Adjust Your TV's Picture Levels!

When you bought your spiffy new TV at your consumer-electronics superstore of choice, it came straight from the factory with its brightness and sharpness settings cranked to the max so that the image would appear wonderful in the flashy, bright superstore environment. When you brought that TV home, you might not have thought to adjust those settings—an extremely important step. Your home viewing environment is very different from the showroom floor. Short of hiring a professional video company to accurately calibrate your new set, you can buy a cheap DVD such as Joe Kane's Digital Video Essentials or the Avia Guide to Home Theater to perform your own calibrations. The DVDs feature visual tests and colored lenses to minutely adjust all picture-related levels. It might take you a bit to get accustomed to your new picture levels, but you'll soon be amazed by the difference in clarity and subtlety.