calibration
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Professional tuner says Apple TV's auto-calibrator doesn't deliver
YouTube channel HDTVTest suggests Apple TV's calibration feature doesn't provide its intended results on popular television sets.
So you've bought an OLED TV — now what?
Here's a list of the best accessories to buy for your OLED TV, plus tips to make the most out of your new set.
Samsung's latest experiments include a phone app to calibrate your TV
Samsung has unveiled its latest crop of C-Lab experiments, including a phone app that calibrates your TV and a scanner that helps you clean clothes.
Sonarworks brings a personal touch to headphone calibration
Sonarworks has been helping people improve the audio from its headphones since 2018. The company's True-Fi app is loaded with more than 300 headphone-sound profiles that tune the model you're wearing so it's closer to what the producer heard in the studio. Sonarworks built its reputation by creating calibration software for studio monitors and headphones, so it knows a thing or two about audio correction. Despite offering some customization options on top of the profiles, the company admits that True-Fi never took off, so it went back to the drawing board and created SoundID.
Sony’s headphone app will soon analyze your ears for 360 audio
Back at CES, Sony unveiled 360 Reality Audio, a new standard/format/ecosystem for immersive sound on headphones and speakers. The headphone demo at CES was very technical and quite sensitive as calibrating sound profiles to your ears required a thin wire underneath some studio-grade cans. The company was clear in January that the goal would be for anyone to do the calibration with their phone, by taking a picture of their ears. At IFA, Sony is showing off how that feature will work inside its current Headphones app.
Netflix's Calibrated Mode promises perfect images on Sony's new TVs
Tweaking your TV to get the perfect balance of color, contrast and clarity to make your favorite shows and movies really pop can be a pain. To help you out, Netflix aims to tune your TV to the ideal settings for its content catalog with its Calibrated Mode. The companies teamed up to create Calibrated Mode, which you'll only find on A9F OLED and Z9F LED TVs for the foreseeable future.
THX releases iOS app for calibrating your home theater's visuals and audio
Audio titan THX has released its very first mobile app, and it's aimed at helping folks fine tune their home theater experience. Dubbed "THX tune-up," the app slings videos, photos and test patterns to televisions and projectors to guide users through gauging and adjusting their kit's aspect ratio, brightness, color, contrast and tint. The solution isn't comprehensive, but it promises to work with hardware of any brand. If you don't have an AirPlay setup or cables to pipe content from your iDevice to a larger screen, the application also lends a hand when it comes to tweaking color and tint by leveraging a device's camera and a baked in color filter. As for audio, the app includes a pair of sound tests to make sure speakers are in phase and pump out the right output. THX tune-up won't be available on Android until this Spring, but it's currently up for download on Cupertino's App Store for free -- until it gets slapped with a $1.99 price tag after February 4th, that is. Hit the bordering source link to give it a spin.
Panasonic PT-AE8000U projector touts brighter, smoother 3D for king-of-the-hill home theaters
Panasonic wasn't one of the quickest out of the gate with a 3D projector, having only unveiled the PT-AE7000 in the middle of last year, but it's making up for lost time with a follow-up. The PT-AE8000 puts most of the focus on that extra dimension through both a 20 percent brighter 3D picture and motion interpolation for the stereoscopic image. Fine-tuning is equally new through picture balance and monitor tools that help perfect the color and parallax effects before any 3D movie gets started. Traditionalists in love with 2D get their fill, too: a new 220W lamp produces deeper reds, a more visible 2,400 lumens of brightness and (with the help of plates and filters) an even higher 500,000:1 contrast ratio. We've confirmed with Panasonic that the AE8000U should cost the same $3,499 as the AE7000 when it reaches stores between late September and early October, which makes the new projector a tempting prospect if you've been holding off until now.
