Tweaks That Make Cheap Smart TVs Look Better

You can find a Smart TV  at almost any price imaginable, but after buying a cheap model, there are some handy tweaks you can make that will make the picture look even better.

7. Select the appropriate image mode

Instead of having to worry about finding the exact best settings for each aspect of video quality, most modern Smart TVs make it easy for you. There are multiple picture modes to choose from with just a tap. Some of the modes you'll find in your Smart TV's settings include Sports, Cinema, Gaming, and more. Each mode has a preset value for options like brightness. On TCL TVs, you can even choose a light or dark picture mode.

With a little experimentation, you can find the option that best suits the content you enjoy most on your TV.

6. Turn off Soap Opera effects

One of the first things you should do after buying a Smart TV, regardless of price, is turn off motion smoothing. Also known as the soap opera effect, this is one of the most annoying features of any Smart TV.

This feature automatically adds frames to content to make the video look 'smoother.' While it can be effective in some cases, most of the time it makes TV shows and movies look unnatural and just plain weird, since the content wasn't designed to support such high frame rates. This is especially noticeable with movies that are designed to shoot at just 24 frames per second.

Depending on your TV, this feature may be found under a different name, but it's easy to turn off.

5. Reduce sharpness

While it may sound good to have the sharpest possible picture quality, too much sharpness can make your Smart TV's picture quality look significantly worse. Sharpness is designed to make the edges of objects more distinct from the background around them. Generally, sharpness can make objects appear sharper and make the picture quality look even better. But too much is also bad.

Too much sharpness can result in distorted images, especially when watching something fast-paced, like a basketball game or when playing a game.

So go into your TV settings and make sure the sharpness is set to one of the lower levels.

4. Adjust contrast

Contrast is another basic TV setting that can have a big impact on picture quality. In case you didn't know, contrast is the difference between the darkest and brightest parts of an image. This setting needs to be well balanced. If you set the contrast too high, the bright areas will lose quality. If the contrast is too low, the dark parts of the image can look odd. The best choice is to set the contrast near the middle.

3. Adjust color and hue

Color and hue are another set of image quality settings that are important for delivering great quality images. To get the most out of these settings, your best bet may be to choose one of the preset modes and adjust from there. These modes may only require minimal adjustment, but you can tweak them to your liking.

2. Turn off Ambient Light Detection

Like smartphones, many Smart TVs can have an ambient light detection feature that automatically adjusts the brightness of the TV up or down depending on how much light is in the room. This sounds great in theory, but in practice, it often runs into other issues like TV placement, someone opening or closing a window, or something else. It's best to turn this feature off completely and adjust the brightness manually.

In many Smart TVs, the ambient light feature is located in the advanced picture settings.

1. Use a new HDMI cable

Sometimes, making your budget Smart TV look better doesn't mean tweaking the settings. One thing you should always do with a new TV is buy a new HDMI cable . While you may have a spare HDMI cable or two around the house, it's best to buy new cables for the best possible picture quality. Before buying new cables for your TV, there are a few key things you should check, such as certification, connector type and compatibility, cable length/build quality, and more.

As you can see, with just a few minutes of tweaking your TV settings, you can make any Smart TV look a whole lot better. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your favorite show or movie in the best possible picture quality, no matter how much you paid for your TV.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 03 June 2025