If you want to get the most out of your flatscreen TV, then it needs to be adjusted from the terrible default settings it probably ships with.
Most TVs will generally come from the factory with an overly sharp, too contrasty and highly saturated image as the default setting. If your TV offers different profiles or modes, then setting it to Movie mode often goes a long way to setting things to a sensible default, however there’s always room for improvement.
Some Blu-ray discs, and even some DVDs have specialised calibration patterns that you can use to tweak your set, however that required buying the disc in question, which may be hard to come by.
An easier solution, if you’ve got either an Apple TV or an iPod/iPhone/iPad to Digital AV adapter and HDMI cable, then this app is going to sort you out.
The THX tune-up app can either mirror the iOS device to the AppleTV via AirPlay Mirroring, or directly via the adapter and HDMI cable (which is the preferred option) and will take you through a number of test patterns to help you adjust the picture (and if you’re using a direct HDMI connection, the sound as well).
To replace the functionality of the coloured filters for adjusting colour, tint and contrast, it uses the camera on the iOS device instead to view the TV screen and see if the settings are adjusted correctly.
As at the time of writing, the app is free, but I’m told it’s going to go up to two bucks at some time in the future, so head on over and grab it while you can.