HP's On-Screen Display Utility released, aims to alleviate Envy 15 screen color complaints
Back when we reviewed HP's latest Envy 15, we found a glaring issue with its otherwise spectacular 1080p IPS display -- namely, its less-than-pleasing color reproduction. Making good on a promise it made back in March, HP has finally released its On-Screen Display Utility software for the machine in hopes of quelling user complaints. If you'll recall, HP stated that the displays are of a higher quality than other laptop panels, which can make colors look odd in comparison. That said, while this gesture is certainly welcome, at least one tipster wrote in to complain that he "wasn't able to get a satisfactory change. It's basically just gamma adjustment and r/g/b sliders." Of course, we've only cited one anecdote here, so if you've got an Envy 15 you'd like to test this on, hit up the source link below. Be sure to let us know your results in the comments. [Thanks, Anthony]
HP acknowledges complaints about the HP Envy 15's color calibration, will release a tuning utility in the 'coming weeks'
If you remember, we had some mixed feelings about the HP Envy 15's IPS display when we took the laptop for a spin earlier this year. On the one hand, it offers wide viewing angles, deep contrast and rich saturation. (Not to mention, when are we ever going to complain about 1080p resolution on a 15-incher?) Still, as many disgruntled forum posters have pointed out, the color calibration seems off against other displays, with reds skewing orange and purples veering into bluish territory. At the time, we reached out to HP for comment and were told to sit tight while the company investigated the issue. Well, today we got an answer, and while the outfit is stopping short of admitting any sort of defect, it is willing to concede the color tuning is different, to say the least. Better yet, it's promising a fix for those incapable of un-seeing it. In a statement, HP's PR team said: HP understands that some customers have expressed concern regarding the appearance of the color red in the ENVY 15 full High Definition (HD) panel, and we wanted to reassure our customers that this panel is functioning properly. HP ENVY Series notebooks use optional premium LED-backlit display panels that have a higher color gamut (range of viewable colors), brightness and viewing angles than many display panels. This means that some colors may appear differently than they do on other displays. A company rep added that over the "coming weeks" HP will release a tuning utility that will allow users to adjust the color settings, making those reds redder, et cetera. It's still unclear how extensive these options will be (after all, HP is still steering the most discerning customers toward its DreamColor offerings), but something's most likely better than nothing, right?
Cakes of nanotubes may measure terahertz laser power, not years wasted
Terahertz lasers sure are awesome but, there's one big problem, we have no reliable way of measuring their power -- a pretty important piece of data to have before you start bombarding people with their flesh penetrating rays. A new coating for laser calibration tools called VANTA seems like a viable candidate for sucking up those longer than visible wavelengths. Constructed of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, up to 1.5mm in length, cakes of VANTA are not only more absorbent than other materials used for measuring a laser's power (which makes it more accurate and faster), it's also quite easy to handle. Chunks of the stuff can be sliced off with a razor and shuttled to the detector on the blade's side. We give it a week before someone cuts a piece with one of those new MacBook Airs.
Eizo's 27-inch ColorEdge CG275W has a 2560 x 1440 IPS panel, which will calibrate itself
Calibrating your monitor in order to maximize color accuracy is considered an inevitable chore for graphics professionals, but here comes Eizo with a defiant look on its face and a brand new 27-inch IPS display. The ColorEdge CG275W promises to do all the adjustments itself, eschewing the need for a separate calibration utility, and can even be set to do it overnight, freeing your creative mind to collect its much needed ration of Zs. Brightness maxes out at 270 nits, contrast is rated at 850:1, and there's a 6ms gray-to-gray response time, not bad for the traditionally slower IPS tech. DVI, DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort connectivity is augmented with a USB 2.0 hub, while the stand can tilt, rotate and swivel in typical Eizo fashion. You also get that fetching hood that's compatible with both portrait and landscape orientation. Shipping begins at the end of this month, with pricing varying by territory.
Calibrate your monitors for cheap
In the world of computer monitors, there's quality, ... and then there's the rest of us. I buy my monitors at places like Costco, Target and Best Buy, where you can pick up a 27-inch unit for under $300. Remember that statement about "you get what you pay for?" It's particularly true of low-end monitors where color calibration is often an afterthought rather than a guiding product principle. TUAW Talkcast regular Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd offers a great workaround for all of us who buy low on the food chain. Instead of spending upwards of $200 for a display calibrator, he's discovered that you can rent a color meter from your local photo shop for somewhat less than $20. He offers a quick but excellent write-up on his personal blog, with hints about the process. (Don't forget to save your calibrated settings in case you need to swap out hard drives or upgrade to a new OS.) Apple-branded shiny and white is a wonderful thing, but it's not a solution for everyone. Doc's calibration rental solution provides an effective workaround for people who want to make the most of the equipment they can afford.
