To DIY
Firstly it is important to ensure that the environment you normally watch TV in is the same as that in which you calibrate it. So if you watch a lot of telly in the evenings, make your sitting room look the same; dim the lights and close the curtains. You then want to hunt through your televisions menus for any ominous looking picture enhancements. These tend to distort the original image, which if you are viewing Blu-ray is just about perfect. Once you have turned off any enhancements you will want to sort out the picture itself.
Black levels are very important; you want to try and lower brightness right down until blacks look black but detail is still retained in the shadows. Do this by getting an image with a good dynamic range; something displaying both dark shadows and highlights is good. Once you have your image, adjust the brightness until the picture is as well defined between pure black and shadows as possible.
You then want to move on to your television's contrast settings. Essentially you want to raise the contrast until whites look purely white and don't bleed into blacks. This can prove difficult as changes you make will affect the brightness levels you have adjusted previously.
Next up is sharpness, one of the more difficult bits to calibrate. Try and find some text in an image, or something which has very defined or sharp edges. Push the sharpness on your television further and further until the edges appear to get a sort of halo around them. Once these appear, bring the sharpness back down until the halos just about disappear.
Hue and tint are perhaps the most difficult as they affect all the other settings you have previously tweaked on your TV. The best thing to do with colour levels is essentially do it by eye. Pick a movie with very 'cool' colours like blues and greens and then something full of reds and oranges. Try and balance them out as best you can without affecting your previous contrast and brightness adjustments.
The approach listed above is somewhat DIY and for those of you who want the absolute best out of your display, may not suffice. Thankfully there are a few options which will ensure that your television looks perfect.
If you own any Sony Blu-ray discs then you have already have the calibration tests you need. Type in "7669" in your DVD remote control and press enter – the Sony Blu-ray will lead you through a series of tests and screens to get your monitor perfect.
There is also something called the THX Optimiser which can be found on any THX-certified release. Terminator 2 on Blu-ray, for example, comes with the Optimiser under its special features menu. The THX Optimiser is great, as not only will it run you through the relevant tests and settings for your TV but for your audio as well.
You could also look online; many websites offer Blu-rays or DVDs packed full of calibration tests. These all do the same job as the THX Opitimiser or Sony's tests, but cost a bit more. The chances are that you will have a DVD or Blu-ray with a calibration tool on it – you just might have to dig through your collection.
not my own work but im afraid i cant remember where / who i pinched it from