AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Football season is almost here and if you’re like most people, you’ll be watching the games on your big screen TV.

But did you know that your TV may not be optimized for the best viewing experience? With a few simple adjustments, you can significantly improve your sports experience.

Select the right picture mode

Contrary to what you might think, Game or Sports mode is not the ideal setting for watching sports. These modes are designed for video games and can cause the picture to appear too bright and artificial.

These options also enable motion smoothing to follow fast movements on the screen. Motion smoothing also creates a “soap opera” effect that looks blurry when you’re watching something else.

Instead, choose Movie, Filmmaker or Cinema mode. Although the picture may seem darker at first, you can fine-tune it for the best viewing experience. With today’s UHD, OLED and QLED TVs, simply turning on Cinema mode is all you need, no matter what you’re watching, and just using the TV’s default cinema or movie settings.

Adjust brightness and contrast

To achieve the perfect balance between brightness and contrast, start by freezing a dark scene, such as a night scene in a movie.

Adjust the brightness until you can see details in the darkest areas without the blacks looking washed out. Then find an image with a lot of white and reduce the contrast until you can see details like wrinkles in clouds.

Increase the contrast gradually until you get the best image without losing details.

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Fine-tuning of color temperature and hue

Choose warm or low for the most natural and true-to-life colors in the color temperature or tone setting. Adjust the color tone to achieve realistic skin tones.

To prevent the skin from looking orange or greenish-yellow, you can adjust the image. Avoid increasing the sharpness, as this can often result in an unnatural and over-processed image.

Additional tips

• If you’re taking your TV tailgating, you may want to use Vivid mode for a brighter picture outdoors. Just remember to switch back to Movie or Cinema mode when watching TV indoors.
• Resist the temptation to use ‘Eco’ mode as this can darken the picture and affect the overall picture quality. Many TVs have Eco mode on by default and turning it off will make a noticeable change in brightness.

With these simple tricks, you can turn your TV into the ultimate sports device. Your friends and family will be impressed with the picture quality, and your home could become the favorite place to watch the big game.

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