Resolution is just a number
I used to visit my in-laws and watch a myriad of shows on what I assumed was just a cheap relic of a bygone era. Then I realized I’d only ever watched TV through their cable box, so when I popped in a Blu-ray, I marveled at how capable the set actually was. Sources like cable, streaming, and discs all offer varying levels of picture quality. Just because two of them come in a resolution of 1080p doesn’t mean they offer the same picture. One of them might have been compressed to hell, which means colors will become blocky and fine detail will be lost in order to make the resulting file take up less space. In that case, the best, most expensive flatscreen won’t help you—getting better picture quality starts at the source. Cable is, in my opinion, a last resort. Picture quality can vary from provider to provider, but I often find that even over-the-air antennas provide better picture quality than a cable subscription. For shows and sporting events on network TV, I’d give over-the-air a shot. If you don’t have an antenna, check out tools like AntennaWeb or Channel Master to find one that gets the most channels. Outdoor antennas are best if you can swing one—I have a Channel Master Omni+ on my roof here in San Diego and I can watch stations from Los Angeles without any dropouts.
Tweak the few settings you have
We’ve talked about adjusting your picture settings before, and many of the same rules apply here. Cheaper TVs are likely to have fewer settings though, which means there’s only so much you can do with them. If you’re watching in a dark room, your best bet is to put your TV in “Movie” or “Cinema” mode— it is the least likely to introduce “artifacts,” or visual errors in the image. The picture may look a little dark or reddish at first glance, but it’s actually the most accurate in terms of color, so give yourself a chance to get used to it. On some TVs, Standard mode might be able to get brighter, so moving to Standard is fine too, though I’d recommend turning the color temperature a bit warmer to avoid overly blueish whites. I’d also go through that menu and turn off any unnecessary processing features like motion smoothing, if your TV even has them. You may not find them on most cheaper sets, but some mid range TVs will have them, and you’ll want them turned off. (Local Dimming is an exception to this rule, which can help make blacks look deeper.)
Add some bias lighting
Lower-end TVs cut corners in a lot of different ways, but black levels are some of the most noticeable, and without local dimming, what should be black can often look dark grey. TVs that have local dimming often produce a white glow around certain objects called “blooming”, and the uneven backlighting on cheap TVs can cause a similar blooming effect around the edges of the screen. This is why the cheaper the TV, the more likely the picture will look uneven and washed out. Bias lighting is one of the best ways to solve this problem. You can buy bias lighting strips for as low as $20 for a 55” TV—just stick them on the back of your panel, plug it into the USB port on your TV, and it’ll reflect off the wall, producing a white glow behind the screen. This isn’t just about a cool glow-y effect, though—it actually changes the way your eyes perceive contrast, making blacks look darker than they really are. Look at the image above: the rectangle in the center is colored in solid grey throughout, but it looks darker against the lighter background—think of this backdrop as the bias light, and the grey rectangle as your TV’s black level, and you’ll get an idea of what bias lighting can do. Having installed bias lighting on my own cheap TV, I can tell you the results are great, and unless you have an OLED TV with perfect black levels, you should absolutely get one of these kits to make your TV look its best.
