These two words are ruining your shows and movies

Getting a new TV is nice, especially if you get a smart TV that comes with access to all the latest streaming services. You might’ve been sold on how your TV looked while browsing around your local Best Buy, and you want to mimic that look at home. What you might not know is that this isn’t the typical way TVs are calibrated.

What you see on display TVs is often a TV that’s set up in Dynamic mode, or something similar. This gives the sense of making all the colors pop, but what you need to know is that it’s not how TV shows or movies are meant to look. If you’re watching Netflix, or anything for that matter, in that mode, it makes everything look vibrant. In many cases, it adds a motion-smoothing mode that gives your viewing content the impression of watching a soap opera. It might look nice to you, but it’s not the way the creators intended their show or movie to be watched.

Turn off Dynamic mode on your TV

It’s ruining your shows

Dynamic mode is abundant with many TVs, and I notice a lot of people start talking about it again when they visit their family over the holidays. I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum, because it comes down to whether you like the way your TV looks — it’s your TV after all. I have the same issues when somebody mounts their TV over a fireplace, but it’s their decision to make.

The reason why Dynamic mode is such a deterrent to me is the fact that it’s making shows and movies look completely wrong. People put a lot of work into making their creations look the way they do, so messing with your colors is just a slap in the face. It’s especially bad if you end up complaining about the looks.

Turning off this mode is quite simple, but it depends on your TV model. Dynamic mode is called something different depending on the brand. Vivid and Dynamic are two common names for it. All you have to do is go into the settings of your TV and switch your Picture mode to pretty much anything else. For my Sony Bravia TV, it’s as simple as hitting the cogwheel icon on my remote and scrolling to the appropriate setting.

If you’re watching movies, I’d give Filmmaker mode a spin, but standard will also work. Doing this will bring your TV’s colors back to a realistic level, and while the image will no longer pop off the screen, it’s worth it in the long run.

Calibrate your TV when you buy it

This is an important step

While many TVs are calibrated out of the box and offer a good enough picture, there are still tweaks you can make, especially if you’re watching in a room that doesn’t have ideal lighting like a glare coming across your screen.

What I do when I buy a TV is look up my model, head over to the RTINGS.com review if there is one, and then make my adjustments from there. The experts there haven’t let me down yet, and it ensures I’m getting the most out of my TV that I can when I pick one up. I highly recommend you do similar research to get an accurate look for your TV out of the box, especially if you’re dropping thousands buying a high-end model.

At the very least, switch to something other than Vivid or Dynamic. Doing so takes little more than a few seconds, and chances are that you toggled on the modes yourself. Get away from those and go back to how the creators want their shows and movies to look. Bonus points are available if you change your family member’s TV the next time you visit their house.