Stranger Things creators urge fans to change TV settings for watching new episodes at home

One of the creators of Stranger Things has explained just what settings you should have on your TV for the new episodes.

The second volume of season five of the Netflix show drops at 1am UK time on Friday (26 December), and if the last release is anything to go by, fans are in for a treat.

So you’ll obviously want to make sure you’re able to watch it in all its glory rather than looking all dull and dark on your telly at home.

I mean, fans in the US may be getting to watch the Stranger Things finale at New Year’s on the big screen in cinemas, but at least with Ross Duffer’s help, we can attempt to match that viewing experience the best we can.

Ahead of volume one’s release in November, the series co-creator took to Instagram to walk viewers through their television settings.

“Alright guys, a little PSA before you watch,” the one half of the Duffer Brothers shared. “I just want to make sure that your TVs are set up properly.”

Obviously, plenty of us have different TVs with different displays (that are likely different to the one owned by the creator of a $1 billion show) but there are typically similarities – or similar settings with slightly different names.

Duffer took fans into his picture mode settings, where he encourages turning all of the ‘expert controls’ off. On his set up, this included the likes of colour filter, dynamic contrast, edge enhancer super resolution, and he regards them all as ‘a bunch of crap’ and ‘garbage’.

And in picture options, the showrunner says to turn off ‘noise reduction’ before adding: “Then the worst offender of all, TruMotion, also known as smooth motion or the dreaded soap opera effect.

“You’re definitely going to want to make sure that that is off.”

Most importantly, Duffer said: “Whatever you do, do not switch anything on called ‘vivid’ because it’s going to turn on all the worst offenders.

“It’s gonna destroy the colour and it’s not the filmmaker’s intent.”

Ross and his brother, Matt Duffer, have already issued several warnings to fans ahead of this last season of Stranger Things.

In particular, they’ve made it clear that they shouldn’t be getting to wrapped up in theories online and ‘overthinking’ things.

“It’s fun actually when [the fans] have all these theories as to what’s going to happen. It’s fun to read them,” they told The Hollywood Reporter.

“The vast majority of them are wrong. Occasionally, someone gets something.”

Stranger Things 5 Volume 1 is currently streaming on Netflix. Volume 2 drops at 1am UK time on 26 December and the final, Volume 3, drops at 1am on 1 January, 2026.