How to connect and set up your new HDTV: all the cables, content, and calibration you need
Whether you're taking the wraps off of your first HDTV or your fifth there's a few easily avoidable hurdles that can prevent you from enjoying that brand new display at its best. Now, with new internet connected TVs and 3DTVs in the mix, there's even more to consider, but we'll walk you through the minefield of figuring out how to hook that new TV up, what to connect it to and even throw in a few suggestions on where to find the stuff you like to watch most.
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: HDTVs and home theater
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. A brand new HDTV is a gift that can get plenty of use throughout the year, but it's also one of the more expensive items on Santa's list. If you're shopping for the home theater enthusiast who has everything, there's always room in the cabinet for another streamer or demo disc. From 3DTV to network connected to throwback disc-based media, there's a lot of new options on deck for the 2010 holiday season - let's see if we can narrow the list a bit and make sure your gift scores a ten out of ten even if your budget is more like a two.
Disney launching calibration disc for pros and novices alike at CEDIA
Offering calibration patterns on Pixar flicks is one thing, but Disney is leaping wholeheartedly into the calibration and test market with its WOW (World of Wonder) Blu-ray disc launching November 2. We don't have details on all 35 calibration tools for audio and video packed in, but other bonuses include tools to reverse stuck pixels, test viewing angles and encoder performance and a second disc called VISIONS: Inspired By Nature full of real and imagined landscapes to demo all those equipment and settings. Expect to see this on shelves in DVD and Blu-ray form in one or two disc sets, or packed with a "high performance HDMI cable" in a home theater pack that could include an unspecified Disney flick. Real pros will probably leave the HDMI cable on the shelf, but if Goofy can get people to sort out their home theater settings, all the better -- all the details are in the press release after the break.
Spyder3HDMI doesn't need any help to calibrate your TV
Datacolor has been pushing the automated calibration solution for a while with its line of SpyderTV products, the latest of which simplifies things even further, cutting out the need for an attached PC by simply connecting to the television's HDMI input. This way, everything that needs to be done is on the TV screen itself, and the company claims it will work with any digital TV. Considering how many people still aren't even watching HD on their HDTVs, even if its price isn't a hurdle (none announced yet, although the current Spyder3 pictured here is $99,) consumer ignorance will still leave many LCDs and plasmas stuck on torch mode or worse.
Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray mini-review
If you're like us and you don't think it's possible to own enough HDTV calibration discs, then you've probably already bought the Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray Disc. Otherwise you might be looking at all the different options and since you only want to buy one, you're trying to figure out which one. Well, we've played with most of them and although we're hard pressed to decide on which is our favorite, we really like this one. To find out why, click through.
TV calibration -- good for picture quality and the environment, says THX
The wizened ones at THX have added yet another reason to actually spend some time calibrating your TV -- energy savings. Videophiles have long known that moving out of "torch mode" is good for the electric bill, but we're hoping that putting the THX logo behind the message will help move better picture quality to the mainstream. You know, because not everyone knows that TVs aren't supposed to pull double duty as tanning lamps and space heaters. For those people, maybe the 15 - 50-percent energy savings will get them to check out the THX calibration screens. Yearly electricity savings of about $50 aren't enough to offset a professional calibration, but if you're going to spend $1,000 on a TV, it's just silly to not spend 15-minutes to get things dialed in better than the out of the box settings.
Qdeo Blu-ray test disc promises more nits to pick and adjustments to obsess over
Pristine transfers and favorite demo material aside, if you're an obsessive-compulsive videophile like us, one of the first discs you reach for after unboxing that new TV is a calibration disc. You know, the ones with the exciting test patterns and narration that empty a room really fast. Make space in your arsenal for one more of those riveting discs, because Marvell is bringing out its Qdeo Blu-ray disc to help you evaluate your setup, and with a focus on noise reduction, format conversion and image enhancement, this disc could be a good fit for modern systems that have the ability to stack tweak upon tweak at the player, receiver and TV. We'll admit that we're always a little leery of electronics manufacturers that issue their own test discs, but as long as no foul play is uncovered, it certainly can't hurt to have another choice on the market; some test patterns just work better for some people.
