HDTV Setup Guide: Improving Picture Quality

Learn how to optimize that brand-new HDTV so you get the best picture possible.

You’ve made the investment in a new HDTV, but ask yourself: Are you really getting the most for your money? Something many new HDTV owners might not realize is that they likely aren’t enjoying the best possible picture quality right out of the box. In fact, unbeknownst to certain users, some may not even be viewing programs in high-definition! In this short guide, we’ll help you make sure that you’re not only enjoying a high-def image, but also provide essential tips on eking every last bit of performance out of your HD television set.

Connect Your TV Properly

The very first thing you will do when you get your HDTV home is hook it up to your home theater system. This is where many users take serious missteps.

One of the most common home theater sins is connecting an HDTV to sources using non-HD cables or connections. For example, if you hook up your HDTV to an S-video or composite video connection, you WILL NOT get a high-def image. Period. Similarly, a component video input will give you a high-def image, but the hookup is only capable of passing 1080i video – not higher quality 1080p footage. That’s valuable resolution lost.

The ideal connection for any high-def video sources to an HDTV is HDMI. When you are shopping, make sure the set you have your eye on has several HDMI connections for various sources such as Blu-ray players or PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game systems. Most good HDTVs will have at least three.

Next, make sure you are watching a high-def source. A common misconception is that just because you’ve purchased a high-def set, every show or film you watch will magically be made high-def. Not the case. For example, you may have a high-def DirecTV satellite receiver, but if you watch the non-HD channels, you are not watching high-definition programming. Likewise, standard-definition DVDs won’t have all the resolution of a Blu-ray high-def release.

Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR6

Adjust Settings for Max Performance

Now that you have your TV set up using the proper connections and high-def sources, it’s time to evaluate the image. The first thing you’ll notice when you get your HDTV up and running is that it looks drastically different in your living room than it did on the store floor.

That’s because TV manufacturers futz with the TV settings at the factory so that the image will stand out from competitors. The image will most likely be too bright, colors oversaturated or skewed towards a certain hue, and sharpness settings will be ramped up. In other words, it’s your TV on steroids. To maximize your image, you need to get these settings back to industry standard.

To do this, you can make some rudimentary adjustments using the set’s picture controls. To access these, just use the remote control’s Menu button and adjust the following settings accordingly:

Brightness: A TV that is too bright will certainly pop, but the picture will also appear two-dimensional and washed out. Turn down the brightness control and you’ll give your HDTV image more depth and better black levels, which will provide richer, more three-dimensional images.

As a general guideline, we recommend that you turn the brightness control down about halfway. If you turn brightness down too much, however, you will lose some detail in the darker parts of the picture. Put in a relatively dark film that you are familiar with, such as the Godfather Blu-ray, to make sure you haven’t gone too far and aren’t losing detail in dark scenes.

Another good test is to put in a “letterboxed” DVD that has black bars on the top and bottom. When your brightness level is adjusted appropriately, these bars should appear black, not grey. Generally, plasmas will be easier to adjust than LCDs, which are inherently brighter and have a more difficult time with black levels.

Sharpness: As a rule, HDTVs are naturally very detailed and sharp. If the sharpness control is set too high though, you will see an artificial outlining around images, also known as edge enhancement. While sharpness may improve non-HD source material, it can be dreadfully apparent on HDTV images. Turn this setting to zero—you simply don’t need it if you are watching in high definition.

Contrast: Contrast controls how bright the white portions of the TV are and how much light your TV is pumping out. It’s easy to get this setting confused with brightness, which actually controls the dark portion of the TV.

An HDTV that has contrast set too high will be very bright, but look artificial, lose detail in the white parts of the image, and can cause eyestrain during extended viewing. We recommend that you turn this setting down to about 50%.

To see if your contrast setting is acceptable, put on a Blu-ray disc that is very bright (snow scenes are great for this task). You should be able to make out details in the white parts of the image while maintaining a decent amount of light output.

Color: Your color setting determines how natural the picture looks. If your set has the color setting pumped up, colors can be migraine-inducing, with greens and reds looking unrealistic and gaudy. If your color setting is too low, the image will look drab and colors will lack punch.

You may see various color settings on your set, including Warm, Cool, and D6500. D6500 is the ideal color setting because this is the color temperature filmmakers use when creating content. If you don’t have this setting on your TV, pick the Warm setting. Test your color setting by pausing on an image of a person. Skin tones should look natural, not pink or blue.

Simple Ways to Calibrate Your Set

If you don’t trust your instincts or want to take a more systematic approach to video calibration, consider purchasing a good setup DVD. We prefer the Digital Video Essentials Blu-ray, which walks you through the steps of maximizing your picture and getting it back to ideal standards. Follow the easy steps, and you’ll significantly improve your HDTV’s picture quality.

Finally, if you don’t want to deal with the calibration fuss yourself, you could have an ISF-certified technician come out and adjust your display for you. Many electronics stores have installers on staff who are trained to perform these HDTV tune-ups for a nominal fee (starting at around $300).

Still, by following the above tips, it should be possible to quickly adjust settings for optimum performance, letting you make the most of your new set in little to no time flat.