘digital noise reduction’ often refers to the digital methods implemented, rather than the signal type targeted. 

VERDICT: It can have a beneficial effect on weak analogue signals.

3D Comb filter

A necessary feature for watching analogue TV and VHS tapes. Even if this advanced filter is switched off, a less sophisticated version automatically takes its place.

VERDICT: Leave it on if you watch videos or analogue TV.

Expand colour space

Some TVs can increase the number of colours on screen. Modern TVs are capable of displaying more colours than are actually broadcast. However, broadcasters are restricted in the range they can use. This feature expands the colour spectrum on screen, introducing artificial shades that were never actually broadcast. 

VERDICT: A puzzling artificial feature but high-definition DVD discs may use more colours in the future.

Backlight Adjust

LCD TVs are illuminated by a backlight, which can be adjusted to alter picture brightness. An automatic light-sensor adjusts the backlight according to the ambient light level of the room. In terms of image-quality this means the picture isn’t too bright in dull conditions. But it also has the very welcome side-effect of reducing power consumption - in the case of the Sony 40-inch models by half.

A backlight can also be adjusted according to the luminance of the picture on screen. Thus dark scenes are made darker and bright scenes brighter, in effect increasing the contrast ratio (the difference between how dark and light a picture will go).

Our viewing panel usually prefer ‘Dynamic Contrast’ or ‘Active Control’ switched on, but warn that occasionally this automatic dimming and brightening can be noticeable on sudden scene changes. 

VERDICT: A useful picture quality tool, but more significantly a fantastic power saving device.