Key Takeaways
- Create a theater-like environment with blackout curtains to eliminate light.
- Adjust TV settings to improve brightness.
- Rearrange your setup to avoid direct sunlight.
Longer days, sunnier skies, and warmer weather mean a lot more available light, and while the weather may be a boon for the spirit, it isn’t necessarily the best for watching TV. Sunlight is not your friend when you want to curl up with your favorite show, movie, or video game, especially if there are any dark scenes upcoming.
Glares ruin the image and distract from the story, creating an unsustainable and ultimately dissatisfying viewing experience.
Hisense’s Mini-LED QLED TV shines in one big way, with its price casting a shadow
With rich colors and contrast and plenty of gaming features, it’s built for all-around use.
Glares ruin the image and distract from the story, creating an unsustainable and ultimately dissatisfying viewing experience. It can also be especially hard to watch content with the utmost fidelity when the sun is shining into your TV room. All hope is not lost, however. Here are a few ways you can live in harmony with the sun while watching TV.
1 Create a theater environment
As filmmakers and manufacturers intended
Glare on a TV screen is an annoying issue, and one that TV manufacturers are acutely aware of. While they work to incorporate technology that reduces glare, they are also creating TVs that are meant to be used in a theater-like environment, namely a room almost completely devoid of light. In fact, most of the default settings on your TV are designed with this in mind, which is why it’s also useful to adjust your TV when you first use it.
When you’re first creating your entertainment space, try to find a space for the TV in a room with as little sunlight potentially coming in as possible.
The best way to reduce glare is to remove the sun from the equation entirely. When you’re first creating your entertainment space, try to find a space for the TV in a room with as little sunlight potentially coming in as possible. If you do have windows that you can’t avoid, invest in blackout curtains so that no light enters the room at all. Without any ambient light, your TV will look and feel better. The screen will better showcase bright colors in some scenes and stark contrast in others.
Watching TV in complete darkness can cause eye strain. Incorporate biased lighting, such as a dim side lamp or strip lights behind the TV, so that your eyes are better adjusted to the environment.
5 tricks to boost your TV picture quality
Smart TVs aren’t always intuitive, but there are ways to get the best image possible.
2 Adjust settings
Play around with basic controls
You may be able to make some minor adjustments to improve the TV screen when the sun is shining. Your TV may come with presets that can make the image: they are usually called something like ‘dynamic’ or ‘vivid.’ Typically, it’s recommended to avoid these settings in most situations, as they tend to distort tones and often aren’t in line with the vision of the director. However, because they make the image brighter, it can be helpful to combat a sunny day.
When the sun is shining, and you want to make your TV brighter, first see if you have a backlight option.
Aside from presets, you can adjust basic settings like contrast, brightness, and color, but it’s recommended you don’t stray too far from the norm. Brightness in particular is tricky, because on some TVs brightness is really influenced by backlighting, a setting that can also be adjusted. When the sun is shining, and you want to make your TV brighter, first see if you have a backlight option, and try to increase that. If not, then you can increase the brightness, but not so much that it will start to wash out the picture.
4 reasons to buy an LG TV over a Samsung TV
LG’s offerings are bright, beautiful, and perfect for gamers and film-buffs like me.
3 Find a new angle
Move the TV or yourself
HBO
Another option is to find a new and better position for both you and your TV. If only a portion of your TV has a glare on it, then repositioning yourself or the unit could vastly improve the situation. Firstly, check the TV. If it’s on a stand, consider other angles or spots where you can reasonably move it. If you’ve mounted it, hopefully you can either tilt or turn it in such a way as to avoid direct sunlight.
Any small adjustment to either distance from the TV or angling from the center can do away with glare.
If the TV is immovable, then it’s time for you to reconsider where you’re watching. Any small adjustment to either distance from the TV or angling from the center can do away with glare. Just keep in mind that even when you find the right spot, if you’re watching for a few hours, the glare may start to move as well as the sun changes positions in the sky.
How to properly mount your TV
Including our tips for pre-mount care, the three top mount types to know, and the tools you’ll need.
4 Choose content wisely
Consider what, and when, you’re watching
If you can beat the sun, you just have to live with it. The best course of action may be to simply choose what you want to watch based on what will best tolerate the light.
During the daylight hours, avoid watching prestige dramas and cinematic content, as they typically employ directors and cinematographers that play with light and use sophisticated cameras that make what they see better than what you’ll end up seeing.
This also means staying away from some sci-fi and horror genres; basically anything that will feature scenes in the dark. It may be annoying to have to alter your schedule, but I’d argue it’s a lot more annoying to try to force yourself to enjoy something that you’re struggling to see, especially if it’s something you really want to watch.
10 best movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix right now
From the new Netflix original Damsel, to old classics like Gilmore Girls, here’s the best movies and TV shows to check out on Netflix for March 2024.
5 Invest in a new TV
Buy a smart TV designed to be bright
Samsung
If incoming sunlight is going to be an ongoing issue, whether because of where you live or the nature of your space, then it may be worth considering investing in a new TV. New smart TVs from the top manufacturers feature all kinds of technology meant to make the screen more appealing, including innovations to reduce glare and increase brightness. Quantum-dot LED TVs, for example, pride themselves on peak brightness and eye-catching color, making them suitable for brightly-lit rooms.
All of these efforts are in the service of watching content the way it was meant to be watched, so you can enjoy the visual experience to the fullest.
If you’re especially keen on watching TV in what will regularly be a bright room, or you want a TV for watching outside, there are specialty models available, including a partial-sun option as part of Samsung’s lifestyle aTV lineup, that will be most appropriate.
Brands are constantly innovating in order to create a TV screen that can be enjoyed in any kind of environment, but the best way to help your TV is to remove as much light as possible from the room, as often as possible. All of these efforts are in the service of watching content the way it was meant to be watched, so you can enjoy the visual experience to the fullest.
5 signs it’s time to upgrade your TV
You might be noticing screen lags, your TV is 5 years or older, or there’s a discount too good to pass up.
Trending Products
