The wizened ones at THX have added yet another reason to actually spend some time
calibrating your TV --
energy savings. Videophiles have long known that moving out of "torch mode" is good for the electric bill, but we're hoping that putting the THX logo behind the message will help move better picture quality to the mainstream. You know, because not everyone knows that TVs aren't supposed to pull double duty as tanning lamps and space heaters. For those people, maybe the 15 - 50-percent energy savings will get them to check out the THX calibration screens. Yearly electricity savings of about $50 aren't enough to offset a professional calibration, but if you're going to spend $1,000 on a TV, it's just silly to not spend 15-minutes to get things dialed in better than the out of the box settings.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phoenixfury @ Sep 2nd 2009 1:19PM
I never thought about the greener aspect of adjusting my tv to THX standards. However when I got my Vizeo LCD home a couple of years back, I immediately popped in Planet of the Apes DVD to get to the THX optimizer. I've only bumped up the brightness just a bit more since. I guess I'll never know how environmentally unfriendly my TV was out of the box. LOL
Space @ Sep 2nd 2009 1:53PM
It's crazy how many people don't do this. I adjusted my HD CRT in like 10 minutes with a SPecial dvd and it looks 10 times better than any one of my friends' 56" LCD TVs. Their Blacks are like a 80% grey. it's horrible, dark scenes are not dark at all
Matt @ Sep 2nd 2009 5:22PM
Well that's because CRTs have much better picture quality than LCDs. Even if their LCD was calibrated, your CRT would still blow it away.
NewGalactic @ Sep 2nd 2009 4:09PM
Where are some free HDTV calibration resources? I looked for a couple, but they cost money. And I'm not interested in paying for $20 one-time use DVD's, or Bit Torrent either.
Bill @ Sep 2nd 2009 5:24PM
buy or rent any Dreamworks DVD, stuff like toy story and various animation, have standard THX calibration on the disc, and you can go from there.
Matt @ Sep 2nd 2009 5:25PM
You can try the THX Optimizer screens that come on many DVDs, Star Wars for example. I got the DVE disc from Netflix.
Steven Kim @ Sep 2nd 2009 5:31PM
You can also give these calibration screens a try [Warning: NSFW]
http://www.xyhd.tv/slates/
xnappo @ Sep 3rd 2009 11:02AM
Free calibration disc:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496
xnappo
JayC @ Sep 2nd 2009 4:33PM
how about factories stop shipping TVs with contrast set to 100%???