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You cant beat the impact of a proper home theater set up on your movies and boxsets.

Now were no AV snobs here at TechRadar.

A couple sitting on the sofa in front of the TV surrounding by smart lights

Tip 1: Perfect your parameters

1.

You might even notice a sort of halo appearing around the edge of objects.

Avoid like the plague.3.

A bedroom and lounge with smart lights plus a laptop running ChatGPT

Motion smoothing or judder reduction

Another setting that sounds helpful that usually creates more issues that it solves.

The result is an unnatural-looking soap opera effect, that makes movies in particular look plain weird.

Stick with it a while, and allow your eyes to adjust to the new picture.

A TV screen on a stand showing the sound settings

This will usually add the punch that some people miss without being overly saturated and cartoonish.

Place them too close to a rear wall and bass can be overemphasized to a point of boominess.

Pull them out of the corners and youll hear the sound open up immediately.

Bowers & Wilkins home cinema setup

Thats also the case with a subwoofer.

Havent got a sub?

Buy one, itll throw some much-needed welly behind those all-important movie action scenes.

Couple on the sofa with Philips Hue lights behind the TV

These will lift your speakers to ear level, which will ensure you hear them at their very best.

Check your speakers' user manual for any manufacturer recommendations too.

But there are a few things you could consider if you want to get the best from your kit.

Denon AVR on cabinet

Firstly, bringing your sofa away from any back wall will help with surround sound setups.

This also matters when it comes to wall mounting your TV, which should be done at eye level.

These things matter more than being a specific distance from your TV, these days.

Finally, moving a lamp or lighting source behind your TV will create something called bias lighting.

And if you didnt do this in the first place, then its well overdue.

What a way to kick off 2024.

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