101: Color Temperature and Tracking

[HD Library]

This refers to the color of your black and white video image that the color is laid upon. Most manufacturers steer this towards blue to cover up problems with your sources and also to attract your attention when deciding which display you like. There are three keys to accurate color rendition; the color decoder, color temperature and the tracking of color temperature as we go from dark to bright light output levels. The correct color for reproducing color video content is D65. The correct color for reproducing black and white films is D55.

Setting color temperature requires an optical comparator at minimum. This device provides a D65 reference to compare against the output of the display. While a very powerful tool it is far more difficult to apply to tracking and gamma which are part and parcel of this alignment. For this we use a color analyzer that has software to display all these variables giving your calibrator an over view of the complete response.

Without an ISF calibration your best bet is to provide a gray stair step pattern. Using your customer menu select the different color temperatures and select the one htat is the least blue yet still tracks evenly from dark to bright.