You Asked: LG 42-inch OLED TV as a monitor? Plus Samsung TV fixes and TCL QM6K Pro tips


In this episode of You Asked, we tackle viewer questions about using the LG C4 as a PC monitor in 2026, fixing greyed-out picture settings on Samsung TVs, getting the best performance out of the TCL QM6K Pro, and connecting a satellite box to a Sony Bravia TV running Google TV.

Is the LG C4 still worth using as a PC monitor in 2026?

@1おっさん0 asks: Guys is this (LG C4) still worth it in 2026? I might get a 42 inch as a pc monitor

To that, I would say yes if you can find one. I’m assuming they can since they asked the question. But I also think it kinda depends on the use case.

If you’re gaming, absolutely. The C4 has a 144 hertz refresh rate, and it’s just straight up a great looking OLED. The wow factor you’re gonna get from gaming on it, especially in HDR, is great.

Same for watching movies. It’s just gonna be something that a TV is gonna handle much better than a traditional monitor.

Also working in your favor is the stand. The central pedal stand is nice to have so you don’t need to rely on a desk or the placement on the desk being wide enough to support legs on each side.

The only setback, I guess depending on your viewing angle or setup, is 42 inches potentially being too big. That will primarily come down to user preference. Otherwise, I can’t see too many negatives, especially if you get it at a good price.

Also, be sure to be aware of how long it’s running and staying on in the background, just for burn-in sake with the same elements on the screen for a long time.

Why are picture modes greyed out on the Samsung S85F?

@ronhyde asks: I have a new 77inch Samsung s85F. I cant find the picture mode option nor can I find intelligent mode. Some categories are greyed out. Any advice? Thanks

Hey Ron, maybe you’ve figured this out by now, but just in case, I think this is a case of just being on the wrong screen. I’ll show you what I mean.

On the home screen, when you go to change the Picture Mode, you can’t. It’s greyed out and locked in Standard mode because it’s just the home screen and not actual content.

However, when you open up YouTube or another app that displays shows or movies, then it’s available, and you can cycle through the picture options as you normally would.

As for Intelligent Mode, that’s when you want to make sure that you’re not in a specialized mode like Movie or Filmmaker or Game Mode. In Standard Mode, at least for me on the QN90C, I have access to Intelligent Mode, even on the home screen.

Also, make sure your TV’s light sensor isn’t disabled or covered up since Intelligent Mode relies on that to measure the ambient light in your room.

And the last thing I’ll say, Ron, and this is a personal preference. You don’t want to go the Intelligent Mode route. Go with Movie Mode and with 99 percent of content you’ll get a more accurate and consistent, but still saturated and bright picture with what you’re watching.

I just couldn’t let that go unsaid. I’m sorry. Enjoy your TV however you want.

Why the TCL QM6K Pro may not feel like a big upgrade from the Samsung KS8000

Harman asks: Question: Why does the TCL QM6K Pro not really feel like much of an upgrade from the Samsung KS8000? I recently went into Costco intending to buy an OLED TV, but couldn’t resist buying the 77″ TCL QM6K Pro for $699 for my parents to replace their old 65″ Samsung KS8000. I compared the picture quality on both TVs using SDR YouTube content and HDR content from a 4K Blu-ray. I honestly couldn’t tell much of a difference. I know that the QM6K Pro is a more budget TV, but shouldn’t there still be more of a picture quality difference given that it has been 10 years since the KS8000 released?

That is interesting. It sounds like you did a solid side-by-side test, but if you’re not seeing a difference, I’m assuming it’s because you’re just running the QM6K Pro straight out of the box instead of dialing in some key settings to get the most out of it.

Also, for those wondering, the QM6K Pro is a Costco exclusive model that’s basically the same as the standard QM6K, except its particular panel handles reflections better.

Anyway, here are some of the basics to get you on the right path and make that QM6K Pro shine.

First, if you haven’t already, get that TV out of Energy Saving mode. It puts a cap on how bright the TV can get. I think limiting it to 60 percent, if I’m not mistaken. It’s already playing with one hand tied behind its back.

You’re also going to want to turn off the Intelligent Settings. Just like with Energy Saving, it’s another mode that takes the control out of your hands. Instead of letting the TV determine brightness and color temperature and all of that, we’re going to do it ourselves.

For picture mode, try Movie. It’ll give you a pretty accurate and warm picture without overdoing the color. You’ll also want to adjust your brightness in SDR and HDR mode, but this next setting is the one that I think will give you the most help.

I’m not sure exactly what the right menu path is on the QM6K Pro, but within Picture Settings, find the Advanced Settings and then Brightness Settings. Then go to Local Contrast. I recommend setting this to High.

This allows the TV to push the bright areas brighter and keep the dark areas darker, basically increasing contrast, which is important because it’s the first thing that our eyes notice when looking at a TV screen.

From there, go back to your brightness settings and see what your preference is. The TCL QM6K Pro is definitely an upgrade of a TV, but it might need a little help getting where it needs to be to really stand out.

Can you connect a satellite box to a Sony Bravia 8 Mark II with Google TV?

@bargeutube asks: Looking to buy a Bravia 8 2, we get our live tv via satellite box, will I be able to connect to that if I choose Google TV in the setup?

Finally, a viewer asks: I’m looking to buy a Sony Bravia 8 Mark II. We get our live TV via satellite box. Will I be able to connect that if I choose Google TV in the setup?

