Calibration patterns for the PS3 - HDTV Arcade Discussion

The only test patterns you need for the basic setup in most TVs user menus are:

ramp.mp4
bars709.mp4 if you are calibrating in 720p or 1080i
bars601.mp4 if you are calibrating in 480p or 480i
sweeps.mp4 if you are going to calibrate in 1080i or 1080p

Before you begin, make sure you set your color temperature to "warm" in the user menu as this is where it's supposed to be.

----

ramp.mp4:

You use this test pattern to calibrate your contrast/picture and brightness. The important things to know about this test pattern is that it has 23 bars going across which go from 5% below black to 5% above white. The sets of dots on either side of the screen indicate that the bar above them is either 100% which is white or 0% which is black. The goal is to get anything beyond the dots to be the same shade as the bar above the dots.

Using the bottom half of the screen, you are going to first try and set white. Idealy you want everything from the dots to the right edge to be the same shade of white. On some TVs even with your picture/contrast slider all the way up, you still won't get the bar at the extreme right of the screen to match the 100% white bar above the dots. In this scenario, just back off the picture/contrast control until everything has the same "color" of white. You will probably notice that as you turn the contrast level up that it may shift the color of the 100% white bar above the dots towards another color instead of the pure white. When you see it start doing this, back off until it returns to white. It is better to have the color of 100% white to be correct then to have a perfect blend of the two bars to the right on the bottom.

Again using the bottom half of the screen, it's time to set the black level/brightness. If you are using a HDMI connection, you cannot use the 5% below black bar as the PS3 will not pass it. If you are using component, it's basically the same instructions as above. Turn the brightness control up or down until the 5% below black bar at the left of the screen is the same exact black as the black bar above the dots. If you are using HDMI, you will have to use the bar to the right of the black bar above the dots. Adjust the brightness until the bar to the right of the one above the dots is just barely visible compared to it.

You may have to repeat the above 2 steps because the 2 settings can affect each other.

-----
You need to use the blue filter that came with Avia or DVE to do this step.

Select bars709.mp4 if you are calibrating 1080i/1080p/720p.
Select bars601.mp4 if you are calibrating 480i/480p.

It works the same way whichever set you use.

Look through the blue filter while displaying the bars and use the color/saturation control to adjust the blue and white bars to match each other exactly as the same shade of blue. Look at the magenta and cyan bars through the filter and use the hue/tint control to make the 2 bars have the same exact shade of blue. You may have to go back and forth between the controls a few times to get it perfect.

Now put the filter away and look at the yellow bar. If your TV has "red push" ,and almost all HDTVs do, you are going to have to lower the color/saturation control down until it's a real yellow (think of a banana or a Ney York taxi) instead of more of an orange. You can also display some pure red objects from movies or TV and make sure they look more realistic as opposed to "glowing" red. You will notice that after taming red by doing this and setting color temperature to warm that all of a sudden people have natural flesh tones.

------

sweeps.mp4

This is to help you set your sharpness control. This particular pattern will really only work for you if your PS3 is outputting 1080i or 1080p since all these test patterns are in 1080p format. This won't work as well for 720p because it is being downscaled by the PS3 and this alters it enough that it's not going to be very useful to judge resolution.

Display sweeps.mp4 and use your sharpness control to try and make the top of the pattern look as evenly gray as possible. When your sharpness level is set incorrectly, parts of the pattern will be a brighter gray then others. You just need to balance getting an even gray without bottoming out your sharpness. With the sharpness all the way down it'll probably be 100% gray across, but won't be very pleasing to look at. Hopefully you will find that the proper sharpness level is about 25% of the way up the sharpness level.

-----

Those are the basic patterns to use to set your user menu controls on your TV. Most TVs have a bunch of options in the user menu that may muck up your attempts to properly calibrate. DNR, natural color and other such options can make getting even the most basic stuff correct a pain in the ass.

This post has been edited by TheSerpentMage: 30 January 2007 - 03:30 PM