Unfortunately, the super-bright "torch" mode that your set was adjusted to when it came out of the box (which made it look so pretty in the store) can'tgive you the best picture quality when you have that HDTV in your home. In fact, it gives you a lousypicture in a darkly lit room (which is best for movie-watching). Even in a daytime lit room, the standard picture settings that most TVs come with are too bright for best picture quality.
Getting your settings right
In order to calibrate (properly configure) your HDTV's picture, you need to delve into the TV's menu system, using your remote control and the on-screen display (or OSD) that your HDTV provides.
Every HDTV differs, but you most likely end up in a menu called "Video Settings" to adjust the picture elements.
Here are the most common picture settings:
- Contrast (white level): The control adjusts the white level, or the amount of whiteness your screen displays:
• If your white level is too high, white areas of your picture tend to bleed over into the darker areas that surround them.
• If your white level is too low, whites don't appear true white.
- Brightness (black level): How's this for confusing? Your HDTV's brightness control adjusts the black level that you see on the screen. Seems a bit counterintuitive, doesn't it? If the black level is set incorrectly, you can barely make out dark scenes on your HDTV - you can't see the bad guy in the black suit hiding in the shadows.
- Sharpness: Ever see a fuzzy picture on your screen? The sharpness control is the likely cause - it adjusts the fine detail of the picture:
• If the sharpness is set too high, your picture appears edgy, often with blobs around the edges of objects, instead of clearly defined lines.
• If the sharpness is set too low, you have a fuzzy picture.
- Two adjustments set the balance of colors:
• Color: You use the color setting to adjust the intensity of the TV's display of colors - if you set this too low, you see only black and white (or grayscale); set it too high, and your colors bleed together.
• Tint (hue): On most TVs, this control is labeled tint, but a few are technically correct and call it hue. This control adjusts your display's color only within the range between red and green.
Many HDTVs come with some picture pre-settings - mix-and-match combinations of the settings listed here - designed for specific purposes. For example, Sony HDTVs have settings such as "Vivid" (which is that showroom "torch" setting), and "Pro" (which often is pretty close to being well calibrated for viewing movies in a dark room).
Getting calibrated
So, how can you know when the whites are white enough and the blacks are black enough (not to mention whether the reds are red enough)? You can either do it yourself with a calibration system or bring in the professionals.
If you really have to adjust your video without the aid of a calibration system, you need to make these adjustments (at minimum):
- Turn down the brightness and contrast until the levels are about 1/3 to 1/2, all across your screen.
- Substantially turn down the sharpness control.
Doing it yourself
Calibration DVDs contain a specially designed series of tests and test patterns that you can follow (along with on-screen directions) to get the settings right on your HDTV. Calibration systems provide all the information you need to tune up your HDTV:
- Commercial DVDs: Most calibration systems come in the form of DVDs - which means you don't get to use a high-definition picture to tune up your HDTV. Yes, this is a less-than-great situation, but the settings are fairly universal, so an HDTV that you calibrate well for a DVD input can also look good for displaying HDTV.
• A funky blue filter - they usually look like paper 3D glasses. The blue filter lets you properly set up your color and hue settings.
• Audio-calibration tools that help you get your surround-sound audio system properly configured, if you have one.
- THX DVDs: If you don't want to spend the money on a calibration disc, you can get much of the functionality without spending an extra penny. Just pick up a movie DVD with the THX Optimizeron board. Like the commercial calibration discs, the Optimizer walks you through a series of steps to adjust your display (and your audio system).
Bringing in the pros
The absolute best way to get your HDTV properly tuned up is to hire a pro to come to your home and do a professional calibration. Two things separate a professional calibration from the one you perform for yourself at home:
- Training: Your calibration professional should have extensive training and certification, along with a chunk of real-world experience with finicky TVs.
- Equipment: Your calibrator also has some expensive equipment that can measure the color and brightness of images on your TV screen - these gadgets give a much more precise calibration than your eyeballs can.
If you have a professional calibration done, make sure you choose someone who has been certified and trained by the Imaging Science Foundation (or ISF). The ISF has trained (and continues to train) thousands of home-theater dealers in the art of system calibration. You can find a trained calibration professional near you by searching the listing of dealers on ISF's Web site, at ImagingScience.com.
