Why Calibrate Your HDTV or Projector
What is Professional Calibration What is a Correct Picture
Why Can’t You Calibrate Your HDTV or Projector Yourself
So, What’s the Bottom Line
Why Calibrate Your HDTV or Projector
Unfortunately, your new HDTV or projector is not optimized to give you the best picture when it comes from the factory (out of the box) because there are some things TV manufacturers can’t possibly know:
How will you be using your equipment?
- To watch broadcast television (cable/satellite), DVDs, and Blu-rays?
- For gaming or home videos?
- As a computer monitor?
- All of these?
Where you will be using your high-definition equipment and how your room will be lighted?
- Do you watch your high definition displays during the day in a bright room, or at night?
- What kind of lighting do you have in your home theater room, and how will it affect your picture?
- Will you use your HDTV as a computer monitor?
- Where do you, and others, sit when watching? Does where you sit change the picture you see?
What equipment will be sending signals to your high-definition components?
- Did you know that each piece of equipment sending signals to your high definition equipment, like a cable or satellite box, a DVD or Blu-ray player, an AV receiver, a game console, etc., can change the detail, color, or shape of the picture you see?
- Did you know that each component must be set up to correctly work with your equipment in order for the picture to be the best it can be – regardless of where it’s getting a signal from?
Calibration is professional optimization of your entire home theater system so that the picture you see on your HDTV or projection screen is the best it can be, in the location that you’ll be using it and with your own equipment connected to it. This HDTV adjustment ensures that the image you see is ‘correct’ and lets you take full advantage of all the technology and features that your high-definition equipment has to offer.
What is Professional Calibration; What is a Correct Picture
Professional calibration is done by professionals who are trained and certified by the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) and/or THX. Systematic calibration procedures – plus professionally calibrated equipment like signal/pattern generators and colorimeters/spectrometers – are used to set your picture to the same standards as movie theaters use.
Movies theaters have their projectors professionally calibrated to industry standards to ensure that what you see when you watch a movie in the theater is exactly the same image that was captured by the camera when making the film. Your HDTV or projector shouldn’t do any less.
Without professionally calibrating your high-definition displays after you buy them, can you be sure that the picture you’re seeing is what the producers of that picture wanted you to see? No! Professional calibration gives you confidence that you’re seeing what you’re supposed to see, and also allows you to take full advantage of all of the functionality that was carefully built into your high definition display by the manufacturer. As an added benefit, calibration is a terrific value because it can save you $$ and help the environment by reducing the power consumption of your HDTV as well as prolonging its life!
Why Can’t You Fully Calibrate Your HDTV or Projector Yourself
Do-it-yourself DVDs and Blu-ray disks may certainly improve your HDTV or projector’s picture if used correctly – and it’s great fun to use them to tweak your HDTV’s settings. Unfortunately, they just can’t achieve the same results as an ISF-certified or THX-certified professional can.
To see why, try answering the following questions:
- Are you familiar with all the adjustments built into your new high definition electronics as well as how to use all of the advanced controls and adjustments?
- Do you have the specialized equipment, training, and experience to know for sure when the controls on your TV/projector are set exactly where they should be?
- Do you have the training to correctly use the specialized video test patterns necessary to calibrate an HDTV or a projector?
- Do you have professional equipment that is periodically calibrated and certified to ensure that it is accurate?
If you didn’t answer “yes” to all those questions, a professional calibrator can help!
The Benefits of Professional Calibration In a Nutshell…
You’ve made an investment in a piece of electronic equipment that has the potential to give you years of enjoyment and entertainment. Take advantage of the capabilities of your new high definition display by having it properly adjusted so that it provides you with the most accurate and correct picture it can produce — in your particular environment, using the specific components and equipment you have connected to your TV.
Put simply, professional calibration will put the ‘theater’ in your home theater. So grab the popcorn, sit back and relax, and just enjoy the show knowing that the picture you see will be as much as possible like the professionally reproduced picture you see in a movie theater!
Want to learn a bit more about the advantages of ISF calibration? Visit the ISF Forum by clicking on the image below. Registration is free and there’s plenty of information available for you.
