Analysis of games with HDR
How to set up a new HDR TV - list of useful features
What you need to know about HDR

Post has been editedDyuss - 27.09.18, 23:44

How to set up a new HDR TV - list of useful features

TV settings that you want to turn off
Turn on the TV settings menu on the screen and go to the image settings item. Before you begin, set the display mode to Movie (sometimes also called Cinema, Expert, or Custom). This ensures that the main parameters of brightness, contrast and color are as close as possible to the standard ones - at least without calibration, which takes a long time.

Next, you need to go to the advanced image menu to disable post-processing functions. In some cases, selecting the Movie mode may automatically disable some of the options below, it is more advisable to adjust the settings menu yourself. Please note that these recommendations apply to both standard and HDR TVs, which provides an extended range of brightness and a rich color palette).

Dynamic Contrast: Sometimes called “Contrast Enhancement,” this feature makes dark areas of the screen even darker. It can beautify the image a little, but this disturbs the balance of black and white colors, reducing scene detail. In addition, this mode can lead to artifacts when reproducing colors. Disable this feature and you will see the maximum amount of detail in the image.

Black Tone: Like dynamic contrast, this setting is intended to make black areas of the screen even darker. But in fact, you cannot make black colors darker than they already are. Therefore, usually this function simply turns the dark gray areas into black, which leads to the loss of detail. It’s better to disable this feature.

Black Detail: the opposite of Black Tone, because she is trying to improve details in dark areas by lighting them. You might think that this is good, but in fact it only leads to the opposite problem: with the help of lighting dark areas you see new artifacts.

Edge Enhancement: This function tries to make the picture clearer. Sounds attractive, but enhancing outlines can also lead to extra artifacts, such as the “halo effect” around the image. In most cases, it is better to disable it.

Live Color, HDR + Mode and Flesh Tone: All these functions perform post-processing of the image to improve color reproduction. Live Color adds saturation, HDR + mode tries to play standard content more similar to HDR, and Flesh Tone - to make the skin of the characters on the screen more expressive. But if the movie you are watching was correctly mounted, then all the colors should be beautiful anyway; therefore, disable these features for a more natural image. (Please note that the “Color Temperature” parameter should not be contained in these functions. You must set it to a standard value, which is typical for the video mode, usually “warm”).

Super Resolution, Reality Creation Smooth Gradation (super resolution, creating reality, smooth gradation) and other noise reduction features. These functions should optimize the overall appearance of low-quality video by increasing the sharpness of the contours and eliminating noise and artifacts caused by digital compression or analog signal conversion. For high-quality content such as Blu-ray, it’s better to turn them off because they can soften the image. However, you can turn them on to play videos from old DVDs or even cable television if you find that the video looks better.

Motion interpolation: each manufacturer has its own name for such a function. It is known as Motionflow on Sony Motion Rate Supreme TVs or Auto Motion Plus on Samsung TVs, TruMotion on LG TVs, and Smooth Motion Effect on Vizio devices. Despite the different names, their essence is the same: to generate more frames between existing ones, for smooth movement. This is what causes the weird “soap opera effect” that so many users hate. It can also add artifacts, so we recommend disabling it if you are not one of those people who actually like this effect.

Auto Picture Mode: This is a feature of some Sony TVs that tries to automatically change the picture mode of the TV depending on what is displayed on the screen. As a rule, it’s better to disable such things, because the settings that we recommend later in this guide should work well, regardless of what you look at.

Note that not all TVs will have all the menu items mentioned; cheap models, in particular, have far fewer options. But this list should cover most of the image processing options that you will see on popular TVs from leading brands. Finally, all of these features should enhance the image for you. But if you want to get maximum detail and accurate colors, as the director and cameraman suggested, we recommend disabling as many of the above functions as possible.

TV settings to be turned on

Disabling all post-processing features is simple. But on your TV there are several settings that can make the image much better. Whether they should be used is largely dependent on the model and content that you are watching. Below are a few options you can experiment with:

Backlight: Most televisions have backlight and brightness settings, and they perform different tasks. You should not touch the “Brightness” parameter, except when calibrating the TV, as this affects the black level. The backlight, however, can be changed as you wish (but we do not recommend setting the level above 70 - this is the recommendation of LG SC), since it only changes the brightness level of the backlight LEDs of your TV. You probably want it to be stronger during a sunny day, and decrease if you watch TV in a dark room. Your TV may also have an energy-saving feature that attempts to automatically adjust background lighting.

HDMI range, color space, RGB range, or black level: This function determines how color signals are sent to your TV. If your TV allows you to set Auto mode, do so. Otherwise, it should almost always be set to Limited (or Low for some Samsung TVs). Make sure that devices connected to the TV, such as a game console or set-top box, are also set to Limited. The Full option is intended only for those who use their TV as a PC monitor. (Note: on Sony TVs, the Black Level setting is the same as Black Tone and should be turned off).

24p playback. Often called Real Cinema or Pure Cinema, this feature plays movies at 24 frames per second. In short, this mode allows you to remove certain "stuttering" when watching movies and television shows. Some televisions do this automatically, without having to change the settings, and some do not have this feature at all. But if this option exists, you can enable it.
Local Dimming, Segmental Dimming: This function turns off some of the LEDs on your TV to darken certain portions of the image. If this function is correctly implemented on televisions with a full LED array, then it is very useful. But on other types of TVs (especially with backlighting), such a function may lead to a delay in image output, darkening of certain areas or cause flickering. Try turning this feature on and off to see what you like best. On a Vizio TV, it's called the Xtreme Black Engine Plus. Sony TVs have a similar function, in addition, there is an X-tended Dynamic Range mode, which makes similar actions, but with respect to the bright white segments of the image. In any case, try activating this feature to see how much you like it.

Game mode: designed for video games, allows you to reduce the delay in the input signal of the TV. Thus, pressing any button during the game leads to an instant response on the TV screen. But on some TVs, this happens due to lower image quality. Try this mode on your TV - if it noticeably degrades the quality, then turn it on only when you play.

PWM black frame and dimming: known as Clear Action on Vizio TVs, Clearness on Sony LED TVs Clear Motion on Samsung TVs and Motion Pro on LG TVs. Usually the menu is an additional setting for the Motion Interpolation item. This function inserts black frames between existing frames of the video, which should reduce the blurriness of the image, but it does not produce a very noticeable “soap opera effect”. On the other hand, it can lead to severe darkening of the screen and flickering, which some viewers will not like. So try turning this feature on and off to see how useful it is to you.


Since there are hundreds of different TVs on the market, it is not possible to capture the tuning features for each individual model. However, this material provides basic tips on how to set up your TV for optimal picture quality, without the need for a lengthy calibration procedure.

Post has been editedDyuss - 27.09.18, 23:31

I just recommend turning this function on and unscrewing it to the maximum. The person who wrote here in a post about her either never saw her in action and simply copy-paste from other sites, or turned it on on an ultra-budget TV. In the topic of choosing a TV, I specially recorded video at a frequency of 60 frames per second to show how this technology works and how games are transformed with it. My notes can be found intopic header in the "Important" section


Maybe it is needed for online shooters, but in single-player games it definitely does not need to be included. The picture becomes disgusting. The prefix is ​​designed to work in conjunction with a TV, which on its own can noticeably tighten the image. And at the expense of input lag, many do not even know what it is. From experience, I can say that I don’t feel at all - that the game mode is on, that it is turned off. But the picture is very bad. But, I suspect that it depends on the TV model, its year of manufacture and cost. On the new normal TV, all the rules.