Picture perfect: HDTV tune-up tips
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Our guide includes three levels of advice, arranged in order from least- to more-expensive, to help make your television picture look its best. For starters, we'll help you adjust you the basic picture controls available on most TVs. Next, we'll take a look at various home-theater setup discs that provide expert advice for both video and audio fine-tuning. And lastly, we'll give you the lowdown on professional calibration and whether it's worth the investment for your high-end set.
This guide is aimed at DIY calibrators and people interested in obtaining a professional calibration, but maybe you're down with OPPs (Other People's Picture settings). If that's the case, check out our HDTV picture settings forum, which includes not only readers' settings but also the settings CNET's reviewers used when evaluating more than 100 HDTVs. And if you don't like those settings or want to improve them, the following info might help.
Basic
You can do a lot to improve your picture using the simple adjustments found on all televisions. Taking the steps below will make the picture look more realistic and closer to what the director intended.Room lighting
Since most people turn down the lights to watch a movie, our recommendations are designed to deliver a better picture in rooms with controlled lighting. Unless you have a big-screen projector or you're sitting at the minimum viewing distance, you shouldn't watch movies in complete darkness--it can cause eyestrain. For bright plasmas and smaller direct-view sets, the ideal setup is to place a dim light directly behind the TV and leave the rest of the room dark. Look for special "daylight" bulbs that glow at 6,500 degrees Kelvin. You should also prevent any light in the room from reflecting off the TV, as glare will hamper image fidelity. Watching at night is best, but if you watch during the day, thick curtains will really improve the picture.Before you make any of the adjustments detailed below, set room lighting as if you were about to watch a movie. For viewing in brighter environments, we recommend you use one of the picture presets, such as Standard, Sports, or Vivid, or simply turn up the contrast or backlight setting until the picture looks bright enough.
Backlight
What it is: Reserved for LCD displays, backlight controls the intensity of light emitted by the display.What it does: As with contrast, backlight is usually set high by default. Lowering it can make the image more watchable in a dark room, while setting it too low can cause the picture to lose impact. Unlike contrast, however, it usually doesn't affect visible detail in bright areas.
How to set it: This setting is difficult to evaluate without specialized equipment, but it should be set before any others. The easiest way is to set the control to its midpoint, then find a very bright sequence of video, such as a hockey game, and watch for 10 minutes or so in your dim room. If you experience eyestrain, lower it by 10 or 20 percent, and then watch again. If not, keep it about 50 percent. Depending on your sensitivity and the TV's setting, you may find reducing the control all the way to zero works best.
Brightness
What it is: Also called black level, the brightness control actually adjusts how dark the dark and black sections of the picture appear.What it does: Excessive brightness can result in a two-dimensional, washed-out look with reduced color saturation. Images with brightness set too low lose detail in shadows, and distinctions between dark areas disappear in pools of black.
How to set it: After connecting your DVD player using the highest-quality input available, insert a DVD that has letterbox bars above and below the image, and find a scene that has a roughly equal amount of light and dark material. Turn up the control all the way, then decrease until the letterbox bars begin to appear black, as opposed to dark gray. If you notice a loss of shadow detail--for example, when people's eyes disappear into the depths under their brows--then you've set brightness too low.
Contrast
What it is: Also called picture or white level, contrast controls the intensity of the bright and white parts of the image and, on TVs without a backlight control, determines the overall light output of the display.What it does: Contrast is usually set extremely high by default because it makes images look brighter in the store. High contrast can obscure details in bright areas, cause eyestrain in dim rooms, and shorten the lifespan of your television. Setting contrast too low robs the image of impact.
How to set it: Display a still image from DVD of a white object with some visible details--such as someone wearing a white button-up shirt or a shot of a glacier from the Ice Age DVD. Adjust the control up all the way, then reduce it until you can make out all the details in the white (such as buttons on a shirt or cracks in the ice). In general, TVs look best when contrast is set between 30 and 50 percent.
Color
What it is: Also called saturation, this control adjusts how intense the colors look.What it does: When there's too much color, the set looks garish and unrealistic. It's most noticeable with reds, which are often accentuated (pushed) by the TV's color decoder. On the other hand, too little color diminishes the impact of the picture, making it look drab. Setting color to zero results in a black-and-white image.
