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TV Color Temp: What do Dev's say is the preferred Color Temp?

Warm 2 is typically recommended but it often needs some tweaking to get the whites quite right while keeping the warmth of the other colors. I tend to prefer Warm 1 on most TVs.

I stay away from standard or cool.
 
I always setup with Standard mode on color temps then calibrate the white balance. Only times I use warm is for a film but it depends on the picture.
 
6500k, which on most sets, Warm 2 is closest to.

I have no idea how people can tolerate those artificial, weird looking blue-ass screens with their Cool 1 and Cool 2 presets.
 
Mahonay said:
Whites should not be turning yellow unless your TV is handling the "warm" setting by just turning the hue towards yellow.
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Color temperature settings literally change the definition of what white is. Warmer means displaying less blue and more red. If white looks white on a neutral or cool setting, it should be yellowish on a warm setting.
 
Warmest temp is usually best, but Warm 2 on Samsung models is usually too yellow/green IMO, so I choose Warm 1. For other brands warmest temp, though.
 
As close to 6500k as you can get which is usually the Warmest setting.
But then further calibration is needed to really make colors as close to neutral as possible.
 
HTupolev said:
Color temperature settings literally change the definition of what white is. Warmer means displaying less blue and more red. If white looks white on a neutral or cool setting, it should be yellowish on a warm setting.
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Actually you're right. But it should be a shade of yellow that looks like natural white to you in normal lighting conditions in your house.

Some TVs just have really poor default temperature settings.
 
Industry standard is D65. Unfortunately the only way to get D65 is to calibrate your TV with a colorimeter or photo spectrometer. The options your TV provides are just defaults, and they are not calibrated at the factory. Whether you pick Warm, Warm 2, Natural or whatever nomenclature your manufacturer has for options, none of them will be .313x, .329y across the entire black to white range. Even if the default is correct for let's say 100% white, then most likely it's completely off for most of the range below it. Unfortunately all colors that are not primary are offset by whatever color temperature of white is at any particular step. So if your color temperature isn't D65, then everything else on your TV is also off.
 
Warm 2 is most natural. Other cooler settings may trick your brain into thinking it looks sharper or more pristine but it is actually WAY too blue.
 
Oh dear, so many poorly calibrated displays on Gaf.

You should be at a 6500k colour temperature, which is Warm 2 on most TVs. It'll look too yellow if you're used to a cooler colour temperature, but you'll get used to it, and it's the colour temperature media references to.

Also this shit ain't subjective. Displays are either calibrated correctly, or they aren't.

Edit: And if you want a dev's perspective, my girlfriend's a professional 3D artist and all the monitors in the studio are strictly calibrated.
 
StalkerUKCG said:
Serious question but why are you all distorting colours by picking anything other than balanced.
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I'm surprised I had to go this far into the thread before seeing this. It depends on the ambient lighting in which you're using your tv or monitor in. The only way to get a true calibration is to use hardware along with dedicated calibrating software. You can eyeball it which is fine for most cases, but I would never choose blue over yellow, or yellow over blue, in the same way I wouldn't choose the RGB to be more green than red.

The point of calibration is to get a balanced look on your panel, which represents true white. On the other hand, if what people are discussing is whether they err on the side of yellow or blue when they can't distinguish where the balance is, then that makes sense. But I would never intentionally set my screen to be warm or cool.

Edit: I also want to add in that it differs between every unit. If you buy two identical monitors, just because you set one to be at 6500k in the settings, it can look drastically different from the other screen with the same settings. Maybe everyone knows this though and I'm completely missing the point of this discussion.
 
Warm is absolutely, positively 100% the way a TV should be calibrated...if you get it done professionally, that's how they are going to set it up...

That being said, I don't really prefer warm colors, or at least whites...so I tend to calibrate towards the middle...

I also LOVE how people are so ruined by our own perceptions that there is a difference in colors depending on the climate where you live...
 
Blackthorn said:
Oh dear, so many poorly calibrated displays on Gaf.

You should be at a 6500k colour temperature, which is Warm 2 on most TVs. It'll look too yellow if you're used to a cooler colour temperature, but you'll get used to it, and it's the colour temperature media references to.

Also this shit ain't subjective. Displays are either calibrated correctly, or they aren't.

Edit: And if you want a dev's perspective, my girlfriend's professional 3D artist and all their monitors are strictly calibrated.
Click to expand...

6500k actually describes a range of colors of white. D65 is a specific color of white that is equivalent to 6504k, but since 6504k is a range of colors of white 6504k is not necessarily equivalent to D65. Calibration requires instrumentation. If you don't hardware calibrate a display, then you haven't calibrated a display.
 
Varth said:
This is the results of half of last gen's Art direction I guess. All greens and yellows and Orange hues look of course better in those garish warm colour calibrations.
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No, it's a result of the industry standard for color temperature...
 
DavidDesu said:
Cool for me, just looks most natural skin and white tones. Warm makes it look like a last gen/Michael Bay piss filter.
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Keep in mind that when someone looks at warm on their TV, it won't necessarily look like warm on your TV even if you have the same brand and model. Every Tv is different and will require different settings to look correct after calibration. Also if you haven't calibrated your color and tint controls, there is most likely too much red in your image and selecting a cooler color temperature will make people look more normal. Ideally you want to calibrate everything together as it's all related.
 
TSM said:
6500k actually describes a range of colors of white. D65 is a specific color of white that is equivalent to 6504k, but since 6504k is a range of colors of white 6504k is not necessarily equivalent to D65. Calibration requires instrumentation. If you don't hardware calibrate a display, then you haven't calibrated a display.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, even if it's way over my head!

