Any new TV, even a top-tier one, can look better after a few quick adjustments. And you don't need any special equipment, either. For most adjustments, you can judge the results with your own eyes. This applies even to a new Hisense TV -- like the recently announced U7 and U6 MiniLED models -- which can look even better with a few tweaks in the settings.

Even a simple change such as choosing the best picture mode can radically change how your TV looks. Other changes aren't intuitive, but also offer big improvements. For example, did you know that reducing the sharpness control can result in a better looking image? Plus, changing these settings won't harm your TV, and you can always switch back if you don't like how it looks. Nothing here is permanent.

Initial settings

Once you've got the TV connected to your Wi-Fi and opted out (if possible) of any data "sharing" policies, you'll be good to start adjusting the picture settings. With some Hisense TVs, they're accessible via the Settings menu under Display & Sound, and then under Picture. Other models use different operating systems, or user interfaces, so the picture settings might be in different places within the menu.

Important note: Your Hisense TV might save any changes you make just to a specific input. As in, if you make adjustments to HDMI 1 for your cable box, the picture settings on HDMI 2 might be unaffected. Look for the Apply Picture Settings option if you want to copy your settings from one input to all of them. You'll still be able to adjust the settings for each input if you want.

Also, on the off chance you haven't mounted and connected your TV yet, make sure you don't make these common mounting mistakes. And don't forget to you connect to the HDMI ARC or eARC output if you have a soundbar or receiver.

Start with the picture mode

The biggest change you can make to your TV's overall image is by changing the picture mode. This adjusts several different settings all at once, and you can then fine-tune the image from those broad strokes. Many Hisense TVs have a lot of picture modes, but you can break them down into two categories: Vivid (Dynamic), Standard, Sports and PC/Game will have a lot of extra processing, cooler ("bluer") color temperature and some other features that will look OK with live and sports content, while Theater Day, Theater Night, (sometimes called Cinema) and Filmmaker, will dial back a lot of the extra processing and let scripted TV shows and movies look closer to what their creators intended. 

Sports and other live content will still look fine in Theater/Filmmaker modes, but scripted TV shows and movies won't look as good in the other, non-Cinema/Theater modes. If you watch HDR content (which is most commonly just scripted TV shows and movies), the TV will switch to an HDR picture mode that has additional settings.

If you'd rather not switch picture modes depending on what you're watching, stick with Theater/Cinema or Filmmaker mode. They usually deliver the most natural colors and the best overall image.

Other tweaks to make (or not)

Brightness: Some Hisense TV models have separate controls to adjust overall brightness (light output), while other models put them in with other picture settings instead. Local Dimming and Peak Brightness can be left as-is, unless you find that the brightest parts of the image are too bright. If the whole TV is too bright, the Brightness (Backlight level) can dim the entire image. However, be careful what "brightness" setting you adjust. On some TVs, the brightness control only adjusts the dark parts of the image. You don't want shadows to be too dark, or bright, but more on that setting in a moment.

Gamma: This, to oversimplify a bit, is how bright the medium brightness objects are in the image. Shadows and dark parts of the image are adjusted with the brightness control. Bright highlights in the image are adjusted using the contrast control (see image below). If you set gamma incorrectly, the entire image can look dim or washed out. Lower numbers typically look a little better in bright rooms, while higher numbers look better in darker rooms. The usual range is 2.0-2.4. I recommend starting at 2.2 and seeing how it looks to you in your room. Dynamic Tone Mapping is broadly similar but specific to HDR content. 

HDR Enhancer: This attempts to make standard dynamic range (SDR) content look more like HDR content. Leave this off.

Contrast: As mentioned above, the contrast control adjusts how bright the brightest parts of the image are. Set too high and you'll lose all detail in bright objects. Too low and the picture will seem dim. This should be fairly close to correct out of the box, but adjusting it a few steps either way when watching content with lots of very bright objects (clouds, snow/ice, etc) and you should be able to see what looks best.

Black Level: Sometimes called Brightness, this setting adjusts how dark the dark parts of the image are. Set it too low and you'll lose shadow detail. A dark suit or alleyway becomes solid black. Set it too high and the image will look washed out. Like contrast, this should be fairly close to correct out of the box. Find dark content (nighttime scenes, Batman movies, etc.) and adjust a few steps in either direction and see how it looks.

Color and Hue: You shouldn't have to adjust these at all. They should be correct out of the box. The Dynamic Color Enhancer should be off. 

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Sharpness and Clarity Settings: Some Hisense models have additional sharpness settings in a menu called Clarity. Counterintuitively, you should use these settings sparingly, if at all. Most TVs look their best with their sharpness control set at or near zero. Smooth Gradient can help eliminate the banding that's visible in solid colors on some content. Noise Reduction and MPEG Noise Reduction can usually be left off, as they can sometimes remove grain that's supposed to be in the image. They might also remove fine detail. We'll discuss some other settings in this menu in the next section.

Color temperature: This is how cool/blue and warm/reddish the overall image looks. With most TVs, warm is the closest to the accurate/realistic setting. With some models you can adjust the specific White Balance, but you'll need special equipment to do this correctly.

For more on these settings and a few others that all TVs have, check out how to instantly improve your TV's picture by changing these simple settings.

Advanced settings

If you're willing to dive a little deeper into your TV's menus, there are some other important settings. Some of these won't be available on certain models.

Motion Enhancement: This setting is why many people think new TVs look "weird" or have "weird motion." It's also called motion estimation, motion compensation, MEMC or, colloquially, the soap opera effect. To reduce motion blur, the TV generates new images to place in between the real images of the content. This makes movies and scripted shows look like live TV or soap operas. A lot of people hate it and think that's just how their TV works. But you can turn it off -- and should. There is a Custom option that lets you adjust Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction separately. Judder Reduction is what's mostly responsible for the odd motion.

With sports and other live content, Motion Enhancement won't look as strange as it does with scripted TV and movies. It can make the TV appear sharper by reducing motion blur. Most non-Theater/Cinema picture modes will have Motion Enhancement turned on.

Motion Clearness: Instead of Motion Enhancement, if your TV has it, try Motion Clearness instead. This uses black frame insertion, which, as it sounds, inserts a black frame in between the original frames. This can reduce motion blur and improve apparent sharpness. However, it also makes the image dimmer and some people can see flicker. It's worth testing out.

In addition to covering audio and display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more.

Also, check out Budget Travel for Dummiesand his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.