Pattern Catalog

Full-screen 1% gray field (code 3/255) for detecting backlight clouding and bleed.

Displays a full-screen flat gray field at 1% signal level (display code value 3 out of 255). This is the darkest standard uniformity test level, ideal for detecting clouding, backlight bleed, and corner glow on LCD panels. In a dark room, scan the screen slowly for bright patches, halos, or color tinting. Any deviation from a perfectly flat field indicates non-uniform backlighting. Compare with the 2% variant: artifacts that appear on both but are more pronounced here indicate your display's local dimming minimum is above 1%.

Single-pixel alternating black/white grid. From a normal viewing distance it should appear as a uniform 50% gray; any moiré, rainbow banding, or halos indicate artificial sharpening or 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.

Alternates black and white at the single-pixel level using exact rasterized pixel coordinates for true 1:1 mapping. From a normal seating distance the pattern blends to a neutral 50% gray. If you see wavy patterns (moiré), color fringing, or bright/dark halos around clusters of pixels, your TV's Sharpness setting is turned up too high or the Apple TV is sending 4:2:0 chroma-subsampled signal instead of full 4:4:4. Reduce TV Sharpness until the pattern looks perfectly neutral gray.

1-pixel white lines on black at 50-pixel intervals. Use to detect artificial sharpness ringing; halos should be invisible at a neutral sharpness setting.

Draws 1-pixel-wide white lines on a pure black background at 50-pixel intervals across the full screen. At neutral TV sharpness (no artificial edge enhancement), the lines appear clean with no glow or halo around them. If you see bright halos on either side of each line, your TV's Sharpness is turned up and adding artificial edge enhancement; lower the Sharpness slider until the halos disappear. Also useful for detecting scaling artifacts and confirming 1:1 pixel mapping across the full panel.

Full-screen 10% gray field (code 26/255) for broad uniformity and tinting checks.

Displays a full-screen flat gray field at 10% signal level (display code value 26 out of 255). At this brightness, uniformity issues that were subtle at 1 to 5% become more visible, but some panel-level DSE may become less obvious as the brighter level masks cell-pressure variations. Use this level to check for large-scale color tinting (green, purple, or yellow casts in corners or edges), broad backlight zones, and center-brightness hotspots. If you see a color cast at 10% that is absent at 5%, this points to white balance or color temperature non-uniformity rather than backlight structure.

Full-screen white field for uniformity and clipping checks.

Displays a full-screen white field at 100% REC.709 level. Use to check your display's uniformity (look for tinting or brightness falloff at the edges) and verify your display is not clipping above reference white. Ideal for diagnosing backlight bleed on LCD panels.

Full-screen 2% gray field (code 5/255) for backlight uniformity and DSE evaluation.

Displays a full-screen flat gray field at 2% signal level (display code value 5 out of 255). Use this level to detect dirty screen effect (DSE): the faint mottled or streaky pattern caused by non-uniform LCD cell pressure, particularly on VA panels when displaying sports content with large areas of similar-toned grass or ice. In a dark room, scan for brightness variations across the screen. On VA panels, a subtle woven or streaky texture across the field is the defining DSE signature.

Scrolling stripe that moves at exactly one stripe-width per 24p frame. Judder appears as uneven stutter if the display is not outputting a true 24 Hz signal.

Displays alternating white and black vertical stripes scrolling left-to-right at a velocity calibrated to advance exactly one stripe-width per frame at 24 Hz. On a display that accepts and outputs a true 24 Hz signal, the motion appears perfectly smooth and even. On a display running at 60 Hz with 3:2 pulldown, each source frame is held for either two or three 60 Hz periods, creating an uneven cadence (2-2-3-2-3) that is visible as a distinct stutter or hesitation every five frames. To enable 24 Hz output on Apple TV: go to Settings > Video and Audio > Match Content and turn on Match Frame Rate. The pattern also requests 24 Hz mode automatically using Apple TV's display matching API. If your display rejects 24 Hz mode, a label appears below the pattern explaining the issue and how to fix it.

Full-screen 5% gray field (code 13/255), the primary DSE diagnostic level.

Displays a full-screen flat gray field at 5% signal level (display code value 13 out of 255). This is the most diagnostically useful uniformity level, dark enough to reveal DSE and backlight structure while bright enough to see clearly in a slightly lit room. On a well-calibrated and uniform display, this field should appear as a perfectly flat, tonally identical gray from corner to corner. Any patchiness, banding, column structures, or color shifts indicate uniformity issues that will be visible on near-black content such as dark movie scenes and night gameplay.

Flat 50% gray field (128/255) for backlight and panel uniformity.

A uniform 128/255 gray field for evaluating mid-gray uniformity across the panel. Look for DSE (dirty screen effect), backlight uniformity artifacts, or vignetting. Useful in combination with the 1%, 2%, 5%, and 10% gray uniformity fields to build a complete picture of where the panel has the most significant uniformity issues.

Classic 7-bar SMPTE color chart at 75% saturation.

Renders the standard SMPTE 75% color bars in REC.709 color space. Use to verify color decoding accuracy and color temperature on your display. Each bar corresponds to a primary or secondary color at 75% of reference white. Compare bar brightness against a calibrated meter to check your display's tracking.

8x4 ANSI contrast measurement checkerboard.

An 8-column by 4-row checkerboard per the ANSI/ICDM contrast measurement standard. Place a luminance meter on alternating white and black cells to measure native contrast ratio. The coarser grid (compared to the local-dimming checker) minimizes zone-level FALD brightening, giving a truer native contrast reading on FALD panels.

Letterbox and pillarbox framing lines for 2.40, 2.35, 1.85, and 1.33 cinema ratios.

Draws precise framing lines on a gray field to show exactly where a cinema aspect ratio falls on your screen. The active image rectangle is shown in a lighter gray and the masked region outside it in a darker gray, with bright white boundary lines, a screen-edge frame, and a center crosshair. Select the target ratio from the preset picker before launching: 2.40:1 (CinemaScope), 2.35:1 (anamorphic), 1.85:1 (flat), or 1.33:1 (Academy). Use this pattern to set projector masking plates, calibrate motorized screen drop, or verify that your display is applying the correct aspect-ratio mode without stretching or cropping the image.

