Available settings vary by Vizio TV model and year. Premium models with Full Array LED backlights include additional local dimming and Active Pixel Tuning options not found on entry-level sets. If a setting described here does not appear on your TV, it may not be supported on your specific model.
How to Access Display Settings
Reaching your picture settings takes just a few seconds from any screen. You do not need to be on a specific input or app — the Settings menu is always accessible.1
Press the Menu Button
Press the Menu button on your Vizio remote. This opens the main Settings panel on the right side of your screen.
2
Select Picture
Use the arrow keys to highlight Picture, then press OK to enter the Picture settings menu.
3
Choose a Setting to Adjust
Navigate to the specific setting you want — such as Picture Mode, Brightness, or Backlight — highlight it, and press OK or use the left/right arrows to change its value.
4
Exit When Finished
Press Menu or the Back button to exit and return to your content. Changes are saved automatically.
Picture Modes Explained
Picture modes are preset configurations that adjust multiple settings at once — brightness, contrast, color saturation, sharpness, and motion processing — to suit a particular type of content or environment. Choosing the right mode is the fastest way to dramatically improve your picture.Calibrated
The most accurate mode for everyday viewing. Colors, contrast, and brightness are tuned to match professional display standards. Ideal for movies, TV shows, and streaming in a dark or moderately lit room. This is the mode most professional calibrators use as a starting point.
Standard
A balanced, versatile mode suited for typical daytime viewing. Slightly brighter than Calibrated to handle ambient room light. A solid default for households that watch a mix of content throughout the day.
Vivid
Cranks up brightness and color saturation for maximum visual impact. Best used in very bright showroom environments or retail demos — not recommended for home use, as it can make skin tones appear unnatural and cause eye fatigue over long sessions.
Game
Minimizes input lag by disabling most post-processing features. This is the mode to use whenever you connect a gaming console. Reduced lag means your controller inputs appear on screen faster, giving you a competitive edge.
Sports
Enhances motion clarity for fast-moving content like live sports. Motion smoothing is increased to reduce blur on rapid panning shots and fast-moving players. Also boosts color vibrancy to make the green of a playing field pop.
Computer
Optimized for use when your TV is connected to a PC or laptop. Sharpens fine text detail, reduces overscan, and disables motion smoothing that can interfere with cursor rendering. Select this mode when using your Vizio TV as a desktop display.
Key Picture Settings
Beyond the preset modes, you can fine-tune individual picture parameters to dial in exactly the look you want. Here is what each core setting does and when to adjust it. Backlight controls the brightness of the LED panel behind the screen. Increasing backlight makes the entire image brighter, which helps in well-lit rooms. Lowering it reduces eye strain in dark environments and saves energy. On Full Array LED models, backlight works in tandem with local dimming for more precise control. Brightness (also called Black Level on some models) sets how dark the darkest parts of your image appear. Too low and shadow detail disappears into pure black. Too high and blacks look grayish and washed out. Adjust this so that dark scenes still show subtle detail without looking muddy. Contrast (also called White Level) controls the peak brightness of the brightest parts of the image. Increasing contrast makes bright highlights pop, but pushing it too high clips detail in bright areas like clouds or lamp shades. Set it as high as possible without losing highlight detail. Color (Saturation) controls the intensity of all colors. A setting of 50 is neutral. Increase it for more vivid, saturated images; decrease it if skin tones look overly pink or orange. Tint adjusts the green-to-red color balance. In most cases the default value of 0 is correct. Only adjust this if skin tones appear distinctly green or red. Sharpness adds artificial edge enhancement to the image. Many TVs ship with this set too high, which creates a harsh, over-processed look. For native HD and 4K content, a setting of 0 to 10 usually looks best. Higher values can help with lower-resolution content or older DVDs. Color Temperature shifts the overall tone of the image between Cool (bluish), Normal, and Warm. The Warm setting is closest to the D65 color standard used by content creators, making it the most accurate choice for cinematic content.HDR Settings
HDR (High Dynamic Range) dramatically expands the range of brightness and color your TV can display, making highlights brighter and shadows deeper than standard dynamic range content. Your Vizio TV supports multiple HDR formats depending on the model. HDR10 is the baseline HDR format supported on all Vizio 4K models. It is an open standard used by most streaming services, Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, and gaming consoles. HDR10 activates automatically when your TV detects an HDR10 signal — you do not need to manually enable it in most cases. Dolby Vision is a premium HDR format available on select Vizio models (look for the Dolby Vision logo on the TV’s packaging or spec sheet). Dolby Vision carries dynamic metadata that adjusts HDR settings scene by scene, delivering more precise brightness and color accuracy than HDR10. Like HDR10, it activates automatically when a Dolby Vision signal is detected. To confirm HDR is active on your display:1
Play HDR Content
Start playing a movie or show that supports HDR10 or Dolby Vision on a compatible app such as Netflix, Disney+, or Apple TV+.
