Sharpness

This control is fairly straightforward; it affects how sharp the image will be. It does this by highlighting edge detail in the picture. In other words, it puts a white border around the edges of objects within an image.

This control can have a seriously negative effect on the picture, by making the picture "hard" when set too high, also giving it a grainy appearance. Most of the time, the sharpness control is always overused. The sharpness control can also make bad images look worse, by highlighting static and noise within the image.

Turning down the sharpness control will make images look smoother and more film like. Turning it down too much could cause the image to look muffled and blurry. However, on some TV's, the technically correct setting is all the way down. So, don't be afraid to take it all the way down if necessary. If you prefer a harder picture, increase the sharpness level to the desired setting.

There is no good way to adjust sharpness without the use of test patterns. In some cases, you may not notice much of a difference regardless of the setting. It's a control of personal taste. Where you put it will not affect the other settings. 

Color & Tint

Color


This control affects the color saturation level in the picture. Increasing the level will make the colors much more dominant and rich than a lower value will. The problem here is that on several occasions increasing the overall value will make certain colors (especially red) much more dominate than others.

One of the problems with color is that color is usually never consistent between television channels. This means that if you find a color setting you like for one channel, it'll probably not be ideal for another. DVD movies should be fairly consistent from one to another.

When adjusting the color control, there are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind. Do not adjust color when viewing cartoons, and try to evaluate color on a variety of different programs. You can use skin tone as a general guide to adjustment, but remember, not everyone is supposed to be pale. While adjusting color, you'll also need to adjust the tint control. 

Tint (Hue)


The tint control allows a dynamic gradient shift between violet and green. Since red can be so dominate in televisions, adjusting this control can alleviate some of the red push often found on consumer displays. It is unlikely that this control will need any major adjustment, but sometimes a notch or two to one side or the other can make all the difference in the world.

Be careful, this control can give many undesirable effects on the appearance of the picture. For example: setting this control too far to the red side will cause the image to look purple. Again this is an issue of personal taste. Find a setting between this control and

the color control to achieve the picture you desire. 

Color preference is always a matter of personal taste, and although there are technical standards for color saturation, they are almost always unachievable using the consumer controls. To get your TV to this level, you'll need to have your display calibrated by an ISF technician, who has very sophisticated calibration equipment and test patterns. 

Color temperature

Not all TVs will have a color temperature adjustment.

Technically, the color temperature control changes how white is displayed. In other words, the intensity of each color used when making the color white.

Adjustment is usually one of the three choices: Low (usually the most accurate setting), medium (which will sometimes help get reds to be less dominate), and high (which will make whites have a bluish tone to it).

Most TVs default to high out of the box. Although many are attracted to the super blue looking picture of the high setting, it will yield colors that are entirely inaccurate. Using the low setting will yield more rewarding and accurate TV images over the long haul. If you just can't get use to the low setting, medium will provide a better middle ground between the bluish picture of high, and the reddish picture of low.

If you change your color temperature setting, you may need to touch up your contrast, tint and color settings. 

Final notes

Achieving a great picture is a process that takes time. Be patient and don't get frustrated. Also, remember that it is possible your TV provides additional levels of control that were not covered here. Regardless, the five controls covered are the most important to understand to achieve a great image on you TV.

After you make adjustments to your image, give yourself a little time to get used to them, especially if you're coming from out-of-the-box settings. They could be much different than what you're used to. Once you've found the settings that you like write down the values or positions on the sliders. That way, if your TV loses it's settings due to a power outage or "accidental" press of the reset button, you can easily get right back to where you were without having to go through the entire adjustment process again.

You can achieve a really good picture by eye, but be aware there are technical standards for all these settings. However, the only way to achieve those standards is through the use of video test patterns. These patterns give you the visual information you need to perfectly make these adjustments. These patterns are available on DVD. The titles Avia and Video Essentials have all of the patterns you need to really fine-tune your image. They should be available at your local DVD retailer.

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