Most people think a TV looks great right out of the box. While an LG 4K UHD TV may look acceptable with factory presets, there are extra settings that can improve picture quality further for TV shows, sports, movies, and gameplay. In this guide, we explain preset picture modes, show you how to customize them to your liking, and more.

Before You Get Started

Here are some general tips for you to consider before finding an LG 4K TV’s best picture settings for your viewing environment, content, and taste:

The following applies to most LG LED/LCD and OLED TVs. Setting labels and options may vary by model series and year.

  • Place the TV where you can view it straight on: Don’t place it where you need to look up, down, or at an angle to view the screen. This is important for LED/LCD TVs because the colors fade and the contrast narrows the farther you view off-angle from the center.
  • Control room lighting: Light from windows or lamps can reflect off the TV screen. Although some TVs have anti-glare or anti-reflective screen coatings, the picture won’t look good if the light hits the screen. Curved screen models distort reflections further. Lamps that can be dimmed or turned off or drapes and shades can improve a TV picture.
  • Select the TV’s Home Mode: During the initial setup, you may be prompted to choose Home or Store Mode. Store Mode initiates a demo that has an overly bright picture with intense color and contrast that’s better suited for a dealer showroom.

How to Find Your LG TV’s Preset Picture Modes

Here’s how to locate your LG TV’s preset picture modes:

You can also access Home Mode in the General settings menu. 

  • On the TV’s homepage, select Settings.
  • The Quick Settings menu displays on the left or right side of the screen. Scroll to the picture icon and use the left and right arrow buttons on the remote to apply the preset picture modes.
  • You can also access preset picture modes by scrolling down the quick settings menu and selecting All Settings.
  • In All Settings, select Picture.
  • Select Picture Mode Settings and scroll through the choices (listed below the following image).

The Different Preset Picture Modes

Preset picture modes may vary by LG TV model and input source selected (HDMI vs. analog). These are the most common:

On the TV’s homepage, select Settings.

The Quick Settings menu displays on the left or right side of the screen. Scroll to the picture icon and use the left and right arrow buttons on the remote to apply the preset picture modes.

You can also access preset picture modes by scrolling down the quick settings menu and selecting All Settings.

In All Settings, select Picture.

Select Picture Mode Settings and scroll through the choices (listed below the following image).

  • Standard: This provides acceptable viewing for video and movie content. It is usually enabled when you first turn on the TV.
  • Vivid: Heightened levels of contrast, brightness, and sharpness are applied. This setting should be avoided. If used, it should only be in a natural light environment.
  • APS (Auto Power Saving): This adjusts picture quality in relation to power consumption using the LG automatic picture dimming control. Although this saves power, it can dampen picture quality.
  • Cinema: This preset provides appropriate brightness, contrast, and color temperature level for movies. It’s dimmer than Vivid or Standard and provides a warmer color temperature. This preset is the best picture preset to use in a darkened room, similar to a movie theater. Cinema disables any added processing, so movies retain film-like motion.
  • Sports: Provides the best picture preset for sports by displaying a brighter image, cooler color temperature, and faster motion response.
  • Game: Provides the best picture preset for games and places the TV in low latency mode for better response with game controllers. It also works with the Instant Game Response setting (discussed in the Additional Settings section later).
  • ISF (Day/Night): This provides two additional settings, allowing you or a technician with additional equipment to calibrate the TV’s picture settings more precisely. Consult your LG TV dealer or find an ISF-certified TV calibrator near you from the ISF website if you wish to use this.
  • HDR Effect: If your LG 4K UHD TV is HDR-compatible, those signals are detected automatically, and the TV adjusts accordingly. The HDR Effect also provides a similar effect manually for SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) content.

How to Customize Your Picture Mode Settings

The LG preset picture settings are a quick way to get better picture quality. Still, you can further customize each mode using the Picture Mode Settings menu.

When adjusting the HDR Effect, some content may look washed out or have uneven brightness levels from scene to scene. In most cases, it’s not necessary to change this setting.

Sample and Test Images

Before adjusting picture settings, it’s a good idea to use samples or test images as setting references. You can use sample images provided by the LG 4K TV as a start. However, it’s best to use an app or disc that provides standardized test patterns and images tailored for TV picture calibration.

Examples of a test app and test discs include: 

  • THX Home Theater Tune-Up App (iOS and Android)
  • Disney WoW Test Disc (Blu-ray Disc version)
  • Spears and Munsil UHD HDR (a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc player is required) and HD Benchmark (a Blu-ray Disc player is required) Test Discs.

Below is an example of one type of standardized test pattern that’s provided on a test app or disc.

Here’s what you need to do to use the LG sample images:

Whether using LG’s sample images, an app, or a disc to make adjustments, verify that the results of the settings look good with actual content sources when you’re finished. 

  • On the LG 4K TV homepage, select Photo & Video.
  • In the Photo & Video menu, select Sample Photo.
  • Select an image from the four provided.

How to Use Picture Mode Settings

Once you have your sample or test images, it’s time to use the Picture Mode settings menu on an LG 4K TV. Here’s what to do:

On the LG 4K TV homepage, select Photo & Video. 

In the Photo & Video menu, select Sample Photo.

Select an image from the four provided.

  • On the homepage, select Settings.
  • Scroll down and select All Settings.
  • Go to the Picture Mode Settings menu to customize settings under each Picture Mode. View results on the sample or test images.

