Buzz
Dear Mytour, I recently came across this post on CNET about game mode on TVs, and I'm curious about what other settings like "movie mode" and "PC mode" do. What exactly do these mean? Are they worth using?
Sincerely, Mode Enthusiast
Dear Mode Enthusiast, The preset modes on a TV certainly seem tempting. With options like game mode and movie mode, they promise to spare you from the hassle of adjusting your TV settings manually. Let’s take a closer look at what they claim to do and whether they actually work as advertised.
Movie Mode Enhances Your Viewing Experience (When the Lighting is Just Right)
As expected, movie mode is designed to enhance your viewing experience while watching films. Every TV implements this mode differently, but the concept is generally the same.
Movie mode usually adjusts key settings like contrast, brightness, color, tint, and sharpness to provide a more cinematic feel. This typically results in a softer picture with a slight red or yellow tint. The brightness and contrast are often heightened to achieve deeper blacks and brighter whites. These settings are based on the assumption that you'll be watching in a dark room, so they optimize the image for that environment.
Movie mode can look great on certain TVs when viewed under the right lighting conditions, but it may seem off if you have overhead lights on. That being said, if you usually watch movies at night in a dark room, it's definitely worth experimenting with movie mode to see how your TV performs.
Similarly, if your TV has a sports mode, it works much like movie mode. It adjusts contrast, brightness, color, and tint to enhance the viewing of sports. In this case, it usually makes primary colors pop (for example, your blues and greens would be more vibrant in a football game). In some instances, sports mode may also reduce motion blur. Photo by Jon Ross.
Game Mode Minimizes Input Lag (but Sacrifices Visual Quality)
Game mode can be even more perplexing than movie mode for many people. The natural assumption is that if you have a game console connected to your TV, game mode should automatically be activated. However, it’s not that straightforward.
Game mode exists because most modern TVs are constantly running numerous processes. They receive the incoming video signal, scale images, and generate the visuals displayed on screen. All of these processes take some time, and in certain cases, this can lead to a lag between the input from your controller and the image displayed.
As CNET points out, most game modes essentially minimize as much processing as possible to reduce the lag between pressing a button on the controller and seeing the change on the screen. The downside is that this usually leads to a noticeable drop in image quality. If you're using older consoles like a Super Nintendo or PS2, you probably won’t notice the decline in quality. However, with newer consoles like the Xbox 360 or PS3, the visual quality becomes quite apparent.
For most people, the lag between the game console and TV is hardly noticeable, so unless you're facing issues, it’s not really worth toggling game mode. The effectiveness of game mode varies across TVs, but if you’re tired of constantly losing in Super Mario Bros. because your button presses aren’t matching the on-screen actions, it’s worth giving game mode a try. Photo by Marco Arment.
PC Mode Improves Text Clarity (but Makes Everything Else Look Terrible)
PC mode operates similarly to game mode. It removes much of the video processing that can cause lag and modifies image quality. While each TV model may differ, this usually involves disabling scaling and adjusting the sharpness to improve text clarity.
If you're connecting your PC to your TV to use it as a computer monitor for tasks like reading text or browsing the web, PC Mode can significantly improve clarity. It may also reduce lag between your mouse movements and the visuals on screen. However, if you're using your computer as a home theater PC, movie mode is recommended since that’s more suited to that purpose.
Ultimately, it’s worth experimenting with all these settings. Depending on the brand of your TV and how you use it, these built-in modes can provide excellent results, particularly movie mode. While these settings may not be as effective as a professional calibration, they offer a solid starting point for quickly switching between modes. Photo by TexasDarkHorse.
Sincerely, Mytour
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