Just bought a new TV? 5 settings I'd urgently change for a better picture

As someone who gets an inordinate amount of the best TVs delivered for testing during any given year as part of my job, I'm always straight into the settings to adjust various features for a better picture.

It's often surprising how many automatic features are switched on straight out of the box – by which I mean features that, in many circumstances, hinder rather than advance an image's appearance and, by virtue, your enjoyment of the best streaming services and beyond.

Fortunately, it's easy to change these settings, whether you've got the latest Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL, Hisense, or another brand. Doing so will make a world of difference to your viewing experience – so I urge you to dig into your menus and make these five settings adjustments.

1. Smooth it out

Not all content is created equal. Movies are typically shot at 24 frames per second. TV series could be 25/30/50/60fps, which gives a different, smoother look. Some high frame-rate (HFR) content is higher again, for even smoother results (though super rare).

Problem is, smoother isn't always better for everything – especially movies. It's why watching a flick with smoothing or frame-rate insertion switched on can create a 'soap opera effect', where big-name actors look a little too much like they're on a weekly TV soap.

While I'm using a Philips OLED TV to illustrate this article, there are plenty of other TV brands out there – and while naming conventions for features are often similar, their marketing terms can differ. That's why, in the Listing below, I've included the key terms per brand.

Typically you can turn this effect off entirely, but for some content types you may only wish to reduce it to 'Low' rather than completely eradicate it. For other content, such as sports, opting for 'High' may deliver a more desirable effect to follow the action with a more 'actually there' life-like sense.

• Samsung: Settings > Picture > Expert Settings > Auto Motion Plus
• LG: Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Clarity > TruMotion
• Sony: Settings > Display & Sound > Picture > Advanced settings > Motion > Motionflow
• TCL: depending on model's OS calls it Motion Clarity or Action Smoothing
• Hisense: calls it Motion Enhancement
• Philips: calls it Perfect Natural Motion
• Panasonic: calls it Intelligent Frame Creation

2. Kill Vivid Mode

If there's one thing I've learnt about TV manufacturers, it's that they like to spoil you with numerous Picture Modes. Perhaps too many options.

While TVs' artificial intelligence features are improving – the theory of auto application happening, depending on what you're watching – for now a manual selection process is required.

Out of a the box, if there's no setup walkthrough for preference settings anyway, many TV-makers opt for Vivid Mode to be the default. This amps up contrast, saturation and brightness – but can therefore lack realism, depth and nuance in rendering an image.

Vivid works nicely for punchy animations, but for your typical drama it's going to make skin tones look bizarre, while movies will lack the as-expecting grading for low-level blacks to really deliver the shadow floor needed.

Selecting the Normal Mode, or even Custom, will give you a more level base from which to view. This, with motion smoothing adjusted, will give you a more lifelike picture overall. If it's still too exaggerated for your tastes, then look to Home Cinema.

3. Out with Eco

Given the push to conserve energy, some TV manufacturers have been promoting the idea of an Eco Mode – ironic, really, when such TVs are typically the brightest on the market and also upsell this feature as a reason for purchase.

Eco Mode holds back brightness potential, so it's best deactivated to get that added brightness bite from your favourite shows and movies. Sometimes this is a separate setting to the Eco Mode in Picture Settings, so be sure to dig into your set's options.

Sky Glass has an Auto Backlight Adjustment, for example, which you'll want switched off if you don't wish for the panel to to adapt to ambient light in a room. Other TVs may have similar settings, such as my Philips, which has Light Level Optimisation.

I tend to think auto-adjustment is visible when in darker room conditions, while in brighter conditions it can see a TV cap its output potential. Therefore, aside from in HDR formats' handling (Dolby Vision IQ, for example), I'd advise keeping TVs' built-in settings off for the most part.

4. HDMI port selection

Okay, fine, so this one isn't a 'setting', per se, but what you plug into your TV at which HDMI port will dictate the settings that can then apply.

Typically a TV has four HDMI ports. Most often you'll find two are one standard (2.1), with the other two a slightly earlier standard (2.0).

That's not a huge problem for most things, but can become an issue for high frame-rate (HFR) content, especially with games. Anything delivering 4K resolution at over 60fps ought to be connected to an HDMI 2.1 port – as it supports 4K120p.

Also: if you're using a soundbar and have an eARC port (typically the no.2 slot), then you'll need to align that there – sacrificing one of your top-tier HDMI 2.1 ports as a result.

Some high-end sets have all four at the top standard, while Samsung's incoming S95F adds the potential for eight ports overall. That can bypass some issues with port limitations.

Many pieces of hardware also have auto-switching enabled, where the device can 'talk' with the TV. Games consoles will often default to Game Mode, which is good for actual gaming – but not for, say, using your PlayStation 5 for playing 4K Blu-ray, where you'll want to re-select the Picture Mode manually.

5. Mode Matching Is Key

Echoing my final point from above – that auto-switching between HDMI sources can apply specific Picture Modes – you'll want to align the correct choice to your hardware.

I, for example, have a Picture Mode default per HDMI input. This is typically good for my needs, but sometimes requires further manual intervention – depending on what you're watching.

My BT/EE Box Pro, for example, delivers my live TV content in a Custom Mode preset, but if I switch to a sports channel then I'll manually select Sports Mode for better smoothing.

If a movie is the choice, whether via streaming, a set-top box, or a physical disc, then Home Cinema is my pick – or Filmmaker Mode if it's true dark room conditions.

Don't be afraid to raise those menus from time to time! It'll elevate what you're watching with minimal tinkering time – and that's got to be worth it.