NovaStar Calibration is more than just a process—it’s an excellent technology. Whether you’re dealing with color discrepancies, brightness variations, or edge inconsistencies, NovaStar’s calibration solutions are engineered to fine-tune every aspect of your display, maximum that it performs at its best.
This article will explore the importance of calibration in LED displays, delve into NovaStar Technology‘s calibration softwares, and provide insights into how these softwares can elevate the quality of your LED screens.
Catalogs:
1. NovaStar Calibration Introduction
2. Pixel Level Calibration Technology
3. NovaStar Pixel Level Calibration Softwares
3.1 NovaCLB
3.2 CalCube MiniLED
3.3 Calibration Software Download
4. Problems That Calibration Can Solve
5. NovaStar LED Calibration Solutions
5.1 Production Line Calibration
5.2 Field Calibration
1. NovaStar Calibration Introduction
1.1 Importance
Calibration in the context of LED displays refers to the process of adjusting and fine-tuning the display’s color, brightness, and other visual parameters to achieve consistent and optimal performance. It is essential in ensuring that each LED pixel produces the correct output, resulting in a visually uniform and accurate display across the entire screen. Without proper calibration, LED displays can suffer from inconsistencies such as color mismatches, uneven brightness, and poor grayscale transitions, which detract from the overall visual experience.
1.2 Key Functions
Color Calibration
Color calibration is a core feature of NovaStar’s calibration solutions. It adjusts the color output of each LED pixel so the entire display presents a consistent and accurate color profile.
Brightness Calibration
Brightness calibration focuses on making sure all parts of the LED display emit light at the same intensity, avoiding areas that are too bright or too dim.
Gamma Calibration
Gamma calibration involves adjusting the display’s gamma curve, which defines how brightness levels transition from dark to light.
Edge Calibration
Edge calibration addresses potential discrepancies in color and brightness at the borders of LED panels. These differences can occur due to the varying performance of LEDs at the edges compared to those in the center of the panel.
2. Pixel Level Calibration Technology
LED display technology is becoming increasingly mature, among which pixel level calibration technology is one of the emerging technologies in recent years and has become a must-have technology in the industry.
2.1 Origin
As LED display technology matured, pixel level calibration emerged as an essential method to maintain display quality, especially as LED experience brightness decay over time. This technology addresses inconsistencies in brightness and color that occur due to differences in LED chip performance, even within the same batch. Traditional methods like sorting by brightness and color fail to fully resolve these issues, leading to problems like screen distortion after prolonged use. pixel level calibration was developed as a solution, allowing for precise adjustments at the individual pixel level to improve display uniformity and color accuracy.
This technology began to take shape in the late 1990s, with the core idea being to collect brightness and color data for each pixel and apply correction coefficients to the display’s control system. The goal is to drive each pixel differently to achieve a more uniform and accurate display.
2.2 Technical Composition
Pixel level calibration is composed of four key parts:
Data Collection: The first and most crucial step involves gathering raw brightness and color data. This can be done at various levels (block, cabinet, or full screen) and environments (factory or on-site). Tools range from mechanical devices with light sensors to industrial CCD-based solutions.
Data Processing: This step involves correcting the raw data, setting target values, and generating calibration data. The most significant challenge lies in adjusting data accurately, especially in on-site environments.
Control System: With the calibration data ready, the control system applies it through two primary methods: adjusting current amplitude or pulse width (PWM). The latter is preferred due to its precision and stability in maintaining LED performance.
Maintenance: Post-calibration, maintenance involves handling challenges like updating data when replacing receiver cards or modules. Some advanced systems offer tools to recalibrate new modules on-site, guaranteeing continued display consistency.
3. NovaStar Pixel Level Calibration Softwares
NovaStar Pixel Level Calibration Softwares: NovaCLB and CalCube MiniLED
3.1 NovaCLB
3.1.1 Composition
The NovaCLB calibration system consists of two main components:
Measurement Instruments: These include industrial cameras, digital cameras, and colorimeters, which collect pixel-level brightness and color data from LED displays.
Calibration Software: This software manages the calibration process, analyzes the collected data, and generates calibration coefficients.
Additionally, the NovaStar display control system is essential for applying these coefficients effectively.
