HD XMAS Test card

[dreadline]

its on anytime so get it moved across to your planner. very cheesey music but does all the tests

[djphatic]

Originally Posted by dreadline

its on anytime so get it moved across to your planner. very cheesey music but does all the tests

thanks for the heads up!

[mattclarkie]

Thanks for the heads-up. I accidentally deleted the testcard about a month ago.


I needed to shift my brightness from 50 to 54, obviously the backlight has started to dim.

[thewhofan]

Can anyone explain to me how to use the test card? what part of the image do I use for brightness, contrast, colour?

[ayrshiredude]

where is the Testcard?

[dreadline]

Originally Posted by ayrshiredude

where is the Testcard?

Have you sky anytime enabled ?

If so it should be in your anytime recordings

press tv guide/red button (anytime) then if it is there highlight it and press record. It shold then move across to your planner

[ayrshiredude]

I have it turned off but might turn it back on now I know about this.

[dave_a]

Originally Posted by thewhofan

Can anyone explain to me how to use the test card? what part of the image do I use for brightness, contrast, colour?

Would be helpful if someone can explain for me too. Cheers

[STEVENM1000]

Originally Posted by dave_a

Would be helpful if someone can explain for me too. Cheers

Yes I could do with the idiots guide please as to which buttons you press on the Sky remote to be able to test/adjust the settings

[Tikkaspecial]

Originally Posted by dreadline

Have you sky anytime enabled ?

If so it should be in your anytime recordings

press tv guide/red button (anytime) then if it is there highlight it and press record. It shold then move across to your planner

Not in my Anytime menu.

[dave_a]

Originally Posted by Tikkaspecial

Not in my Anytime menu.

Its on the 3rd page of mine

[Tikkaspecial]

Originally Posted by dave_a

Its on the 3rd page of mine

3rd page (for me):

The Sound of Music
Noel's Christmas Presents
Johnny Cash
Spider-man 3 (sic)
The Simpsons Movie
Riverdance in Geneva

[dave_a]

Originally Posted by Tikkaspecial

3rd page (for me):

The Sound of Music
Noel's Christmas Presents
Johnny Cash
Spider-man 3 (sic)
The Simpsons Movie
Riverdance in Geneva

My 3rd page is

Johnny Cash
HD Test Card
Spider-Man3
The Simpsons Movie
Don't Forget The Lyrics
Riverdance in Geneva

Wonder if they tailor anytime??? Sound of Music and Noel are on my page 2

[wendle]

Originally Posted by dave_a

My 3rd page is

Johnny Cash
HD Test Card
Spider-Man3
The Simpsons Movie
Don't Forget The Lyrics
Riverdance in Geneva

Wonder if they tailor anytime??? Sound of Music and Noel are on my page 2

My 3rd page is different yet again:
The Sound of Music
Noel's Christmas Presents
Johnny Cash
Spider-man 3 (sic)
The Simpsons Movie
Don't Forget The Lyrics

No HD Test Card on my anytime!!

[RayP]

Originally Posted by thewhofan

Can anyone explain to me how to use the test card? what part of the image do I use for brightness, contrast, colour?

I'm no TV engineer but I've been using Test Card F (of which this is a variant) for many years to setup my picture so here goes with the Eejits guide.

Firstly you're going to need your TV remote, not the Sky one. That's where all the colour, contrast and brightness settings are. My guidance is based on a plasma display so it may work out differently for LCDs.

I suggest you pause the playback once it starts as it's only 3 minutes long.

Colour. First turn down the colour to zero so you have a black and white picture.

Contrast. Next adjust the contrast until you have the brightness at the level you want. This is not a typo. Contrast works differently on digital displays.

Brightness. Notice at the top right and bottom left you have a grey scale of 8 blocks. Adjust brightness until you can just see the small grey box in the whitest block and also the grey block in the blackest block. Then turn down brightness until the grey block is barely visible.

Colour. If you are happy with the b/w picture now increase the colour until the red block starts to flare and then reduce it slightly. Also check the skin tone on Santa is natural. Too little colour is better than too much.

Leave Tint and Sharpness alone. They should be at their zero values.

Picture Size / Position. If you have picture size and position controls adjust the picture until the two grey side bars are equal distance from the picture edge and likewise with the grey scale / colour bars top and bottom.

This broadcast also includes lip sync test. A caption appears top centre when it's playing. I found a value of 40ms was okay on my system.

If anyone knows of any more technical tests including the vertical bars then feel free to post. I've found that increasing sharpness doesn't add any extra detail. It just adds extra picture noise.

Hope that helps.