Here's how Netflix recommends setting up your TV for the best picture quality

A few weeks ago, Tom Cruise asked users to turn off certain settings on their TV. These effects, activated by default on televisions and which give the impression of watching a movie shot with a camera at very high speed, are the obsession of directors and fans of cinema and series. On the other hand, they are adored by the manufacturers who activate them thoroughly and by the specialist stores who leave them activated on their demonstration televisions - the image is then absolutely false and misleading, if not disturbing, but it gives a impression of fluidity which can pass for novelty. Today, Netflix made its own recommendations for getting the best picture quality possible for movies and series.

This proposal for configuring and calibrating your television is linked to the film 'Roma' d'Alfonso Cuarón. A work of art in which we are presented with an amalgam of gray, Alfonso Cuarón breaks down the images like a thematic puzzle with the hygienic choice of black and white. Since this is a movie where visual aspect is so important, Netflix wanted to recommend users which TV settings to use.

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This is not the first time that a film producer or a director has recommended that we deactivate certain options on our TVs. In fact, much of the Hollywood industry is at war with TV makers like Sony, Samsung, LG, or Panasonic.

Netflix considers, like most directors that interpolation of frames - an option enabled by default in many televisions - produces artificial movement that does not always correspond to the director's intention. Netflix's recommendation goes even further.

In addition to recommending turning off True Motion, Action Smoothing, and other light effects, Netflix also recommends setting the color temperature to "normal". It is neither “hot” nor “cold”. The ideal is to place this color temperature at a balanced point. However, each TV model, depending on panel technology or image processing processor, tends to come with presets.

The LG OLED55C8 recently tested on Idroid

Netflix bets on maintaining HDR processing, in particular for Dolby Vision (found on the LG C8 TV recently tested for example). Nothing abnormal since the streaming service promotes this format. Other settings to turn off are those that reduce noise, dynamically change color, or correct black depth.

Netflix recommendations

Without the help of a professional or a dedicated technical probe, it is difficult to properly calibrate a TV. The final quality depends on many factors and it is possible that an incorrect adjustment will generate visual aberrations. That's why companies, like Netflix, recommend going for the simplest solution, which is simply to leave the image “unimproved”.

Each TV lets you adjust a series of specific settings, but here is the general recommendation Netflix makes for movies like Roma:

• Picture mode : Cinema or Film (never sport or gaming mode)
• Sharpness : 0% or 50% (if this is the default number)
• Contrast : 100%
• Brightness : 50%
• Colour : 50%
• Color : 0%
• Gamma : 2.2

If you have access to advanced image options for different brands, here are some recommendations to follow:

 

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