Gadgetory

to fully uncover your TV's potential you have to go beyond the default settings the screen ships with and that's because the TV needs to be customized for your room specifically so here are five tips to help you get a better TV picture first disable any extra smart features like the soap opera effect that's the setting that tries to reduce blur but really just makes everything look like another episode of days of our lives on this Samsung the setting is called auto Motion Plus and it can be turned off in picture options for this TV I also have options for things like digital noise filter and MPEG noise filter in that same menu turn off those extra features too before you go any further check to make sure the aspect ratio is correct I can't tell you how many times I see these TV setups where the picture is cut off because the resolution is set incorrectly for most TVs you'll find access to that setting on the remote like this picture size button in this menu there are a few options like 16:9 for three wide fit and so on if the shape of the picture looks funny as you switch between sources like DVDs or even older TV programming you may need to adjust the aspect ratio so that it fits the content like aspect ratio make a habit of accessing your TV's modes as you switch between programming for example on this TV we've got dynamic standard natural and movie but on many TVs you'll also see options like sports and games you can also use one of these as the base for some fine tuning so I can choose dynamic for example and then head over to backlight brightness contrast and color for incremental tweaks there's a lot to cover here so check out my video on how to calibrate your TV by eye to find out what these settings mean and how to set them correctly if free styling menu options sounds scary we've got a cheat sheet for you whenever CNET's TV expert David Katz Meyer reviews the new TV he also posts recommended picture settings for it in our scene at forums his posts include all the basics but he also dives into specific color settings white balance and even those extra features we talked about if you don't see a cheat sheet for your TV give tweak TV a try it's another trusted resource with a huge library of recommended settings now if you really want to get your hands dirty and adjust your settings so that the screen is unique to your room specifically you're going to want to get a calibration disk these are DVDs that take you step-by-step through a calibration process where you'll adjust TV settings using the help of on-screen graphics one example is Disney's world of wonder blu-ray DVD what's great about this guy is that there are options for amateur and advanced users plus the whole process is super user friendly it's about twenty bucks on Amazon and when you're done you can pass it on to a friend with these tips you should be well on your way to a better looking TV but if you have any questions about the process hit me up on Twitter and check out how to see Netcom for the full written guide for this video for cnet.com I'm Sharon Vaknin you