Left half strobe / right half gray reference to verify BFI is active.

Left half alternates between black and white at 60 Hz. Right half shows constant 50% gray. When BFI (Black Frame Insertion) is active, the left half flickers visibly while the right half appears steady. If both halves look equally steady, BFI is not inserting black frames. Useful for verifying the BFI setting in your display menu is actually engaged.

Standard 75% color bars with only the blue channel active for color/tint calibration.

Renders the same seven-bar 75% SMPTE color-bar layout as the standard color bars pattern, but outputs only the blue channel. Red and green are forced to zero. Viewed through a blue gel filter or a display blue-only mode, a correctly calibrated display will show matching brightness between specific adjacent bar pairs: white matches cyan, yellow matches black, magenta matches blue, and green matches red. Any deviation in color, tint, or saturation calibration causes one bar in a matched pair to appear brighter or darker than its partner.

45-degree and -45-degree red diagonal lines on 50% gray. Reveals chroma upsampling errors as zigzag or stair-step artifacts along diagonal edges.

Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE) is a well-documented MPEG decoder artifact first cataloged by Spears and Munsil. When a decoder incorrectly upsamples 4:2:0 chroma, diagonal edges in the source develop visible zigzag patterns or stair-stepping. This pattern displays two sets of saturated red diagonal lines, one at +45 degrees and one at -45 degrees, forming an X across a 50% gray field. Lines are 4 pixels wide at 120-pixel spacing, placed at exact pixel coordinates with no shader-side anti-aliasing. Any smoothing or jagged stepping visible along the diagonal edges is introduced downstream by the video processor, HDMI matrix switch, or display's internal scaler, not by the source. On a correctly processing Apple TV and display chain, the diagonals appear crisp and straight. A path with known CUE will show visible zigzag or scalloping artifacts along the red edge boundaries. This tests a different failure mode than the Chroma Alignment patterns: alignment tests measure spatial offset of the chroma plane, while CUE tests the upsampling filter quality along diagonal transitions.

Single-pixel crosshair through the geometric center. Confirms accurate geometry and isolates artificial sharpening on a single horizontal and vertical edge.

Draws a single-pixel white horizontal and vertical crosshair through the exact geometric center of the screen, with a small center dot for reference. Used to confirm that the display's geometric center is accurate and that the image has not been shifted or cropped. A single isolated edge also makes sharpness ringing highly visible; look for bright halos on either side of the crosshair lines and reduce the TV's Sharpness slider until the lines appear clean and free of any glow.

Symmetric white and red shapes diagnose Y/C delay and 4:2:0 chroma upsampling errors. Both shapes must appear identical in edge sharpness.

Displays three zones of symmetric white and red rectangle pairs. The white shape carries only luminance; the red shape carries identical luminance plus chroma. If your display's chroma plane is spatially misaligned (due to a Y/C processing delay or a 4:2:0-to-RGB upsampling filter error), the red shape will appear to have a colored fringe or halo on one side that the white shape lacks. Zone 1 (top) tests horizontal chroma shift. Zone 2 (middle) tests vertical chroma shift. Zone 3 (bottom) tests combined alignment. Pass: white and red shapes look identical in size and edge sharpness, with no asymmetric color fringing. Fail: the red shapes show colored halos on one side. Fix: try enabling PC Mode on your TV, or set the HDMI port to 'Enhanced' / 'Ultra HD Deep Color'. Some displays require a firmware update to fix chroma alignment.

Symmetric white/red rectangle pairs along the vertical axis.

A vertical-axis variant of the chroma alignment test. White and red rectangles are positioned symmetrically along the Y axis to reveal Y/C vertical timing delay and 4:2:0 upsampling errors in the vertical dimension. Asymmetric color fringing above vs below the red rectangles (compared to the white reference) indicates a vertical chroma delay in the signal path.

Ticking clock for motion interpolation detection.

An analog clock face with a second hand that snaps discretely between tick positions. A correctly calibrated display shows a clean snap with no intermediate frames. If motion interpolation is active, the hand appears to glide smoothly between positions rather than tick, confirming the processor is synthesizing frames. Disable motion interpolation and compare.

Stepped grayscale with a 1-pixel dither reference for verifying SDR gamma 2.2 and 2.4 tracking visually without a colorimeter.

SDR displays are expected to follow a power-law gamma curve: 2.2 for bright rooms or 2.4 (BT.1886) for dim viewing environments. A display with incorrect gamma tracking will show mid-tones that appear too dark (over-gamma) or too light (under-gamma) even if black and white points are correctly calibrated. The top half of the pattern shows 11 stepped grayscale patches from 0% to 100% code value in 10% increments. The bottom half provides a visual gamma reference: the left region is a 1-pixel alternating white/black dither that integrates to 50% linear luminance at normal viewing distance. The center-right region is a flat gray patch at code value 186, which should visually match the dither on a display tracking gamma 2.2. The far-right region is a flat gray patch at code value 197, which should match the dither on a gamma 2.4 display. To evaluate: compare the dither brightness against the two reference patches. On a correctly calibrated gamma-2.2 display, the dither and the 186 patch blend seamlessly. If the dither appears brighter than 186 but matches 197, the display is tracking gamma 2.4. If neither patch matches, the display gamma is off.

Three-band shadow gradient at 6-bit, 8-bit, and 10-bit quantization for evaluating dithering.

Displays three horizontal gradient bands stacked vertically, each sweeping the same low-luminance range (code value 0 to approximately 76 out of 255) from left to right. The top band simulates 6-bit quantization (64 levels), the middle band simulates 8-bit (256 levels), and the bottom band simulates 10-bit (1024 levels). Because shadow gradients are where banding is most perceptible, comparing the three bands side by side immediately reveals whether the display or its internal video processing is applying dithering to hide coarse quantization steps. A display with effective dithering will show smooth gradients in all three bands; a display without dithering will show visible contouring in the 6-bit and sometimes 8-bit bands.

Sharp alternating checkerboard for local dimming and blooming evaluation.

