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Most HDTVs have a fairly large number on inputs on the back (and usually some on the front too!) that can accept connections from antennas, cable TV feeds, cable set-top boxes, satellite receivers, DVD players, DVRs and more. Having all of these connectors is a good thing, but it can occasionally cause a bit of trouble. So once you connect one of your source devices to your HDTV, you may run into a situation where you start up your HDTV and expect a picture, and get . . . well . . . nothing. Don’t panic. Most TVs won’t automatically search amongst all the inputs you’ve got hooked up to find the one that’s “active”. So read the manual for your shiny new HDTV, and as a first step - before you learn anything fun (such as how to operate the picture-in-picture function or the “zoom” function), figure out how to select the various inputs. Some HDTVs have assignable inputs so you can tell your HDTV and remote control that, for example, Input “1” on the back (which may be a component video connection) belongs to the DVD player and should be activated when you press the DVD button on your remote, and so on. It takes only a few minutes, and it’s worth getting figured out right away.

Enhancing Your HDTV

When you bring your HDTV home, take it out of the box and turn it on, it will be in what many experts call torch mode: the brightness of your picture will be cranked way, way up. Manufacturers do this because of the retail environment - lots of bright overhead lights that could “wash out” the picture on the showroom floor. Manufacturers also crank up the picture brightness because, when ten or twelve HDTVs are lined up next to each other showing the same video, the brightest picture tends to catch your eye (so you think, “Must buy that one!”). In this article, we tell you about the different adjustments you can make to your HDTV’s picture. We also tell you about a series of different inexpensive DVDs (and a pair of D-VHS tapes) you can buy to really get things set up correctly - just adjusting the picture by eyeballing it isn’t going to cut it. We even tell you about some free DVD software that can do most (but not all) of what the other DVDs can do. Finally, we tell you about the ultimate in HDTV maintenance - like a spa day for your TV - the professional calibration. Why You Need to Calibrate Unfortunately, the “torch” mode your set was adjusted to when it came out of the box can’t give you the best picture quality when that HDTV is in your home. In fact, it gives you a lousy picture in a darkly lit room (which is best for movie-watching). Even in a normally daytime lit room, the standard picture settings of most TVs are too bright for best picture quality. That super-bright mode will also shorten your HDTV’s lifespan (or at least the lifespan of your light bulb, if you have a microprojector system) - which really means something if you have a $10,000 plasma that you were planning on using for 10 or 15 years! Even if you only have to change a bulb (and not replace a tube or buy an entirely new TV), you’ll still be out a couple of hundred dollars. Getting Your Settings Right In order to calibrate (properly configure) your HDTV’s picture, you’ll need to delve into the TV’s menu system, using your remote control and the on-screen display (or OSD) that your HDTV provides. Every HDTV differs, but you’ll most likely end up in a menu called “Video Settings” to adjust the picture elements we’re about to discuss. We probably don’t own the same HDTV as you do. We’ve seen/used/ played with many different sets - enough to recognize that there’s no way we’re going 100 percent match up to the terms that your HDTV uses in its menu system for picture quality settings. So keep that in mind - we’re using the generic terms here. Here are the most common picture settings:

-  Contrast (white level): The control adjusts the white level, or the amount of whiteness your screen displays:

• If your white level is too high, white areas of your picture tend to bleed over into the darker areas that surround them.

• If your white level is too low, whites don’t appear true white. Whites and blacks are measured on a scale called IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers) units. These are percentages between 0 and 100 - 0 percent is black; 100 percent is white.

-  Brightness (black level): How’s this for confusing? Your HDTV’s brightness control adjusts the black level that you see on the screen. Seems a bit counterintuitive, doesn’t it? If the black level is set incorrectly, dark scenes on your HDTV will be indistinguishable - you won’t see the bad guy in the black suit hiding in the shadows.

-  Sharpness: Ever see a fuzzy picture on your screen? The sharpness control is the likely cause - it adjusts the fine detail of the picture.

• If the sharpness is set too high, your picture appears edgy, often with “blobs” around the edges of objects, instead of clearly defined lines.

• If the sharpness is set too low, you have a fuzzy picture. (Aha, so that’s why it’s fuzzy!) -  Two adjustments set the balance of colors:

• Color: The color setting is used to adjust the intensity of the TV’s display of colors - if this is set too low, you’ll see only black and white (or grayscale); set it too high, and your colors will bleed together. If your color setting is too low, images begin to appear as black and white. If the color level is too high, images take on a reddish tinge - everyone resembles Bozo the Clown!