3.1.2 Basic Functions
NovaCLB is an integrated system designed for precise pixel-level brightness and color calibration of LED displays, addressing inconsistencies in brightness. It works seamlessly with the NovaStar control system to enhance display quality. The system is used in two primary scenarios:
Single-Cabinet Calibration: Conducted on the production line to ensure uniform brightness and color across each cabinet.
Field Full-Screen Calibration: Performed at the installation site to achieve consistent brightness and color uniformity as observed from the viewer’s location.
3.1.3 Features
Automated Calibration Process: The software controls the entire process, from display management and image capture to brightness analysis and coefficient upload.
High Efficiency: Single-cabinet calibration takes only 3 minutes per cabinet on average. For full-screen calibration, up to 80,000 pixels can be calibrated per hour, enabling a 200-square-meter outdoor display to be calibrated within 4 hours.
Significant Improvement: The system greatly enhances display uniformity, with post-calibration brightness variance kept within ±2.5% and chromaticity error within ±0.005%.
Consistency Across Cabinets: Single-cabinet calibration ensures consistency, solving issues of disparity after cabinet assembly.
Eliminates Brightness Discrepancies: During on-site full-screen calibration, brightness differences between calibration zones are eliminated, preventing visible boundary lines.
Versatile Compatibility: The system supports various screen types, including flat, curved, static, scan, and print screens.
3.1.4 Effects
NovaStar recognized the importance of calibration systems for the display industry as early as 2007 and independently developed the pixel-level calibration technology. By early 2009, NovaStar had launched a highly practical pixel-level calibration system, leading the industry in this area. In just over two years, Nova engineers have calibrated countless screens on-site across China and abroad.
NovaStar has calibrated more than 1,500,000 square meters of display screens. It calibrates at least 50,000 square meters of display screens every year, with customers all over the world.
3.1.5 Applications: NovaCLB-Cabinet and NovaCLB-Screen
The NovaStar pixel level calibration system has two main applications: one is Cabinet Calibration on the production line, and the other is Full-Screen Calibration in the field.
Cabinet Calibration: NovaCLB-Cabinet
Cabinet calibration on the production line is more efficient and cost-effective compared to field calibration. However, for LED displays with poor alignment in the direction of the light axis, the effect of cabinet calibration in the field is not as good as field calibration. The NovaCLB-Cabinet software is required when performing cabinet calibration.
Features:
- High efficiency with 1 minute per cabinet.
- Post-calibration, rental screens can be arbitrarily spliced in the field.
- Perfectly eliminates bright and dark lines at cabinet seams.
- Supports writing calibration coefficients into the LED panel’s flash storage unit, with verification support.
- High precision when used with luminance and chromaticity meters across multiple batches, significantly better than industrial cameras.
- High cost-performance ratio, easy-to-use interface, and quick to learn.
Full-Screen Calibration: NovaCLB-Screen
Field calibration requires engineers to bring calibration equipment to the display installation site for pixel-by-pixel calibration. For outdoor displays, calibration needs to be performed at night. Although less efficient than cabinet calibration, field calibration results are significantly better. The NovaCLB-Screen software is needed when performing field calibration.
Features:
- 12-bit calibration coefficients, with post-calibration brightness variation of less than 1% and chromaticity variation of less than 0.003.
- Supports chromaticity calibration to eliminate chromaticity differences between batches of LEDs.
- Eliminates brightness and chromaticity differences between calibration zones, making the entire screen smooth and seamless.
- Supports calibration of curved and irregularly shaped screens.
- Supports automatic calibration of replaced LED panels.
- The control system supports 16-bit calibration coefficients, ensuring fine details in low grayscale even after calibration.
- The closed-loop calibration system allows for easy field calibration by a single person, achieving a calibration efficiency of 600,000 pixels every 25 minutes.
3.1.6 Basic Calibration Procedure
3.2 CalCube MiniLED
3.2.1 Introduction
The CalCube MiniLED is NovaStar’s latest calibration software, designed specifically to enhance the performance of MiniLED displays. This advanced software integrates cutting-edge algorithms, including super-resolution imaging, full grayscale calibration, and low-gray calibration. Its primary purpose is to accelerate field calibration processes while ensuring high accuracy and uniformity in brightness and color across the entire display. This full-screen calibration software is ideal for field calibration scenarios involving MiniLED and SMD displays, offering superior image quality and uniformity.
3.2.2 Advantages
Full Grayscale Calibration: CalCube MiniLED addresses uniformity issues across different grayscale levels, ensuring smooth grayscale transitions, which is especially critical for indoor fine-pitch screens.
Low Gray Calibration: This feature effectively eliminates low-gray mottling and uneven transitions caused by traditional calibration methods, offering a seamless grayscale transition, particularly for cabinets with special drive ICs.
Super-Resolution Imaging: By shortening the image acquisition time, this technology significantly improves calibration speed, enhancing overall efficiency.
Cross-Light Elimination: CalCube MiniLED tackles brightness interference between MiniLED points, reducing image blurring and overlap, leading to enhanced display clarity and uniformity.
Camera Calibration Technology: This ensures more accurate brightness and chromaticity measurements, resulting in finer image quality post-calibration.
Curved Surface Correction: The software can correct surface curvature issues across calibration zones, providing a smooth, mirror-like finish for the entire display. This makes seamless transitions between large screen segments achievable.
12-Bit Calibration Coefficient: With a brightness variance of less than 1% and a chromaticity difference under 0.003, the CalCube MiniLED ensures exceptional uniformity and consistency across the display.
3.2.3 Basic Calibration Procedure
The basic calibration procedure includes setting up calibration environment, creating a calibration project, connecting devices, setting target values, analyzing camera parameters and enabling calibration. Different calibration modes have different calibration procedures.
- High-Precision Calibration & Brightness and Chroma Calibration
- Full-Grayscale Calibration
- Low-Grayscale Calibration
More Instructions:
3.3 Calibration Software Download
Getting started with NovaStar’s calibration software is easy.
Simply visit our LED Screen Cloud Platform and NovaStar Resources Download page to access the latest versions of NovaCLB, CalCube MiniLED, and other softwares. The download page offers free access to all software, along with user manuals and quick start guides to help you make the most of these powerful tools.
4. Problems That Calibration Can Solve
4.1 Screen Distortion Issue
4.2 Mosaic Phenomenon
4.3 Multi-Batch Mixed Use Phenomenon
4.4 Splicing Bright and Dark Line Phenomenon
5. NovaStar LED Calibration Solutions
The combination of the Nova M3 control system and the NovaCLB calibration system creates a comprehensive approach for achieving exceptional calibration and display performance. This integrated system allows for seamless transmission of calibration coefficients and a closed-loop application, resulting in outstanding visual consistency. Whether it’s cabinet calibration or on-site adjustments, for indoor or outdoor settings, or even complex and irregularly shaped screens, NovaStar’s solutions provide the precision needed for any scenario.
5.1 Production Line Calibration
Production line calibration is the process of adjusting each cabinet before it leaves the factory. This approach makes sure that when cabinets are assembled on-site, the display looks consistent. NovaStar offers three solutions:
5.1.1 Standard Cabinet Calibration
A simple, efficient solution with an automated process for consistent results.
5.1.2 Rental Application Calibration
Adds a photometer to match cabinets from different batches, perfect for rental setups.
5.1.3 Supplementary Order Calibration
Uses precise human eye adjustment to match new cabinets with existing ones for top-quality results.
5.2 Field Calibration
Field calibration is used to maintain display quality in different environments. NovaStar provides solutions for:
5.2.1 Curved LED Screens
Keeps color and brightness consistent across curved displays.
5.2.2 Irregular LED Screens
Adapts to the unique shapes of custom screens for smooth visuals.
5.2.3 Ultra-Large LED Screens
Provides even calibration across large displays, handling the challenges of scale.
6. NovaStar Color Calibration Cases
6.1 Cabinet Calibration - A Rental Company in Beijing
6.2 Curved Screen Calibration - A Plaza in Wuhan, Hubei
6.3 Flat Screen Calibration - A Real Estate Group Headquarters
7. Conclusions
NovaStar calibration systems are essential to achieving superior visual performance for LED displays across a wide range of industries. By integrating advanced tools and softwares, NovaStar addresses key challenges such as color consistency, brightness uniformity, and precise gamma adjustment.
Pixel-Level Calibration System NovaCLB makes calibration easy for both single cabinets and full-screen displays. CalCube MiniLED is suitable for a wide range of LED display environments, from MiniLED to large SMD screens.
With solutions tailored for both production line and field applications, NovaStar calibration system provides flexibility and efficiency. Ease of use, coupled with the ability to significantly improve screen performance, makes NovaStar calibration a valuable asset for professionals in the LED display industry.