How Does Color Calibration Work?

Apple announced a new “Color Balance” feature for Apple TV in their Spring Loaded keynote. Does it work? How does it fair against professional calibration? What is color, anyways?

The new Apple TV 4K doesn’t just sport a new remote, it has a new Color Balance feature for color calibration. In a bit of a surprising move, Apple brought this feature to any Apple TV running iOS 14.5 or later. In essence, it uses the Face ID array on your iPhone to measure and analyze the color output of your TV against the baseline targets established by filmmakers and the industry: Rec.709 and Rec.2020 for HDR. The AppleTV will then modify its color output over HDMI to make your display more “color accurate.” The question is: does it really work? Is it better than just calibrating yourself? How does it compare to professional calibration? And is color really the biggest issue that your TV has? Find out this and more—as well as how color, luminance, and chromaticity/locus charts work–in this new Snazzy Labs video!

[excessorizeme]

I ain't even mad I just sat through a color theory class.

[Boneteacher]

Your attention to detail is insanely .. awesome 😜

[TheFloatingBartender]

Popped on YouTube for a quick study break… ended up studying color theory…. I’m not even mad this was cool af

[one_shot]

The quality of Snazzy Labs has gotten so good over these few months. Nice job Quinn!

[TheDerpyWhaleYT]

Forgot I was on youtube for a second,
this video was so good and actually interesting

[mehradmansoubi]

dude how the hell do you research, execute, script, and record all of this in just 2 weeks. This is crazy....

[curtisjudd]

Thanks Quinn - great coverage of a topic that mystifies many!

[REIAMusic]

If you use nighttime mode on your phone which makes your screen more yellow, you can really notice how our eyes adjust the white balance. Cause after a while you dont even notice that your screen is so much more yellow! Its crazy honestly!

[FAZman]

From the moment you ask "What is colour?" to precisely 4 minutes 33 seconds and 4 frames, I am going to use as an educational tool in my classroom. Honestly, sometimes I think Youtube is a better teacher than I am because of excellent media content like this - thanks Quinn.

[Just-View]

People: Use night shift or f.lux to get warmer colors.
Graphic designers: (Angry noises)

[yashaswikumarakalva]

Videos like this are exactly why I am subscribed to Snazzy labs

[spoorthyv]

Im a UX designer and this video taught me a ton. Good stuff!

[siggrind]

As a professional colorist I found this video very entertaining! Most people don’t understand color gamut and it is the biggest difference between nice and cheap televisions and monitors! Solid very informative video for people who know nothing about calibration and color space!

[Razrman]

This was such a technical and detailed video, that I had to literally pause and rewatch multiple times to understand. Can’t imagine the kind of research and effort that went into producing this. Superb work.

[victorlanner]

As someone who recently decided it would be 'fun' to learn a bit more about display calibration (still got A LOT to learn), I got to say you did an amazing job simplifying an incredibly complex topic and making it understandable. It definitely helped me make some connections regarding colour that I didn't make previously. Once again, excellent video!

[Almarillion]

As a photographer, I am calibrating my monitors with calorimeters for years. You do not need opensource for that. Entry level ones are very cheap nowadays. Last gen also has ambient light sensors in it and switches to different modes. Calibrating once is not enough. If the amount of environmental light changes(day/night or sunset etc), a new calibration is needed. (Unless you are working in a no-natural light source ( windowless) room) Ones with an external sensor built in tries to compensate that for a degree by switching modes due to the detected light. (Note: a calibrated display is less appealing to a home user. Home users often are after vibrant colors, higher contrast, higher brightness and exaggerated whites)

[yuppymike]

Great timing Quinn.
Now I have to explain to my wife why we are pausing Shrek so I can watch a Snazzy Labs video.

[nym]

This raises the bar for tech YouTube. Thank you! This was not only entertaining, but actually one of the best summaries of color profiles, color spaces and standards. Amazing!

[andibrema]

"Let's find out... But first, what is colour?"

*checks time stamp* oh dear

[davidgreen]

The moment I heard Apple announce this feature, I knew you'd be the one to make a video about it!