Picture settings for Vizio VW26L??

Like you I have been searching for help on the 26 inch Vizio picture settings. I will tell you what I have adjusted mine to. This is for my Standard TV (SD TV) usage.

First I have my backlight at 60. A low setting will save on the wear of the LCD TV any may cause it to last longer than it otherwise would.

Regarding the contrast I have found using my THX DVD that when setting the contrast above 54 that the whitest of the 8 white boxes bleach out too much and that going back down to 53 and then 52 they all start to appear in their various shades of white. For me the best setting is at 50 or 49.

Now about the Brightness or Black Level I used my DVD Essentials disk and set it at 53. That is for viewing DVDs. When watching Standard TV I set this on 54 because with this tv 52 and 53 is too dark. Now, the free HDTV channels will be a little washed out at this level but you can set it to 51 or 52 to view them then set it back to 54 or 55 when using Standard TV channels. Also I find using the "MODE/Standard or Movie" function on the remote can look good on the free HDTV channels.

I set my color to 43 or you can use 42. If this is too low for you then try a number or two higher but I wouldn't go over 50 because you will loose too much color detail due to over saturation. Using a calibration color picture, I found that the best tint for this TV is right at 0 but this only looks best if the color temp is set at the best levels you can achieve. Setting the tint at 1 or 2 toward the right might give a little more yellow to the skin tones and if you set it 1 or 2 to the left the greens (in grass or trees) look better but that is why I suggest just leaving it in the middle.

I have my Sharpness at 3 because on Standard TV channels I noticed on channel Four that setting sharpness to the number 4 or higher caused a halo around the edges of people's faces and around other forms as well. Setting to the number 3 made those halo lines less apparent.

I have read a lot on Color Temperature and they always say have a neutral gray with very slight red tones. I have adjusted my Color Temp to the numbers as follows: R 127 G 120 or (119) and B 114 or (115). You can see what this does for you. I hope I have given you some help.

On the Advanced Settings I have left them all off. You may try using the color enhancement just to see how you like it and the CTI. Dynamic contrast on my tv causes too much detail loss in the dark areas of the picture.

Remember even the same brands of televisions can be a little different so maybe by starting with what I use maybe that will give you sort of a base to work with. God bless.

I think that my old settings were pretty good but on the color temperature (127, 120, 114) I decided that it was a little too reddish for my tastes so while watching the TV I turned the Color to 0 and then went into Color Temperature and found that I got a pretty good gray scale by changing R to 116 G to 114 and B to 110. Also I changed my Contrast to 51. All the rest I left the same. Also I left the Advanced Settings all off. I don't know if this will help anyone but I thought I would post my experiences with this particular TV set. Good Luck all.

how do you adjust the backlight?

Looking at your remote control you will see four arrow keys. They surround the "OK" button. These buttons allow you to move around in the 'On Screen Display.' Remember you can read this on page 29 of your Vizio VW26L user manual. On the remote press the "Menu" button and the 'On Screen Display' for the 'Picture Adjustment' menu will pop up showing the various functions. You should see the "Picture Mode" screen pop up. Press the down arrow key to the "Picture Mode."
Now press the right or left arrow key to scroll through the "Picture Mode" functions until you get to the "Custom" function. Then press the down arrow key to get to the "Backlight" function. Next, press the right or left arrow key to bring up only the "Backlight" function and then you can continue to use the right or left arrow key to brighten or dim the "Backlight." The number "50" signifies that the function is in the center setting. After you are finished you can press "Menu" to get out of the 'On Screen Display.' You really need to read your user manual especially on page 29 to 37 as it talks about all the 'On Screen Display' functions. Hope this has helped. Have a good day.

I think you can adjust the backlight in any picture mode Standard, Movie, Game, or Custom. You must have Dynamic Backlight (located in Menu > Advanced settings) turned off to adjust backlight however.

I use the movie mode. Looks great.

Just got this tv today. I am going to try some of these settings posted, which I appreciated then I'm gonna try Avia and see what kind of results I get.

I am back again to tell you that I finally got a more realistic color temperature from my Vizio VW26L HDTV. I did a lot of research on CNET and although they did not have a review for our Vizio I did read all the reviews for other Vizios and wrote down the color temp settings for all the reviews offered. I tested each color temp setting and found this one to be correct for my Vizio VW26L. Here it is as follows:

Color Temperature

R 137
G 132
B 114

Now if you think that does not look right just give it a try and I think you will be happy with the way regular black and white pictures should look and also they way color pictures should look. I found that with the "Cool" setting there was a slight red cast and with the "Normal" setting there was too much of a yellowish greenish type cast and we know that the "warm" setting makes black and white movies far too reddish. Just give the above setting a try and maybe it will help you to achieve a better gray scale. Hope it helps!

You may vary the B setting if you want more of a daylight look by lowering it to 113 or 112 but I would not go lower than 110. I found that the Vizio's 26 inch LCD TV "Normal" setting to be around R 137, and G 132, and B 100 which is too yellowish green and does not create a true gray scale. Good luck! Doug.

Good looking out. I've had this tv a year and never found settings online available. I know this is a low end tv but still good color settings are a plus lol. I'll give these numbers a try this evening (have it currently at your old settings)

Right now I think it looks good but will probably like it more w/ your new changes. Only thing I'm slightly concerned about is what are your brightness/backlight settings at? My picture still seems kinda "bright"

Balpho, I have also looked at how backlighting should be set. A lot of people seem to be setting it very high or in the middle. One calibration video I watched online said that setting the Backlight low was best and that it created a more detailed and pleasing picture. My eyes have less strain as well. If you are in a brightly lit room then raise it a bit from the below suggested settings to a comfortable level and when back to a low light room setting lower them back down. I have mine set at 10 right now and I don't set it anymore above 14.

Are you watching Standard Definition TV? Viewing Standard Def with this tv the movie mode setting of Brightness 52 is too low. I would raise it to 55 56 or 57 (because TVs can be different I suggest trying more than one) to see how you like those settings. Now testing with DVE, and THX I found the contrast looses detail right at 53 and at 54 the white areas all clip or become all one bright level. Keep the contrast setting at 50 or 49. You may go down to 44 if you want to but with the backlight lowered I find contrast 44 a bit dim.

As for color and tint DVE showed that 37 to 38 was about the appropriate setting for watching on Standard TV. The Tint was balanced best at +4. Now this was on my set so just try to use these as a guideline. Also, with the Avia disk it talked about "red push" or too much red in regular color settings. It showed how to fix this. After I did my color and tint setting using the Avia disc with the blue, green, and red, filters I went to the next illustration that let you check for red push. I had very little so I only had to set the color down to about 36 or 37. Remember if your color looks ok at 38, not too over saturated and reddish then just leave it there at 38 or 37. I hope this helps.

good stuff man, your new settings look quite nice. very realistic and not too saturated/bright but not too dim. good job!

Thanks Balpho. Remember you can vary the backlight setting depending on whether your room lighting is bright or dim. If you are watching in a room with bright daylight try the backlight setting up a few notches but don't overly brighten it. Just to a comfortable level.

thanks for the settings filmlover. btw, have any of you guys noticed the overscan on this tv over component or hdmi inputs? i get a black bar on top/sides and i'm losing an inch or two on the bottom also.

No I haven't Aaron 24. So far I have only used this tv for movies and I do have my DVD recorder hooked up to the component inputs but everything seems to be ok. Does anyone else on this thread know about Aaron's problem?

Film Lover, what settings are you using now for your Vizio VW26L?

Thanks a TON!!