Displays a full-screen alternating black and white checkerboard in SDR. Use to evaluate local dimming behavior: look for blooming where bright cells bleed into adjacent black cells, haloing around cell edges, coarse zone boundaries, black floor lift, and edge bleed on panels with zone-based backlight control. Finer grid sizes reveal dimming granularity. The pattern is static with sharp edges and no animation.

White square bouncing on black for motion clarity and ghosting checks.

A sharp-edged white square moves at constant velocity across a pure black background, bouncing off all four edges. Use this to evaluate your display's pixel response time, motion clarity, and trailing behavior under SDR conditions. LCD and VA panels will show ghosting as a faint trail behind the square. OLED panels may show black smear immediately after the square passes. Compare with the HDR10 variant to see how your display handles bright-object motion under different tone-mapping conditions.

15% white bar sweeping top to bottom on black. Reveals FALD blooming and zone lag.

A peak-white horizontal bar (15% of screen height) sweeps continuously from top to bottom and back at constant velocity on a true black field. The bar is wide enough to activate multiple FALD zones simultaneously. Watch the leading edge for zone pre-activation (glow appearing just ahead of the bar) and the trailing edge for zone turn-off lag (a faint glow that lingers behind the bar). On displays with coarse FALD zone grids, discrete brightness steps are visible as the bar crosses zone boundaries. OLED panels show no trailing glow; mini-LED and FALD LCD panels reveal their zone response time directly.

Thin white horizontal line sweeping on black. Exposes zone width and trailing ghosting.

A thin peak-white horizontal line (~9 pixels on a 4K panel) sweeps from top to bottom and back at a faster rate than the bar patterns. Because the line is narrower than a single FALD zone, the active backlight zone is wider than the visible content, appearing as a glow halo larger than the line itself. On OLED, the line stays exactly its pixel width with absolute black on both sides. On mini-LED and FALD LCD panels, the glow surrounding the line reveals the physical size of the smallest addressable dimming zone. Trailing lag is also more pronounced at this speed: watch for a ghost image that lags 1 to 4 frames behind the line's actual position.

15% white bar sweeping left to right on black. Reveals horizontal FALD zone structure.

A peak-white vertical bar (15% of screen width) sweeps continuously from left to right and back at constant velocity on a true black field. Tests the same FALD zone behavior as the horizontal variant but along the horizontal axis, which on many panels has a different zone count and response time than the vertical axis. Horizontal FALD zone boundaries often appear as vertical bands of slightly different brightness, and the vertical bar makes these particularly easy to spot. Pair with the horizontal bar pattern to build a complete picture of your display's local dimming grid.

Thin white vertical line sweeping on black. Reveals horizontal FALD zone width and ghosting.

A thin peak-white vertical line (~9 pixels on a 4K panel) sweeps from left to right and back. Tests horizontal FALD zone width and response time. Because vertical zone boundaries are often wider than horizontal ones on displays with rectangular zone grids, the glow halo surrounding this line may appear wider than the halo on the horizontal line test. Compare the two thin-line patterns to determine whether your display's FALD grid is symmetrical or has tighter zones along one axis.

Seven blocks of increasing line-pair frequency to evaluate scaler sharpness and over-sharpening.

Divides the screen into seven equal-width vertical blocks, each containing alternating white and black vertical columns at a distinct spatial frequency. From left to right the stripe width decreases: 12 pixels, 8 pixels, 6 pixels, 4 pixels, 3 pixels, 2 pixels, and 1 pixel. A display and scaler that correctly resolve the source signal will show each block with distinct, sharp edges. A soft scaler or internal low-pass filter will blur the finest blocks on the right side, causing the alternating stripes to blend into a flat gray. A display with aggressive artificial sharpening will show ringing or halo artifacts around the edges of each block boundary, often most visible at the 2-pixel and 1-pixel blocks.

10 patches from 230/255 to 255/255 for near-white detail evaluation.

Ten patches from 230 to 255 out of 255 on a 230/255 background. The peak-white (255/255) patch pulses between 255 and 230 to reveal compression or clipping near the ceiling. Use to verify the display preserves near-white detail and is not over-driving brightness in a way that compresses highlight gradients.

If the outer white border is not visible on all four sides, your TV's Overscan setting is turned on and degrading image quality.

Draws a pure white 2-pixel border at the absolute screen edges and a 50% gray border at the 95% safe-area mark. If the white outer border is cropped or invisible on any side, your display has Overscan enabled, a legacy setting that scales the image inward and discards edge pixels. Disable overscan in your TV's picture settings for 1:1 pixel mapping and full sharpness.

Full-screen strobe for backlight PWM dimming analysis.

Full-screen square-wave strobe at your chosen frequency (60, 120, 240, or 480 Hz). Used to probe whether the display uses PWM dimming and at what frequency. Film this screen with a high-frame-rate camera (240fps+) or use a light flicker meter. PWM dimming will show alternating dark and bright frames in the footage at the dimming frequency. WARNING: this pattern produces intense visible flickering. Do not use if you are sensitive to flashing light.

White-on-black pixel-exact geometry grid with center crosshair, diagonals, and corner brackets.

A static white-on-black alignment pattern for projector geometry, lens focus, and convergence checks. A 1px grid every 100 pixels covers the full screen. A bold 3px crosshair runs through the exact geometric center both horizontally and vertically. Single-pixel diagonal lines connect opposite corners. Right-angle bracket marks in all four corners, inset 40 pixels from the physical screen edge, provide precise corner reference points. All lines are computed pixel-by-pixel from integer screen coordinates so there is no sub-pixel error in the source signal. Any distortion, bowing, or misalignment you see is coming from the projector optics or geometry correction, not the test pattern.

Horizontal gray ramp from black to white. Any color tint reveals a YCbCr color format error in your Apple TV output settings.

Displays a smooth horizontal gradient from black (left) to peak white (right) in REC.709. A correctly configured Apple TV in RGB color output mode renders this as a perfectly neutral gray ramp with no color cast. If you see a greenish, pinkish, or yellowish tint (especially in the mid-gray region), your Apple TV is set to YCbCr output. The YCbCr color matrix conversion introduces a subtle but visible green bias in neutral grays. Fix: go to Apple TV Settings → Video and Audio → Color Format and switch to RGB High.

