Way too many people had to adjust their television sets to watch this past SundaysGame of Thronesepisode.
The battle of Winterfell claims many; your TVs picture quality is no exception.
Im hoping you saved your prefs before you started messing with everything.
Brightness
Brightness is a fun concept, mainly due to how its measurednits.
Remember that for your nextJeopardy!appearance.
The total amount of light hitting the interior surface of that box is 1 nit.
When you adjust the brightness of your television, youre adjusting the level of absolute black.
In other words, youre playing with how dark the darkest parts of your image are.
Maximum brightness
Hello, washed-out picture.
Minimum brightness
Just… no.
Look at all the detail youre missing all across the gradient.
This is why brightness and contrast adjustments go hand-in-hand when youre calibrating a display.
Maximum contrast
Not a huge difference between this and 70, it seems.
Minimum contrast
Great for Batman, not so great for… watching anything.
You see nothing, Jon Snow.
Once youre done, set it back to whatever it was when you initially perfected your TVs parameters.
Lowest backlight
Heres what this lovely space scene fromInterstellarlooks like with my televisions backlight set to 0.
Medium backlight
Same picture, but Ive set the backlight to 50.
Highest backlight
Now, the backlight is at its highest setting: 100.
Gamma describes how the image transitions from black to white, and affects all the grays in between.
A high gamma, that is a significant curve, means a wider range of shadows will be darker.
It can make an image look dark and contrasty, and can obscure details in shadows.
Its the reason why TV reviewers often harp on shadow detail.
A low gamma has a shallower curve, so shadows will appear brighter.
It can make an image look washed out and flat.
If it helps to illustrate this,an old articlefrom HDTVtest helps makes things slightly clearer.
Its just one of the more jarring options if you get it wrong, Ive found.
Every TV has a different array of adjustments, so its hard to give specific advice.
Above all else, though, patience is probably your best weapon.
Contrary to whatGame of Thronesdirector of photography Fabian Wagnerhas to say, its not your fault.
That should at least soothe you until the better-looking Blu-ray of said dimly lit episode arrives.
