WHY CALIBRATE A TELEVISION?

Today's technology has produced extraordinary improvements in video picture quality, making it possible to have near cinema-quality video right in your home. Calibrating a television not only prolongs the life of your set, but it adds a three dimensional realism, a "film like" look to the picture.

When a film or program is broadcasted, or transferred to DVD, Film Directors and Directors of Photography watch the results of their work on television monitors that have been calibrated to NTSC standards of D6500K. They use these calibrated monitors to make all their image color corrections. By having your television calibrated to the same standard, you are able to view the images as closely as possible to the way the creators intended. Simply put, calibration allows a television to display at its full potential.

WHICH TELEVISIONS NEED CALIBRATION?

All televisions need calibration if you wish to view a movie or show as it was intended to be seen. Currently no television set out of the box (Projection or Direct View) offers true NTSC gray scale tracking. Calibration brings a TV closer to the NTSC D6500K standard. Calibrating a projection television will also greatly increase the life of the projector. Most rear projection televisions lose between 25-30% of their total light output within the first 1000 hours because of improper user settings.

IMPACTS ON PROJECTORS AND DIRECT VIEW (TUBE) TELEVISIONS

Calibrating a projector is necessary if you wish to have a degree of focus and clarity comparable to that of a tube TV. Calibrating a tube television dramatically improves clarity, color, and performance. For any calibrated TV, blacks and whites display accurately. Light distribution evens out, colors are more realistic and the images are film-like in quality. The end results are always very impressive. Annoying optical problems such as shimmering, ringing, color fringes, and hot spots also usually disappear after a calibration.

CALIBRATION TERMS

ISF - Imaging Science Foundation - leader in the display standards industry. ISF is dedicated to improving the quality of electrical imaging

NTSC - National Television Systems Committee - Provides standards for movie and television signals

D6500K - A standard that uses the color of daylight at a certain time of day for the value of colors, including white. It is a common, measurable standard that TV's can be calibrated accurately to. This enables industry-wide agreement on color standards for broadcasting and video reproduction.

WHAT A CALIBRATION INVOLVES

1. Proper setting of the TV's user controls

Using patterns from the VP300 Multimedia Video Generator, a TV's:

are all set to their optimal levels.

2. White balance calibration (grey scale, color temperature)

Using the Color Pro 2 color sensor and entering a TV's service menu, Green, Red and Blue are all tweaked to the NTSC standard of D6500K throughout the light output range of the television. This allows the most accurate reproduction of color from the original source.

3. Full Screen convergence adjustments (for projectors only)

This procedure lines up the red, blue and green color guns inside the projector. This is a necessity if you wish to get a clear, accurate picture from a projector.

HOW MUCH DOES CALIBRATION COST?

The ISF recommended price schedule for calibrations are:

$225.Grey Scale Calibration for a Direct View Television
$125.Full Screen Convergence for a Rear Projector
$275.Grey Scale Calibration for a Rear Projector