As you may remember, we purchased an LG OLED TV back in 2020, a 65 incher.

Now I’m not going to get into a technological discussion with you about what is the best TV… When it comes to TVs, many high ticket items, it’s like skis. There are many brands, but if you ask someone on the lift how they like their boards they’ll always say they love them, BECAUSE THEY PAID FOR THEM! Oftentimes they’ve never even skied on anything else, but they’re convinced their skis are the best.

Now there are two kinds of TV buyers, those who do the research and those who do not. And it’s really those who do the research who are the most opinionated. Is OLED still the best format? Is it really only good in the dark? Has it been superseded?

Like I said, I’m not going to get into all this. All I will say is LG OLED TVs are considered the absolute best by many, especially those in Hollywood. And the reason I’m getting so detailed is because the picture is astounding. Revelatory. You can’t believe it’s that good. Truly. You may think your cheap TV is adequate, and you get more for your buck than ever before, but for a little bit more you can get image quality that truly rivals the movies, which are usually shot digitally today anyway.

So loving the LG so much, we decided to buy another for the condo in Vail. Only in this case there’s a defined space and only a 55 incher will fit. And believe me, you can tell the difference, that extra ten inches adds to the viewing experience. (And for the uninitiated, TV size is measured diagonally.)

So I figured the LG was not as good in Vail because it was smaller. But I got home after the holidays and I was blown away by how good the image was on the 65″ set. And the set in Vail is four generations newer! It doesn’t make any sense that the image would be worse, they’re both C models, if you know your LGs.

But reading voraciously I stumbled upon another article about TV calibration. Now the set at home was adjusted by the installer. The one in Vail…we’re just using the settings as shipped. Used to be they were set too bright, to impress buyers in stores, but that’s not always the case anymore, but…

This article reminded me that we’ve come to the point where you can calibrate your TV yourself. Because sites have listings for your specific set.

And I’m sitting in L.A when I’m reading about this and I decide I’m going to dive in when I get to Vail.

Now the site the article referred to was from “Consumer Reports,” and we’re subscribers, to both print and digital.

So, you go to:

https://www.consumerreports.org/mycr/benefits/tv-screen-optimizer/

If you’re a digital CR subscriber.

Is there a similar site elsewhere on the web? Probably, I leave it to you to Google.

But with CR, you enter the brand and the model number of your TV set and then you’re given a list of settings, what values to make them for your particular TV. If you can follow instructions, and can find where the settings are on your TV, it’s a no-brainer, anybody can do it.

Not that I expected that much.

But HOLY SH*T! It was a completely different TV set, I was completely blown away.

Now the set looked just as good if not better than the one at home. Really, with only ten minutes of aligning the numbers on the set with those in “Consumer Reports.” It should not be that easy, I shouldn’t be able to tweak my TV to perfection all by myself, but I did!

And I’ve been thinking of writing about this, but I finally am because of the images in “Train Dreams” last night.

Now “Train Dreams” is streamed in 4k, which you have to pay extra to see. I didn’t used to think it was worth it, but having done A/B comparisons, I now know it is. Almost everybody has a 4k capable set today, so I recommend you pay Netflix the extra bucks. Try it for a month, you can always cancel.

But watching “Train Dreams” last night on the calibrated LG OLED TV it was clear to me that this image was as good as the one you can get in a theatre, positively jaw-dropping.

Oh, people will argue with me. Sure, the bigger the image the better the experience. But that experience also comes with people talking, texting on their phones, it’s anything but a religious experience.

Now some opinionated person will weigh in and try to convince me that the image in a theatre is a bit better. That could be true. But that is missing the point. This is the exact same situation we had in music. Everybody bitched that the MP3 had inferior sound to the CD. But for the average consumer, the MP3 was good enough. And the funny thing is now that multiple outlets stream in hi-def, oftentimes in better than CD quality, almost no one buys the DAC to hear it. And you can hear it if you have the service and equipment, and I’d like to tell you the difference is night and day, but it’s not.

So what is the lesson here?

Calibrate your TV. You can do it, it’s easy, like taking candy, from a baby! You will see the difference.

Also, you get what you pay for. Sure, you can get a set for under a grand and it’s pretty good. But it’s kind of like stereo, there’s extra to be gotten, and you don’t have to pay an exorbitant amount to get it.

If you saw “Train Dreams” on my TV…

I’m not inviting you over. To tell you the truth, I find the fewer people watching, the more I can get engrossed in the picture.

But I’m nudging you…calibrate your set. And if you’ve got an old crummy one that you think is good enough, I recommend ponying up for a new one, and subscribing to Netflix 4k.