ISF Calibrations Overview

About ISF Calibrations

The Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) has been promoting the science and art of display calibration since 1994.  TVs and projectors are shipped from companies not to provide the best picture possible, but to be as bright as possible to catch the eye of the consumer on the store floor.  What are you missing out on because of your display not being setup correctly?

Missing shadow and highlight details

When a display is setup to be as bright as possible, you almost always lose out on those bright white details, as well as details in the shadows.  Instead of clearly seeing different dark shades in a shadow, you see a black blob where they have all run together, and you don’t see the fine textures on a snow covered peak, but instead a single white mass where those details have been crushed.  With this you’re really losing a large amount of the information in the picture, often 20% or more, due to these settings being setup incorrectly.

Incorrect colors, with skin tones that often look sunburned

TVs often like to make colors really pop on the screen to grab your attention.  While this might make you look at the set due to those bright, vibrant hues, eventually you start to realize that everything looks unrealistic, with skin tones that are always red, and grass that is a neon green instead of a real green.  We can bring these colors back in line so that they still have all the vibrancy that you expect in the real world, but none of the artificiality that was there before.

Whites that are tinted blue or red, instead of being true white

The foundation of every image on your display is really the accuracy of white and shades of gray.  If these have a blue or red tint to them, nothing will ever look correct no matter what settings you use.  Using the controls in your display, we are able to correct these settings to make for an accurate grayscale, and removing any tint that was present.

A picture that is optimized for a store floor with bright florescent lighting, and not your home

Most rooms don’t have thousands of watts of florescent lighting shining on your screen at all times, but your local TV store probably does.  Why would you have the same settings at home that they do at the store?  We can correct for this, customizing the settings to fit how you watch TV to get you the best image possible, as a living room has different requirements than a dedicated home theater room.

Fine details, such as the texture on a jacket or shirt, that are being obscured by incorrect display settings

One of the worst labeled controls on any TV is sharpness.  Instead of adding detail, it often hides it and creates extra noise instead. Newer displays have even more controls and settings that cause details to be masked, and often knowing the correct settings for these is impossible from reading the manual. We make sure to set everything up correctly in the display, as well as on your related components, so you get all the details in the movie or programs you are watching.

The goal of an ISF Calibration is to render the image as originally intended, utilizing the full abilities of your display.  This will maximize the dynamic range of your picture, as well as presenting more accurate colors and revealing all the detail that is available.