TV settings. DLC (Dynamic Light Control?) and noise reduction.

I'm just wondering what I should set them at. I'm always into making my set up look better, and so that means how the TV looks as well, but I don't know what settings I should have. Honestly, since I got the TV months ago (sometime this year I think), I changed the settings, but kept them the way I set them since, as I just didn't like the alternative, but reading up on it again (as I had before), I've read that turning both off is a good idea, and I've kind of known this, but it isn't until now that I'm changing it back and forth, that I don't know which to set it at. I've had the DLC set to on, which I hear crushes blacks and what have you, but I never found it bothersome, and has always looked natural to me, where it doesn't just change settings all of a sudden like I've seen some TV's do.

Also, I've had the noise reduction on strong (which there are a few settings for it), and I read it's not great for games nor HD viewing in general. Right now though, as I've said, I don't know what to have them at, so I wanted to ask all of you, is there any fact in which is better, opinions aside, or is it all just a matter of taste? I currently have Fallout 4 in, and having the settings differ from how I usually have it, makes it look better to me. Oh, and weirdly, changing the noise filter changes the color to some degree for some reason. Anyways, yeah I just wanted to hear what you all had to say on the matter. I don't know if I've made this thread before, but if I have, it's long buried, and I'm thinking about it again. There's a site that's supposed to tell you the optimal setting for your TV, but my TV isn't listed unfortunately.

I'll keep playing with both off for now, but I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Alright, perhaps never mind. I think I've decided.

Off. Always off. Never trust automatic "enhancement" settings, always calibrate everything yourself, or get a professional to do it if you really want to.

@a_e_martin said:

Exactly this. ALWAYS this.

If you're interested in manual tuning, it's not too difficult -- especially if you find a good YouTube video to show on the screen you're working with to help with the colours. If you use auto-settings, you'll end up finding that if a game asks you to set brightness, you won't actually be able to see anything because it'll be auto-calibrating everything for you. Most of the time they're just gimmicked display options to display on the feature list.

If it's a new TV, please for the love of God, make sure MotionFlow, Motion+, MotherWhateverItsCalled is turned off too. It completely changes the viewing experience.

To echo what everyone's said - turn all that stuff off.

A lot of TVs have built-in calibration stuff which should be fine for amateur home calibration. If you want something more in-depth, go here. It's a great set of free tools which I've used for years. They can be burned to a DVD and turned into an AVCHD for your blu ray player or used as standard video files.