Calibrate your TV by eye
Calibrate your TV by eye
3:33

Calibrate your TV by eye

Home Entertainment
When you get your new TV out of the box, it probably won't look quite right in your living room. Fixing that can be as simple as using a calibration setup disc or as expensive as paying someone to do it. Right now, we'll do neither. Instead also you had to set up your TV by eye so that you can quickly tune it up at home without anyone's help. Start with the contrast. For this one, you wanna find footage with lots of bright areas like this scene by the ocean. Contrast controls the intensity of the brightness for the lightest areas of the picture. That might sound confusing but as I adjust it, you'll see what I mean. Turn it up until you start losing details in the brighter areas like the sky here or the sand. Then turn it down until you start seeing that detail again. The correct setting is within a few notches of that point. Next step, brightness. For this step, find a dark scene like one from an action movie. Contrary to what you might have heard. Brightness adjusts the intensity of the black levels. So a TV that's too bright will make blacks look washed out or even grayish. Turn down the brightness until everything appears way too dark. Then turn it back up to the point where things in the scene that are supposed to be black are the blackest level your TV will allow. This is the hardest setting to adjust by eye. So be patient and adjust the brightness as you switch between different types of programming. Color. Not to be confused with color temperature. It's usually a-okay right out of the box. Usually that means right in the middle of the scale. If you do want to adjust the color, find a well-scene featuring a person's face. To better understand the color setting, think of it as saturation. If you're to bring it all the way down, the image would start to look grayish. Find a level where their flesh looks natural without being too orange. There are two more important settings to adjust here. Let's look at sharpness. For this one almost any image will do so let stick with rose here. The sweet spot for sharpness is somewhere near the bottom of the scale. It should be low but not so low the things like wrinkles on faces disappear. You'll know it's not too high if there's highlighting around the edges of objects like her face. Fine the level just above the point where details begin to disappear. Finally, color temperature. Again, use a scene where you can clearly see a face like this. The funny thing about color temperature is that to a certain extent, no matter how it set, it'll look correct to you. So be careful with this one. On our TV, we have color tone presets instead of color temperature. But it's the same idea. Right now, it set to cool. But the color temperature is way too blue which is causing this blue tint on her face. Turn it up too high and her face will be too warm. Pick one that feels right to you. If your TV has the setting like white balance, you can have much more control over color temperature. But that's almost impossible to adjust by eye. Once you've gone through these settings, you should find yourself watching a much more accurate picture and while an expert might not call it perfect, all that really matter is that the picture looks good to you. For the full-written guide, visit howto.cnet.com and if you wanna chat about it, hit me up on Twitter. For CNET, I'm Sharon Vaknin.

Up Next

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features
240311-site-windows-11-hidden-tips-and-tricks-v2

Up Next

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3
VisionOS 1.0.3

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra
240216-site-galaxy-s24-ultra-tips-and-hidden-features-2

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro
tiktok-on-vision-pro-clean

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips
superbowl-tv-settings-thumb1

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro
240202-site-spatial-computing-on-meta-quest-3

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro

How to Make a GPT in ChatGPT-4
howto-createyourowngpt-clean

How to Make a GPT in ChatGPT-4

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy Watch 6
231120-site-tips-tricks-and-hidden-features-v2

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy Watch 6

How to Use ChatGPT's New Voice Conversations
how-to-use-chatgpt-voice-chat-00-03-01-13-still003

How to Use ChatGPT's New Voice Conversations

How to Add Multiple Accounts and Set Up a Parent-Supervised Account on the Quest 3
add-accounts-on-quest-3-00-02-59-11-still005

How to Add Multiple Accounts and Set Up a Parent-Supervised Account on the Quest 3

Tech Shows

The Apple Core
apple-core-w

The Apple Core

Alphabet City
alphabet-city-w

Alphabet City

CNET Top 5
cnet-top-5-w

CNET Top 5

The Daily Charge
dc-site-1color-logo.png

The Daily Charge

What the Future
what-the-future-w

What the Future

Tech Today
tech-today-w

Tech Today

Latest News All latest news

PlayStation 5 Pro Leaked: Everything We Know
playstation5pro-leak-clean

PlayStation 5 Pro Leaked: Everything We Know

Everything Just Revealed at Nvidia's GTC AI Conference
nvidiastill

Everything Just Revealed at Nvidia's GTC AI Conference

Nvidia Reveals Omniverse Cloud Streams to the Vision Pro
nvidia-vision-pro-image

Nvidia Reveals Omniverse Cloud Streams to the Vision Pro

Nvidia Shows Project GROOT and Disney Bots at GTC Conference
robot-2

Nvidia Shows Project GROOT and Disney Bots at GTC Conference

Expert vs. AI: Is Now the Time to Buy an EV?
gettyimages-1178244881

Expert vs. AI: Is Now the Time to Buy an EV?

The PlayStation Portal Built-In Volume Is too Loud: Here's How to Keep It Low
playstation-portal-audio-options-thumb2

The PlayStation Portal Built-In Volume Is too Loud: Here's How to Keep It Low

Most Popular All most popular

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)
innovation

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost
240123-site-samsung-galaxy-s24-ultra-review-4

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen
circlesearchpic

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop
asus-preces-00-00-25-11-still003

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions
samsung-galaxy-ring-clean

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024
240111-site-best-of-ces-2024-1

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024

Latest Products All latest products

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day
240304-site-nothing-phone-2-first-look-v3

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day

Best of MWC 2024: Bendable Screens, AI Wearables and More
240229-site-best-of-show-at-mwc

Best of MWC 2024: Bendable Screens, AI Wearables and More

This Concept Laptop from Lenovo Has a Transparent Display
240225-site-lenovo-translucent-laptop-concept-v3

This Concept Laptop from Lenovo Has a Transparent Display

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist
240225-site-motorola-rollable-concept

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist

See Adobe Lightroom on the Apple Vision Pro
adobe-lightroom-00-02-58-03-still006-1

See Adobe Lightroom on the Apple Vision Pro

This $400 Cane Has a Built-In Phone
p1022441-mp4-15-35-32-23-still001

This $400 Cane Has a Built-In Phone

Latest How To All how to videos

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features
240311-site-windows-11-hidden-tips-and-tricks-v2

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3
VisionOS 1.0.3

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra
240216-site-galaxy-s24-ultra-tips-and-hidden-features-2

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro
tiktok-on-vision-pro-clean

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips
superbowl-tv-settings-thumb1

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro
240202-site-spatial-computing-on-meta-quest-3

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro