As more premium TVs begin to adopt MediaTek’s Pentonic 800 processor, it means that they’re now capable of supporting Calman’s auto-calibration technology.
Calman Ready support was first integrated with the Pentonic 700 and 1000 chips that launched in 2023 televisions, starting with Sony’s and Philips’ models from that year. With that embedded support, Calman Ready has emerged as the most popular calibration system for TVs that run on those chips.
When a TV is Calman Ready, it means it has native support for Portrait Display’s Calman AutoCal software, which allows it to communicate directly with a colour calibration computer and optimise the picture settings to make it as realistic as possible.
Users still have to buy the AutoCal software, and in most cases that will mean Calman Home, which is the version intended for consumers. They’ll also need to invest in a specialised device called a colourimeter, which measures the colour that emanates from a TV’s display. This device is placed in front of the TV screen, and relays its findings to the computer running the Calman software.
Once its connected to the TV and has taken the necessary readings, the AutoCal software can then automatically make thousands of minute adjustments to the colour points, white balance and gamma curve. The result is that you’ll end up with Hollywood-style colour accuracy on your living room TV in a fraction of the time, and at a significantly lower cost than what it would take to hire a professional calibrator to come and do it for you. The AutoCal software makes it possible to fine-tune the TV’s picture for both standard and HDR content, so you’ll be viewing the most realistic scenes for both types.
Although only a few premium and mid-range TVs are Calman Ready, the feature has proven to be popular enough that Portrait Displays decided to work with MediaTek to embed Calman support in the newer Pentonic 800 chipset that launched in early 2025. What that means is that Calman Ready functionality is going to become a lot more common in high-end and mid-range TVs going forward, giving more people the opportunity to auto calibrate their TV picture settings.
Portrait Displays said dozens of televisions are powered by the Pentonic 800 chip, including models such as last year’s Hisense U8Q and this year’s Hisense UR8S, TCL X11L, TCL C8L, Sony Bravia 3 II and the upcoming Philips OLED811. However, it’s still necessary for the TV maker to implement Calman Ready support – just having the chip alone doesn’t make it so.
Nonetheless, Portrait Display’s VP of Marketing Marcel Gronska appears confident that many TV brands will choose to take the time to implement support and make their TVs Calman Ready. He stressed that colour accuracy has become “more important than ever” as televisions evolve to deliver higher brightness and wider colour gamuts supported by AI image processing.
“We are excited to expand Calman Ready support to the MediaTek Pentonic 800 platform, providing TV brands with an efficient and scalable calibration solution,” Gronska said. “By giving display manufacturers access to Calman color calibration software, we remain committed to helping our partners deliver exceptional viewing experiences to consumers worldwide.”
