Harman-Kardon AVR 3600 - Manual (Page 44)

44
ADVANCED FUNCTIONS
objects or the scrolling credits in a film, or if the image appears to
“pixellate” into blocks, change the MPEG Noise Reduction setting
from Off to Low, Medium or High.
Cross Color Suppressor: Turn this setting on to remove
cross color artifacts, which can occur when high-frequency luminance
(brightness) signals are misinterpreted as chroma (color) signals,
causing unwanted flickering, flashing colors or rainbow patterns.
This setting is not available with HDMI sources, or when no video
signal is present.
Black Level: This setting is only effective when used with the
Composite Video Output. Turn it on for a full black-level setting that
provides the full dynamic range of black as presented on most
DVDs. When turned off, the setting complies with NTSC standards
for video with “setup”, and may be more appropriate when your
video display has limited video processing capability.
Deinterlacing: For historical reasons, video in the NTSC format
was interlaced. That is, each refresh of the television screen dis-
played only half the pixels in a frame, alternating between all of the
even rows of pixels and all of the odd rows. Modern displays are
capable of displaying the complete frame all at once by progressively
scanning all of the rows of pixels from top to bottom. For optimal
viewing on a progressive-scan display (most flat-panel displays),
the video images must be deinterlaced. When viewing images via
the Composite or Video Monitor Output, any time the AVR’s video
output resolution is 480i, this setting may be turned off.
Film Mode Detect: This setting is only accessible when the
Deinterlacing setting is turned on. It compensates for the different
frame rates in which film and video are shot. Film is shot at a rate
of 24 frames per second (progressive scan), while video is shot at
slightly less than 60 frames per second (interlaced). The AVR is able
to detect whether the program was originally shot on film and
transferred to video (e.g., to create a DVD), and to compensate
appropriately for any authoring errors in the conversion. Select
a setting of 3:2 (for NTSC materials), 2:2 (for PAL materials
originating overseas), Off or Auto.
How to Adjust the Custom Picture Settings
Set the Video Mode to Custom to display the picture settings, as
shown in Figure 37.
Figure 37 – Video Modes Custom Processing
With a color bar test pattern from a test disc or other source on
screen, the following adjustments may be made:
• The color intensity setting on your TV.
• Color adjustments using the color bars, which may be (left to
right) black, white, yellow, cyan (turquoise), green, magenta, red,
blue, black.
• The color transition, seen as sharp separation of the bars.
• The performance of the color circuits in your TV (with “Video”
signals); bar edges should show no vertical crawling dots.
Use the gray scale and the black/white fields in the test pattern to
adjust the brightness and contrast.
Brightness Adjustment
1. Turn down the color control on your TV until the color bars appear
in black and white.
2. Adjust the contrast to the lowest level where you still can see all
gray scale bars separately and clearly.
3. Adjust the brightness so that the bars in the gray scale are all
visible. The bar farthest to the left has to be as black as possible
rather than gray but the next gradation must clearly be distinct
from it. The bars in the gray scale should gradually and evenly
change from black to white.
Contrast Adjustment
1. Adjust the contrast on your TV until you see a bright white bar in
the lower right corner of the screen and a deep-dark-black bar to
the left.
2. If the brightness of the white bar no longer increases when the
contrast is turned up or the borders of white letters bloom (overlight)
into the black areas (drastically decreasing the sharpness of the
type), the contrast has been turned up too much. Reduce the contrast
until these effects disappear and the video still looks realistic.
3. If you are watching TV with ambient daylight, adjust the contrast
so that a normal video picture looks the same as the surround-
ings in your room; that way the eye is relaxed when watching
the TV picture. Reduce the setting when the surrounding light is
dimmed to improve the sharpness of the picture.
4. The gray scale in the middle line should retain the same distinc-
tion between each bar as before the contrast adjustment. If not,
repeat both Step 3 of the Brightness Adjustment and the Contrast
Adjustment.
Color Adjustment
1. When the brightness and contrast are set optimally, adjust the
color control. Set the level so that the colors look strong but still
natural, not overdone. If the color level is too high, depending on
the TV, some of the bars will seem wider or the color intensity
will not increase when the control is turned up. Test the color
intensity with a video of pictures of faces, flowers, fruit and
vegetables.
2. Refer to a large white bar in your test pattern to tweak the
warmth of the picture using the Tint control on your TV.
Sharpness Adjustment
Contrary to intuition, the picture will appear sharper and clearer
with the sharpness backed off from the maximum setting. Reduce
the sharpness setting on your television, and the setting on the
AVR 3600, if necessary, to minimize the appearance of any white
lines between the bars in the gray scale portion of the test screen.