Stranger Things finale is almost here, and the creators want you to fix your TV first

Few shows carry the cultural weight of Stranger Things. For nearly a decade, fans have waited, theorised, and rewatched every season, building up to a finale that promises to be massive in scale and emotion. While many fans wish the final chapters could be experienced in a cinema, this is still a Netflix series, meaning your living room TV is the final screening room. And according to co-creator Ross Duffer, how your TV is set up could make or break that experience.

Ahead of the final parts of Season 5, Ross Duffer shared a public service announcement on Instagram, urging fans to turn off several common TV settings. His message was clear: modern TVs often “improve” the picture in ways that actually go against how the show was filmed and intended to be seen. These episodes are designed like mini-movies, and certain picture enhancements can seriously distort the visuals.

Below are the key settings Duffer recommends turning off before pressing play.

Turn off motion smoothing

Motion smoothing, often called TruMotion, MotionFlow, or MEMC depending on the TV brand, is one of the biggest problems. This setting increases frame rates artificially, making movement look overly smooth.

While it can help with sports or live TV, it creates the well-known “soap opera effect” for scripted shows. In Stranger Things, it can make dramatic scenes look unnatural, especially during fast camera movements. If your TV supports a high refresh rate, it can handle motion well without this feature enabled.

Avoid vivid or dynamic picture modes

Vivid or Dynamic modes boost brightness, contrast, and colour saturation. According to Duffer, these modes activate “all the worst offenders” at once.

While they may look good for cartoons or daytime content, they wash out shadows and exaggerate colours. This takes away from the darker tones and controlled lighting that define Stranger Things. If available, Cinema, Movie, or Filmmaker Mode is a better preset choice.

Turn off noise reduction

Noise reduction is meant to clean up grainy footage from low-quality sources. Netflix streams Stranger Things in high quality, so this setting isn’t needed.

Leaving it on can remove fine details and textures, softening the image. That means less clarity in creature designs, costumes, and darker scenes where detail matters most.

Disable dynamic contrast and super resolution

Dynamic contrast automatically adjusts brightness scene by scene. While it sounds helpful, it can crush shadow details or blow out highlights, both of which are crucial in a visually dark show like Stranger Things.

Super resolution and AI upscaling features can also blur fine details since the content doesn’t need extra enhancement.

Turn off edge enhancement and colour filters

Edge enhancement artificially sharpens outlines, often creating visible halos around objects. Colour filters can change the tone of scenes and are only useful for accessibility needs.

As Duffer puts it, there’s a lot of unnecessary processing built into modern TVs. Turning these settings off helps the show look exactly the way it was made, no filters, no shortcuts, just pure cinematic storytelling.