As the CEO of Audio Advice, Scott Noonan has plenty of experience with home theaters. In a recent video, he shared his tips for calibrating your television or projector, specifically when it comes to brightness and contrast.
First, Noonan recommends choosing a preset picture format based on the brand of your television or projector. Most top brands are calibrated well, so choosing a preset like cinema, natural, filmmaker, or reference will likely give you the best combination of contrast and colors. However, if your room has a lot of ambient light, you may need to choose a brighter preset and sacrifice some picture quality.
If you want to take things one step further, or if you have an older television or projector, Noonan suggests tweaking your brightness and contrast to get the best possible picture. He recommends taking a picture of your settings before changing them, so you can revert back later if you want.
To calibrate your black level, Noonan suggests turning off the lights in the room and using a black test pattern. Adjust the brightness level until you only see solid black from column 16 to the left, and the different levels to the right of 16 are visible. This adjustment sets the entire brightness of the image so that you have it as bright as possible while still matching the darkest black from your content.
For contrast, Noonan recommends setting your peak white level as high as possible without washing out detail in the brighter parts of the image. If you’re watching content and the whites appear washed out, bring the contrast down a little.
Overall, calibrating your projector takes some time and effort, but it’s worth it to get the best possible picture. Be sure to check out Audio Advice’s other videos for more tips on improving your home theater experience.