Everything that went wrong at our Euros viewing (and how to avoid our mistakes)

«The quality isn’t so great, is it?» says one visitor as the screen displays a bird’s eye view of the stadium in Cologne. In just five minutes, the match between Switzerland and Hungary kicks off. The Wi-Fi connection is at its limit, and the quality of the transmission on Zattoo is poor. Panic strikes.

Use a cable

The Sony Bravia 7 runs Android TV, so I can install the SRF app to stream the game directly. I manage to get the stream working just as the last note of the Swiss national anthem plays... and the image still sucks. You’ve gotta be kidding me! My colleague Phil solves my big mystery, but unfortunately not until after the Hungary game.

It was then that we discovered that the picture quality of the Bravia 7 is excellent – with the right signal and correct settings. The later Euros will be enjoyed with natural colours, good contrast and a razor-sharp image. But let’s rewind.

It’s half-time, and we dig out an Ethernet cable to fix the bad Wi-Fi connection. An antenna cable would also have done the trick, and would have actually offered the lowest latency – but only 720p. We decide to switch over to Blue TV to watch the remainder of the Euros.

Find shade

Afternoon matches in the blazing sun pose a real challenge. Although the LEDs shine brightly, the sun shines even more brightly. We place the TV in a corner protected from light to give it some shade. Like this, the image quality is not too shabby. Alternatively, you could DIY a set of cardboard «blinders», though they’d obstruct the view from the side. There’s no perfect solution.

Keep other people’s hands off the remote control

On the third day of the European Championships, I arrive a little later and can’t believe my eyes. Is the display broken?! The Italians’ jerseys are looking far too blue, the pitch is a poisonous green... «Hey, I turned brightness up a bit, you could hardly make out anything,» my mate tells me in passing. I call BS! He fiddled around with something in the settings, turning the image into a throwback to the Italian TV channel Rai Uno – that is, completely oversaturated and unnatural-looking. It takes me ten minutes to find the relevant setting. Android TV has really got it down when it comes to apps, but the TV settings are a pain to navigate. The settings I go for are Professional Picture Mode with Peak Luminance set to High. From now on, the remote control stays hidden away in a drawer only I know to prevent any more fiddling around.

Verdict: smooth sailing if you nail the setup

There are a few mistakes you can make when setting up the TV. With the Olympics coming up, here’s what you need to look out for to avoid making them: a cable connection, shade and no well-meaning intervention by your mates. And if your TV isn’t under a roof, keep your eye on the rain forecast! Moving a TV like this under pressure is no easy feat, so it’s better to play it safe.