Calibrating laptop color

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
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I hooked up a used laptop I got and on both my HDTV it's outputting to as well as on the laptop's built in screen itself blacks look kind of bright and almost dark grayish. Clearly I might be able to remedy that by fiddling with the brightness/contrast until it looks "ok".

But what I'm wondering is, is there a more optimal way to calibrate these things? I'm talking test patterns/software/visual guides etc. that while perhaps not as perfect or as scientific as an a/v professional using a meter, might just be "good enough".