Display setup
for calibration.

Choose the output display

The Output Display selector lists every connected display; pick the one you're calibrating and the patch window opens there at full resolution. If it's your only display, PatternSpace collapses to a menu-bar item so controls don't obstruct the patch. Connected displays appear grouped by connection — Built-in, Wired, or AirPlay.

Output Color

Output Color decides how PatternSpace encodes patch colors for the panel. Pick the preset that matches the standard you're measuring:

• Device Native — raw patch code values through a profile-identity layer. Use when profiling or measuring the display itself. Free.
• Display SDR — a clean, display-relative SDR path with no extended-range color. Free.
• SDR Reference presets — decode through a standard's transfer function and gamut: Web (sRGB); Photography (Adobe RGB, P3-D65, ProPhoto); HDTV (BT.601, BT.709 γ2.2/γ2.4/BT.1886); UHD (BT.2020); Cinema (P3-DCI, P3-D65). Free.
• HDR PQ — untone-mapped (P3-D65, BT.2020) — PatternSpace decodes normalized ST 2084 / PQ values itself and reports hard-clip diagnostics; use these for deterministic EOTF verification. Requires EDR headroom and Pro.
• HDR PQ — tone-mapped (P3-D65 ST 2084, BT.2020 ST 2084) — macOS interprets and tone-maps the PQ signal to the display. Do not use for deterministic EOTF verification (macOS owns the interpretation, hard-clip diagnostics are omitted). Requires EDR headroom and Pro.
• Display HDR / Linear HDR presets — extended-range HDR relative to the display or in linear light; Peak White appears for the linear-HDR family. Requires EDR headroom and Pro.

For SDR measurement, turn HDR off first. Before measuring with Device Native or an SDR Reference preset, disable HDR for the target display in macOS Display Settings. The app-layer path is not a substitute for confirming the system HDR state — leaving HDR on can invalidate an SDR measurement. For accurate Device Native measurement, also select a display profile with a neutral gamma response (see the note below).

Measurement range

Full emits normal full-range values; Legal remaps to video range at the source bit depth. Enable legal encoding in your calibration software or PatternSpace — never both. Legal applies to Device Native external patches and SDR Reference output; HDR PQ and Linear HDR stay Full.

Display details

The ⓘ button by the display name reports:

EDR and Peak White

On EDR displays, set Peak White to the target nit level divided by the display's SDR white luminance — for a 1000-nit target on a 100-nit SDR white, set 10.0. The ceiling is the display's current EDR, which macOS lowers (sometimes to 1.0×) at high brightness or under thermal throttling. If Peak White seems to do nothing, lower display brightness to regain headroom.

AirPlay

macOS starts AirPlay from the system, not the app: open Control Center → Screen Mirroring, pick the Apple TV, and set Use As → Extended Display (not Mirror). AirPlay video is compressed, so use it for layout and workflow checks only — to calibrate an Apple TV accurately, connect it by HDMI to the display you're measuring.

For accurate raw-panel measurement in Device Native, first choose a display profile with a neutral gamma response in System Settings → Displays → Color. On macOS the profile's VCGT gamma is applied to the whole screen and no app can change it for just its own window — this is a macOS limitation, not an app setting.

Where to next

• Calibration Workflow — how measure → correct → verify fits together, and where these presets slot in.
• Connecting Calibration Software — drive PatternSpace from ColourSpace, CalMAN, PGenerator, or PatternSpace Remote.
• ICC Profile Tools — build, calibrate, inspect, compare, and assign display profiles.

Set up your display

PatternSpace is free on the Mac App Store; HDR output presets and Peak White are PatternSpace Pro.