Truth about HDTV calibration
Truth about HDTV calibration
4:09

Truth about HDTV calibration

Culture
[ Music ] ^M00:00:06 >> [Background music] Hello everyone. I'm Molly Wood and welcome to the CNET Mailbag. The show where we morn the passing of cnet live but try to make up for it with some nerdy TV calibration advice so let's get right to it. >> First up some love for CNET Live which just had its last episode on June 11th. The show will still be around for special events like CES but we're replacing it with a new cnet live page that will host all of our live streaming videos like all our pod casts and future big time stuff. However, not all of you are happy about the change. Mark says, excuse me, did I just hear Brian Cooley and Tom Merritt tell me that cnet live is changing into a website that shows all the live shows on one page. Not cool; change this or I will have to stop going to cnet.com; not really but don't change it. Thank you. It's kind of contradictory there. >> And Sam writes, oh my God, I can't believe cnet lives is going away. Why? CNET Live was the only show where viewers like me can call in and have two or three cnet review experts help me solve my tech related problem. I think CNET is making a huge mistake by canceling CNET Live. I watched it every week and will be very sad to see it go. >> I know you guys and I just wanted you guys to get a chance to express your sorrow but we do still have the show for occasional tech help and there are the cnet forums for all kinds of assistance and well, there's always Google, and on that note, I did think it was only fair to try to answer a tech related question for you on this show. I'm not going to make a habit of it but here goes. >> Heather says I have a question, I just bought a Samsung LED TV and Best Buy is heavily pushing there geek squad calibration. It's expensive though and to tell the truth, sounds like their just selling their geek squad services. I've read several articles and watched cnet videos on TV calibration and it sounds like with the help of a DVD, I can do a pretty good calibration job myself. True? Is there something about the LED TVs that would require professional calibration over what I can do myself? >> Well, Heather I asked Senior Editor David Katzmaier who reviews TVs here at cnet what he thought and he said basically, yeah, geek squad maybe but the first place to start is the CNET picture setting forums. Try those since they're free and then if you don't like the picture, try the following steps in order. One, try some other people's free settings. On that settings forums there are at least two other sources for HD TV settings; try those. Then like you mentioned Heather, buy a calibration disk and try to tweak your TV that way. There's a link to our DIY guide in the left nav of the forums too. Finally, go to www.imaginingscience.com, find a local calibration guy and compare the price to the geek squad service. If it's more, go geek squad. If it's not, don't. Hope that helps. >> [Background music] All right, let's do some lover mail. Jessica says I just wanted to give Bonnie Cha some love and say that I loved her unboxing of the pre video. I thought she looked like a kid on Christmas morning. She practically tore the boxes apart. It just goes to show just how much she wanted to get her hands on the pre; and can I just say, I want droll, yeah, you got a love a girl who loves her job. >> And then Larry cracked me up with this one; OMG, hunko dripping with yummy TV uploaded today. Molly was interviewed by Mark. Can you say the bold and the beautiful? How the heck tall is Molly? She towers over Mark whom my daughter thinks is as yummy as Ben and Jerry's fish food. I've never seen Molly so hot. Hubba, hubba. Diabetics will have to wear shades to watch all the eye candy on CNET. Thank you for the icing on the tech cake. >> Larry, you're weird but awesome. Thank you. >> And finally, in a little bit of crazy mail, Matt says, light off; light on; light off. That is all I have to say about the CNET Mailbag. >> Explain? >> [Background music] And that's it for this week everybody. Keep the feed back and questions coming. E-mail me at mailbag@cnet.com or send your snail mail to 235 Second Street, San Francisco, California. 94105, and thank you for watching.

Up Next

Mailbag: This is the end
mb_020910.jpg

Up Next

Mailbag: This is the end

The CNET River: all CNET, all in one place
mb_020210.jpg

The CNET River: all CNET, all in one place

Mailbag has a nerd party
mb_012610.jpg

Mailbag has a nerd party

Letter of the year, 2009
mb_LOTY09.jpg

Letter of the year, 2009

E-mails from the Grinch
mb_121509.jpg

E-mails from the Grinch

Announcing CNET Scan and Shop for Droid
mb_120809.jpg

Announcing CNET Scan and Shop for Droid

Mailbag Thanksgiving lovermail special
mb_112409.jpg

Mailbag Thanksgiving lovermail special

I'm not a doctor, but...
mb_110309.jpg

I'm not a doctor, but...

iPhone vs. Droid Prizefight: Rigged!?
mb111709720.jpg

iPhone vs. Droid Prizefight: Rigged!?

CNET TV, now in more def
mb_111009.jpg

CNET TV, now in more def

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

What AirPods Rumors Tell Us About Apple's Health Ambitions
240424-omt-next-airpods-v07

What AirPods Rumors Tell Us About Apple's Health Ambitions

Robosen's Megatron Transformer Is Too Much Fun for an Evil Robot
240419-megatron-v04

Robosen's Megatron Transformer Is Too Much Fun for an Evil Robot

Apple May Give FineWoven Accessories One More Season
finewoven-240424-land-00-00-13-04-still003

Apple May Give FineWoven Accessories One More Season

US vs. TikTok: What Happens Next
240424-yt-tiktok-vs-us-v04

US vs. TikTok: What Happens Next

Battle of the Humanoid Robots: MenteeBot Is Ready
240423-yt-menteebot-ai-robot-v08

Battle of the Humanoid Robots: MenteeBot Is Ready

What to Expect at Apple's May 7 iPad Event
240423-yt-apple-ipad-ipad-pro-pencil-v02

What to Expect at Apple's May 7 iPad Event

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

Robosen's Megatron Transformer Is Too Much Fun for an Evil Robot
240419-megatron-v04

Robosen's Megatron Transformer Is Too Much Fun for an Evil Robot

Battle of the Humanoid Robots: MenteeBot Is Ready
240423-yt-menteebot-ai-robot-v08

Battle of the Humanoid Robots: MenteeBot Is Ready

2025 Audi Q6, SQ6 E-Tron: Audi's Newest EV Is Its Most Compelling
cnet-audiq6

2025 Audi Q6, SQ6 E-Tron: Audi's Newest EV Is Its Most Compelling

Hands-On with Ford's Free Tesla Charging Adapter
pic3

Hands-On with Ford's Free Tesla Charging Adapter

Nuro R3 is an Adorable Self-Driving Snack Bar
240320-site-nuro-r3-first-look-v1

Nuro R3 is an Adorable Self-Driving Snack Bar

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

Latest How To All how to videos

Tips and Tricks for the AirPods Pro 2
airpods-pro-2

Tips and Tricks for the AirPods Pro 2

How to Watch the Solar Eclipse Safely From Your Phone
screenshot-2024-04-03-at-15-47-11.png

How to Watch the Solar Eclipse Safely From Your Phone

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