HDTV color temperature setting

[David Abrams]

Hi Ron,

Thank you for that. Common practice is to color correct content on a monitor calibrated to the standard that you are color correcting to, such as Rec.709. If you are color correcting content with a monitor that is not capable of hitting the standard, or is not calibrated, there are ways you can still achieve your desired results. EFilm, Technicolor and Company 3 are all companies that have build complex transforms to convert your content from one target to another. As an example, there is one major motion picture studio that uses their own proprietary color gamut for archiving– this allows them to work in a wider than normal gamut and then transform it down for Digital Cinema, Rec.709, sRGB, ect.

Depending on the amount of work and costs that are involved, you could either live with your content the way that it is, calibrate your system and then see how it looks on a reference display, or measure your system and have a company capable of making the conversion run it through their conversion process for you.

All the best,

David Abrams

Avical – Video System Specialists
Mobile – 877.428.4225, ext. 102
Email – dave@avical.com
Website – http://www.avical.com

[David Abrams]

Hi Ron,

Ideally, you would want to use a monitor that is meeting the standard that you are trying to achieve. If you’re trying to achieve a Rec.709 with Gamma 1886, then you would want to use a monitor that is adjusted to that. Beyond that, there are pros and cons to each technology and various ways of using each technology. As an example, HD SDI is 10Bit or higher; whereas, HDMI can be 8Bit or higher. The higher the bit depth the better quality the signal (generally speaking). Consumer displays do not often have HD SDI as an input and many converters or outputs on the market are actually inaccurate which can yield poor results within themselves.

Bottom line is that each display technology will perform differently and most often a professional display calibrated and designed to meet the specification of what you are trying to achieve will provide more stability, reliability, and consistency than a consumer display, but yes, consumer displays could be used.

All the best,

David Abrams

Avical – Video System Specialists
Mobile – 877.428.4225, ext. 102
Email – dave@avical.com
Website – http://www.avical.com

[Ron Ressler]

David,

I received a few posts from Frank Elite and he’s suggesting a device called “Datacolor Spyder3 Elite” designed to calibrate monitors. He also mentioned the company offers a tool intended to calibrate an HDTV.

What are your thoughts about it?

Thanks,

Ron

[David Abrams]

Hi Ron,

The Spyder is a low cost solution designed for specific applications. It is certainly better than nothing and is relative to itself– meaning if you are matching two computer monitors next to each other it should be a great help.

Lower cost solutions do have limitations though. For example, different display technologies have different spectral power distributions. A color analyzer, like the Spyder, has filters designed to filter the red, green, and blue colors and compare them to a reference. If the meter is calibrated with one SPD curve and you use it to measure another, an error is introduced. This is where a spectroradiomter comes in handy.

I hope that helps!

Best,

David Abrams

Avical – Video System Specialists
Mobile – 877.428.4225, ext. 102
Email – dave@avical.com
Website – http://www.avical.com