The Man received the following question from Steven:
I just purchased a 37″ Sharp Aquos. Is there somewhere on the Internet that I can find the best settings for picture/voice quality — or do I just have to go through it all via trial and error?
Well, Steve. First of all congrats on your new Aquos. I absolutely love my 42″ version and I think you’re going to love yours. Now, to answer your question, there is some personal preference involved with tweaking your audio and video settings, but there are a number of tools to help you with the project.
To start with, C-Net has a Quick Guide to TV Calibration which you might find useful.
There are also a number of vendors who sell Video Setup DVDs. Essentially you purchase one of these DVDs and it walks you through the setup and tweaking of all your on screen video settings as well as every channel of your surround sound audio system.
Three of the most well known DVDs are:
- Digital Video Essentials
- Sound & Vision’s Home Theatre Tune-up
- HDTV Calibration Wizard
Now, let’s say that you’d like to run through some tests, but don’t want to lay out the cash for a full blown DVD. In that case, here’s a free How to Calibrate your HDTV video from PC Magazine.
A few other links that you might find to be of some use:
- CNet Weekend Project, Calibrate your LCD television
- Best Buy’s Magnolia Professional Video Calibration in case you want to pay a pro to do it.
- Popular Mechanics’ Troubleshoot Your HDTV
- Yahoo Tech’s Adjusting the HDTV Picture
I hope all of this helps. Please drop me a comment to let me know. ;-)