White scrolling text for MEMC ghosting and edge clarity tests.

The text MOTION TEST scrolls right-to-left at your selected speed. Fine letterform edges expose MEMC interpolation ghosting and panel response-time trailing more clearly than a smooth square. Use at the default 0.2× speed for MEMC artifact hunting, or increase to 0.5× to stress-test pixel response on the leading edge of each letterform.

Full-screen flat color field in nine standard colors for dead pixel, panel purity, and backlight uniformity testing.

Fills the entire screen with a single flat color selected from nine presets: Black, White, Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and 50% Gray. No gradients, no motion, no dithering. The signal is output as direct linear values with no gamma encoding, so code value 1.0 reaches peak drive for that channel and code value 0.0 is digital zero. Color is set via the Color picker in the detail view and is preserved between sessions. Applies to SDR BT.709.

Moving circle over a static grid for MEMC double-image detection.

A white circle moves across a static vertical grid at your chosen speed. Any double-image, halo, or wobble at the circle edge against the fixed grid lines indicates MEMC interpolation artifacts. Compare with motion interpolation enabled and disabled in your display menu to isolate its effect. Speed presets control the circle velocity across the screen.

White square bouncing at adjustable speeds for response-time comparison.

A white square on black bouncing at your chosen speed multiplier (0.25×, 0.5×, 1×, 2×, 4×). Running the same object shape at multiple velocities isolates pixel response time and panel trailing from motion-blur artifacts. Compare 0.25× and 4× back-to-back to separate slow-pixel trailing from MEMC ghosting.

Horizontal sweeping thin line at adjustable speeds for pixel response testing.

A single-pixel-thin horizontal line sweeps the screen at your chosen speed. The thin line stresses the panel at the sharpest possible spatial frequency during motion. Slow speeds (0.25×) reveal inverse ghosting on IPS panels; fast speeds (2×, 4×) reveal trailing on VA and OLED panels with slow pixel response in specific grey-to-grey transitions.

Centered 10% area white window at 1000 nit peak in PQ.

Renders a centered 10% area white window encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ at 1000 nits peak. This is the most common test for HDR peak brightness. Your display's tone-mapping behavior and peak white output can be evaluated with a colorimeter or luminance meter. The surrounding field is 0 nits (true black). Requires an HDR10-capable display and receiver passthrough.

Centered 10% area white window at 4000 nit peak in PQ.

Renders a centered 10% area white window encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ at 4000 nits peak. Use on high-brightness panels (mini-LED, premium OLED) to evaluate tone-mapping behavior above the 1000 nit tier. Most displays will tone-map this to their own peak; verify that the window appears brighter than the 1000 nit variant on your specific panel.

Ultra-smooth RGB gradients to test for 8-bit banding and color processor contouring.

Draws three horizontal bands (red, green, and blue), each ramping smoothly from 0 nit on the left to 1000 nit on the right in HDR10 PQ. On a true 10-bit display the gradients appear perfectly smooth with no visible steps. On an 8-bit panel, or one with aggressive color processing, you will see chunky horizontal stripes (banding) or sudden gradient breaks (contouring). Use this pattern to evaluate your display's bit depth and color processor quality.

Centered 2% area window at 1000 nit PQ, ABL ladder rung 1, measures small-highlight peak.

Displays a centered white window occupying 2% of total screen area (edge length = 14.1% of screen height/width), encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ at 1000 nits against a true 0-nit black field. A 2% window represents a small specular highlight: a sun reflection, a lamp filament, or a street light. This is where OLED and mini-LED panels typically achieve their highest measured brightness, because the ABL circuit has not yet engaged to limit total panel power. Measure nit output here with a colorimeter or spectroradiometer and compare with the 5%, 10%, and 25% readings to chart your display's ABL curve. Requires HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough.

Centered 25% area window at 1000 nit PQ, ABL ladder rung 4, reveals maximum ABL roll-off.

Displays a centered white window occupying 25% of total screen area (edge length = 50% of screen height/width), encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ at 1000 nits. A 25% window represents a large bright area: a bright indoor scene, a snow field, or a daylight exterior shot. This is where ABL roll-off is most dramatic on OLED panels: many OLED displays reduce measured output to 300 to 500 nit at 25% area compared to 1000+ nit at 2% area, a roll-off of 50 to 70%. Mini-LED panels with good zone control show less roll-off. The difference between your 2% and 25% measurements defines the steepness of your display's ABL curve. Steeper curves cause more visible brightness shifting on HDR content with scene cuts. Requires HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough.

1-pixel red/blue alternating grid. Should appear as a sharp checkerboard; a blurry purple field means your signal chain is subsampling chroma.

Displays a 1-pixel alternating red and blue checkerboard encoded in HDR10 PQ at 200 nits per channel. From a normal seating distance the pattern appears as a fine grid. Up close, each pixel should be distinctly red or blue. If the pattern appears as a uniform purple blur, your HDMI signal chain is downgrading chroma from 4:4:4 to 4:2:0 or 4:2:2. Common causes: HDMI cable does not support 18 Gbps bandwidth, TV HDMI port is not set to Enhanced mode, or Apple TV color format is forced to YCbCr 4:2:0. Fix: set the TV's HDMI input to 'Enhanced' or 'Ultra HD Deep Color'. Check Apple TV Settings → Video and Audio → Color Format.

Centered 5% area window at 1000 nit PQ, ABL ladder rung 2, measures mid-highlight peak.

Displays a centered white window occupying 5% of total screen area (edge length = 22.4% of screen height/width), encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ at 1000 nits. A 5% window represents a larger highlight element: a bright sky patch, a white vehicle, or an overexposed window in a dark room scene. On OLED panels, ABL begins to engage at this area size, typically reducing output by 5 to 15% relative to the 2% reading. On mini-LED panels with fine zone grids, output is usually near peak. Measure with a colorimeter and log alongside your 2%, 10%, and 25% readings. Requires HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough.

