TV Auto-Calibration Calman AutoCal (Calman Ready TV auto-calibration)

What TV auto-calibration is

Calibrating a TV by hand means measuring a test pattern, nudging a white balance or color control, and measuring again, dozens of times. Auto-calibration removes the loop. Portrait Displays describes its AutoCal feature as designed to produce more precise results in less time than manual calibration, with most of the workflow automated so the user makes few adjustments. A TV that carries the Calman Ready logo can communicate with the Calman software, which sends the controls the TV exposes and reads back the meter.

The software is a paid product. Portrait's Calman Home line costs $145 per version, and each version supports AutoCal for one TV manufacturer: LG, Panasonic, Samsung, or Sony, with manual calibration available for sets that do not support AutoCal. Portrait says every Calman Ready product is listed within its professional software licenses, and the result is judged by Delta E error against the target.

What it needs

Portrait's guides list the same three pieces of hardware or software. First, a Calman license at a minimum version: Samsung requires Studio or Ultimate v5.16.5 or higher, Sony requires Home, Studio, or Ultimate v5.17.0 or higher, and TCL requires Studio or Ultimate v5.17.4 or higher. Second, a meter from Portrait's Calman Compatible Meter list, which connects by USB. Third, a pattern generator from the Calman Compatible Pattern Generator list, with one exception: for 2024 LG sets with the Alpha 9 or Alpha 11 processor, the pattern generator can be the LG internal pattern generator, and Samsung says LCD models need no pattern insertion. The TV connects to the computer over the local network. On a Samsung that means enabling IP Remote in the network settings and entering the TV's IP address, and on a Sony it means installing the Calman for BRAVIA app from the Google Play Store.

What it adjusts, by brand

The depth of control differs by manufacturer. LG exposes the most. Portrait's 2024 LG guide has Calman adjust multipoint grayscale through a 1D LUT and color management through a 3D LUT, with HDR and Dolby Vision grayscale using LG's 20-point HDR data points. For HDR color, the supported method is a Matrix LUT that reads five color patches. The SDR workflow runs 11 steps, HDR runs 9, and Dolby Vision runs 8, including a Dolby Vision config file built from white, black, and primary measurements. Before calibration it runs a full DDC reset, and it ends with a luminance readjustment because some luminance is typically lost after the 1D LUT step.

Samsung's workflow runs a 2-point grayscale AutoCal for white balance, then a multipoint grayscale AutoCal, then a color space AutoCal through the TV's color management system, with an optional Multipoint CMS. The guide does not mention LUT upload. Sony's workflow does a greyscale AutoCal and a colorspace AutoCal through the TV's built-in CMS controls, and temporarily sets contrast to 100 during the process. Hisense and TCL go further: Hisense announced 1D and 3D LUT calibration for SDR and HDR in June 2024, and Portrait's TCL guide has Calman using a 1D and a 3D LUT across SDR, HDR PQ, HDR HLG, and Dolby Vision, with a 3D LUT gamut step at the end.

AutoCal vs manual calibration

AutoCal does not change what the panel can do. It aligns grayscale tracking, gamma, and color gamut to a target such as D65 and Rec. 709 or BT.2020 with ST.2084. It cannot raise peak brightness, fix dirty screen effect, or restore color volume the panel lacks. Brightness stays manual in some guides: Portrait's TCL page says you adjust the backlight by hand to reach the SDR luminance target, and the Samsung page has you measure and adjust the backlight in SDR. Window size is part of the setup too. Portrait's LG guide uses a 10% window for OLED and APL 10 for LCD and NanoCell, while the Samsung guide uses 2% for QD-OLED and 10% for LCD and QLED, both with a 2 second delay. On a 3,840 by 2,160 panel, a 10% window covers about 829,000 pixels and a 2% window about 166,000. Portrait does not state why OLED gets the smaller patch, though the automatic brightness limiter is the usual reason OLED measurements are taken on small windows.

The practical edge over a manual session is repeatability and reach. Hisense said this kind of calibration was previously limited to expensive professional hardware. The edge disappears if the target is wrong. Pick the picture mode first, ideally Filmmaker Mode or the TV's most neutral preset, then calibrate that mode, and see the TV calibration settings guide for what to set before you spend on a meter.

Which sets are supported

Support is model-year specific, and Portrait warns that its lists change. LG AutoCal is officially supported on North American models, with suffixes AAA, AUA, PUA, PUB, SUB, WUA, and ZUA, and the 2024 guide covers 14 named models across four processor tiers, from Alpha 5 sets (no Dolby Vision) through Alpha 11 sets such as the OLED M4 and OLED G4. Samsung's page lists Calman Ready models from 2020 to 2026, including 2026 Neo QLED from QN1EH to QN990H, OLED from S82H to S99H, and Micro RGB R85H to R95H, plus 2025 OLED S85F to S95F. Hisense said select U Series models work, covering the majority of its 2023 and 2024 Mini-LED and OLED premium TVs, on Android TV in North America or VIDAA OS in Europe.

TCL is the case to read closely. Portrait's TCL guide says 2024 through 2026 models are unsupported until a firmware update expected in fall 2026. The usable sets today are the 2023 C74, C80, and C84 and the 2022 C73, C83, and C93. The guide lists C7L, C8L, P8L, and X11L among the 2026 models to follow, and the 2025 C6K, C7K, C8K, C9K, and X11K. Sony's page requires a model on Sony's Calman Ready TVs list. Check the exact model suffix on Portrait's site before buying a license, since Portrait says its tables are not exhaustive.