They use Spyder calibration tools at her studio, which is neat cus she gets to borrow them to use at home. Useless on the TV, unfortunately, which I have to tweak by eye with the PC monitor as a comparison. Manage to get it pretty close.
 
I use a i1 Display Pro and HCFR. That usually lands me on the Warm 2 preset, but with further tweaking to the white balance to get it perfect.
 
antitrop said:
I'd rather put a brick through my TV than use anything other than Cool.
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Your eyes have become used to cold tones. It happens. Switch to warm color temps for a single day and you will wonder what the hell was wrong with you.

LordRaptor said:
You calibrate for how natural light where you live looks.
Warm/Warm2 doesn't look 'natural' in colder climates.
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Natural light (the sun) is the same anywhere on the planet. It's not more orange in Mexico and it's not bluish in Alaska. Warm with some tweaking is still going to look closer to natural lighting on a sunny day.

digitalrelic said:
6500k, which on most sets, Warm 2 is closest to.

I have no idea how people can tolerate those artificial, weird looking blue-ass screens with their Cool 1 and Cool 2 presets.
Click to expand...

It's a carryover from broadcast television during the era of CRTs (and early LCD?). Consumer television sets were quite bluish. Broadcast monitors were 6500K out of the factory but then videographers recalibrated them to be very cool because it's what the American public was used to seeing. Studios literally mastered television content to look decent for the default cool/bluish settings of the majority of consumers television tubes. A couple generations of people staring at cold and bluish tubes means that the natural tones of 6500K look extreme and orange.
 
We calibrate certain sets to be as accurate as possible to check. Though generally brightness/gamma settings are included because the variation there is drastic on TVs from folks who have calibrated versus folks in torch mode.

The color warmth setting needed to get your display to look accurate may vary based on model, manufacturer and even specific TV out of the box. Generally speaking it'll be neutral or warm though

Long story short? Calibrate your TV for best results. If your TV is accurately displaying white and color, and you use whatever brightness tool is in the game, it will be very close to intended.

Bare Minimum is calibrating with a disc like disney wow or DVE Essentials. Better is a calibration with a light meter.
 
I like Standard, but I know Warm2 is most realistic, so I settle for Warm1.
 
I prefer cooler screen temps. Not really sure why. Warm screen temps have always looked too "soft" for me. I usually calibrate screens to my liking rather than using presets, though.
 
I use cool but I despise yellow light with a burning passion.

Reminds me of the 80s when my mom was a smoker turning our white walls yellow and before full spectrum lighting. Lighting at night seemed dimmer and hazier...it's hard to explain.

Anyway, yellow light is the worst.
 
Board up the windows so theres no variation in sun/streetlight coming in, buy some comfortably warm LED lamps for the room and calibrate according to the light reflected from the lamps and the content you're playing.

Go full trogl.
 
Deepo said:
I use a i1 Display Pro and HCFR. That usually lands me on the Warm 2 preset, but with further tweaking to the white balance to get it perfect.
Click to expand...

I use an i1 Pro photo spectrometer and HCFR. Getting a consistent color temperature throughout all of the IRE levels makes for a much better looking image.
 
The art guys at work use calibrated ips monitors. So if you want to see their art as intended then calibrate your TVs for an accurate image.
 
Also - "preference" is wrong. Accuracy is what matters. The specs to get accurate SDR are very well defined and are very achievable for calibrators on most decent sets
 
6500k

but honestly you're going to adjust to whatever you have unless it's way off.

Warm is better for your eyes (especially at night)

But yeah, if you want to calibrate, make your white 6500k or as close to as your screen allows. Any artist worth their salt should be calibrating around that.

jstevenson said:
Also - "preference" is wrong. Accuracy is what matters. The specs to get accurate SDR are very well defined and are very achievable for calibrators on most decent sets
Click to expand...

You're worth your salt
 
hodgy100 said:
The art guys at work use calibrated ips monitors. So if you want to see their art as intended then calibrate your TVs for an accurate image.
Click to expand...

You ideally want:

D65 color temperature
Rec. 709 color space
2.2 gamma

If you have those 3 dialed in, it makes for a fantastic picture, and the most likely to match what the creators were looking at when they made it.
 
My credentials up front: seven years of professional VFX and video game work, including colour grading for feature films and colour work on both in-game content and game cinematics.

Mostly echoing what's already been said: 6500k. Ideally you'd use a professional colour calibration tool, but you still need to declare what temperature is considered "neutral" during calibration. That temperature is 6500k.

There are some situations where you might want to tweak that, like if you have weird ambient light around your screen throwing you off, but 6500k is "correct".

TSM said:
D65 color temperature
Click to expand...

Just for clarification, D65 is another term for 6500k -- so if you're trying to figure out what preset is closest to the "correct" temp, see if you can find info on what preset is equivalent to either "D65" or "6500k". Hopefully you'll find someone that mentions either one or the other.
 
The correct answer is whatever setting is closest to 6500k on your set. It's not subjective. This is usually the warm or warm 2 preset. However you can choose a different color temp if you want... All of these cool answers are giving me shivers. Lol.

I personally thing gamma is most important, followed by color temp, and then actual accuracy of the colors themselves. Correct gamma is so important in getting a great picture.

I use xrite colormunki and Spyder colorimeters on my monitors. Only way to roll.
 
Vashetti said:
I just can't get on with this, it makes whites look yellow.
Click to expand...

Whites are white though, on Warm 2. Your whites are light blue. Stick with Warm 2 for a week and then you'll never be able to tolerate the others again, you'll find it much easier on the eye and you'll sleep better too.
 
My setting is Cool 1. Cool 2 makes it too blue.
Warm settings are always garbage and makes everything yellow.
Standard setting is...just not good enough.
Cool 1 for life!
 
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