8x4 ANSI checkerboard at 1000 nit PQ for HDR contrast measurement.

HDR10 variant of the ANSI contrast checkerboard. Bright cells output 1000 nit PQ; dark cells output 0 nit. Use to measure HDR contrast ratio across the ANSI grid pattern while ABL is active. Compare the bright cell luminance reading to the full-field 1000-nit window to quantify ABL roll-off on a pattern of this area coverage.

Draws extreme BT.2020 colors against DCI-P3 backgrounds. If you cannot see the inner shapes, your display is clipping wide color gamut details.

Displays a pure BT.2020 maximum red rectangle centered against a DCI-P3 maximum red background, both encoded in HDR10 PQ. The inner rectangle uses color coordinates that exist outside the DCI-P3 gamut. On a display with true BT.2020 wide color volume, the inner rectangle appears as a distinctly more vivid, saturated red. On a display limited to DCI-P3 (even one marketed as BT.2020), the inner rectangle will be invisible, clipped to the same color as the background. This reveals whether your display is genuinely rendering wide color gamut or simply mapping BT.2020 signals into P3.

3x6 patch grid: BT.709, DCI-P3, and BT.2020 primaries at 1000 nit.

Three rows of six patches each. Top row: BT.709 primaries and secondaries expressed in the BT.2020 container. Middle row: DCI-P3 primaries. Bottom row: native BT.2020 primaries. Measure colorimetrically to verify the display's gamut coverage and color primaries accuracy. On P3-limited displays the top and middle rows will appear identical; true BT.2020 displays show progressively more saturated colors across rows.

4x4 grid with 16 patches from 0 to 1 nit for shadow detail evaluation.

A 4x4 grid of 16 patches spanning 0 to 1 nit in perceptually-spaced steps. The 0.05 nit patch pulses between 0.05 and 0.15 nit to reveal near-black crush. This level range is critical for evaluating whether the display can resolve shadow detail in dark scenes. OLED panels should show all 16 distinct patches; panels with black-level lift or heavy tonemapping may crush the lowest values.

Three-band near-black PQ gradient at 6-bit, 8-bit, and 10-bit quantization for evaluating HDR dithering.

The HDR10 counterpart to the SDR banding test. Three horizontal bands each sweep the same 0 to 100 nit range in PQ encoding. The top band simulates 6-bit quantization, the middle band 8-bit, and the bottom band 10-bit. Quantization is applied in the linear nit domain before PQ encoding, which is the correct order: it reveals what a display sees when receiving a coarsely quantized PQ signal. Near-black HDR is notoriously prone to banding because PQ allocates a large proportion of its code space to the 0 to 100 nit range, where the eye is most sensitive to brightness differences. A well-calibrated HDR display with proper dithering should show smooth gradients in all three bands.

Sharp PQ checkerboard at 1000 nits for HDR local dimming evaluation.

Displays a full-screen alternating black and white checkerboard in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ with bright cells encoded at 1000 nits. Use to evaluate local dimming behavior under HDR conditions: look for blooming, haloing, edge bleed, black floor lift, and dimming zone transitions. The high contrast ratio between 1000-nit cells and true 0-nit black makes local dimming artifacts more visible than in SDR. Finer grid sizes reveal the granularity of your display's dimming zones.

Bright PQ square bouncing on black for HDR motion and highlight trailing checks.

The same bouncing square test as the SDR variant, but with the square encoded at 1000 nits in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ against a true 0-nit black field. Use this to evaluate how your display handles bright-highlight motion under HDR tone mapping. High-contrast motion artifacts, ABL-induced dimming during the bounce, highlight persistence, and OLED pixel response under HDR conditions are all visible with this pattern. Running the SDR and HDR variants back to back on the same panel reveals the effect of HDR processing on motion handling.

1000-nit PQ horizontal bar on 0-nit black. Tests FALD under HDR peak brightness.

The same horizontal sweeping bar as the SDR variant, but encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ at 1000 nits against a true 0-nit black field. The elevated peak brightness engages the display's ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter) on many panels; watch for the surrounding black field brightening slightly as the bar moves to compensate for the increased average picture level. Trailing-edge zone lag may be more pronounced under HDR due to the higher activation threshold required to drive zones to 1000 nit. Requires an HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough.

Thin 1000-nit PQ line on 0-nit black, the most demanding FALD zone test.

A thin peak-white horizontal line (~9 pixels) encoded at 1000 nits in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ against a true 0-nit black field. This is the most demanding local dimming test: the line is narrower than a FALD zone, so the zone must drive to 1000 nit output while the adjacent pixels are at absolute black. The glow halo is larger under HDR than SDR because the backlight zone must output significantly more light. Under HDR, the difference in zone width between the panel's actual response and the theoretical pixel boundary is most visible. OLED panels show no glow; the line is exactly its pixel width at full brightness. Requires an HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough.

Multiple simultaneous 10,000-nit HDR windows moving independently to stress-test local dimming zone tracking, crosstalk, and ABL behavior.

Renders 1, 4, 9, or 16 peak-white HDR windows (10,000 nit PQ) simultaneously on a pure black background. Each window orbits its grid cell at a user-selectable speed, forcing the display's local dimming controller to continuously track moving bright zones. On LCD and Mini-LED panels, watch for the black background lifting to gray (zone crosstalk), halos around each window, or a trailing shadow following the motion (slow backlight update rate). Use Object Count and Speed to dial in the stress level.

Five log-spaced near-black patches from 0.01 to 1.0 nit in PQ.

Displays five horizontally arranged near-black patches at 0.01, 0.05, 0.18, 0.5, and 1.0 nit, encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ. These are the most difficult luminance levels for any display to render accurately. Use to test OLED black floor, LCD local dimming minimum brightness, and whether your display can resolve shadow detail below 1 nit. True black between patches should be indistinguishable from the panel off state on a good OLED.

7 patches at 1, 10, 100, 400, 1000, 4000, 10000 nit for EOTF tracking.

Seven vertical patches at canonical PQ EOTF reference levels. Measure each patch with a luminance meter and compare against the PQ target nit value to evaluate your display's PQ EOTF tracking accuracy. Well-calibrated displays should hit within ±5% at each level across the full 10000-nit range.