2
Check the Info Banner
Press the Info button on your remote. The info banner will display the current signal format, including HDR10, Dolby Vision, or SDR.
3
Verify HDR Picture Mode
When HDR content is detected, your TV may automatically switch to an HDR-specific picture mode. You can choose between available HDR modes (such as HDR Calibrated or HDR Vivid) from the Picture Mode menu.
Advanced Picture Settings
Advanced picture settings give you granular control over motion processing, local contrast, and noise reduction. Access these through Menu → Picture → More Picture. Active Pixel Tuning is a Vizio-exclusive technology available on select premium models. It analyzes each frame in real time and adjusts individual pixel brightness to preserve detail in both highlights and shadows simultaneously. Enable it for the most refined picture quality when watching HDR content. Local Dimming (available on Full Array LED models) divides the backlight into zones that can independently brighten or dim. This allows the TV to display deep blacks next to bright highlights in the same frame. Setting local dimming to High delivers the strongest contrast but may cause slight blooming (light halo) around bright objects on dark backgrounds. Low or Medium reduces blooming while still improving contrast over a global backlight. Reduce Judder (also called Motion Smoothing or the “soap opera effect”) interpolates extra frames between the original content frames to reduce motion blur. Some viewers love the smooth look; others find it unnatural for film content. Set this to 0 for movies to preserve the original cinematic 24fps motion feel, and increase it for sports or fast-paced TV. Reduce Noise applies digital filtering to reduce video noise and compression artifacts. Useful for lower-quality sources like standard-definition broadcasts or streaming at lower bitrates. Keep this at Low or Off for high-quality 4K sources to avoid softening fine detail. Film Mode (also called Telecine or 3:2 Pulldown Detection) recognizes content originally shot at 24fps and applies correct motion handling. Leave this On for movie watching to preserve the cinematic look.Best Display Settings by Use Case
- Movie Watching
- Gaming
- Sports
- Daytime TV
For the most immersive, cinematic movie experience:
- Picture Mode: Calibrated (or Calibrated Dark for very dark rooms)
- Backlight: 20–40 (lower in dark rooms)
- Brightness: 50 (default)
- Contrast: 50 (default)
- Color Temperature: Warm
- Reduce Judder: 0 (off)
- Film Mode: On
- Local Dimming: Medium or High
Reset Picture Settings to Default
If you have experimented with settings and want to start fresh, you can reset all picture settings to their factory defaults in a few steps.1
Open the Picture Menu
Press Menu on your remote, then navigate to Picture and press OK.
2
Navigate to Reset Picture Mode
Scroll to the bottom of the Picture menu and select Reset Picture Mode (some models show this as Reset Picture Settings).
3
Confirm the Reset
Press OK to confirm. Your picture settings will return to their factory defaults for the currently selected Picture Mode.
Resetting picture settings only affects the currently active Picture Mode. If you have made changes to multiple modes (for example, both Calibrated and Game), you will need to reset each mode individually.