One of the reasons why HDTV is so popular, especially for home-theater systems, is the promise of a stunningly lifelike picture with the most amazing colors. Straight out of the box however, chances are that most of the manufacturer's presets for your HDTV color calibration will make things worse instead of better. In fact, professionals who install home theaters offer calibration for your HDTV as one of their services (for an extra fee). There was even an article published on cnet.com a few years ago about one professional home-theater consultant named Kevin Miller. Miller charged $400 for his HDTV calibration services! That might sound like a lot of money to anyone who hasn't invested in one of these sets. As it was pointed out in the article though, if you're going to spend thousands on a HDTV for your home theater then what's a little extra? You might as well get the HDTV calibration done to get the best picture that you can and to really make the colors pop.
Apparently, Miller was even hired by Hitachi as a consultant to give the company advice on their HDTV color calibration. Still, you don't really have to spend hundreds on the calibration of your HDTV if you have a good eye for colors, contrast, and brightness. A HDTV is still a TV, just like the older analog models after all.
Setting the Features
You should avoid making the picture overly bright for one thing. This may be somewhat difficult to judge, but a good idea might be to pop in a DVD with an even mixture of night (or at least dark) scenes and day scenes. You may want to try a classic black-and-white film to check the contrast and brightness as well. Too much of a good thing can be bad, especially with contrast and brightness, as it can produce a grainy image. Plus, overdoing it can shorten the life-span of a plasma HDTV. Colors can be a lot easier to figure out if you have a knack for it. Just be sure to shut off the presets and extra features before doing anything. Hopefully, you have an image or scene with which you're familiar for your HDTV calibration.
Something with strong reds and blues may make things easier (like an American flag for example) to adjust those particular settings. After all, too much red turns blue purple and visa versa. You also might want to freeze a nature scene with grass and bright flowers if you're adjusting your green levels. If the flowers start turning sickly, you know you're greens are too strong. There are some online guides and instructional DVDs for anyone who wants to do their own HDTV calibration, so give it a shot! You can always reset your settings and call in the professionals if it doesn't work out.
How relevant is HDTV today
An overview on the HDTV
Your trusted resource centre for information on hdtv,Fraunhofer IIS Introduces Full HDTV XS-Size Camera, the MicroHDTV (ThomasNet)
Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:38:55 GMT
ERLANGEN, Germany, March 21 -- Measuring only 4 by 4 by 8 centimeters, the MicroHDTV camera designed by the German Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is smaller than a bar of soap and can even be accommodated in a cramped racing-car or for applications that require the camera to be installed in difficult-to-reach places.
All about gift basket
mitsubishi hdtv