Full-width grayscale ramp from 0 to 10000 nits encoded in PQ.

Renders a horizontal grayscale gradient from true black (0 nits) to 10000 nits peak, encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ. Use to evaluate your display's HDR tone-mapping curve and verify the distribution of brightness steps across the PQ transfer function. A well-calibrated display should show smooth, perceptually even steps from black through the panel's peak brightness.

6 color rows sweeping from gray to full saturation at 1000 nit.

Six horizontal rows (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow) each sweeping from neutral gray on the left to full saturation on the right at 1000 nit PQ. Use to evaluate chroma accuracy across the saturation scale and look for color shifts or clipping in the display's color management pipeline at intermediate saturation levels.

1000-nit PQ square bouncing at adjustable speeds.

HDR10 variant of the variable-speed bouncer. The 1000-nit PQ square on 0-nit black reveals how ABL (automatic brightness limiting) and tone-mapping interact with motion speed. Run at 2× or 4× to check whether the panel dims the object during fast motion due to ABL power response.

Six BT.2020 color patches at 50% saturation and 92 nit for HDR CMS verification.

The industry-standard HDR CMS (Color Management System) verification set: six discrete color patches at 50% saturation and 50% amplitude in PQ, displayed simultaneously in a 3x2 grid on a pure PQ-black background. The six patches are red, green, and blue (top row) and cyan, magenta, and yellow (bottom row). Patches are rendered at 50% saturation by mixing the fully saturated BT.2020 primary or secondary chromaticity with the D65 white point at 50%, then PQ-encoding at 92 nits (approximately 50% PQ signal level per ITU-R BT.2408). This matches the default measurement conditions used by Calman, ChromaPure, and the R.Masciola HDR-10 test pattern set. 50% saturation is the standard CMS target because no consumer display can reproduce the full BT.2020 gamut. Measuring at 50% saturation keeps the test points within the actual gamut of the display under calibration. Place your colorimeter at each patch in turn and compare the measured CIE xyY values against the target coordinates published in the pattern reference documentation. Requires an HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough from Apple TV 4K.

24 reference color patches in PQ at 100-nit diffuse white for HDR color accuracy evaluation.

The HDR10 variant of the 24-patch Color Accuracy Grid. The same CIE Lab D50 reference coordinates are converted to linear BT.2020 and PQ-encoded at 100 nits diffuse white (per ITU-R BT.2408). This renders the patches in the wide BT.2020 color container with ST.2084 (PQ) transfer function, matching the signal path used in HDR10 mastering. In HDR mode the patches are rendered at diffuse white luminance (100 nits), not peak luminance. This is the standard reference for CMS (Color Management System) calibration because it represents the luminance at which color accuracy matters most for content viewing. Out-of-BT.2020-gamut Lab coordinates are clamped to the BT.2020 boundary. Requires an HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough. Compare the primary and secondary patches against colorimeter measurements to verify CMS accuracy across the color wheel.

24 reference color patches (skin, sky, foliage, primaries, neutrals) for evaluating overall color accuracy.

A 6-column x 4-row grid of 24 reference color patches derived from CIE Lab D50 coordinates (Pascale 2006 reference dataset). The patches span memory colors (skin tones, blue sky, foliage), primary and secondary colors (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, orange), and a grayscale series from white to near-black. Colors are computed via Lab D50 to XYZ D50, Bradford chromatic adaptation to D65, XYZ to linear BT.709, and sRGB gamma encoding. On a correctly calibrated display with a well-characterized signal chain, each patch should match the intended CIE Lab value to within dE2000 < 3 when measured with a colorimeter. How to use: view the grid and assess the memory colors subjectively first. Skin tones (patches A1, B1) should look natural, sky (C1) should look like a clear blue sky, and foliage (D1) should appear leafy green. Then compare primary patches (A3 Red, B3 Green) against a reference to identify color shifts. The neutral row (A4 to F4) evaluates grayscale tracking from white to near-black.

R, G, B PQ gradient bands (900 to 1000 nit and 0 to 1 nit) reveal per-channel HDR clipping and shadow crush.

The HDR10 variant of the per-channel color clipping pattern. Three vertical bands (red, green, blue), each with two stacked PQ-encoded gradients. The top half of each band ramps from 900 to 1000 nits, and the bottom half ramps from 0 to 1 nit. A pulsing indicator appears near 980 nit in the top half and near 0.2 nit in the bottom half. The HDR variant is more diagnostically precise than SDR because PQ provides 10-bit precision and true near-black levels. Per-channel clipping at high nit levels is a known issue on HDR LED-LCD panels where the red phosphor or quantum dot saturation rolls off earlier than green or blue. Per-channel shadow crush is visible in displays with per-channel local dimming or color-space conversion errors. Requires an HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough from your source or receiver. Color values are rendered in the BT.2020 container with SMPTE ST.2084 (PQ) transfer function.

R, G, B gradient bands (code 230 to 255 and 0 to 25) reveal per-channel highlight and shadow clipping.

Displays three vertical bands (red, green, and blue), each showing two stacked gradients. The top half of each band ramps from code value 230 to 255 (near-white to peak white), and the bottom half ramps from code value 0 to 25 (absolute black to near-black). A pulsing indicator appears near code 250 in the top half and near code 5 in the bottom half. How to use: On a correctly calibrated display, each band shows a smooth, uninterrupted gradient with no visible plateau at either the top or bottom. A plateau at the top of one band (where adjacent bright steps merge into identical-looking pixels) means that channel is clipping early. A plateau at the bottom means that channel is crushing shadow detail. Common failure patterns: LED-LCD displays frequently clip the red channel first at high luminance. OLED displays sometimes clip blue. Per-channel shadow crush appears in some tone-mapping implementations that limit black level by channel rather than uniformly.

