The calibration setup

Did we mention calibration?

At CNET we calibrate every TV we review to both establish a level playing field for comparison and to enable us to publish our popular picture settings. They enable users to easily set up their own TVs' picture controls to replicate as closely as possible the picture we see in the lab.

Last year CNET transitioned to using CalMan software by Spectrcal to both help calibrate the TV and to generate reports that capture many of the TVs' characteristics. In 2013 we have begin using version 5 of the software. We publish those reports with every TV review.

In 2012 we will began using a new signal generator, the VideoForge by AVFoundry (left, above the mouse) to generate the test patterns for our calibrations. In 2013 we switched to using the Quantum Data 780 (not pictured) as our primary generator.