CRT tuning?

Question

I have a 30-inch Philips CRT HDTV. I've gone half-crazy fiddling with the brightness, color, contrast and sharpness settings, trying to make it "ideal." Without a second pair of eyes, it is hard to know how close I am. The home theater calibration discs I have aren't that helpful for the same reason.

My current settings are:

Brightness: 48 (out of 100)

Color: 60 (out of 100)

Contrast: 55 (out of 100)

Sharpness: 2 (out of 7)

Am I close?

Answer 1

Understand that CRTs fade over time, and ideal settings are no longer valid.

First, use the gels that came with your calibration disks to set the hue, then leave it alone.

Oh, almost forgot. Turn off "sharpness" completely. It's for people that use antennas and live far away from the source.

Since you didn't state who's calibration disks you use, let's proceed generically. Tune your TV to a high definition channel, any high definition channel. Their broadcast is digital and will arrive at your television in pristine condition. I can assure you, their signal is calibrated and will suffice as a reference.

Turn the lights off in your room and drop the contrast to zero. Drop the color (saturation) to zero also. You should see a black and white (and maybe dull) picture. Bump the color until it reaches a realistic level. Be careful not to overdrive the color. Only make it as "loud" as the real world you live in. (If your contrast is so poor that you no longer see a picture at the zero level, take your television into a service shop and ask them to adjust your drive voltages for green and balance the red and blue accordingly. If they try but can't, your TV is beyond calibration and needs to be replaced.)

Turn on lights, open drapes, etc. basically, make the room the way you would normally use it. Adjust the contrast upwards until you can see variable levels of darkness. It's hard to know where to stop but don't overdrive the contrast and make the picture more vivid than real life.

There now, isn't that better?

Answer 2

Colors are very subjective.

What's perfect for you may not be for somebody else.

You didn't mention Hue (color balance).

Contrast and brightness depends on the program material.

I prefer to adjust the brightness somewhat low, this prevents Blooming (expansion of the image).

If you like what you see, then those are the right settings for you.