A display’s color temperature specifies the background color of white and neutral grays in the display’s picture.
The standard color temperature target for all video display systems, worldwide, is a color of white named D65 (6500 Kelvin). This is the background color that production, post-production, and broadcast displays are calibrated to for authoring video content. To view video content with the same color fidelity that was authored, you will want to set a display’s color temperature as close as possible to the target color temperature (typically 6500K) before beginning a grayscale calibration. Do this by measuring each of the presets available in the display’s Color Temperature or White Balance picture controls.
Color Temperature Presets
A display usually provides a selection of four or five color temperature presets, rather than a color temperature adjustment. These presets are often labeled with names such as Cool 2, Warm 1, Neutral, etc. Measure the performance of each preset to determine what color temperature it produces, and choose the one that is closest to D65. Even if a color temperature preset has a name like 6500K, you should still measure it, as its actual performance is often not what the name suggests.