Edited on June 17, 2021: Updated for tvOS 15.

While Apple is known for ease of use, I find Apple TV 4K to be difficult to setup, particularly the video settings. So after the completing the initial guided setup, launch Settings.

General

• Screen Saver: Those with 64GB and generous Internet monthly data quota should set Download New Video to Daily. Set it to Never if you have a fast Internet and prefer to always stream screen savers to save storage space.

• Tracking: change Allow Apps to Ask to Track to Off. On setting will allow 3rd party apps to ask whether they can track you across apps (e.g., ESPN+)

Users and Accounts

• Your User: I prefer to set Require Password - Free Downloads to No and Edit User Name for Apple TV to your preferred short name (e.g., John, Dad).

• Add New Users: Add users from your Family Sharing here. Later on, you can quickly switch users by holding on to the TV button for few seconds.

• TV Provider: If you have a live TV service, login here.

Video and Audio

• Format: 4K SDR (with highest frame rate your TV supports). If your TV isn't 4K, choose the maximum resolution and frame rate your TV supports. If your TV can do HDR and/or Dolby Vision, you should still set this setting to SDR, and set Match Dynamic Range to On. Why? Most tvOS contents and elements are created for SDR, so SDR is more often than not the correct setting. Likewise, many apps only output SDR but are not tagged as SDR. Dolby Vision or HDR setting forces them to render as SDR. On the flip side, some HDR-aware apps do not respect Match Dynamic Range setting, including Photos, screen savers, and some apps (e.g., YouTube) are some of the apps that will be rendered as SDR unless you select Dolby Vision or HDR.

• HDMI Output: YCbCr

• Chroma: 4:4:4 if your HDMI cable is 18-48 Gbps, 4:2:0 otherwise. Almost all video contents use 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. But text, tvOS apps, and games may look their best in 4:4:4.

• Match Content: If your TV is HDR, set Match Dynamic Range to On.

• Match Content: Set Match Frame Rate to On to play video contents at their native frame rate (most movies are 24 frames per second). Unfortunately, TVs cannot switch frame rate immediately, triggering a blank or no signal screen for a second or two. Setting this setting to Off should eliminate the delay, but at the expense of motion interpolation artifacts. Apple TV (2nd generation) has HDMI 2.1 and future tvOS update may remedy this issue with HDMI 2.1's QMS (Quick Media Switching) feature. Note: tvOS 15 does not yet support QMS.

• Audio Output: If you have a pair of HomePods (or HomePod mini in tvOS 15), select it as the Default Audio Output. If your TV has eARC, connect Apple TV to eARC HDMI input and set Play Television Audio to On (eARC). The last setting is only available on Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) and it allows HomePods to play audio from all connected devices.

• Reduce Loud Sounds: Off unless you watch primarily at night.

• Navigation Clicks: Off as it will eventually drive you nuts.

• Sound Effects and Music: I prefer to set this to Off as well.

Video and Audio - Calibration

I am separating this section as it requires more explanation. Before eagerly going through Color Balance feature, several things first.

First, go to Rtings.com TV Reviews page and find your TV. If your TV is listed, go to its "Settings" page and follow their recommendations. Your TV isn't there? Pick what you think is your TV's most accurate default video settings and disable all automatic video enhancement settings.

Now go to Video And Audio.

• Color Balance: Skip this for now.

• Wireless Audio Sync: If you are using HomePods or other AirPlay speakers, perform this calibration to reduce audio lag. Place your phone very close to the TV (if your phone is protected by a case, feel free to touch it directly against the screen). This feature plays test tones on your TV's speaker (not HomePods), measuring latency between Apple TV and your TV. If you use have Match Dynamic Range set to On, you will need to repeat this step for HDR and/or Dolby Vision modes. If you have Match Frame Rate set to On, repeat again for various frame rates permutation as well.

• Zoom and Overscan: Make sure you can see the whole "Full Screen" white box. If not, go to your TV's overscan settings and turn that off.

• Color Bars: Dim all the lights. Look at the following image, where I drew a red rectangle around a pattern called the PLUGE (Picture Line-Up Generation Equipment) pulse. This pulse has three bars: (1) left bar: black-than-black (-4%), (2) middle bar: 0% black, and (3) right bar: 4% above black. Adjust your TV's brightness (black level) setting until the middle bar looks identical to the left bar. Color Bars can be used to calibrate other settings, but all too easy to make things look worse.

Color Bars with PLUGE pulse highlighted in red rectangle

• Go back to Color Balance. Use any iPhone with Face ID to calibrate. If your phone is protected by a case, feel free to directly touch the iPhone against the TV screen to get more stable readings. This won't work with front projection system.

If your TV is HDR10 capable, repeat this section by temporarily setting Format to 4K HDR.

If your TV is Dolby Vision capable, repeat this section again by temporarily setting Format to 4K Dolby Vision. You won't be able to use Color Balance with Dolby Vision, as that requires Apple TV to access your TV's AutoCal feature or Dolby Vision Golden Reference target, which it doesn't. You will need to use apps such as Calman Home (Windows only) and spectrometer.

Once you are done, I recommend reverting the Format setting to 4K SDR (see earlier Format section for details).

Remotes and Devices

• TV Button: Home Screen is often more useful.

Accessibility

• Increase Contrast: If you are having a tough time discerning which app on the home screen is in focus, change Focus Style to High Contrast. This draws a white box around the selected item.

Apps

• TV: I find Top Shelf to be far more useful when it is changed to Up Next. What to Watch is essentially an ad.

Hi everyone! I’d like to get into the Apple ecosystem and I’m looking for advice on which products are best to start with. What would you recommend as a starting point? Are there any models or generations that offer good value for the price?