Why so big a difference in “finished product” from one tv to another

[Tero Ahlfors]

[Duke Sweden] “I know what you’re talking about and I agree, but the examples I’m talking about go beyond “artistic license” into just plain bad.”

But here’s the thing: Is the problem actually on their end or the viewers end? There’s all kinds of “image enhancement”-features in modern TVs that are just plain terrible and they are usually on by default.

[Jon Doughtie]

Duke, the more you dig into this the more you will find out how much “slips ‘twixt the cup and the lip”.

It is a rabbit hole you can dive down and never come out again!

What the gents said about proper setup on your main monitor to see accurate results is spot on. After that, there’s no guarantee (zero, zip, none) that it will look right on another screen somewhere else. Heck they have set it up for the way they like their movies to look in a dark room, and see your video during the day, with all kinds of light spilling in from outside. That will change the viewing impression.

Too many variables, too many different TVs, many different manufacturers, ten gazillion different settings on each of them. Just do your best at your end; that, ultimately, is the best we can do!

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2014 (as of 7/2015)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Duke Sweden]

Shakespeare! Right? 😉

Yeah, I know, but how do I know if my monitor is calibrated correctly? Aside from that, as I’ve said before, my “art” is destined for my brother, and my 60 (where they came from I have no idea!) subscribers on youtube, so paying for a calibration is out of the question. The only reason I even started this thread is because my video looked so drastically different on my other tv. Not just color but the oversharpened green screen layer, which looked fine on the computer.

Anyway, for a cheapo solution, can I just calibrate my monitor to look exactly as the video file looks in my camera’s LCD? It seems if I do that, then my monitor will show the unadorned clip, any post I do on the clip should look pretty good on any other tv. Right?

[Chris Wright]

The old free adobe gamma calibration program cpl is still available. It’s not professional because it uses your eyes to gauge relative color strength and brightness. Better than nothing though.

[Duke Sweden]

Thanks, Chris, I’ll check it out. I discovered the cause of the huge quality difference last night. We had a 5 second power outage a few days ago. Didn’t even have to reset the clocks. But it was just long enough that when my bedroom tv came back on the Picture Profile switched from the custom one I calibrated back to the factory default, which was way too bright, AND, way too sharp, hence the reason my video looked way too bright, AND, way too sharp! When I switched it back to my settings my video looked a lot closer to what it should have.

Thanks for all your help, everybody. I will definitely look into that calibration program. Cheers!

[Duke Sweden]

I may as well close this out with the final version of my little video.
https://youtu.be/das0vgS7o4I