Portrait Displays, the company behind CalMAN, and LG have partnered to bring AutoCal, customizable HDR tone-mapping, and built-in calibration patterns to LG 2019 OLED and select 'NanoCell' LCD TVs. 

More affordable TV calibration
The 2019 LG OLED and select ’NanoCell’ LCD TVs will support the auto-calibration (AutoCal) features first introduced last year but the two companies are also introduced two new calibration features.

The first feature is a built-in video pattern generator that ”greatly reduces the cost of entry to conduct a TV calibration” for SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision. In the past, an external pattern generator – which is costly – was needed but now the test patterns required to calibrate the display are integrated in the TV.

- ”In the past, an external pattern generator was needed to complete a color calibration. With LG’s built-in pattern generator, an external pattern generator is not needed, which greatly reduces the cost of entry to conduct a TV calibration. All that is required for calibration is a meter such as the SpectraCal C6 HDR2000, and CalMAN color calibration software. Consumers and professionals alike, will now be able to calibrate SDR, HDR10/HLG, and Dolby Vision without the need for an external pattern generator,” the company said.



- "Portrait Displays and LG Electronics have worked together very closely to bring the most responsive color palette possible to TV viewers," said Neil Robinson, Senior Director of Strategic Projects at LG Electronics.

The second new calibration feature is customizable HDR tone-mapping, which allows the user to adjust the roll off points for content mastered at 1000, 4000, and 10,000 nits, respectively. This will give users more control over how the TV renders HDR video content. 

- “Color enhances every aspect of our lives,” said Eric Brumm, Portrait Displays’ President and CEO. “It deepens our emotional responses, and the deeper colors in the new HDR televisions bring intensity to the content we watch.”

FlatpanelsHD saw the new features in action and they look promising. We have included a screenshot of the customizable HDR tone-mapping menu in CalMAN below. The built-in patterns reduce the entry price for new hardware plus software to around 600 dollars, while the customizable HDR tone-mapping give content creators and viewers flexibility. We will examine the possibilities more in depth when we get our hands on a 2019 LG OLED.

Support for the new features will be introduced with CalMAN 2019 that is expected to be available at the same time the 2019 LG TVs are released.