Tech Tuesday – TV Calibration 101
Today is Tech Tuesday and I want to talk to you a little bit about TV Calibration. In fact not only TV but projector or any type of display
Now I know you’re excited. You have just got home from your local [insert generic retailer] with you [insert generic brand] TV/Display. But just wait a minute. Are you sure its set up right? It looked lovely in the shop, yes? Well in fact NO. It looked awful. The TVs in the shop are all set up for the most visually high impact they can get. Imagine the manufacturer setting it up to be life like and then sticking it next to all the vibrant ones. You would never buy it!! Its just human nature. We always go for the shiny one!
So what we need to do now is called calibration. We need to set your TV up to be the best picture you can get in your Front Room giving you the most natural picture and crispy crisp HD picture.
Basic Calibration
Now this is an understatement if I am honest. As we can get some very good results from this and many of you will be happy to leave it here. That’s fine. What we have to find is the picture menu on your TV/Display. So grab your control and hit the MENU button. Got it? OK I will continue.
First up is CONTRAST – This could also be called white level. This is the overall detail on brighter images. The way to set this right is to have an image on the screen with lots of white. A Shirt or blouse maybe. Take the level all the way up then slowly bring it back down until you still have a good white performance but can see lots of detail in the white too, the wrinkles etc. Got it?
Next, BRIGHTNESS, may also be called Black level. Despite the name this doesn’t adjust the brightness of the picture. It actually is more to do with the blacks. If the brightness is too low then blacks will look crushed and two-dimensional. A good way to check this is to display a letter boxed film. Set the control to the maximum and then reduce it down slowly until the black bars are no longer dark grey. Check the picture in the main field then to ensure you haven’t gone too far and crushed the blacks!!
COLOUR, this could also be called saturation. It is the control of how much actual colour saturates the image. This is always set high out of the box as the manufacturers want their TV to be the one that catches your eye in the showroom. To set this correctly, change the colour tones to warm (if you have a setting for this). Find an image on DVD or TV of someones face close up. Move the control all the way up until they look like they have been out in the sun all day. Then reduce it down until their skin looks natural and not burnt. If the rest of the image is boring then a little increase of colour isn’t going to hurt.
Other controls are, SHARPNESS, this is a funny one. It is there to give an artificial edge to images on softer SD material. But it will work against your High definition picture. Its better if this is left on zero or at least a very low setting. And BACKLIGHT (for LCD’s only), this would have been set very high for the showroom. It’s hard to work out, as it is individual taste that determines the best level. I recommend watching something fairly bright for a while and setting this to mid setting. If you find it too bright then lower it a bit.
OK, we should now have a much better picture. All we have done is go through the basic settings and already you are on your way to a fantastic HD Image from your new toy.
Did this help you get a better image? Have you tried calibration before? Comment Below…
Scott Lawlor
caliwhat?
I think I’ve just learned a new word!
HAHAH Thanks Dezzy, I am glad I could educate you in a new word!!
Another fantastic article Scott. I’m always playing around with calibration as I do have a problem switching between watching films and sport. I can get my films looking great but then football and cricket seem to look a little too dark. Then, of course, I hate having my TV too bright for daytime viewing – I prefer to keep it set up for low-light or darkness viewing. But I do find the picture far too bright on the eyes if I adjust the settings for daytime viewing (which is often the case for sports).
Is it possible to have 2 custom settings in your menu’s? Then you could just switch between the 2
Finally, a tech-related article I know something about! Woohoo!
This is basically part of what I do for a living- color-correct images. Granted, I’m doing it for print (and web) and not for a TV, but it’s definitely the same concepts. Too bad TV settings aren’t like photoshop settings.
HAHA It would be cool if it was hey?
Oooh your job sounds very posh!!
A very vital part to television set up. Manufacturers have there settings done just to attract buyers in stores and, of course, lighting in stores is nowhere near lighting inside of homes.
Nice article. Although, I would still recommend having a tech come out and do it.
Yes I totally agree that the best looking picture in the shop may not be the best in the home. Lighting makes a great difference to the image.
I can always come and do it for you (pimping for work)
I calibrate my projector with the help of an X-rite colorimeter, its a bit of a chore but worth it in the end.
You BT are rapidily becoming an even cooler person in my eyes. I would love to see some images of your home cinema…care to share?
It really isn’t anything spectacular, the projector and screen are the best parts, the rest are various components pieced together over the years, some more than a decade old, in fact the subwoofer was originally in my car 15 years ago. But I’ll snap off a few images when I fire it up later.
He..he.. this is what husbands are for!
I let him futz with the TV, etc., all I do is plop myself on the sofa and press play, ahah.
But thanks for the always useful info, Custie!
P.S. I really hope they won’t cancel the Big Screen thing… or if they did, they’ll reschedule it pronto!
HAHA Yes that is what we are good for isn’t it!! I am always getting on Lyn’s nerves with my constant fiddling!! LOL
Big Screen will be fine I am sure. I am just worried about travelling home at night on the trains
Another good article Custard, calibrating my display is probably the most annoying part in home entertainment system. I spent hours calibrating my projector and my regular TV. Luckily my Epson projector was pretty easy to color correct, not so much on my Samsung LCD. It took me a while to finally get it right.
It is nice when you get it right huh? But is is also very easy to fudge up!! LOL I have done that quite a few times!!
Great article. It’s also usually a good idea to visit something like avforums and search for your specific model. There are usually others who have been tinkering around with settings to give you to best setting for each option. A lot of televisions usually also have settings like “Dynamic”, “Movie” etc, which is also useful to get the right setting for the right situation. Usually you wouldn’t set it to movie when you are gaming for example.
To get the right values and not spent too much money, just find a DVD which is THX certified as this has a special menu option where you can set things like brightness correctly.
That is a great tip Nostra. I completely forgot about the THX DVDs. Thanks for sharing some really great points here!!
S
Forgot to tell you Scott, my uncle got us a new TV, flat screen, HD, 37 inch, with built in freeview and an HDMI cable so the picture is improved for DVDs and XBOX. Only problem is, we can’t the benefit of the freeview until my uncle flips the antenna for us so all wee have at the minute is terrestrial TV. 37 inch is probably nothing to you but it’s huge for us compared to the little tube that we used to have. So now we have two TVs sitting in our living room. One is for decoration
HAHA two TVs? That is awesome!! you could have his and hers tv shows on. I would love that. Although sometimes I would need 4 tvs in the lounge with my two pesky kids!!
Congrats on your new arrival!