8 PQ patches from 200 to 10000 nit. The 10000-nit reference pulses to reveal tone-mapping roll-off.

Displays 8 horizontal patches encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ at 200, 400, 600, 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000, and 10000 nit. Use to identify your display's tone-mapping ceiling: patches that merge together or appear identical reveal the nit level at which highlights are being clipped or tone-mapped to the same output. The rightmost patch (the 10000-nit PQ reference maximum) pulses at 1.5 Hz between 10000 and 4000 nit. If the pulse is invisible, the display's ABL or tone-mapping is collapsing all highlights above 4000 nit. Requires an HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough.

8 PQ patches from 0 to 1 nit. Absolute black pulses to reveal black-level lift.

Displays 8 horizontal patches encoded in SMPTE ST.2084 PQ at 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 nit. These are the most demanding luminance levels for any display: the range where OLED pixel circuits, mini-LED local dimming zones, and black-level processing are all tested simultaneously. The leftmost patch (absolute black, 0 nit) pulses at 1.5 Hz between true black and 0.05 nit. If the pulse is invisible, the display is lifting its black floor. Requires an HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough from your receiver.

HDR PLUGE: sub-black PQ bars at 0.0001 and 0.001 nit reveal black-level lift that SDR cannot test.

The HDR variant of the classic PLUGE black level setup pattern. Five vertical bars on a 0-nit black background: sub-black bars at 0.0001 nit and 0.001 nit (levels that are genuinely distinct from absolute black in PQ), a reference black bar at 0 nit, and just-above-black bars at 0.05 nit and 0.1 nit. A 100-nit reference white strip (BT.2408 diffuse white reference) sits along the right edge. The HDR variant is more diagnostic than SDR because the sub-black bars can actually encode values below reference black in PQ. If your display renders the 0.0001 nit or 0.001 nit bar as visibly distinct from the 0-nit background, the display is correctly resolving near-absolute-black. If both sub-black bars are invisible (merged with the 0-nit background), that is the expected and correct behavior for a well-calibrated OLED or local-dimming panel. Requires an HDR10-capable display and lossless HDMI passthrough.

Classic PLUGE pattern: sub-black, reference black, and just-above-black bars for precise brightness calibration.

PLUGE (Picture Line-Up Generation Equipment) is the industry-standard pattern for setting a display's Brightness control. Five vertical bars sit on a true black background: the two leftmost bars encode sub-black levels (below reference black), the center bar is reference black (same as the background), and the two rightmost bars are slightly above black at +2% and +4%. A 10% reference white strip sits along the right edge for simultaneous contrast reference. How to use: Reduce your display's Brightness control until the +2% bar just disappears into the background. Then raise Brightness until it just reappears. At that setting, sub-black detail is preserved and the black level is not elevated. SDR note: sub-black bars are rendered at code value 0 because 8-bit SDR cannot represent values below reference black. On a correctly calibrated display they will be indistinguishable from the background. If they appear distinct (lighter than the background), your display's black level is elevated.

10 near-black patches (code 0 to 20). The absolute black patch pulses to reveal black crush.

Displays 10 horizontal patches spanning display code values 0 through 20 out of 255. On a correctly calibrated display, all patches should be individually distinguishable as progressively lighter shades of near-black. The leftmost patch (absolute black, code 0) pulses at 1.5 Hz between black and code 8, so you can confirm your eyes and the display are resolving it. If the pulsing patch is invisible, or if adjacent dark patches appear identical, your display is crushing shadow detail below your black level setting.

10 near-white patches (code 206 to 255). The peak white patch pulses to reveal highlight clipping.

Displays 10 horizontal patches spanning display code values 206 through 255 out of 255. On a correctly calibrated display, all patches should be individually distinguishable as progressively brighter shades of near-white. The rightmost patch (peak white, code 255) pulses at 1.5 Hz between 100% and 94% white, so you can confirm the display is not collapsing the top of its range. If the pulsing patch is invisible, or if the brightest patches appear identical, your display is clipping highlights and losing above-reference-white detail.

1 kHz sine wave at -20 dBFS, the standard alignment reference.

Plays a 1 kHz sine tone at -20 dBFS, which corresponds to 0 VU on a professional meter and is the standard alignment reference level for broadcast and post-production. Use this to set your receiver's main level so that -20 dBFS digital full-scale matches your target monitoring SPL (typically 83 dB SPL per channel for film mixing).

Sequential per-channel callout for all 12 Atmos bed channels.

Plays a sequential pink noise burst with voice callout for each of the 12 Atmos 7.1.4 bed channels: Left, Right, Center, LFE, Left Surround, Right Surround, Left Rear Surround, Right Rear Surround, and the four overhead positions. Use this to confirm speaker wiring, receiver routing, and that every channel is functioning at the correct position. Requires an Atmos-capable receiver and a full 7.1.4 speaker layout.

Sweeps from 20 Hz to 200 Hz. Listen for sudden dips in volume to detect subwoofer phase cancellation at the crossover frequency.

Plays a smooth continuous sine wave sweep from 20 Hz to 200 Hz through the Front Left and Right channels, repeating every 15 seconds. Your receiver splits this signal at its crossover frequency (typically 80 Hz), sending bass to the subwoofer and higher frequencies to the main speakers. Listen for any sudden drop in volume as the sweep passes through the crossover region. A dip indicates the subwoofer and main speakers are partially canceling each other due to a phase mismatch or distance offset. If you hear a dip, try toggling the subwoofer phase switch on your receiver or AVR between 0° and 180°.

Logarithmic sine sweep 20 Hz to 20 kHz in 30 seconds.

A logarithmic sine sweep from 20 Hz to 20 kHz over 30 seconds, looping continuously. Reveals room resonances, speaker rolloff, and crossover anomalies across the full audio band. The live frequency readout shows the exact Hz being reproduced at any moment. Listen for frequency-specific anomalies: unexpected boosts, dips, or resonances indicate room modes or speaker response irregularities.

1 Hz flash and click from a shared clock. If the click and flash don't feel simultaneous, your A/V sync is off.

Plays a sharp click impulse and flashes a white square simultaneously at 1 Hz from the same timing model; the audio buffer loop is the clock, and the visual timer references it. Watch the square and listen for the click. If the click arrives after the flash, audio is delayed. If the click arrives before the flash, audio is ahead. Adjust the audio delay setting on your AVR or TV until the click and flash feel simultaneous. A useful baseline: most receivers have an adjustable audio delay in 1ms increments under Audio → Lip Sync or A/V Sync offset.

