 We call it the high-def letdown. That’s the sinking feeling you get when you’ve spent the cash to get the best high-definition picture you could afford, set up the TV, turned down the lights, and turned on the television, only to find the picture washed out, the colors too purplish, and grays where there should be blacks. According to Magnolia’s service manager, Bayard Buetow, TV manufacturers tend to boost the brightness and contrast settings on TVs on showroom floors so they’ll stand out next to their competitor’s TVs. Although they’re not trying to deceive you, you’ll likely have to calibrate the TV before it looks good in your living room.
Calibrating your HDTV can help you achieve the stunning picture that first inspired you to go high-def. There are typically two methods of calibrating your HDTV: hiring a professional or making adjustments to the HDTV’s OSD (on-screen display) menu yourself, using a video calibration DVD.
 Do It Yourself
Almost every HDTV currently available has a handful of preset “viewing modes,” such as sports, movie, theater, game, etc. These modes may improve the picture while viewing the given content, but they typically fall short of giving you a true-to-life picture. You can also use the OSD to manually adjust the image settings, but true calibration is a bit more involved than simply trying to make the artificial turf on Sunday’s big game look as green as you think it should.
Before you attempt to calibrate your HDTV yourself, access your set’s OSD (typically by pressing Menu on your HDTV remote) and set your TV’s contrast/picture, tint/hue, sharpness/detail/peaking, saturation/color/chroma, and brightness to the default settings (typically zero). Next, make sure the lighting in the room is set to the levels at which you typically watch TV. You may have to calibrate your HDTV once for daytime viewing and again for night viewing.
THX Optimizer. One of the most basic tools you can use to calibrate your TV is the THX Optimizer, which you’ll find on any THX-certified DVD movie produced since 2000. To find out if you have such a DVD, use the search engine at www.thx.com/mod/products/dvd
.html. The film industry uses the THX standard as a baseline to deliver a quality viewing experience for each production. Access the THX Optimizer and follow the on-screen instructions for adjusting your HDTV.
The THX Optimizer displays test patterns that will help you adjust the contrast (also known as picture), brightness, color, tint (also known as hue), sharpness (also known as detail or peaking), and aspect ratio (widescreen or fullscreen).
HDTV Calibration Wizard. Monster Cable’s Monster/ISF HDTV Calibration Wizard ($29.95; www.monstercable.com) is one of the more user-friendly calibration programs you can buy. This DVD is backed by the ISF (Imaging Science Foundation), an organization that trains and certifies professional HDTV calibration technicians. Instead of complicated test patterns, the HDTV Calibration Wizard uses live action video clips and a step-by-step audio guide to help you adjust your HDTV. If you want an easy way to make your HDTV look better, the HDTV Calibration Wizard is a good choice.
Avia: Guide To Home Theater. Ovation Multimedia’s Avia: Guide To Home Theater ($49.99; www.ovationmultimedia.com) is more comprehensive, including detailed explanations of all aspects of the home theater, as well as audio and video test patterns to help you perfect your home entertainment experience. Despite Avia’s higher price tag, it delivers technical information about calibration, home-theater equipment, and audio and video connections in a straightforward and easy-to-understand manner. Hire A Pro
Although you can substantially improve your HDTV display using the consumer-level OSD, calibration professionals can access your HDTV’s password-protected service mode, with which they can fine-tune your HDTV to ISF standards. Even if you were able to access your HDTV’s service mode, Buetow says that these menus and options feature cryptic names and numbers in the hundreds. He also warns, “a TV can be rendered unwatchable or even inoperable if the service mode adjustments are incorrectly set.” Adjusting these settings may also void your HDTV’s warranty.
Most professional calibration experts also use specialized equipment to aid in the process. For instance, Magnolia’s service department uses the Sencore CP5000 color analyzer, which retails for about $5,000. If you’d like to hire an ISF-certified professional, expect to pay between $300 and $400 for the service.
Bottom Line
To get the most from your high-def investment, you’ll need to calibrate your HDTV. If you’re a real do-it-yourselfer, calibrating your HDTV with a DVD aid is generally easy to do and can vastly improve everything you watch. Spending the money to hire a professional HDTV calibrator, however, can get your HDTV looking its absolute best. 
by Andrew Leibman
|
Price Factor Although there are multiple ways of calibrating your HDTV, the results they produce—and the costs involved—can vary widely. Here’s a list of the different ways to calibrate your HDTV and what each costs.
• THX Optimizer: Free (with THX-Certified DVDs)
• HDTV Calibration Wizard: $29.95
• Avia: Guide to Home Theater; $49.99
• Professional Calibration: $300 to $400
|
|
JVC HA-NC80 • $59.95 • www.jvc.com  Sometimes business travel is inconvenient; you’d rather stay home with your family and enjoy your recently calibrated HDTV. However, when duty calls, and air travel is unavoidable, you might find the flight more pleasant with JVC’s dual-mode noise-cancelling headphones. The “wide” mode blocks sounds you’ll hear in the cabin of a commercial airline. The 6-ounce headphones fold for easy storage and take a single AAA battery.
|
|
Print This