Digital Video Essentials (DVE) Overview - page 2

Calibrating Video

The basic video adjustments include.

• Brightness (black level)
• Contrast or picture control (white level)
• Color
• Tint or Hue
• Sharpness

If you are new to video calibration then you may be thinking that setting these parameters is trivial. The truth, however, is that accurately adjusting these settings without the proper test patterns is nearly impossible. You simply cannot eyeball it. In order for your display to render a picture the way the director intended for you to see it, your display has to be set to a known reference standard. In this case it is the NTSC standard. This DVD will help you achieve that goal.

Brightness

The first setting you will be adjusting is the Brightness control. In reality, you are not adjusting the "brightness" of the set at all but rather the level of black . This is one of the many misunderstood concepts you will learn about with this DVD. The new pluge pattern makes it very easy to set correct black levels. There are now three black bars as opposed to two and they explain in detail what to do if you don't see all three. This was an issue with the first video essentials and some DVD players. On my display it was simple to get it almost perfect the first time. I was able to clearly see all three bars; and lower the Brightness control until the outermost bar just disappeared into the surrounding black. After setting the contrast, you may have to come back and readjust brightness. These two settings are quite often interactive so expect to tweak them after the initial settings are dialed in.

Contrast

After setting the Brightness the first time, you will move on to Contrast, which is actually known as the peak white level. Contrast is easy to adjust on some displays but can be difficult on others. My display fell into the difficult category and I had to use the supplied pattern and another technique you can read about here. However, this experience was based on my display and my perfectionist personality that drives me to achieve the best results humanly possible. In most cases, simply following the instructions supplied by DVE, will get you close enough, if not right on. Remember to check the Brightness setting again after setting Contrast. Don't be alarmed if your setting seems low; every CRT display that I have calibrated always ends up being lower than the 50% point - most times much lower. Realize that with CRT-based devices you may have just increased the lifespan of your television by allowing it to operate at the proper luminance levels.

Color and Tint

After getting brightness and contrast set, you will move on to Color and Tint. Contrary to what you may have been told in the past, there is no accurate way to adjust Color and Tint without the proper color patterns and color filters. You will most likely find that your display falls into the category of having color decoder errors and may require a professional to get it correct.

Setting Color and Tint is very simple with the provided filters and the new color bar pattern. You will be instructed to adjust both controls, one at a time, using the blue filter. You will find that Color and Tint are interactive and you will have to go back and forth several times to get them both correct - just like you did with Brightness and Contrast. When you are finished adjusting these settings you should see the blue pattern below when viewing the color bars through the blue filter.

Now once you have blue set correctly you can check your color decoder for errors. If your decoder is functioning correctly, then the patterns below are what you should see when looking through the red and green filters. Don't be alarmed if what you see varies from what is shown below. This is the case for many displays, especially in the red channel (red push), and simply indicates what are commonly referred to as "color errors."

If you have errors (a likely scenario), then you will find help in dealing with them in the troubleshooting section of the DVD. If the errors are severe, you may have to live with a compromise or call a professional to fix the problem. The good news is that even with decoder errors and a compromise, your display will still look much better that it did before. In any case, start with what this DVD tells you to do and watch it for a few days before going back and tweaking further. You will no doubt have to tinker a bit until you are satisfied with the color settings.

Sharpness

The last setting you will be adjusting is Sharpness. This may be the easiest of the settings to get correct the very first time since, for many displays, the correct setting for Sharpness is all of the way down or off. I have calibrated about a dozen CRT-based displays with this DVD and this was the case for all of them. The Sharpness control adds extra information that is not part of the original signal and is not needed with modern NTSC or ATSC signals. You will be instructed to look at this pattern and then turn down the Sharpness control until the extra information disappears. Extra information will show up as edges being added to the original lines. It will be very noticeable in the center cross and the circle around it. Turning your sharpness all the way down should allow everything to remain naturally sharp and in focus. On some (mostly digital) displays however, setting the Sharpness control all the way down may result in a soft or out of focus picture. In this case, raise the level until the picture is clear but no extra edges are added. If your set has SVM (Scan Velocity Modulation) or VM as it is sometimes labeled, look for a way to turn it off. If you look at this pattern and toggle SVM off and on, you will notice the black lines appear to get fatter when SVM is enabled; it is adding extra information that is not part of the original content. This is explained in more detail on the DVD.

Once you have finished with Sharpness you are done with the basic user controls. If you encountered a problem, then I recommend looking in the troubleshooting section for an answer. It is advisable to go through it anyway as it contains some very good information. Be sure to watch the video footage in the reference materials section, and check out the "chip chart lady" as well. It is a little added bonus for those of us who had the first Video Essentials DVD.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

My display has been calibrated from the very first day I brought it home. However, if I choose one of the factory defaults and compare it to the calibrated settings, the original defaults are not viewable in my opinion. With the factory settings, colors are boosted beyond normal, edges are hard and have that soap opera video look, blacks are grey and whites too bright (obscuring detail). With the calibrated settings, colors are accurate and blacks are deep while still retaining shadow detail. The picture has a natural "film" look to it. It is like viewing a different display. If I were to judge my display by the factory settings I would never have purchased it. The truth is, you can't accurately compare brands of display when you are looking at them in the store. Remember, these units are uncalibrated and configured from the factory to make an impression to customers viewing them under full neon lighting. The best advice I can give you in deciding on a new display is to do your homework, and make sure they have a return policy. Better yet, try and find a dealer or installer that has an ISF certified calibrator in-house and has already setup the displays you are interested in.

After having listened and watched through this entire DVD, I found its educational potential amazing. It made me realize how misinformed the public (myself formerly included) tends to be about proper display calibration and its role on achieving maximum performance. Looking back I certainly wish I had something like this when I bought my first laser disc player. It appears that manufacturers are getting wiser and are now including options for turning off undesirable settings and allowing the user access to more adjustments previously only available in the service menu. This is a great step forward and one I know the Home Theater Alliance is reaching for as well. With the big push for high definition television, I believe it will just get better from here on out. Perhaps the day when we can buy a pre-calibrated display or projector is not too far off. Until then we have tools like Digital Video Essentials, and if you are serious at all about your home theater, then you need to own this DVD.