Correlated and anti-correlated pink noise to verify mono compatibility and polarity.

Plays band-limited pink noise (500 Hz to 2 kHz) with two independent controls. The Correlation selector chooses Correlated (same signal on Left and Right) or Anti-Correlated (polarity-inverted Right channel). The Fold to Mono toggle computes the actual mono sum of the two legs: correlated gives 2s (reinforcement, +6 dB), anti-correlated gives zero (cancellation, near-silence). Switch to Anti-Correlated and turn on Fold to Mono to hear the content collapse; switch to Correlated to confirm it reinforces. This contrast directly demonstrates the polarity problem that a mono system would expose.

Pink noise band-limited to each ISO 1/1-octave center for graphic EQ calibration.

Plays pink noise band-pass filtered to one ISO 1/1-octave band at a time. Ten bands span 31.5 Hz to 16 kHz. The current band and its center frequency are shown on screen; Prev and Next step through the bands without a click. Use this to park on each band, read SPL on a meter, and adjust your graphic or parametric EQ to a target curve. Level is normalised to -20 dBFS RMS across all bands so SPL readings are directly comparable.

Repeated Hann-windowed click on a selected speaker to verify AVR distance/delay settings.

Plays a short 1.5 kHz Hann-windowed tone burst repeated at 0.5, 1, or 2 Hz on the speaker you choose. Listen for whether the click arrives when expected relative to other speakers. In ping-pong mode, alternating clicks fire on two speakers so you can compare their arrival times directly. An optional on-screen white flash fires with each click, enabling the same lip-sync style timing check used for video delay. Adjust per-speaker distance in your AVR setup menu until all speakers feel simultaneous.

Panning pink noise checks front-stage phantom stability and center integration.

Plays band-limited pink noise (500 Hz to 2 kHz) in two modes. Pan mode glides the image smoothly from left to right and back using a constant-power law so loudness stays even across the stage. A/B mode alternates every 2 seconds between the real center channel and a phantom center formed by equal signals on Left and Right. Use Pan mode to check that your front speakers are level-matched and that the room does not pull the phantom off-axis. Use A/B mode to judge whether your center speaker blends seamlessly with the front stage.

Plays a dual-mono test tone. If the audio sounds louder and fuller when Out of Phase is selected, your speaker wires are reversed.

Plays a 300 Hz sine tone simultaneously from the Left and Right front speakers at equal amplitude. Use the In Phase / Out of Phase toggle to invert the polarity of the Right channel. In Phase (correct wiring): the two speakers push air in the same direction, producing a full, centered phantom image between them. Out of Phase (reversed wires): the speakers push and pull in opposite directions, canceling each other out and producing a hollow, thin sound localized to the sides. If Out of Phase sounds fuller and more bass-rich, one of your front speaker's wiring is reversed; swap the positive (+) and negative (−) terminals on that speaker at the amplifier or speaker binding post.

Band-limited pink noise at -20 dBFS, one channel at a time, for SPL level matching.

Plays band-limited pink noise (500 Hz to 2 kHz) at a fixed -20 dBFS RMS on one speaker at a time. Step through each channel in your active layout and adjust your AVR per-channel trim until every speaker reads the same SPL on an external meter. This is the standard reference procedure for matching channel levels to a calibration target. Commonly used with a target of 75 dB C-weighted, slow response, measured at the main listening position.

Sustained sine tone steppable 16 to 200 Hz for locating room resonances.

Plays a single sustained sine tone at a frequency you choose between 16 and 200 Hz. Step in 1 Hz increments to pinpoint resonances precisely, or jump 5 Hz at a time to scan the range more quickly. Auto-Creep mode advances 1 Hz per second so you can walk the room while the tone crawls through the bass range; pause on any frequency that causes buzzing, rattling, or a strong bass peak at your seat. Route to Sub/LFE, Front L+R, or any individual channel. Start with your AVR volume set low to protect your subwoofer.

Fixed sine tones at 9 frequencies for distortion evaluation.

Plays a pure sine tone at a selectable frequency (40 Hz, 80 Hz, 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 4 kHz, or 8 kHz) for evaluating speaker distortion. Listen for buzzing, rattling, or harmonic artifacts at each frequency. Cabinet resonances and port chuffing are most audible in the 40 to 250 Hz range; voice-coil and crossover distortion at 500 Hz to 8 kHz. Use at moderate SPL to protect drivers.

Simultaneous mains and sub tone at the crossover frequency for phase tuning.

Plays a sustained sine wave on Front Left, Front Right, and the LFE subwoofer channel simultaneously at your chosen crossover frequency (60, 80, 100, or 120 Hz). All three legs are at equal level (-20 dBFS each). A sub phase control lets you toggle 0 or 180 degrees and step in fine 15-degree increments. Set the phase to whichever position gives the loudest, fullest bass at your listening seat: that is the phase where mains and sub add constructively rather than partially cancelling.

Decorrelated pink noise across surround, rear, and height arrays to judge envelopment.

Plays full-bandwidth pink noise across a selectable group of non-front channels. In Decorrelated mode each channel receives its own statistically independent pink-noise stream, producing a diffuse, enveloping field with no phantom pulling to a single speaker. In Correlated mode all channels carry the same stream, collapsing the field to a phantom. Toggle between modes to hear the difference between proper surround envelopment and a folded mono image. A per-channel solo lets you isolate any single speaker in the group.

Hann-windowed sine bursts at selectable frequency, length, and rate to reveal transient response.

Generates Hann-windowed sine bursts at a selectable frequency (100 Hz, 1 kHz, or 4 kHz), burst length in cycles (2, 4, or 8), and repetition rate (1, 2, or 4 Hz). Each burst is a short packet of sine tone shaped by a Hann window that brings the amplitude to zero at both the start and end of the burst, so there is no onset or release click. The burst occupies the beginning of a silence period; the period loops cleanly at a silence-to-silence seam. Route to a single channel or a channel group to test each driver in your system.