CALIBRATION
TV settings a key factor in picture quality
December 17, 2009
Tom Katsiroubas
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Although the picture settings on the latest HDTVs are very good, they can still be calibrated so that the picture of your set looks its best for the lighting in your room. Here are some rules to follow:
When setting up your TV for the first time, you will almost immediately be prompted to choose between an in-store or an in-home option. Pick "in-home"! Otherwise your brightness, contrast and other settings will be set very high to compensate for store lighting.
Buy an HDTV calibration DVD, such as the one from Imaging Science (www.imagingscience.com) or the DVE HD Basics Blu-ray from Amazon.ca. At $30 or less, it walks you through several easy steps to calibrate your set. You'll want to do this for all pre-sets – cinema, game, vivid, standard – for the type of programming and use you intend for each.
Calibrate your picture in the lighting conditions you plan on watching your TV. If you watch movies at night and use the cinema preset, make sure you calibrate it at night for the lighting in which you'll watch the movie. If you calibrate it during the daytime in lots of ambient light, you risk setting an overly bright picture.
Set additional custom presets for watching movies in the daytime or other lighting! This applies for other uses, such as video-gaming or watching TV programs. Some newer sets lower or increase brightness depending on lighting conditions. You may find they do a good enough job and you do not have to create a different picture preset.
Hire an expert! When you consider the investment you have made in your HDTV set, you may deem it worth hiring an expert to come in and calibrate it. The service from Geek Squad is certified for HDTV calibration and charges about $300.
Recalibrate! Calibration settings are only as good as the brightness of your TV. Over a few years of use, it will diminish, and you will have to recalibrate again.
If you plan on calibrating your set without any tools, it's best to keep it simple. Play with brightness and contrast for the safest adjustments. Most TVs have reset options. Make sure yours does. If it does not, copy the default settings on a piece of paper in case you need to revert to them.
Tom Katsiroubas answers TV-related questions. Email him at tkatsiro@rogers.com.
Toronto Star