Vertical Compression and Color Temperature

Vertical compression mode is a feature on 4:3 televisions that helps to resolve some of the discrepancy between a DVD's resolution and the TV's resolution. It helps with formatting, too. This is something to look for if you're looking to get closer to a film-like look without springing for a 16:9 television.

Color temperature settings are seldom-talked-about features, but they can help the picture quality. Color on television is broken into red, green and blue (RGB). All the colors you see on your television are some combination of those three colors. Color temperature affects tone.

Tone has to do with the behavior of grays in the image, which are a mixture of the whites and blacks created by the television. These whites and blacks are also mixtures of RGB. Lighter shades rely on blue, while darker ones lean on red. What grey does to a TV image is add depth and subtleties. Imagine looking at a picture of a friend where all the subtle shadows in his face have been removed. This familiar face would lose depth and detail and look strange to you. Your brain uses these colors to establish relationships within an object you are looking at.

On a TV, color temperature affects the type of grey in the overall picture. In a TV store, they are going to crank this setting up as high as possible (closer to blue) to offset the overhead lighting in a store. In your home, you'll probably want to set it to its lowest (closer to red). Play with it in the store. You're looking for a neutral grey that adds depth and detail to the picture.