Eye fatigue from watching TV is often from excessive brightness. The backlight increases the overall brightness of the TV, from 'too dim' to 'ouch, that's bright.' It's key to know where this control is, separate from the picture modes, so you can turn it down at night. The backlight is the easiest one to explain, and to see the result when adjusting. Check out TV color temperature, and why it matters for the full story and example images. But after watching the more accurate 'warm' mode, cool will seem blue. Your eye/brain gets used to the color temperature, so 'cool' seems correct, 'warm' seems too red. At first glance, Movie/Cinema mode will appear very red, but this is likely far more accurate. Technically, the warmer color temperature is the correct one, as it's the one used by the people who made the TV show or movie you're watching. Cinema and Movie go for a warmer color temperature.

The Sports and Vivid modes go for a cooler, bluish white that appears to 'pop' more to the eye. Know how some light bulbs look bluish, while others look reddish or 'warmer'? Same thing. Screenshot: Geoffrey Morrison - Image: TouchstoneĬolor temperature is the 'color' of white in an image. Each changes a different aspect of the picture.Ĭolor temperature, or how 'warm' or 'cool' the image appears. There are five main settings that get adjusted by changing the picture mode: Color temperature, backlight, motion interpolation, gamma/contrast enhancers, and edge enhancement. You might like one or the other better, but it's good to know what's going on, and why certain modes and settings may not allow your TV perform its best.

Sports, Vivid, or Dynamic might create a 'punchier' image at first glance, but these change and add so-called enhancements to the image the director didn't intend to be there, which can actually make the picture worse. Picture mode is usually the first setting in the picture menu. The basic rule of thumb is Cinema or Movie mode is going make the TV look it's most 'accurate.' This means it will make the image look as close to what the director or content producer intended. The actual names and precise settings will vary, but taken overall, Sports/Vivid/Dynamic act similar to each other, and Movie/Cinema act similar to themselves.

Best picture modeįor our discussion, I'm going to group Sports, Vivid, and Dynamic in one group, and Cinema and Movie modes in another. If you're new to all this, or just want a refresher in what all the settings mean, I recommend checking out our full guide to TV picture settings before we dive in here.

Picture style cinema