Adjusting TVs to your home lighting

Larry_OHF · 07-20-2005, 06:11 PM

I was listening to a guy on the radio talk about doing a side-job of going into people's homes and adjusting their LCD and Plasma TVs to work properly in their home, because he said that when TVs are shipped, they are all pre-programmed to work best in florescent lights, which is what is found in stores. But when you get the set home, you should adjust the sets to work best with the lighting you have in the room it is in. He said that not only the new TVs are like this, but regular analog sets are as well.

The radio show host was running out of time and told the guy he had five seconds to finish telling people how to fix thier own sets if he wanted to pass along a little help, and he said basically...you turn the brightness and contrast down to 0.

I tried this on my old TV, just a 13 inch set that is about 8 years old...and it works really well...the image is alot more clear and all. I may want to bring up the brightness only slightly, but the guy was right...and I was really wishing that he would have had more air time to say more about it.

I hear that there is actually an instrucitonal video out for adjusting the new HD tvs in one's home, but it is costly.

Does anyone here know how to go about this stuff the "correct" way? I mean...sure I can adjust all that with no formal schooling at all, but how will I know that I have the "exact" settings...the "perfect" look? Obviously, there is a market out there looking for people that know how to do it properly.

[ 07-20-2005, 06:13 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

Ladyzekke · 07-20-2005, 07:38 PM

Dunno if this may be about the subject you are looking for Larry, I could be way off, but scroll down a bit to under the second picture and read that. And my apologies ahead of time if the site doesn't help you LOL, it is about Sharp TVs only.

http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdt...u-review.shtml

Ladyzekke · 07-20-2005, 07:43 PM

Another site?

http://myweb.accessus.net/~090/how2adj.html

Larry_OHF · 07-20-2005, 10:18 PM

Wow! Um...that first link was going towards what I was trying to get across, but not quite...and then your second link went far higher than I was even aware possible! I was not expecting such high-tech from that! I could not understand half of it, mainly because my poor little set does not have all those adjustment thingies...

Yeah...so you can see why there are people out there making money from this job...

Ladyzekke · 07-20-2005, 10:25 PM

Well it sure went all over my head LOL. Didn't know what exactly you had bought and were trying to adjust, so just did a general search in Google, i.e., "HD TV light adjustment instructions". Maybe you could do a similar search but use your particular TV in the there. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Larry_OHF · 07-20-2005, 10:49 PM

Oh...sorry...there goes my poor ability to communicate properly again. I did not buy anything...I was merely asking if anyone knew that alot goes into fixing up a TV once it has been bought...since I had never heard that TVs came shipped to display properly in Florescent lights only...and that they should be worked on in home later. I knew that some color adjusting might be needed, but I never knew that it would be so difficult with newer TVs that people actually made money off of doing it for you and me.

[ 07-20-2005, 10:50 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

Sever · 07-21-2005, 11:01 AM

That's all very helpful, but does anyone know a trick or two about synchronising gamma and whatnot between the monitor and video card? It's causing no end of frustration lately...

Larry_OHF · 07-21-2005, 11:28 AM

My NVidia driver update gave me a gamma fixer that does really well. I am currently using a preset gamma called Kodak DC Series, Digital Camera, that came with a list of other presets in this color correction thing.

Before that, I was using Adobe Gamma that came with my copy of Photoshop 6.0. It was also a good gamma fixer. Either of these two programs would be ideal for what you want to work on.

Sever · 07-22-2005, 03:24 AM

I'm using an ATI Radeon 9200 (with catalyst 5.sumfin drivers). It was working pretty good at first until i found the gamma/brightness/colour adjustments in the display menu and couldn't resist. I've since reset them to the default values and this is where it get's weird.

When i boot up, the desktop (win xp) comes up much brighter than normal. If i run a program, like morrowind for example, the screen darkens a little bit. During a game of morrowind, i almost have to manually change the gamma settings to compensate brightness when going indoors or outside. ie. the exterior locations are much too bright and the interiors are too dark. It's certainly vastly different to what i'm used to and it's pi$$ing me off.

When i go back to desktop after closing a program, the screen is reset to a much darker gamma setting (ie. the normally brown background of IW appears pitch black!) even though the controls are the same as they were on boot up.

Any corrections i try to make don't seem to have any effect and i certainly don't want to make it worse. Anyone think of something i'm missing (short of reinstalling)?

Larry_OHF · 07-22-2005, 11:04 AM

Everytime I install new drivers from NVidia, I have to recalibrate the color scheme because the one I have saved gets deleted when I install new drivers, and the color and brightness resorts back to a default. It is darker than I can operate on. That is when I go in and choose the preset that I have already mentioned...rather than trying to achieve it myself, as I would be hard pressed to balance the whole thing the way this preset does for me. And that is it.

Have you tried reinstalling drivers and starting from scratch? That might be the best thing to do. Does Radian have any presets at all in their color management?

