Setting up my TV for the best picture

Can anyone recommend how to set up the picture on their TV to get all the right brightness, contrast, sharpness, colours etc. I've got some DVD movies with a "THX Optimizer" on but don't have the glasses that are needed to do the colour setup.

Thanks

You don't really need the glasses, just use the THX Optimiser and change the settings until they look right to you.

Turn all the controls down to zero, then turn the sharpness up to six.

That should be suitable for you.

A very basic but workable rule of thumb for most domestic televisions is to set contrast to about three quarters and then slowly raise the brightness until the blacks look right. That is, they are not lifted or crushed. Colour settings should generally be far less than you see in Currys or Dixons and sharpness controls should be left well alone on zero. All of this is much easier (and a little more accurate) if you have a recording of bars.

Though bars are one of the WORST test signals for lining up displays - they are there to check the signal path.

PLUGE (Picture Line Up Generating Equipment) is a good way of setting your brightness and your contrast - as is Testcard W - as they have "near black" areas that let you set the brightness level pretty well.

Saturation (i.e. colour) is more difficult to set - and there is a degree of subjectivity about it. However on many TVs, if you feed them RGB from a Freeview/Cable/Sky box your colour control is disabled - as to implement it would mean converting RGB to another format to alter it, then converting it back to RGB.

I didn't say bars were the best way to set up a display, merely that it's a better one than just guessing or doing it by eye. Using bars to set brightness by adjusting until there's just a perceptible difference between blue and black when in monochrome certainly is a quick and reasonable way of setting brightness. It's a technique used every day by cameramen all over the world!

What I find best is to turn all the picture controls down to minimum, then turn the brightness and contrast up a little alternately until you can see what appears to be a reasonable depth of greys and overall luminace fromn the screen.
Then put on one of those old pairs of 3D glasses that were used in some cinemas.
Turn up the colour / chroma gradually whilst opening and closing each eye alternately.
When you perceive the effect of the red and green images converging, remove the glasses.
Finally, turn all the controls up to maximum to calibrate the top end registers in the TV display, then perform the above procedure again without the 3D glasses or eye closing.

The best thing to test contrast is a set of black and white train bars.

Go to: www.sjh-media.btik.com go to the download section and at the bottom the Train icon, save the image onto your computer, then burn it to a DVD and you have a test card DVD.

The best one to have on it is:

-Test Card J or F [if your'e on 4:3 still]
-Test Card W [For 16:9]
-PLUGE
-Train
-Pulse test or Colour Bars
-Grid
-PM5544

I have copies of all of these apart from the Pulse Test so PM me if you would like them. On my website i have grid, train and Red Colourbars all in image format so have a look.

I would suggest using a VGA/Video line and displaying a full-screen test card on your computer as one way of doing it.

Another way is to use Richard Russell's test card generator - slip a cheque for £123.37 in the post, and wait. It's programmable for practically any test pattern and four teletext pages using a Windows PC, and it will send a signal out through a coaxial socket. That will help you set up your screen.

Or, better still, use the "Overnight Testcard" on Channel M.

A chance to tune in your TV accurately, and be entertained by Frank Sidebottom.

I got some THX Optimizer glasses off eBay. The THX Optimizer has all sorts of test patterns and it's FREE

Very sensible so far...


Er...





I think you need to put a health warning at the beginning of this for television vision engineers. Death from shock is not a pleasant way to go.