• Tint (hue): On most TVs, this control is labeled tint, but a few are technically correct and call it hue. This control adjusts your display’s color only within the range between red and green. This is pretty hard to adjust with your eyes alone - we recommend the calibration systems in the next section to get it done right. Many HDTVs come with some picture pre-settings - mix-and-match combinations of the settings listed here - designed for specific purposes. For example, Sony HDTVs have settings such as “Vivid” (which is that showroom “torch” setting), and “Pro” (which often is pretty close to being well calibrated for viewing movies in a dark room). Getting Calibrated All those video settings discussed in the previous section can be a bit difficult (we think impossible) to set up properly by just “eyeballing it.” Unless you have the visual equivalent of perfect pitch, how can you know when the whites are white enough and the blacks are black enough (not to mention whether the reds are red enough)? You can either do it yourself or bring in the professionals. Doing it yourself Calibration DVDs and tapes contain a specially designed series of tests and test patterns that you can follow (along with on-screen directions) to get the settings right on your HDTV. Calibration systems provide all the information you need to tune up your HDTV. If you really have to adjust your video without the aid of a calibration system, here’s what we recommend (at minimum): -  Turn down the brightness and contrast until the levels are about 1⁄3 to 1⁄2, all across your screen. -  Substantially turn down the sharpness control. Commercial DVDs Most calibration systems come in the form of DVDs - which means you won’t be using a high-definition picture to tune up your HDTV. Yes, this is a less-than-great situation, but the settings are fairly universal, so an HDTV that’s been well calibrated for a DVD input will also look good for displaying HDTV. High-definition DVDs will be here soon (see Article 11). Expect to see high-def versions of the DVDs mentioned here before long. There are popular calibration DVDs on the market from a couple of sources. Any of these discs will do a great job helping you get your HDTV tuned up and calibrated. Each of these discs includes -  A funky blue filter - they usually look like those crazy paper 3D glasses you needed to wear for Jaws 3! The blue filter lets you properly set up your color and hue settings. -  Audio-calibration tools that will help you get your surroundsound audio system properly configured (if you have one - see Article 19 to learn about surround sound). You really can’t go wrong with any of these discs: -  Ovation Software (www.ovationsw.com) distributes a couple of calibration DVDs with a series of easy-to-follow on-screen test patterns and signals that let you correctly adjust your TV’s picture settings:

• Sound and Vision Home Theater Tune-up: Produced in conjunction with Sound and Vision magazine (one of our favorites). It’s about $25.

• AVIA: Guide to Home Theater: This disc contains a ton of great background material about TVs and home theater. It’s about $50. AVIA Professional is a seven-DVD set that (as the name implies) is designed for professional calibrators (see the section titled “Bringing in the pros” for more on this).

-  Digital Video Essentials (DVE): Found online at www.videoessentials.com, this is the definitive calibration disc. It costs about $50. Of all the discs available, DVE has the most tests and the most calibration settings. One really cool thing about Video Essentials is the inclusion of video footage that you can watch to see the results of your adjustments with actual video, instead of just a test pattern. THX DVD If you don’t want to spend the money on a calibration disc, you can get much of the functionality without spending an extra penny. Just pick up a movie DVD with the THX Optimizer on board. Like the commercial calibration discs, the Optimizer walks you through a series of steps to adjust your display (and your audio system). Any THX-certified DVD (there were 361 such titles as we wrote this in the summer of 2004) includes the Optimizer. To get all you can from the Optimizer, you need a blue filter. You can get one from THX by filling out the order form online (there’s a link on the front page of www.thx.com. All you need to pay is 2 bucks for shipping/handling. High-definition D-VHS The Video Essentials folks (www.videoessentials.com) have responded to the HDTV market by coming up with D-VHS videocassettes that let you calibrate your HDTV with a true HDTV picture, instead of an NTSC-quality DVD picture. These tapes are called Digital Video Essentials - High Definition. You need a D-VHS VCR to use one of these tapes! Digital Video Essentials - High Definition is available in two resolutions. Either costs about $90. Choose the version that’s closest to your TV’s native resolution: -  If you have a direct view CRT or a CRT projection HDTV system, you probably need the 1080i version. -  If your HDTV doesn’t have a CRT-based display, you probably need the 720p version. Bringing in the pros The absolute best way to get your HDTV properly tuned up is to hire a pro to come to your home and do a professional calibration. Two things separate a professional calibration from the one you perform for yourself at home:

-  Training: Your calibration professional should have extensive training and certification, along with a chunk of real-world experience with finicky TVs (things you probably don’t have!).

-  Equipment: Your calibrator will also have some expensive equipment that can measure the color and brightness of images on your TV screen - this gives a much more precise calibration than using your eyeballs. A professional calibration usually costs between $200 to $500, depending on what type of display you have. If you have a professional calibration done, make sure you choose someone who has been certified and trained by the Imaging Science Foundation or ISF. The ISF has trained (and continues to train) thousands of home-theater dealers in the art of system calibration. You can find a trained calibration professional near you by searching on ISF’s Web site, at www.imagingscience.com. Don’t call ISF directly to ask them to calibrate your system. They’d know how, but that’s not what they do for a living. Their Web site includes a searchable (by state) listing of the dealers they’ve trained to perform this service.