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Getting your screen settings right
Something that's often neglected by users, getting the settings or calibration of a screen or projector right is nevertheless often necessary to get the best out of it. This will only take a few minutes of your time and no technical know-how.
Vincent Lheur
Updated: March 2, 2009
Updated: March 2, 2009
Calibration, what is it?
Calibrating your screen means getting the settings right so that it will display the source (TV, DVD, games console, HD player, satellite, cable,...) as faithfully as possible. From this you might think that you need to change the settings for each source you use. This is unfortunately not practical and you’ll have to settle for one source’s test patterns . Some of you are already saying: "Uh oh, test patterns … what’s he talking about? This is all going to be far too complicated!". Don’t worry, it really isn’t difficult. Anyone can manage it! You’ll see below that, without knowing it, these test patterns are probably on some of your DVDs. And even without them, our tips will allow you to improve considerably on your usual image.
Coming back to the different sources, they are, with just a few minor differences, calibrated in the same way. So if you get the settings right for one, you’ll only need to make a few changes at the most for the others. We’ll use the DVD player to carry out the settings changes we show you on the next page of this article. You’ll then be able to adapt them to your television, satellite, a games console or a PC once you’ve cottoned on.
In this article we’ll also cover some of the most common settings menu options on TVs and projectors. We'll detail how to use them and give you a few tips on getting the best settings.
In this article we’ll also cover some of the most common settings menu options on TVs and projectors. We'll detail how to use them and give you a few tips on getting the best settings.
