GOT a budget TV and want to make it better? There are some easy ways to upgrade it.
There are loads of cheap telly models that come in at £200 to £300 – so if you’d rather not splash £2,000, you might as well super-charge the screen you’ve already got.
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TV SETTINGS MAKEOVER
First off, make sure that you’re using the best picture settings for movie night.
One major offender is Motion Smoothing, which you’ll want to turn off if you’re watching films.
Videos are just lots of images shown very quickly. Your TV’s refresh rate tells you how many times it does this per second.
Modern TVs often have a refresh rate of 60Hz, meaning they refresh the image on screen every 60 seconds. But Hollywood flicks are typically produced at 24 frames per second.
This mismatch is part of what gives movies their charm.
But Motion Smoothing artificially inserts fake frames to bring content up to 60 frames per second. This means you’ll end up with very smooth footage, which is great for fast-paced sport – but not for watching The Godfather.
Look for settings like Motion Smoothing, Motion Interpolation, or Motion Plus, and turn them off for movie night.
There’s also another setting available on lots of TV brands called Filmmaker Mode.
This will turn Motion Smoothing off itself, but also tweaks TV settings to look as good as possible for movies.
Look out for that and switch it on.
And finally, consider turning Power Saver Mode off.
It’s great for trimming energy bills, but it’ll typically reduce brightness to limit power demand.
So if you’ve got a movie you really want to watch, try turning Energy Saver features off.
BOOST YOUR SPEED
Budget TVs are a great way to save money – but it also means the telly maker has cut costs too.
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Often that means stuffing a very cheap (and not particularly powerful) processor inside.
You’ll experience that in the form of laggy menus, and channels and apps loading up slowly.
There’s no real way to fix this without upgrading your television, which is costly.
So instead, just get around it – and by a speedy streaming gadget instead.
If you bag yourself one of the more powerful plug-in streamers, like an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (£70) or an Apple TV 4K box (£149), you can dodge the issue entirely.
That’s because when your TV is using that streamer, it’ll be running off the plug-in device’s processor instead.
So with an Apple TV 4K, you’ll have extremely snappy menus that feel lightning fast compared to a budget telly.
It’s one of the easiest ways to upgrade a TV, and it’s significantly cheaper than forking out for an uber luxe telly with a powerful processor inside.
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BONUS HDMI PORTS
Cheap gadget that gives you even more ports on TV
If you’ve bought a TV in the past two decades, chances are that it has HDMI ports.
These are the common ports that let you plug in other devices, like game consoles or a laptop via a cable.
TVs typically come with between two and four of these, though sometimes you’ll find more.
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Sadly in the modern age, it’s easy to run out of them.
You might have an Amazon Fire TV Stick, an Xbox, a Sky Stream, and the new Nintendo Switch 2.
And if you’ve only got two ports, you’re really going to struggle.
One way to get around this is to buy a HDMI switch.
It’s a bit like a multi-plug extension cable for HDMI, letting you connect several gadgets to a single port.
You can pick them up on Amazon from anywhere between £10 and £40, depending on the number of extra HDMI ports that you want.
They’ll usually come with a remote that lets you switch between the bonus ports.
GET FREE CHANNELS
TV feels like it’s only getting more expensive.
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Think about the cost of Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and Now TV – and then whatever else you’re paying for.
Thankfully there are lots of ways to watch telly for free.
In fact, I recently tested the best free TV apps to see which are worth your time.
I was particularly impressed by Tubi and Plex, but there are plenty of other apps worth trying too.
NETFLIX 2025 PRICE HIKES REVEALED
Here’s what you’re now paying (and what you get)…
Netflix Standard with Ads
Price: £5.99 (up £1 from £4.99)
- Ad-supported, all but a few movies and TV shows available, unlimited mobile games
- Watch on 2 supported devices at a time
- Watch in 1080p (Full HD)
- Download on 2 supported devices at a time
Netflix Standard
Price: £12.99 (Up £2 from £10.99)
- Unlimited ad-free movies, TV shows, and mobile games
- Watch on 2 supported devices at a time
- Watch in 1080p (Full HD)
- Download on 2 supported devices at a time
- Option to add 1 extra member who doesn’t live with you
Netflix Premium
Price: £18.99 (Up £1 from £17.99)
- Unlimited ad-free movies, TV shows, and mobile games
- Watch on 4 supported devices at a time
- Watch in 4K (Ultra HD) + HDR
- Download on 6 supported devices at a time
- Option to add up to 2 extra members who don’t live with you
- Netflix spatial audio
Picture Credit: Netflix
Pluto TV and Rakuten TV are both popular options, as well as Xumo Play (which is available on Sky boxes).
All of these apps are totally free, but the catch is that you’ll need to sit through ads.
Of course paid apps like Netflix and Amazon Video are already showing ads on their cheapest streaming tiers.
So if you can put up with ads, you’ll be able to enjoy an absolute treasure trove of free telly.
GAMING UPGRADE
Free & cheap games to claim (including free Fortnite without console)
If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you can play top games without a console.
It works through a service called Amazon Luna, which “streams” the games to you – a bit like Netflix, but more interactive.
The Amazon Luna app is available on a load of devices including Amazon Fire TV models, plus a bunch of Samsung and LG televisions too.
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You’ll also need an Amazon Luna controller, or a PlayStation or Xbox joypad.
Google’s Stadia controller also works if you still have one.
Then you can pair your controller to your TV and play games over the internet – no console required.
Amazon makes a rolling selection of games available as part of Luna free for Prime members.
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And Fortnite is a long-term entrant on that list, so you can enjoy it as if you had a console.
It’s like having an Xbox or PS5 plugged in, but you don’t need it.
