Best TV settings for Stranger Things finale at home

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2

As not all Stranger Things fans are lucky enough to get to watch the finale in cinemas, the Duffer Brothers gave some advice for watching it at home.

With the trailer for the last ever episode released on Tuesday (30 December), what has been an epic nine years of the Netflix show is about to come to an end this New Year’s.

So, you’ll want to make sure you’re actually enjoying it in all its glory as we find out the fate of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), if she follows Kali’s (Linnea Berthelsen) plan and if the gang’s plan to defeat Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) actually works.

And that’s while swallowing the bitter pill that only a select group of fans are getting the experience of watching the Stranger Things finale in cinemas.

Well, ‘select group’ looks to be translating to well over one million people, as over 620 cinemas are showing it. But these special screenings are only taking place in the US and Canada, not in the UK.

“Over 1.1 million of you have already RSVPed to the finale screenings on NYE and New Year’s Day, and more than 3,500 showtimes across 620+ theatres are already completely full,” co-creator Ross Duffer wrote on Instagram.

And as for all of us Brits and other Stranger Things fans around the world, it’s going to have to be our good old trusty TVs and tablets, etc., that we stream the finale on when it releases.

Ross shared a ‘PSA’ for us when season five first dropped back in November, saying: “I just want to make sure that your TVs are set up properly.”

Ross Duffer’s recommended TV settings

So, of course, plenty of us have different TVs with different displays (which are also most likely different to the one owned by someone who created a $1 billion show), but there are generally similarities. It’s just that there are usually different names for the same sorts of settings.

Ross first goes into picture mode settings, where he encourages switching off all of the ‘expert controls’.

On his setup, 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’.

In picture options, he also recommends turning off ‘noise reduction’ before he adds: “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, Ross 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.”

Well, cinema screening or not, enjoy the finale, LADs.

Stranger Things Season 5 Volumes 1 and 2 are now streaming on Netflix. The finale lands at 1am on 1 January 2026.