How to calibrate & adjust your TV? - Mag Mirror

You can get a much better picture from your TV. TV by calibrating it. Professional calibration is a long and expensive process that requires special equipment and training, but you can also improve the look of your TV by spending just $30-40 for a test disc and taking half an hour to play with it. some settings.

I am an ISF Certified Television Calibrator and these instructions will walk you through a very basic calibration process based on the following Imaging Science Foundation and require no experience on your part. All you have to do is order a Spears & Munsil Benchmark and Calibration Disc. The current release of the disc is an Ultra HD Blu-ray, so you'll need a UHD Blu-ray player (or a PlayStation 5, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X) to view it. However, you can still find the older Spears & Munsil HD Benchmark 2nd Edition that runs on a standard Blu-ray player. It works just as well for color and contrast adjustment, but it uses 1080p content instead of 1080p content. 4K.

The Spears & Munsil is a very useful tool for anyone looking to calibrate their TV or simply better understand how video signals work. It is recommended by Joel Silver, founder and president of the ISF. He is recommended by ISF founder Joel Silver. It comes with detailed instructions on the disc and in the included booklet, but many of them are unnecessary and can be skipped if you're not a professional and unfamiliar with calibrating TVs. .

Before I start, I want to make it clear that the majority of TVs I've tested over the past two years have excellent color accuracy in the standard dynamic range (SDR), and they often match broadcast standards perfectly. when using the correct image settings. They also tend to be pretty sharp when displaying a high dynamic range (HDR) type image and in both cases also perform very well when it comes to contrast.

By following our guide to the best picture settings for your TV, you can get a viewing experience as close to ideal as any given panel can get without going through a more demanding calibration process.

However, if you're interested in how TV calibration works or want to tweak your picture on a more granular level, read on.

1. Find the best picture mode

You will get the best results by starting with the correct picture mode. This is the general mode that determines most of your TV's individual picture settings and often enables some of the higher level options to make calibration adjustments.

Ideally, your TV has an ISF picture mode, which means it provides a full suite of settings to perform a full calibration (you won't need to touch most of them; this is for professionals). Otherwise, find a Cinema or Theater mode and go from there. If these modes are not available, look for Custom mode. Do not use Vivid, Game or Sports modes.

2. Use the warmest color temperature setting

Once you've found a mode that works for you, find the color temperature setting and make sure it's set to Warm. This works with Picture Mode to produce, for most modern TVs, fairly accurate colors overall. You can get pinpoint color level accuracy with a full white balance/RGBCMY calibration, but that requires a professional calibrator and special equipment. For most consumers, the warmest color temperature preset will do.

3. Disable Unnecessary Picture Features

Your TV probably comes with several options designed to allow it to change picture settings on the fly to ideally suit what you're watching. These options have their place, but they are the bane of calibration. You need to make sure that the test patterns you are watching are displayed with fixed settings and that the TV is not adjusting them as you work.

In your TV's picture settings menu, look for any submenu that looks like Picture Advanced, Picture Expert, or Picture Options. Disable any feature with the words Adaptive, Dynamic, Motion, Processing, or Smoothing. While you're at it, make sure the Overscan option is disabled, if it exists (this will help you in the next step).

Also, disabling all motion enhancement features will reduce shaking. soap opera effect that most people don't like. Motion enhancements have their place, often in live sports or video games, but most movies and TV shows are much more enjoyable to watch with the devices turned off.

Our Refresh Rate Guide offers a more in-depth explanation of what these modes do and why your TV's 60, 120, or 240 Hz frequency matters.

4. Check the geometry of the image

No matter how you adjust the other settings, your TV will look better if it's set to display what you're watching in the correct aspect ratio. This can be a problem for cable boxes if you're switching from an HD channel to an SD channel, but otherwise you should be able to adjust everything to display images at their native resolution. Look for a button on your remote or a setting in your Picture menu called Aspect Ratio, Picture Size, or Zoom. Make sure it is set to Normal or Just Scan. Do not select a setting called Wide, Zoom, 3:4 or 16:9.

You can verify that the image geometry is correct with the Spears & Munsil. Under Advanced Video, select Setup, then Framing. A test chart appears, displaying the limits of various resolutions. If you're using the standard Blu-ray disc, the white arrows pointing to the 1920 x 1080 lines will touch the edge of the screen (this also applies if you're using a 4K TV; your player will increase the image resolution) . If you are using an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc, the arrows pointing to the 3840 x 2160 lines will touch the edge of the screen.

5. Adjust contrast

This is where the Spears & Munsil is getting really useful. You will adjust the brightness and contrast settings using the PLUGE charts on the disc. From the disc's main menu, select Video Calibration, then Contrast. Adjust the Contrast setting on your TV until the number bars below 238 are distinct shades of gray and the number bars above 238 are white. The gray boxes surrounding the ten colored squares at the top and bottom of the screen should be visible, and the gradient in the middle should slope smoothly from a white band in the center to black on the sides.

6. Adjust brightness

It may seem counter-intuitive, but adjusting the brightness of your TV actually adjusts the black level. Press the right button on your remote control to access the light bar. Turn up the brightness on your TV until the middle four gray bars are visible, then slowly lower the brightness until only the right two bars are visible and the two left bars have disappeared back- plan.

7. Write down your settings

If you have followed these instructions, your TV should now be calibrated as well as it can be without professional equipment. Ignore instructions for changing color or sharpness in the video calibration menu; the vast majority of televisions sold in recent years have these default settings which work quite well, and trying to change them can lead to picture errors.

You can check your results by going to the Demo Hardware menu and watching some of the video clips. They should be full of detail, both in light and shadow, and fine textures should be distinct. Colors should look natural, not garish or tinged with blue or pink.

Write down the picture setting, color temperature setting, and any features you turned off, as well as the brightness and contrast levels. If you make any changes in the future, you can resolve any picture issues by resetting the TV to factory defaults and using your notes.

Now that your TV is fully calibrated, you want to make sure you're sending it the best quality signal possible. Check out our guide to HDMI cables to understand what the different types mean, what different brands are available, and how much you should spend to get the best performance.