I hope we’ve at least whetted your appetite for HDTV calibration. Even if you don’t want to invest in a package from Datacolor or SpectraCal, you can make a noticeable improvement for just thirty bucks if you add the Spears & Munsil HD Benchmark to your video library.
You can see from our rundown that display calibration is mostly a balancing act. There is never just one right way to set a particular image parameter. It’s the way they work in concert that makes or breaks ultimate picture quality. We say over and over that the goal is simply to maximize dynamic range, achieve accurate color that is true to the source content, and to have an image that is free of edge enhancement and other algorithm-generated artifacts.
Of course, making that investment in a color meter, test patterns, and software can yield even better results. Datacolor’s SpyderHD is a complete package that brings calibration into the home without the added cost of training or pro-grade gear. The simple wizard-based interface walks you through every step and tells you exactly what pattern to measure, what control changes to make, and what your new image should look like.
The two things we missed from SpyderHD were grayscale and gamma calibration. While they fall into the category of advanced techniques, many HDTVs have a two-point white balance function and multiple gamma presets. With Datacolor’s experience in designing easy-to-use wizards that hold your hand every step of the way, the company should be able to add an advanced mode for users that want to maximize their display’s performance.
Modern HDTVs are better and more accurate than ever before. You saw in our review of Samsung’s F8500 plasma panel that it needed very little adjustment in its Movie mode to post near-reference quality results in all of our video tests. But those few tweaks took the picture from great to excellent.

If your interest has been piqued beyond the need to buy test discs, and you want to do more than just get your feet wet, we recommend taking a hands-on class with either the Imaging Science Foundation or THX. It is an expensive proposition at $1600 or more, depending on options. But even if you don’t become a professional calibrator, the knowledge gained is tremendous.
Speaking of professionals, there are over 5000 certified individuals nationwide (at last count) who can calibrate your HDTV or projector in the home for a $300-$400 fee. That’s about the price of a basic kit from Datacolor or SpectraCal. But the pro will be equipped with more precise tools like signal generators and spectrometers. And there’s no substitute for the experience of having calibrated thousands of displays!
Whether you hire a pro or immerse yourself further in the hobby by buying your own equipment, display calibration is a rewarding pursuit. Once you’ve enjoyed the results and become acclimated to your more accurate HDTV, it will be difficult to watch TV anywhere else. Realizing all the performance your display has to offer means you’ll never settle for an uncalibrated image again.
We realize this article is more of an overview than a definitive guide to HDTV calibration. If you have questions, we’ll do our best to answer them in the comments section.
Though honestly, for the "average" consumer, I find it hard to justify spending $350 to calibrate a $500 or so monitor set up and maybe a $800-1200 TV. I feel this is the type of thing you have to really get into (and end up doing it for free for your friends and family)
looks like my brightness and contrast slights off
And its free
They do calibrate the TVs (any manufacturer worth their salt anyway). the problem is two fold: first all TVs / monitors are relatively low margin because the market is highly competitive. unless you're paying a premium for "professional" monitors such as the Dell ultrasharp series, most panels will be calibrated the 'easy' way to some factory pre-set that is considered "good enough".
the second thing is that everyone's lighting conditions are different. maybe your room is brighter than mine and you like having the traditional type of bulbs that have a yellow / orange hue and I use white light bulbs. these things have a huge impact on how your TV looks, so at the end of the day the consumer will always need to do some calibration if you want perfect color reproduction.
Agreed. Writing a DIY that can be done for under $50 would be very appreciated. $350 is more than I paid for my 42" screen years ago. I know it wasn't the top-end model, but I'm willing to bet most people have TVs under $800 and aren't willing to spend $100s more to calibrate the screen.
Spears & Munsil has a lot more patterns available than the Disney disc plus better instructions in my opinion. That being said, you can achieve similar results with the Disney disc so if you already have it, I'd suggest giving it a try before buying S&M. If you're happy with the way your TV looks afterward, you just saved $30!
-Christian-
With that said, do not expect your games to look a whole lot better on your PC monitors after being calibrated by one of these. These tools are more for photography and video color accuracy more than anything else.
And its free
Thanks - I will have to check this out.
Amen!
With that said, do not expect your games to look a whole lot better on your PC monitors after being calibrated by one of these. These tools are more for photography and video color accuracy more than anything else.
For complete accuracy, the display has to be calibrated to the source. Where anyone, as a calibrator of devices, will gain the most is that if you have a source of some sort and calibrate it to the same reference to which your display is calibrated, then the ultimate in benefits is possible. In other words, take a picture of a standardized reference, show that picture on your display, then calibrate the display so that the picture of the standardized reference looks exactly like the standardized reference itself, then repeat for every source, e.g., scanner, still camera, video camera, etc, and pray your display has enough memory slots for those calibrated settings because you will need to switch to the matching setting when changing from one calibrated source to another.
As I understand it, the reality is that no two video sources, such as different BR discs, one TV network or another, are calibrated to the same reference. Thus, Joe Kane's interpretation of NTSC - "Never Twice the Same Color."
For viewing video sources over which one has no control, it is still worth calibrating to some reference because that will get rid of the "eye-catching" settings to which most manufacturers set their displays so that the average consumer will go "wow" when viewing the display in a showroom and thus, at least as the manufacturer hopes, buy the display.