13 TV Settings You Should Adjust Now for True-to-Life Picture Quality

For millions of households, the television is the centerpiece of home entertainment—but most users are unaware that their smart TVs are configured for retail environments, not living rooms. According to ZDNET, newer TCL TVs equipped with Google TV include a feature called Dynamic Color, designed to exaggerate saturation for eye-catching showroom displays. While visually striking in stores, this setting often distorts skin tones, making them appear unnaturally orange, and causes color shifts between scenes, degrading cinematic fidelity. The issue is not unique to TCL; similar oversaturation algorithms are common across budget and mid-tier smart TVs, prioritizing vibrancy over accuracy.

Contrary to popular belief, improving picture quality doesn’t require expensive hardware upgrades. Instead, it demands a recalibration of software settings. ZDNET’s analysis of 16 recommended adjustments for TCL TVs identified Dynamic Color as the most detrimental to realism. Disabling this feature and switching to a calibrated picture mode—such as ‘Cinema’ or ‘Filmmaker Mode’—restores natural color reproduction. Additionally, turning off ‘Motion Smoothing’ (often marketed as ‘Auto Motion Plus’ or ‘TruMotion’) eliminates the soap-opera effect, restoring the intended cinematic motion blur of film content.

Further optimizations include reducing backlight intensity to match ambient room lighting, disabling ‘Eco Sensors’ that auto-brightness based on ambient light (which can cause distracting flicker), and turning off ‘Digital Noise Reduction’ that blurs fine detail in favor of a smoother, but less sharp, image. Enabling ‘HDMI Ultra HD Deep Color’ ensures your source device (e.g., Blu-ray player or gaming console) transmits the full color gamut, while turning off ‘Auto Low Latency Mode’ when watching non-gaming content prevents unintended picture processing delays.

Interestingly, while the Steam store page for the game Changed (App ID 814540) promotes a 60% discount, it offers no insight into TV calibration—highlighting a broader trend: consumers often confuse digital entertainment platforms with hardware optimization. Meanwhile, the Changed Wiki on Fandom, which details a narrative-driven game environment featuring characters like Puro and Dr.K, underscores how digital media ecosystems are increasingly fragmented. Yet none of these platforms address the core issue: that TV manufacturers prioritize spectacle over substance.

Independent reviewers and home theater enthusiasts have long advocated for manual calibration using free tools like THX Tune-Up or the ISF calibration patterns built into many Blu-ray discs. However, the average user lacks the technical awareness to navigate these settings. The solution lies in education—not marketing. Manufacturers should ship TVs with a ‘Home Mode’ preset that disables artificial enhancements by default. Until then, consumers must take matters into their own hands.

By adjusting just 13 key settings—including Dynamic Color, motion interpolation, backlight, noise reduction, and color space—viewers can transform their TVs from garish showroom displays into immersive, cinema-quality screens. The difference is profound: skin tones regain natural warmth, shadows reveal detail, and color grading in films like Oppenheimer or Barbie is rendered as intended by directors. In an age of AI-driven recommendations and algorithmic content, the most powerful tool for better entertainment remains the humble remote control—and the knowledge to use it wisely.