07-20-2005, 06:11 PM	#1
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 49 Posts: 14,759	I was listening to a guy on the radio talk about doing a side-job of going into people's homes and adjusting their LCD and Plasma TVs to work properly in their home, because he said that when TVs are shipped, they are all pre-programmed to work best in florescent lights, which is what is found in stores. But when you get the set home, you should adjust the sets to work best with the lighting you have in the room it is in. He said that not only the new TVs are like this, but regular analog sets are as well. The radio show host was running out of time and told the guy he had five seconds to finish telling people how to fix thier own sets if he wanted to pass along a little help, and he said basically...you turn the brightness and contrast down to 0. I tried this on my old TV, just a 13 inch set that is about 8 years old...and it works really well...the image is alot more clear and all. I may want to bring up the brightness only slightly, but the guy was right...and I was really wishing that he would have had more air time to say more about it. I hear that there is actually an instrucitonal video out for adjusting the new HD tvs in one's home, but it is costly. Does anyone here know how to go about this stuff the "correct" way? I mean...sure I can adjust all that with no formal schooling at all, but how will I know that I have the "exact" settings...the "perfect" look? Obviously, there is a market out there looking for people that know how to do it properly. [ 07-20-2005, 06:13 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ] __________________

07-20-2005, 07:38 PM	#2
Ladyzekke Ironworks Atomic Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Virginia, U.S.A. Age: 58 Posts: 9,005	Dunno if this may be about the subject you are looking for Larry, I could be way off, but scroll down a bit to under the second picture and read that. And my apologies ahead of time if the site doesn't help you LOL, it is about Sharp TVs only. http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdt...u-review.shtml __________________ Reality Show Recaps

07-20-2005, 07:43 PM	#3
Ladyzekke Ironworks Atomic Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Virginia, U.S.A. Age: 58 Posts: 9,005	Another site? http://myweb.accessus.net/~090/how2adj.html __________________ Reality Show Recaps

07-20-2005, 10:18 PM	#4
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 49 Posts: 14,759	Wow! Um...that first link was going towards what I was trying to get across, but not quite...and then your second link went far higher than I was even aware possible! I was not expecting such high-tech from that! I could not understand half of it, mainly because my poor little set does not have all those adjustment thingies... Yeah...so you can see why there are people out there making money from this job... __________________

07-20-2005, 10:25 PM	#5
Ladyzekke Ironworks Atomic Moderator Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Virginia, U.S.A. Age: 58 Posts: 9,005	Well it sure went all over my head LOL. Didn't know what exactly you had bought and were trying to adjust, so just did a general search in Google, i.e., "HD TV light adjustment instructions". Maybe you could do a similar search but use your particular TV in the there. [img]smile.gif[/img] __________________ Reality Show Recaps

07-20-2005, 10:49 PM	#6
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 49 Posts: 14,759	Oh...sorry...there goes my poor ability to communicate properly again. I did not buy anything...I was merely asking if anyone knew that alot goes into fixing up a TV once it has been bought...since I had never heard that TVs came shipped to display properly in Florescent lights only...and that they should be worked on in home later. I knew that some color adjusting might be needed, but I never knew that it would be so difficult with newer TVs that people actually made money off of doing it for you and me. [ 07-20-2005, 10:50 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ] __________________

07-21-2005, 11:01 AM	#7
Sever Ma'at - Goddess of Truth & Justice Join Date: October 31, 2002 Location: Western Australia Age: 44 Posts: 3,293	That's all very helpful, but does anyone know a trick or two about synchronising gamma and whatnot between the monitor and video card? It's causing no end of frustration lately... __________________ Say say, oh playmate i cannot play with you my dolly's got the flu boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo

07-21-2005, 11:28 AM	#8
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 49 Posts: 14,759	My NVidia driver update gave me a gamma fixer that does really well. I am currently using a preset gamma called Kodak DC Series, Digital Camera, that came with a list of other presets in this color correction thing. Before that, I was using Adobe Gamma that came with my copy of Photoshop 6.0. It was also a good gamma fixer. Either of these two programs would be ideal for what you want to work on. __________________

07-22-2005, 03:24 AM	#9
Sever Ma'at - Goddess of Truth & Justice Join Date: October 31, 2002 Location: Western Australia Age: 44 Posts: 3,293	I'm using an ATI Radeon 9200 (with catalyst 5.sumfin drivers). It was working pretty good at first until i found the gamma/brightness/colour adjustments in the display menu and couldn't resist. I've since reset them to the default values and this is where it get's weird. When i boot up, the desktop (win xp) comes up much brighter than normal. If i run a program, like morrowind for example, the screen darkens a little bit. During a game of morrowind, i almost have to manually change the gamma settings to compensate brightness when going indoors or outside. ie. the exterior locations are much too bright and the interiors are too dark. It's certainly vastly different to what i'm used to and it's pi$$ing me off. When i go back to desktop after closing a program, the screen is reset to a much darker gamma setting (ie. the normally brown background of IW appears pitch black!) even though the controls are the same as they were on boot up. Any corrections i try to make don't seem to have any effect and i certainly don't want to make it worse. Anyone think of something i'm missing (short of reinstalling)? __________________ Say say, oh playmate i cannot play with you my dolly's got the flu boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo

07-22-2005, 11:04 AM	#10
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 49 Posts: 14,759	Everytime I install new drivers from NVidia, I have to recalibrate the color scheme because the one I have saved gets deleted when I install new drivers, and the color and brightness resorts back to a default. It is darker than I can operate on. That is when I go in and choose the preset that I have already mentioned...rather than trying to achieve it myself, as I would be hard pressed to balance the whole thing the way this preset does for me. And that is it. Have you tried reinstalling drivers and starting from scratch? That might be the best thing to do. Does Radian have any presets at all in their color management? __________________

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