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Your Report Card When he's finished, the calibrator will give you a report on your set's pre- and post-calibration results. Pay special attention to the graph for colorimetry calibration, which shows the color temperature before and after adjustment. "Before" is often a chaotic zigzag, with temperatures ranging from 5,000 K to 10,000 K or more. After calibration, you should have a line that holds steady at 6,500 K at all points from 20 to 100 IRE. But don't panic if your TV can't create a perfect line. Most sets will show some grayscale fluctuation, with variations of 200 to 300 K being common. Plasma, LCD, and DLP sets often have a large variance (500 K or more) at the low end of the scale. But this doesn't matter, since you can't see these deviations when you're watching your TV.

Less Bright, More Natural The first thing you're likely to notice about your newly tweaked TV is its lower overall light output. A calibrated set is darker, because it's been adjusted to offer the best possible performance in a properly lit room - not to compete with banks of lights and other TVs. The picture will look more film-like, with natural colors and without artificially enhanced edges. (TVs that have the ISF's Certified Calibration Controls can have separate day and night modes. This allows the picture to be a bit brighter for daytime viewing but then be changed to deliver optimum performance when you're ready to roll the movie with the lights down.)

Since the color temperature has been properly adjusted away from its typical out-of-the-box blue bias (cool), video will look lusher and warmer. To see the improvement, have the calibrator go back and forth between the calibrated temperature and the TV's preset cool temperature. The difference will surprise you.

It's never too late to consult a professional. Whether you just bought a TV or are still using an old reliable one, every set can benefit from a visit from the ISF guy. Ready, set, calibrate!