How to Calibrate a Video Display

Take your display as far as it can go toward full performance potential by performing TPV’s basic “front-panel” calibration

That said, I’d expect most people’s “touch-ups” would be in black and white levels, and occasionally sharpness. (Color shouldn’t be turned up high enough to make everyone look sunburned, but the other settings are more negotiable.) The adjustments described above are most suited, in my opinion, to watching movies in a darkened room. However, people often want a little more white level and/or a little less black level for watching TV during the day. No big deal. If your set has multiple memories use them to save picture settings optimized for both viewing environments. At the very least, most displays allow separate memories for separate inputs—thus your DVD player and your cable TV/satellite box will have separate memories adjustments anyway.

Also in regard to black and white levels, with certain fixed-pixel devices I’ve seen (DLP projectors to plasma panels), I’ve preferred the image with the white levels set slightly high and/or black levels set slightly low. Even though some detail is inevitably crushed, some of these displays are so limited in absolute black levels that images lack “snap” or contrast if the display is set up by the book. Ditto for the standard settings of the SHARPNESS control. If your display simply looks too dull, and the only way to get any detail from it is to run SHARPNESS up all the way, by all means, do it! I’ve seen situations where the artifacts that result from running the SHARPNESS a little high are nowhere near as bothersome as the flatness of the picture with SHARPNESS in the “correct” setting. And most of all, enjoy the movies!