Cinematics
Audio and Video
Calibration and Consultation
Audio and Video
Calibration and Consultation
Video Calibration
Why should you have your video system Calibrated?
- Your display was factory preset for showroom appeal, not in-home use. These settings:
- Waste energy
- Degrade the picture
- Shorten the life of the display
- Your room lighting effects the picture. Only in-home calibration can tune the display based in the room it is being used in.
- Your signal chain is not the same as the factory. Your source components need to be calibrated as well for optimal picture.
- Your display ages. This causes:
- Loss of brightness
- Poor gray-scale tracking
- Inaccurate colors
Video Calibration can have the following benefits:
- Can reduce energy consumption by up to 15%
- Optimizes your display for room lighting. In some cases, presets for different lighting conditions can be created.
- Can extend the life of your display. In some cases up to double from factory settings.
- Improves color accuracy for life-like performance. People will not look sun-burned, the sky will be blue, and the grass will be green. Your favorite sports team will be wearing the correct color uniforms.
- Your picture will be more detailed, especially in the darkest and lightest portions of the image.
- Your image will be sharper, more focused, and more film-like.
What gets Calibrated?
Your entire signal chain gets calibrated from source to display. This includes your source devices such as DVD or Blue-Ray player, Cable or Satellite boxes, Computers or media streaming devices, Game Systems, and any other devices connected to the video signal chain. Often, running a video signal through a component like a surround receiver will effect the image. Professional calibration will take these devices into account and ensure that you are getting the optimal image from source to display.
What are some calibration specifics?
Video calibration largely depends on your display device. Some displays feature extensive calibration controls and some only have the basics. Even if your display one has the basic controls, having them set correctly can yield superb results. The basic controls include Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Tint. These basic controls are found in almost every consumer display built today.
Proper Brightness?
Brightness or black level is the control that sets the level of black in the picture. If brightness is set too low, details in the darker parts of the image will not be visible. If Brightness is set too high, the image will appear 'washed out'. Improper setting of brightness will have a dramatic effect on color as well. The color that we see in an image is the result of color being overlayed onto a black and white image. If the black and white image starts out incorrect, we will have a very hard time getting the color correct.
The images below have three different brightness settings. The left-hand image has the brightness set too low. This results in the details such as the pebbles in the shadows not being visible. The right-hand image has the brightness set too high. This image appears washed-out and lifeless.
Proper Contrast?
Contrast or white level is the control that sets the level of white in the picture. If contrast is set too low, The image will suffer from loss of dynamic range. This can make the image appear darker and less detailed. If contrast is set too high, details in the brightest parts of the image will be lost.
In the images below, the contrast has been set too low in the left-hand image and too high in the right-hand image. Notice how the left hand image appears like it is out of focus. This is not a loss of sharpness or detail, but a loss of dynamic range. As the image loses dynamic range, details are lost. When contrast is set too high, details are also lost. In the right-hand image, contrast has been set too high and individual leaves lose their color and detail.
Proper Color?
The color and tint controls on most modern displays also need to be correctly set for optimal video performance. In the left-hand picture below, Hue has been set too red. This causes the leaves in the image to appear dead. In the right-hand image, the color saturation has been turned up too high resulting in cartoon-like colors. The correct version is the center image with accurate, life-like colors. I know, I took the picture.
Proper Sharpness?
Sharpness is perhaps the most misunderstood of the basic video controls. Sharpness is not a focus control. Sharpness is edge enhancement that is added to image. Often this results in 'ringing' or a halo being added around dark edges. Every display has a different correct setting for sharpness. For most, the correct setting is often very near the bottom of the scale.
In the images below, sharpness has been set too low in the left-hand image. This creates an obvious blurring to the image. The right-hand image has the sharpness set too high. The causes each individual leaf to appear to have a halo around it that is not part of the original image as well as inducing a 'grainy' tone to the image.
