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PTVMan

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 20, 2012
1,082
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I have tried this dozens of times but the Color Balance feature simply will not work on my LG OLED. All I get on the TV is the screen that describes the feature and all I get on my iPhone 12 Pro Max is the "Preparing" screen that spins for a while and then fails with an error message (see pics). Can anyone tell me what the problem might be?
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It took me dozens of tries, it’s really finicky, you have to hold it to almost touching the TV and keep it there, and even when it starts you have to hold it really still. Also, if you’re tv is on a mount and angled, you might want to tilt it flat, I think that was partly my problem
 
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I just tried like 40 times on my Samsung lcd and it always says that it was unable to calibrate my tv.. don’t know what I’m doing wrong
 
I just tried like 40 times on my Samsung lcd and it always says that it was unable to calibrate my tv.. don’t know what I’m doing wrong
It should not be this hard. Clearly the feature is not ready for prime time.
 
It should not be this hard. Clearly the feature is not ready for prime time.
It certainly isn’t working. I tried holding the iPhone 11 Pro an inch away from screen, various different distances and angles and still get the same error. I even tried turning one lamp in the room off and turning another one in another part of the room on and same error. (It doesn’t work at all in pitch black darkness)
 
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I can confirm it doesn't work at all, holding it half, 1 or 2 inch doesn't make any difference as well as keeping an exact same angle as TV. for now, this feature is useless no matter what and that includes reseting video settings on ATV, switching from HDR to SDR, etc.
 
... it was unable to calibrate my tv.
It is important to understand, that your tv will not be calibrated.
It is the appleTV-s graphics card, that will be biased so that it will neutralize the color shift of your TV/panel.
That is why I still prefer a proper calibration of the TV itself, so that correct colors are seen for all input sources.
 
Was absolute hell setting up on a 32’tv. Had to align perfectly took around 20m. 65’ tv was much faster and took about 3m Because the phone on the tv was much bigger and I didn’t have to hold it perfectly. Both were frustrating, but the 32’ was really awful.

The 32‘ budget changed to a better profile (sand looked much more natural), it said on the higher end 65’ that it was already accurate.

For your issue I’d recommend restarting both devices then trying. Be ready for more trouble when it actually starts however. There was a point it stopped working on my phone and I had to do this to get it working again.
 
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Was absolute hell setting up on a 32’tv. Had to align perfectly took around 20m. 65’ tv was much faster and took about 3m Because the phone on the tv was much bigger and I didn’t have to hold it perfectly. Both were frustrating, but the 32’ was really awful.

The 32‘ budget changed to a better profile (sand looked much more natural), it said on the higher end 65’ that it was already accurate.

For your issue I’d recommend restarting both devices then trying. Be ready for more trouble when it actually starts however. There was a point it stopped working on my phone and I had to do this to get it working again.
Yeah I’m trying to calibrating my Samsung 40 inch LCD. Not working.. Did you place the iPhone right in the middle of the iPhone template on the screen for it to finally work?
 
Same exact issue here. I have 3 Apple TVs throughout the house all hooked up to different size Samsung QLEDs. I've tried maybe about 20 times at this point and can't move past the 'preparing' screen.
 
It is important to understand, that your tv will not be calibrated.
It is the appleTV-s graphics card, that will be biased so that it will neutralize the color shift of your TV/panel.
That is why I still prefer a proper calibration of the TV itself, so that correct colors are seen for all input sources.
Yes but it is calibrating the signal the  TV is sending, that could be helpful, I’d like more info on what color profile it’s shooting for (i assume d6500k) and whether it’s doing grayscale and white balance too (looked like it was) and if it’s correcting video for each app which I assume it is. The good thing about it is that it’s easy to switch on or off if you don’t like the results
 
I, also, have not been able to get it to work. I tried it first last night when it was dark, and then tried it with lights on, both times with no luck. I just tried it again a couple times in the same room that is naturally lit now, and still nothing. Its a bummer it isn't working right yet. Was hoping this would give my 60" Sharp LCD some new life in how it looks. I need to replace it, anyway.
 
I'm 2 for 3, using identical TV's and identical Apple TV boxes. At least the one TV that doesn't want to even start the calibration process is the one I use the least, by far.
 
Yeah I’m trying to calibrating my Samsung 40 inch LCD. Not working.. Did you place the iPhone right in the middle of the iPhone template on the screen for it to finally work?

Yes, and then a slight wobble of the hand would cause it to stop. Had to align perfectly then hold perfectly through the process.
 
I have successfully run this process on 5 televisions - three Samsung models (40", 65" and 75"), an older Sony and a Toshiba Regza... four worked perfectly the first time. I had a bit of trouble with the 75" Samsung... but after reading this thread, I placed the phone directly against the tv screen... and it worked perfectly then. The differences were minimal/insignificant on all of the televisions... much ado about nothing, IMO.
 
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i tried it again in daylight today.. not working with my 40 inch Samsung lcd even after over 20 tries
 
Have to say, when I bought my current Sony, I paid for an expert to calibrate it for all sources for light and dark rooms so I already have settings on there for movies in the two environments ( together with the the Sony setting for games ).

Will give the Apple one a try and see if I prefer it but I suspect there will be little difference and even in the case where there is, probably err on the side of the Pro who calibrated the TV.
 
No issues with iPhone 11 Pro and 3 Apple TV’s connected to 3 HDTVs. Took me a minute to figure out but only took about 2 tries to get it with each TV. Had to practically hold my breath with my shaky hands though and the window on the 25” kitchen TV was just big enough (not that a kitchen TV needs to be color calibrated, but still cool to have)
 
Didn’t realize you needed a phone with Face ID

I’ll stick with the Pro Calibration as I only have iPhone 8
 
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