• Why don't TV manufacturers calibrate their sets before they leave the factory?
• What differences can I expect from a calibrated set?
• How well does "X brand model 1234" calibrate?
• Why didn't my set calibrate as well as it did when the magazine reviewed it?
• What does a basic calibration cover?
• What is Aspect Ratio?
• What is Black Level?
• Okay, then what is White Level?

1. Why don't TV manufacturers calibrate their sets before they leave the factory?
Actually, they do! In so much that a 30 second automated 50IRE grayscale calibration is all that they do. On the production line, most manufacturers will make sure that a set will adjust in the middle of the grayscale. It is more of verification than a calibration. And of course, whatever the marketing department thinks the color temperature should be (to help sell the sets) is the "standard" that was used to calibrate your set.

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2. What differences can I expect from a calibrated set?
The number one thing you will notice is a more 'film-like' picture. Subtle differences in colors will be much easier to see. You should also see less noise in the picture and be able to see fine details more easily. Most properly calibrated tube or plasma sets will also last longer due to having the contrast control turned down from the usual factory "torch mode" setting, helping to prevent phosphor "burn-in". This means that the picture probably won't be as bright after calibration as you are used to. Don't panic! Give yourself time to get used to the new look.

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3. How well does "X brand model 1234" calibrate?
Every unit from every manufacturer will react differently to calibration. It is impossible to accurately predict the results for a particular set due to manufacturing differences in individual parts - especially picture tubes. Every individual part in the set has to fall into the acceptable specification tolerance range allowed by the manufacturer. When the hundreds of parts in a modern display device all come together into the finished product, there is always going to be some difference in the results from one sample to the next. Also, manufacturers sometimes make changes to a product during its lifetime without changing model number - so a set built this week may be fundamentally different from one built two months ago. So it is impossible to predict the exact results we can achieve with your set, even if we've calibrated several of the same models previously.

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4. Why didn't my set calibrate as well as it did when the magazine reviewed it?
See above answer about sample-to-sample variation.

Also remember - the manufacturer may have handpicked a review sample from the production line so that its performance falls at the good end of the tolerance range for that product. Do any of them do this? There's no way to know for sure unless the review specifically says the product was bought at random from a retailer.

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5. What does a basic calibration cover?
A lot! We document the color temperature of the unit before we start. Then we adjust service menu Contrast, Brightness, Color, Tint, and Sharpness so that each is correct when the user adjustable controls are at their default positions. Then the color temperature is calibrated to track to the NTSC and ATSC standard of D6500 from lowest (black) to highest (white) picture levels. We will explain every aspect of the calibration to you as it is performed.

The calibration details for each type of TV are listed in the Prices area of this website.

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6. What is Aspect Ratio?
Well! You are asking the tough questions! Aspect ratio is the comparison of the width of the picture to the height. When movies first came out they were almost square with a ratio of approximately 4 units of width to 3 units high (4:3, like standard TVs). To make it easier to compare aspect ratios we state them as ratios with the height fixed at 1 - so 4:3 becomes 1.33:1 (4/3=1.33). Often this is just stated as a single number (an aspect ratio of 1.33).

When TV started to talk about converting to color in the 50's, movie companies had to offer something better to ensure that the public would keep coming to the movie theater. 'Widescreen' became the theater norm, and movie directors, producers, and even film manufacturers came up with various ratios to be wider than the 'other guy'. These ratios ranged from 1.85:1 to 2.76:1 (Ultra Panavision). Modern films are usually produced in the range of 1.85:1 to 2.35:1. Movie theaters deal with this by using moveable masking at the sides of the screen to change the width. Unfortunately, when dealing with video display devices we don't have the option of making the picture "just a little wider". Instead the width remains fixed and the height of the picture is varied. Luckily, films produced for projection at an aspect of 1.85:1 almost fill the full height of an HDTV screen, so only a small area at the top & bottom are unused.

Today, the standard 'widescreen' ratio for HDTV is 16 units wide by 9 units tall (16:9 or 1.78:1). You will notice that this doesn't correspond to any previously used ratio! We don't have the space here to explain how this "compromise" screen shape was derived, but this is what we'll all be living with at home in the future. The "wider" aspect ratios (greater than 1.85:1) are what create black horizontal "letterbox bars" at the top & bottom of the screen with many movies displayed on HDTV sets.

We also have to deal with the other end of the scale - fitting standard TV's 1.33:1 aspect ratio into our widescreen HDTV set. This creates the opposite problem - it fills the full height but not the width. So in this case we have "side panels" with no picture information. And yes, there's a good reason they're grey (we'll get to that in another question).

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7. What is Black Level?
Black level is the amount of light produced by your TV when there is no picture information present. Ideally, this would be a complete absence of light (you know, Black!). This is adjusted with the Brightness control on most TV sets. Maybe this should be called almost black level since setting it is important to ensure that details in the darkest areas of the picture are visible while black is as dark as possible.

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8. Okay, then what is White Level?
White level is the amount of light produced by your TV when there is a maximum of picture information (the brightest part of the picture, I.E. White). This is adjusted with the Contrast control on most TV sets (Sony calls it Picture). While you might think in this case that more is better, it doesn't work out that way. There are problems with setting the white level too high with all types of display devices. Sets that use phosphors to create light (in picture tubes or on plasma panels) can actually be damaged this way. Digital imaging devices (like LCD or DLP) can't be damaged, but you'll lose details in the bright part of the picture if white level is set too high.

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