LCD TV Calibration

When you want to get all you can from your LCD, whether you want to obtain a clearer picture, or see your new DVD in full colors, there is one thing that you can do and this is called DIY calibration. Of course, this is always a job that you can leave out for the professionals, which, in this case, could be a calibration technician, but, before reaching out for your wallet to pay the man, you can try a little bit of fixing on your own. There are basically three ways to do this: find the right settings from somebody else, by yourself using a movie or with the help of a calibration DVD. In this article, first method will be explained, the next part of the article covering the other two methods.

Preparing the Environment

You may wonder first: how comes that the image on your newly purchased LCD looked awesome in the store, and now that it is set in your home, that looks not so awesome anymore? The answer lies in the conditions of the watching experience. While illumination in store does not compare to the lights in your living room, such difference are just natural to appear. In a store, because of the very powerful lighting, you will not see the little details or imperfections as you would in your home. Also, in a store, the LCD TVs may actually be calibrated for that environment.

First, you need to get the proper lighting in the room where your TV set is installed. Ideally, when watching an LCD TV there should be at least a bit of light in the room. Plasma TVs perform best in darkness, but since LCD TVs don’t have such deep black levels and are brighter, they look better if there is some light in the room or during daytime. Make sure however, that the light does not reflect from the screen (glare) or it will be annoying. If you watch TV during night, you should avoid keeping the lights on as they are a bit too powerful for optimal viewing conditions. Instead place a dim light source behind the LCD or somewhere in the room. If you don’t want to bother creating the best illumination, just calibrate the TV in the conditions you will use it most of the time.

The Easiest Way

There is one very easy way to calibrate your TV. If you have one of the popular models, there is a high chance that somebody found the optimal combination already. You just have to find it. You can use Google and search for “brand model-code calibration settings” where you replace “brand” and “model-code” with your particular model. If that returns useless results, some of the most common places you can find this information are:

• Product reviews of your particular model
• HDTV & Home Theater forums
• HDTV & Home Theater sites

If you’ve had no luck with that, you can continue and read how to calibrate it yourself, either for free or by using a cheap HDTV calibration disk. The next guide explains the basic controls and how to use them.

Continue reading LCD TV Calibration - How to Do it Yourself (DIY) or use a DVD Disk.

Recommended HDTV Calibration Disks

Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics [Blu-ray] (2008) Recommended if you have a Blu-Ray player

Digital Video Essentials: Optimize Your Home Entertainment System (NTSC Component) (2001) Recommended if you have a standard DVD player

Avia II (2008) Recommended if you have a standard DVD player