What Should I Know About HDTV Calibration?

For those who have ever noticed how bright and eye-popping television sets look in a store, there is an industry secret. They are supposed to look that way. That attractive HDTV set looks spectacularly bright in the store because it is competing with dozens of other sets. However, when a consumer brings such a television home, keeping those settings will make the television look very unnatural. One of the first orders of business will be to calibrate your HDTV.

Therefore, one of the first things an owner of a new television must do is work on HDTV calibration. Fortunately, newer sets make learning how to calibrate the television fairly intuitive. Some HDTV sets make this easier than others. Many HDTVs come with presets that will perform an HDTV calibration based on the type of situation the television is being used for. Sports, movies and video games are just a few of the HDTV calibration settings.

In truth, though, this type of HDTV calibration is not for everyone. Oftentimes, trying to change the settings based on what the television is showing becomes burdensome. Therefore, most users will likely prefer to choose a setting that will work across multiple platforms. Often, this is a variation near the movie setting.

In most cases, none of the television presets will be the optimum HDTV calibration setting. This is because the ambient lighting in the room, as well as personal taste, will play some role. The television will likely need to be adjusted further. The easiest way to accomplish this is to make micro-adjustments based on the preset that seems closest to natural color.

For some, it may be possible that no matter what they do, the colors just never seem quite natural enough. In such cases, this could be because the white balance and grayscale are off. These are often very difficult to change and may be a part of HDTV calibration requiring professional help. Often, this requires a special TV calibration tool, as well as the need to access a professional menu of options on the television. Accessing this and manipulating the controls without professional experience and equipment can quickly warp the colors in a totally unacceptable way.

HDTV calibration can be a hard thing to get right. It may be difficult to find the right balance between colors, brightness contrast and sharpness, but it can be done. While HDTV calibration will take some time, those who are patient and do it correctly will find their new television a very enjoyable addition to the home.