A television is an entertainment centre in almost every home, so we demand the highest possible quality from it. Calibrating your television is a good solution. If you don't know how to do this yourself, I'll be happy to help.
What is TV calibration, and why is it necessary?
Every frame of a film or game scene you watch is carefully planned by the people working on creating that material.
Manufacturers carefully select, among other things, colours, contrast, brightness, and tonal range so that each scene presents the most natural visual effect. TV calibration involves adjusting the image attributes to match the creators' intentions as closely as possible.
Is the TV calibrated from the store?
Professional calibration of TVs is not performed on devices intended for mass sale.
The reason for this is the cost of adjusting the settings, which would significantly increase the device's overall cost. Of course, the image of a receiver coming off the assembly line should be quite satisfactory for the average user (it has the so-called factory settings).
However, if you want to see the image as the creators intended, the only solution is professional TV calibration. You can entrust the optimisation to a professional, but you should know that there is another option – adjusting the image on the TV yourself using the built-in functions and modes.
How to calibrate a TV (professional calibration)
Professional calibration of a digital TV is carried out by specialised and qualified specialists using special measuring instruments for this purpose.
Such work is usually carried out at the customer's home, and its cost, depending on the device and type of settings, ranges from several thousand to tens of thousands of pounds. Depending on the equipment and consumer requirements, TV calibration takes from 1 to 3-4 hours.
The TV is usually adjusted so as not to void the manufacturer's warranty, but it is worth discussing this with a specialist before starting work. When you choose this option, please pay special attention to whether the contractor has the appropriate certificates confirming their qualifications. Importantly, a single receiver adjustment is sufficient – there is no need to repeat it cyclically.
How to calibrate your TV yourself
If you are considering calibrating your TV yourself without spending a penny, you will find the manual image settings and modes available on your device helpful.
This way, you can adjust the image to suit your preferences. However, keep in mind that it is almost impossible to achieve the same effect as with professional calibration.
To enter colour adjustment mode, go to the image settings mode. To do this, use the remote control, which, depending on your TV and manufacturer, has a ‘Settings’ button or an icon depicting a gear or a house (the ‘Home’ button).
If you have any doubts, please refer to the instructions with your TV, which should explain the function of the buttons on the remote control.
What does TV calibration look like?
Picture modes are nothing more than a customised set of settings defined under a single name (including contrast, colour, and brightness).
Selecting a mode automatically changes all settings according to a template set by the manufacturer.
These features make it very easy to calibrate the image on your TV. The number and type of modes depend mainly on the manufacturer, but the most common are:
- Standard/Neutral — keeps the settings at a medium level of intensity. This is an ideal starting point if you plan to use more advanced settings later on.
- Cinema/Film — according to the manufacturer, this mode should bring the image settings as close as possible to those intended by the film director. Fairly warm colours characterise images in this mode;
- Dynamic/Bright — This setting is helpful if the TV is located in a very sunny place. Thanks to the high contrast and colour intensity, contours become clearer. However, excessive brightness may be unpleasant for the eyes.
- Sport mode — enhances sports broadcasts by increasing brightness and colour saturation;
- Game mode — primarily intended for gamers. The advantage is optimal calibration of the TV image and so-called input lag, i.e., a reduction in the delay between the image sent from the game console and its display, which is especially important during dynamic games;
- Eco — in other words, an energy-saving mode that reduces power consumption. Most often, the TV automatically adjusts the screen brightness to suit the lighting conditions.
Manufacturers often allow you to create and save your own mode, sometimes called ‘expert mode’. However, this requires individual calibration.
Image calibration in practice — advanced settings
If calibrating your LCD TV using the built-in modes is not sufficient, you can check how this affects the optimisation of the image by manually adjusting each setting.
Proper step-by-step calibration of your TV involves adjusting the following settings:
- Image sharpness – allows you to distinguish the contours of objects correctly.
- Brightness – determines the brightness of the image. It is best to choose a test image that contains black next to pale/light colours. Selecting values that are too low will darken the entire picture and cause dark, blurry spots to appear. Conversely, high values will darken the scene. Colour adjustment, or saturation, allows you to specify the desired colour intensity.
- The higher the index, the more saturated the colour (as in the dynamic mode described earlier). Please don't overdo it with saturation, as overly saturated colours can make the image look unnatural, and prolonged viewing can even cause eye strain. On the other hand, values that are too low will make the image look grey.
- Colour tint/temperature — makes the image warmer or cooler. Too high a value towards warm colours results in a red tint dominating the image, while cool colours turn blue into the key colour. When setting this value, please pay attention to whether the pure white elements of the image retain their correct tint.
Depending on the built-in functions, the receiver offers a broader range of settings. If you don't know how to adjust the TV manually, don't be afraid to try. If necessary, you can restore the factory settings with a single button.
What can help with calibrating the image on your TV?
Image calibration should be performed using a test image that clearly shows how the changes you make affect, for example, the scenes displayed in a film. If you don't have discs with test images, you can look for suitable demo images on YouTube.
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