Yes, you absolutely will. Just as you normally would, connect your satellite box to the TV via an HDMI cable, and then you’ll be able to select the HDMI input you have it plugged into to access live TV.

And don’t skip this step. Go into the menu and find the Power On behavior, and set that to the last used input instead of the Google TV home screen.

That way, when you turn off the TV after watching live TV, when you turn it back on, it goes right back to that instead of the Google TV home screen.



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Recent Reviews


Spotify aims to provide a consistent listening experience that uses minimal data. As a result, your audio quality might be less than ideal, especially if you’re using a pair of high-fidelity headphones or high-end speakers. Here’s how to fix that.

Switch audio streaming quality to Very High or Lossless

The default audio streaming quality in both the mobile and desktop Spotify apps is set to Automatic, which usually keeps the audio quality at Normal, which is only 96 Kbps. Even though Spotify uses the Ogg Vorbis codec, which is superior to MP3, OGG files exhibit slight (but noticeable) digital noise, poor bass detail, dull treble, and a narrow soundstage at 96 Kbps.

Even worse, Spotify is aggressive about adjusting the automatic bitrate. Even though 4G is more than fast enough to stream high-quality OGG files, even with a weak signal, Spotify may still drop the quality to Low, which has a bitrate of just 24 Kb/s. You will notice such a sharp drop in quality, even on a pair of bottom-of-the-barrel headphones.

To rectify this, open the Spotify app, tap your user image, open “Settings and privacy,” and tap the “Media Quality” menu. Once there, set Wi-Fi streaming quality and cellular streaming quality to “Very high” or “Lossless.”

I recommend setting cellular streaming quality to Very high and reserving Lossless for Wi-Fi, since lossless streaming is very data-intensive. One hour of streaming lossless files can take up to 1GB of data, as well as a good chunk of your phone’s storage, because Spotify caches files you’re frequently streaming. Besides, you’ll struggle to notice the difference unless you’re listening to music on a wired pair of high-end headphones or speakers; wireless connection just doesn’t have the bandwidth needed to convey the full fidelity of Spotify lossless audio.

You might opt for High quality if you have a capped data plan, but I recommend doing so only if you stream hours upon hours’ worth of music every single day over a cellular network. For instance, I burn through about 8 GB of data per month on average while streaming about two hours of very high-quality music over a cellular network each day.

Illustration of a headphone with various music icons around.


How Audio Compression Works and Why It Can Affect Your Music Quality

Feeling the squeeze when listening to your favorite song?

Set audio download quality to Very high or Lossless

If you tend to download songs and albums for offline listening, you should also set the audio download quality to “Very high” or “Lossless.” This setting is located just under the audio streaming quality section.

The audio download quality menu in Spotify's mobile app.

If you’ve got enough free storage on your phone, opt for the latter, but if you’d rather save storage space, set it to Very high. You’ll hardly hear the difference, but lossless files are about five times larger than the 320 Kb/s OGG files Spotify offers at its Very high quality setting, and they can quickly fill up your phone’s storage.

Adjust video streaming quality at your discretion

The last section of the Media quality menu is Video streaming quality. This sets the quality of video podcasts and music videos available for certain songs. Since I care about neither, I set it to “Very high” on Wi-Fi and “Normal” on cellular, but you should tweak the two options at your discretion because songs sound notably better at higher video streaming quality levels.

If you often watch videos over cellular and have unlimited data, feel free to toggle video quality to very high.

Make sure Data Saver mode is disabled

Even if your audio quality is set to Very high or Lossless, Spotify will switch to low-quality streaming if the app’s Data saver mode is enabled. This option is located in the Data saving and offline menu. Open the menu, then set it to “Always off,” or choose “Automatic” to have Spotify’s Data Saver mode kick in alongside your phone’s Data Saver mode.

You can also enable volume normalization and play around with the built-in equalizer

Spotify logo in the center of the screen with an equalizer in front. Credit: Lucas Gouveia / How-To Geek

Last but not least, there are two additional features you can play with to improve your listening experience. The first is volume normalization, which sets the same loudness for every track you’re listening to. This can be handy because different albums are mastered at different loudness levels, with newer music usually being louder.

Since I’m an album-oriented listener, I keep the option disabled. I can just play an album and set the audio volume accordingly, and I don’t really mind louder songs when listening to playlists, artists, or song radios.

But if you can’t stand one song being quiet and the next rattling the windows, visit the Playback menu, enable “Volume normalization,” and set it to “Quiet” or “Normal.” The “Loud” option can digitally compress files, and neither Spotify nor I recommend using it. This also happens with “Quiet” and “Normal,” since both adjust the decibel level of the master recording for each song, but the compression level is much lower and extremely hard to notice.

Before I end this, I should also mention that you can access the equalizer directly from the Spotify app, where you can fine-tune your music listening experience or pick one of the available equalizer presets. If your phone has a built-in equalizer, Spotify will open it; if it doesn’t, you can use Spotify’s. On my phone (a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE), I can only use One UI’s built-in equalizer.

To open the equalizer, open “Playback,” then hit the “Equalizer” button. Now you can equalize your audio to your heart’s content.


Adjusting just a few settings can have a drastic impact on your Spotify listening experience. If you aren’t satisfied with Spotify’s sound quality, make sure to adjust the audio before jumping ship. You should also check the sound quality settings from time to time, as Spotify can reset them during app updates.​​​​​​​

Three phones with a Spotify screen and the logo in the center.


These 8 Spotify Features Are My Favorite Hidden Gems

Look for these now.



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