How to set it: If available, first set the color-temperature control to the warmest option as described below. Then find an image of someone with light, delicate skin tones, preferably a close-up of a face, on a DVD. Turn up the color control until it looks like the person has sunburn, then reduce it until the skin looks natural, without too much red. If the rest of the colors look too drab, you can increase color slightly at the expense of accurate skin tones.
Other controls
Tint: Unless you're using one of the discs mentioned in the Intermediate section to set it properly, this control is best left at the midway point.Sharpness: This adds artificial edges to objects, which sometimes helps with soft standard-definition signals but almost always mars the already sharp image from a DVD, Blu-ray or HDTV source. Reduce it to zero unless you detect visible softening along the edges of text; if you do, increase it until the edges appear sharp again.
Color temperature: This important control affects the color of gray, which forms the basis for all colors displayed on your TV. Select the Warm or Low option, which should come closest to the color standard of D65.
Generally, the image looks best for DVD, Blu-ray and HDTV sources with picture "enhancements" such as auto-color, flesh tone, enhanced contrast, noise reduction, and other proprietary processing modes turned off. DVD and better sources are good enough that these modes usually do more harm than good.
Next: See intermediateIntermediate
Adjusting your TV with the quick tips on the previous page will yield good results, but you can do even better by investing in a home-theater setup DVD or Blu-ray Disc. Each of the discs described below contains explanations and interactive demos designed to get your system looking and sounding better.
Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics
(DVD International, 2008)Upside: Blu-ray format contains high-definition test material; comprehensive patterns with plenty of set-up explanation.
Downside: Complex menus may tax some players; explanations sometimes difficult.
Best for: Blu-ray home theater aficionados and intrepid beginners who don't mind a steep learning curve.
The Blu-ray version of Digital Video Essentials adds numerous new patterns and set-up options, but its main improvement is in navigation and making setup easier. The introduction guides beginners through the audio and video setup process and explains basic concepts such as how high-definition works and what tricks manufacturers, studios, and mastering firms use to affect picture quality. Fully comprehending and using the disc for setup will take a few hours for even more-advanced users to digest, but if you pay attention and follow the instructions you'll get the best setup any disc can provide.
Monster Cable HDTV Set-Up disc/ISF Calibration Wizard
(Monster Cable, 2006)Upside: Easy-to-use setup instructions yield generally good results on newer HDTVs.
Downside: Lack of detail may frustrate some users; does not address audio setup.
Best for: Anyone who wants a quick-and-dirty setup of basic controls like contrast and brightness.
The Monster disc happily doesn't command the same price premium as the company's cables. The test patterns on this DVD, which are narrated by adult contemporary recording artist and hottie Jenna Drey, will be familiar to anyone who's used the Windows Media Center calibrator. They include a guy with a black suit, used to set shadow detail (brightness) and ladies dressed in various shades of gray. Generally you can expect your basic settings to turn out well, but more-advanced options are not available. Another big missing extra, found on most other discs, is a section devoted to audio setup and concepts.
Digital Video Essentials
(DVD International, 2003)Upside: Excellent in-depth explanations of home-theater concepts; comprehensive test patterns and montages.
Downside: Sometimes inadequate explanations of setup routines; constant chapter stops; no human host.
Best for: True and aspiring videophiles who want in-depth video information and don't mind falling asleep to get it.
The successor to Video Essentials, is very similar to the Blu-ray version, just not as polished or easy to use. Watching the tutorial is a little like attending a class taught by HAL from the movie 2001 since there's no visible human host, and the narrator sounds a little too nice. The explanations are extremely informative and complete, and they include details that other discs miss. But the actual how-to of setup isn't as straightforward; beginners should avoid Digital Video Essentials.
Sound & Vision's Home Theater Tune-Up
(DVD International, 2001)Upside: Simple explanations of calibration and setup routines; nice graphical demonstrations.
Downside: Constant corny jokes; little elaboration of home-theater concepts.
Best for: Folks who want a bit more explanation than the Monster disc provides, yet still don't mind missing many of the details.