The Various Picture Mode Settings

Here are the various picture mode settings you can find on your LG TV, along with what each mode does:

On the homepage, select Settings.

Scroll down and select All Settings.

Go to the Picture Mode Settings menu to customize settings under each Picture Mode. View results on the sample or test images.

  • Backlight (for LED/LCD TVs): This changes the amount of light output from the backlight or edge light system of an LED/LCD TV.
  • OLED Light (for OLED TVs): OLED TVs don’t have a backlight or edge light. Still, you can adjust the amount of light emitted by the OLED pixels.
  • Contrast: This makes bright areas of the image brighter or darker.
  • Brightness: This makes dark areas of the image brighter or darker.
  • Sharpness: This setting increases edge contrast to make objects more distinct, but resolution remains the same. Too little sharpness makes the picture appear soft. Too much sharpness makes the picture look harsh. This setting should be applied as minimally as possible.
  • Color: Adjusts color intensity (saturation). Too much color looks intense, too little color looks too subdued, or even grayish.
  • Tint: Adjusts the amount of yellow/green and red/magenta (used primarily to adjust skin tones). This control should be set to 0 unless the color of the input source is too green or too red.
  • Color Temperature: Adjusts the warmth (yellowish cast) or coolness (bluish cast) of the color range displayed. Warmer color temperatures are best for movies. Cooler color temperatures are better for TV broadcasts, sports, and games.
  • Reset: This returns the above picture settings to factory defaults. This is great if you make a mistake, want to stay with the defaults, or start over with new settings.

The above settings can be applied to each input or to all inputs. This enables you to designate the Game setting on one input and Cinema on another. You can also fine-tune the HDR Effect setting (only applies to the input the HDR source is connected to).

When working with the rest of the LG TV picture settings, maintain a written or typed record of changes for ongoing reference.

For reference, the following chart illustrates setting levels suggested by LG under typical lighting conditions:

How to Get Adventurous With Advanced Controls

From the Picture Mode Settings menu, you can access more options using the Advanced Controls. Here are the options:

  • Dynamic Contrast: Unlike the contrast control in Picture Mode Settings, Dynamic Contrast corrects the balance of light and dark areas based on the incoming signal’s brightness information.
  • Dynamic Tone Mapping (HDR content only): Automatically makes subtle adjustments to HDR based on the changing brightness of HDR-encoded input signals.
  • Dynamic Color: Makes color saturation adjustments based on variations of the incoming color signal.
  • Preferred Color: Provides separate adjustments for skin, grass, and sky color. This adds to the tint adjustment provided in Picture Mode Settings. However, most content sources look fine without the extra steps offered by the Preferred Color setting.
  • Color Gamut: This allows you to select the range of colors that can be displayed. Blu-ray Disc, Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc, and 4K streaming sources provide a wider color range than other sources. It’s best to set this control to Auto.
  • Super Resolution: This is a video upscaling setting designed to make blurred images appear sharper (a more subtle version of the sharpness control). This may be helpful for analog video sources, standard resolution DVDs, and cable/satellite signals. For Blu-ray Disc and other HD/UHD sources, this control should be set to off.
  • Gamma: This adjusts the mid-contrast range of the TV to better match the grayscale range of the source signal. The ideal Gamma setting for TVs is 2.2. LG TVs don’t provide numerical Gamma settings. Instead, these TVs offer Off, Low, Medium, High 1, and High 2. If you watch a lot of movies in a dimly lit room, try Low. If you watch a lot of broadcast TV and other video content in a bright room, try Medium.

How to Dig Deeper With Picture Options

The Picture Options settings category provides additional fine-tuning if needed but may affect AV sync and Game response. Here’s what you need to know.

Several of these settings enable video processing that can affect audio and video synchronization, especially if the TV is used with an external audio system. Game controller response time may also be affected.

  • Noise Reduction: Reduces video noise present primarily in analog video signals.
  • MPEG Noise Reduction: Reduces video noise that can be present in digital video signals.
  • Smooth Gradation: This setting limits jagged edges (pixelation) that can be present. It also reduces color banding.
  • Black Level: Although the Brightness setting provides some control of the amount of black in the image, it affects the total image. In contrast, the Black Level setting fine-tunes dark areas but minimally affects the brighter parts of the image. This reveals detail in dark areas independent of the rest of the image.
  • Real Cinema: This complements the Cinema preset by preserving the 24 fps film frame rate from Blu-ray Disc and Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc and related film sources.
  • Motion Eye Care: Automatically adjusts brightness and image blur that can cause eyestrain. If you don’t suffer from visual fatigue, leave this setting off.
  • TruMotion: Also referred to as Motion Smoothing or Frame Interpolation. This setting makes motion smoother but may display a Soap Opera Effect on film sources, making the film look more like video. This is best suited for sports and live or taped TV broadcasts. It should be turned off when watching DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc, or other film sources.

Looking for More? Try Additional Settings

LG 4K TVs provide the following three additional settings:

  • Eye Comfort Mode: Automatically adjusts the color temperature to reduce eye strain over long viewing periods.
  • HDMI Ultra HD Deep Color: This allows a designated HDMI input to access 4k@60Hz signals encoded with 4:4:4, 4:2:2, or 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. However, if you don’t have source devices capable of sending these signals, it’s best to turn off this feature.
  • Instant Game Response: This setting automatically activates the Game picture preset if a game source is detected on an HDMI input. It also de-activates the Game preset when gameplay stops.

The video may occasionally blink when Instant Game Response is enabled.

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day