Picture and Sound quality are critical! They are the reason you buy a home theater system. It doesn't matter the how much you spend, all home theater systems can greatly benefit from a professional, ISF certified HDTV and home theater calibration!
What is HDTV Calibration?
HDTV calibration is all about reprogramming the video processor in your TV to display proper image detail and true, life-like colors the way the director intended them to be displayed. There are color standards in the video industry. The problem is that TV manufacturers don't always adhere to them! By having a professional, ISF certified calibrator come out to your house and calibrate your HD LED, LCD, Plasma, or Front Projection TV, you'll not only get a picture that is better than you could have imagined, but you'll also cause the TV to use less energy and generate less heat*.
Why Wasn't My HDTV Calibrated From The Factory?
The biggest reason is that TVs go through a break in period where the colors shift dramatically. This period usually lasts for the first 100 to 150 hours of viewing time depending on the type of TV you have. Manufacturers know that if they were to calibrate each set before it left the factory, it would shift in color and the calibration would need to be redone after that break in period anyway.
The next reason is because proper TV calibration is room specific. The distance you sit from your TV and the amount of light in your room play a huge roll in getting a TV calibrated.
Finally, TV manufacturers set their displays to look best in a showroom. Usually, this is a very bright building with a lot of other TVs. They want their TV to sell, so they turn the "brightness" way up and over saturate the colors creating a neon look.
Does My HDTV Really Need To Be Calibrated?
Try this as a quick test. Turn your TV on to any channel with a nature show. Now, compare the greens in the grass and trees to what you see when you look out your window. Do they even come close? You'll find that TVs almost always display green as being overly bright and "neon."
Next, turn on a show with a lot of people. Look at the skin tones and compare them to what you would see looking at someone else, or even in a mirror. How close are they? More often than not, TVs will display skin tones either too orange or too red. That weather guy that always seems to look like he has a sunburn, may not!
Finally, turn on a movie with a really dark scene. Do you ever feel like the picture is a little hard to see? Or that you are missing detail in the picture that you know is there? You are! The scary part is you're not only missing detail in the darker areas of the image, but also in the brighter areas and in all colors. Every color from black to white and everything in between has a proper gamma, hue, saturation, and luminance for each shade from bright to dark. Now that you can see what you're missing in the dark areas of the image, just imagine what you're missing everywhere else!
What is Home Theater Calibration?
Home Theater Calibration is all about setting your speakers and audio receiver for the acoustics of your room. Everything from the cables you use to the equipment you have to the shape of your room plays a huge roll in getting the type of movie theater like sound that will blow you away.
Why Wasn't My Surround Sound System Calibrated From The Factory?
Very similar to the reasons TVs aren't calibrated at the factory. The room you are in, the cables and speaker wire you are using, and way sound is either reflected or absorbed is critical in properly calibrating a sound system.
Do I Really Need To Have My Sound System Calibrated?
Try this for a quick test. Turn on any movie to a scene where two people are talking. Is it easy to hear their voices, or do you feel that you need to turn the volume louder to hear them, only to have to turn it back down because the rest of the movie is too loud?
Next, listen to an action scene. Are your front speakers or subwoofer much louder than any of the other speakers? Just as you can miss detail in the image of a TV, you may be missing details in the sound because one frequency is overpowering the others, or is cut off all together!
Finally, find a scene where there is a lot going on in the background. Usually actions scenes are good for this as well. How clearly can you hear your back speakers? Most people find that they are so quite that they are hard to hear. True surround sound should engulf you, make you feel as if you are right there in the movie, and cause you to forget about everything else around you.
How Do I Get My HDTV and Home Theater Systems Calibrated?
Contact us today to schedule an appointment with an ISF certified HDTV and home theater calibrator and start experiencing your movies, instead of just watching them. You can also check out our testimonials to see what other customers think.
*Statement not true on all TV makes and models