Configure Your HDTV

Calibrate Your HDTV WITHOUT Losing Your Mind

I’d never calibrated my TV until a few days ago. There are several reasons for this.

Quite simply, I didn’t want to buy a calibration disc only to use it once, and never again. Second, HDTV calibration is the equivalent of chasing the dragon for the gadget geek. I’ve seen endless audio/visual forum posts of new TV owners begging or pleading for the one true setting for their new high-definition set—it’s not pretty.

There is an easier way. It is tucked away inside hundreds of THX-certified DVDs already out there. Quite possibly, it’s already in your movie collection.

Use THX.

The THX Optimizer is a straightforward calibration tool that gets the job done well enough for most non-fanatics. Plus, it has a free movie! (OK, it’s free with a movie.) What is it? It’s a set of six test patterns to help you choose the key settings for any HDTV calibration…

• contrast,
• brightness,
• tint, and
• sharpness.

How to get it.

Quietly, THX has been embedding the Optimizer in almost every THX-certified DVD for years—that’s hundreds. Here’s a complete list. It hasn’t been updated in a while, since THX is currently refreshing the Optimizer for high-def discs.

One More Thing You Need.

To take full advantage of the THX Optimizer for the tint settings, you need some funky blue-filter glasses. THX sends you a pair for a couple of dollars on their website.

If you don’t have the glasses, there is an additional color pattern in the Optimizer. It lets you eyeball your settings. Basically, you just make sure cyan and magenta look as much like the cyan and magenta of your dreams. If you want more assurance, it’s probably worth it to just get the glasses.

Tuning Your Settings.

The Optimizer works with almost every TV in the world. Whether it’s your grandma’s 19-inch Sony Trinitron or a brand-new 60-inch Kuro. I would reset your TV settings to factory default before using the Optimizer. Also, choose to calibrate your set’s movie/film/cinema pre-set (if possible). It should be closer to the general range than the “standard” mode.

You can use the usually cooler color temperatures of standard mode. When you run it through the THX Optimizer, it at least ensures its ferocious showroom-floor contrast and brightness will be tamed.

Make sure auto-contrast or auto-backlight settings (including any with the words “dynamic” or “ambient”) are off. In one test, every adjustment tried was immediately countered by “smart” settings. It was almost impossible to calibrate the TV correctly. If your set has these options, shut ‘em down… and leave ‘em down.

Use the THX Optimizer in lighting conditions which best match your usual TV-watching. You probably watch TV during the day and at night, so it won’t be perfect. You need to find a happy medium. The shades drawn on a partly cloudy day seemed to work nicely, in my case.

Using the THX Optimizer.

Once you set everything up, it’s a basic run-through. Increase contrast until you can just barely see six white-shaded blocks without them merging together. Decrease brightness until the last black block (in a different row of six) disappears, etc. All the tests are easy enough to understand, for anyone familiar with computers or configuring their TV.

The Results.

Does it work? My Samsung Series 4 LCD looks MUCH better in movie mode, no question. Where it used to look flat with muddy colors, blacks look blacker and colors more distinct. Yet, it is in a far more natural way than the “dynamic” preset.

The before and after pictures are a still from Terminator 2. It is not a scientific comparison by any means. Camera exposure settings are the same for each unprocessed photograph. So, screen image should be reasonably accurate. However, the room lighting had changed by the time I finished calibrating, as you see in the images. Yet, on the screen, you still see the darker blacks and better color saturation and color contrast I noticed in person.

Whether the difference is subtle or dramatic, it’s worth doing. So you spend several dollars for the glasses. You get a calibration disc with your THX-certified movie, or find one in your existing pile o’ DVDs. (Or you could get it with a Netflix DVD that has a known Optimizer, of course.) It’s no big expense. Plus, you get rid of those demons screaming at you about the huge potential you’re missing by not calibrating your HDTV. It’s well worth the effort.

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