A properly calibrated TV allows you to view the best and most accurate color ever seen. After you've lived with a properly calibrated TV, you won't be able to imagine watching one that wasn't. You'll swear the image you see in the movie theater is dull and blurry compared to what you have at home. That's no exaggeration... it's just fact.

Don't watch another movie until you properly calibrate your TV. You simply aren't watching movies in their full glory until you've done so.

This article will not tell you how to calibrate your TV step-by-step because there are a couple of DVDs available that do it so well. These DVDs explain everything in full detail, making it simple for virtually anyone to properly calibrate their TV.

Video Essentials (go to the web site)
This home theater audio / video calibration DVD offers samples and examples for you to learn from. Video setup for the first time will take about an hour as you should go through the DVD guides to get to know the reason behind it all. This DVD also contains sections for calibrating your speakers correctly as well. (Go to "Speaker Calibration" for more info on audio calibration.)

Avia Guide to Home Theater (go to the web site)
This DVD offers better and more intuitive menus, better screen calibration, and a more advanced audio setup than Video Essentials. What this DVD does lack is the nice sampler section Video Essentials offers to show of the new capabilities of your newly calibrated TV.

While this DVD provides an easier screen setup method, it's the advanced audio calibrations that may be too much for the average consumer. Avia offers better tutorials and on-screen guides than Video Essentials.

The best advice would be to rent both, see which one suits you best, then buy that DVD. You will want to own one of these great DVDs as you'll need to calibrate at least once a year as your TV ages.

What you'll need
- Video Essentials DVD or Avia Guide to Home Theater. $40-$50

A Few Tips
Watch the guides before you calibrate. These will tell you why you're doing the calibration, and provide information even advanced home theater enthusiasts can learn from.

This calibration may be too dull for daytime viewing or playing video games. If your TV has a couple of different memory settings, use these for daytime viewing or gaming.