How to Set Up a Video Monitor

Use this method to set up a professional monitor. You will need:

• A monitor with brightness, contrast and chroma controls, and the ability to to turn off individual colour guns.
• A pattern generator which can output a pluge pattern and colour bars with a bucket of blood.

Pluge Pattern

Colour Bars

1. Before you begin, turn on and warm up the monitor for up to 30 minutes.
2. Adjust the ambient lighting conditions to those you will be using the monitor in.
3. Set up the monitor to display a pluge pattern from the pattern generator.
4. Adjust the brightness control until the left hand vertical stripe blends into the background, but the right hand stripe is still visible.
5. Adjust the contrast control until the white and grey blocks are correctly displayed.
6. Change the display pattern to colour bars with a bucket of blood.
7. Turn off the monitor's red and green guns.
8. Adjust the chroma control until the vertical black bars blend in with the horizontal (bucket) bar.
9. Turn all colour guns on, and change the pattern to pluge.
10. Check that the white and grey blocks are pure (ie. no colour tint).