Endorsed by the home-entertainment reviews magazine, this disc is positioned as an easy-to-use guide to home-theater setup. In most areas, it succeeds, although it's not quite as straightforward, or as new, as the Monster disc. The body of the program consists of a tutorial on equipment, room environment, and calibrations hosted by a lively pair of hosts--whose trite antics become tiresome after the first minute. Common-language explanations and clear diagrams help beginners immensely, but some important concepts, such as variations among different display devices, are glossed over or eliminated altogether. Overall, we'd recommend Monster over this disc for people who just want to focus on setting up HDTVs, but this one does include an audio section.
Avia Guide to Home Theater
(Image Entertainment, 1999)Upside: Wide array of reference test patterns and well-detailed calibration procedures; easy navigation; optional in-depth looks at many home home-theater topics.
Downside: Sometimes pedantic tone; nearly 10 years old.
Best for: Beginners with patience and others who want comprehensive explanations of system details.
Although it's not the newest test DVD on the block, the original Avia is one of the most complete. This well-designed disc includes an excellent 40-minute walk-through that covers major aspects of home home-theater systems and setup, and curious users will love the in-depth, text-only explanations of topics from aspect ratio to subwoofers. The heart of the disc, however, is the suite of thoroughly explained calibrations that takes you step by step through TV and audio system optimization. Unfortunately, home theater concepts don't age well, and this disc contains some outdated recommendations. It's also hard to find. Avia II< was released in 2008, although we haven't had a chance to check it out yet.
(Editors' note: The author contributed to the production of Digital Video Essentials" and previously contributed to "Sound & Vision magazine.)
Advanced
If you've just dropped $1,000 or more on a new TV or projector, chances are you're serious about home theater. For true videophiles, the most effective--and expensive--way to get theaterlike pictures is to have the display professionally calibrated. But some TVs perform well enough out of the box that you may not consider professional service a worthwhile investment. This section will help you decide.
Konica Minolta CS-2000 spectraradiometer
What do the pros do?
Services in a typical calibration include using the hidden service menu grayscale to the standard of D65, improving color accuracy of the entire palette; setting contrast, brightness, color, and so on using test patterns designed specifically for each of these controls; optimizing overscan and picture position, enabling display of more of the incoming picture; correcting "red push" in the color decoder when possible; and optimizing all DVD, Blu-ray and HDTV input sources using test patterns from discs and/or signal generators.Other advanced services include mechanical focus of projector lenses, custom setups for every aspect ratio and input source, full projector installations from scratch, and the like.
Is it worth it for my TV?
Professional calibrations cost anywhere from $250 for a direct-view or plasma set to more than $1,000 for a CRT-based front-projector. If you're on a budget, we recommend you first purchase one of the test discs and follow its DIY calibration procedure. If afterward you still feel like your set isn't performing as well as it should or you simply want to guarantee the best picture, you should get a calibration.One of the most important components of professional TV service--and one that definitely requires special gear--is grayscale calibration. This procedure equalizes the color of gray at various light levels, from very dark to very bright, at the standard white point of D65, which corresponds closely with a color temperature of 6500K. Most TV shows, as well as Blu-rays and DVDs are created to be displayed at that color temperature, so if your TV is set to D65, you're that much closer to seeing the image the director intended.
Some TVs, however, have color-temperature presets that come close to 6,500K. That's why CNET's reviews always note the "out of the box" color temperature as we measured it. If that measurement comes close to 6,500K, then the set is in less need of a grayscale calibration. Note that very few TVs come close to the ideal color temperature, even in their warmest mode.
The Imaging Science Foundation is a good source for qualified calibrators.
How do I get a calibration?
There are a few ways to get your display calibrated. If you bought the set at a specialty retailer, the vendor would probably be able to refer you to someone who could perform the service. Some retailers even include calibration in the price of the television.The more common way, however, is to retain the services of an independent contractor. There are many calibrators operating around the United States, but we recommend you choose a contractor with calibration equipment who has been certified by the Imaging Science Foundation and who owns his or her own calibration equipment. Note that many calibrators perform their services only in conjunction with full audio/video installations and may not offer separate video calibrations.
Another method is to utilize a service like Best Buy's Geek Squad. We haven't done a formal study at CNET evaluating the Squad's service, but anecdotal evidence suggests that their calibrations are not up to the quality offered by the better independent ISF-certified calibrators. If you're planning to get a Geek Squad calibration, make sure it includes at least the adjustments described above.