Sharp has brought back an iconic name in television by introducing Elite LED LCD TVs designed for discerning consumers who want the best home entertainment experience.

SpectraCal, makers of the award-winning CalMAN, has announced a version of CalMAN that allows direct access to the Sharp Elite’s calibration controls.

Before CalMAN, video calibration had been a complicated process of using on-screen menus with a remote control. And every display has different controls, called by different names, with different sets of effects and side-effects. With CalMAN, adjusting the display becomes as easy as adjusting the relative height of bars on a chart.

CalMAN directly communicates with the display, measures the result of the change, and zeroes in on the desired result.

“CalMAN makes it much faster and easier to perform much better video calibrations,” explains SpectraCal’s founder and chief technical officer Derek Smith.

In fact, some calibrations can be accomplished by pushing a single button.

CalMAN offers three levels of support for the Sharp Elite, starting with direct access to individual display controls, such as brightness and contrast adjustments, on the computer interface – no remote control required. Second, interactive charts allow the calibrator to set the display output to any desired standards. Finally the “one-button” CalMAN-AC automated calibration solution automatically adjusts all settings across multiple measurement points as a single operation.

Elite LCD televisions incorporate proprietary RGB+Y technology, which adds a yellow sub-pixel to the standard red/green/blue color palette. Sharp says that the addition of the yellow sub-pixel enables the reproduction of a much broader range of colours. In addition, RGB+Y create higher brightness using less power and more accurately depicts vivid yellows and vibrant golds.

But RGB+Y technology also poses the possibility of additional difficulty for the calibrator, difficulty with which CalMAN’s automated technology solves.

With its control over the display’s colour management system (CMS), adjustments that used to require hours can be accomplished in minutes.

“CMS work is notoriously complicated and difficult to get right,” Derek says.

“With CalMAN’s DDC, you can create stunningly beautiful and accurate images – and you don’t need a Ph.D. in physics and all day to make it happen.”

The Sharp Elite was announced the winner of the 2011 HDTV shootout sponsored by Value Electronics last month.

“In the seven years since we’ve held the shootout, this is the first time an LCD won,” says the shootout’s sponsor Robert Zohn.

Robert explains that the Elite did “exceptionally well” at uniformity (including blooming) and off-angle viewing, which have previously been weak points for LED-based displays.

The Sharp Elite workflow will be included in the new CalMAN AutoCal (AC) add-on license, and also get the CalPC add-on license for free.

Additionally, new CalMAN software purchases (all licenses) in November will have both AutoCal and CalPC add-on licenses included. (Expected early December release date for Sharp Elite workflow.)

Free evaluation versions of CalMAN are available for download from the SpectraCal web site.