Calibrating your Plasma/LCD TV's

Toolfan66

I know some have calibrated their own TV's. I was serching the fourm but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

What is the best calibration tool to use?? Brand?? Where to buy??

Any info would be great!!!

Thanks!!

mantis

Video Essentials is a great tool for the NON ISF calibrator do it yourself disc. You can learn a great deal from Joe Kane's Disc.

Honestly the best tool is to get a local ISF calibrator to your home. If you spent a considerable amount of money on a high end display , You will benefit from it greatly.

There is another home product that might work but I never used it myself , it's called a Spider 3. If like what I use only a very stripped down version. I don't know how accurate it is as my rig cost over 10k. This one is like 100 buck or so. What it should do is read color temperature so you can dial it in. This is the most important part of a good calibration.

Back to the VE Disc , it's well laid out and has many useful tet patterns where you can get your tv dialed in. It also teaches you a lot about video. To me Video sucks **** as it's different on every model and brand. No one really follows a standard and it's difficult and frustrating to get many LCD's dialed in. Plasma is much easier and comes close to ISF standards. I'm ISF trained and I don't fully understand video. It becomes mental when your learning it. I'm suppose to go back to the advance training course but I really don't wanna .

Conradicles

I used DVE as well and it was too easy. Worked well.

kuntasensei

I've used all the major discs, and the one I go back to most is the free-to-download AVS 709 HD disc. The downside is that there's no real explanation on the disc, but there's a downloadable PDF file that explains what you're setting in each pattern. This is a good disc to use if you get a colorimeter like the aforementioned Spyder 3 or the more accurate EyeOne Display LT from X-Rite. With a bit of self-education, you can use either of those sensors with a free program called HCFR to do a full in-depth calibration of your set.

That said, a standard calibration disc is as far as the average person needs to go. Personally, I won't use any Joe Kane product since he refused to admit that the test tones on the DVE DVD were incorrect, even after presented with hard evidence. The Spears & Munsil disc is very nice if you're only calibrating video and should have all the patterns you need. I use the AVS disc for most stuff, but the S&M disc has some good chroma/luma burst patterns that let you verify that your set is fully resolving color. That's actually how I found that my Oppo BDP-83/Epson 8500UB combo needed to be set to RGB - because any other mode was clipping fine color resolution.

cstmar01

Kinda funny but best buy now offers ISF cert. calibrations for 200 bucks. A friend said he had it done and loved it, however not sure where these people are going to be trained, whos training, etc and how much I would trust it as well its Best Buy.

If you ask their sales people how they do it, they have no clue, or have any idea what color temp is etc or what they do beside say "they have really expensive equipment and will calibrate it to your room."

what does calibrate mean?

"to calibrate, you know, make it better" sure buddy whatever you say...

kuntasensei

Yeah, I'd trust Best Buy to calibrate a TV about as much as I would for them to give me a prostate exam. Either get a professional to do it or educate yourself enough to do it on your own, but don't half-**** it.

obieone

Slight derail: My brightness on my Samsung lcd keeps adjusting itself? Is this normal?

twochannel

Where can I find a local ISF calibrator in central PA? They don't exist! I had a Tweeter tech at my home to work on my Sony set and he was also an ISF calibrator. Now Tweeter is gone!

spock 2054

http://www.imagingscience.com/dealers.php?search=United%20States:%20Pennsylvania

See which location is closer to you than Harrisburg..

dvran

I would go online and look at some of the benchmark reviews on your specific model of TV first before you spend cash on a calibration.

I followed the settings this site had for my Samsung and the image looks amazing. I figure if these are the settings the site used to compare this TV to other, then it must be worth my time to try.

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/compare-reviews.php

steveinaz

Also, research your model and find the best "mode" to be in before calibrating. Some modes, such as "Cinema" or "Movie" are closer to the standard 6500 kelvin color temp.

I use DVE (BluRay) though the standard DVD version does the same thing. Turn off all processing like "digital noise reduction" "edge enhancement" etc, etc. Center all your settings before starting, except sharpness, leave it at the lowest setting. If you have a color temp selection, pick something like "normal" "standard". You can later research if "Warm" or "Cool" settings may be more accurate for your set.

Toolfan66

Got my homework cut out for me I see..:)

steveinaz

For my set (Samsung HL-S5086) most recommend "Movie" and "Warm 1"; but Warm 1 is a little too orange for me, so I leave Color Temp on "Normal."

It'll be worth the effort when your done. Concerning "Sharpness"; the common thought is to leave it at 0, however, some sets actually get soft at 0. Mine is such a set. Using the pattern from DVE, I found a sharpness of 35 (0-100 scale) to be perfect--so don't assume you'll leave sharpness at 0--do the test pattern and check it.

steveinaz

The biggest error people make is trying to adjust for each movie, or not trusting their calibration settings. Set it and leave it. Not all dark scenes will have excellent shadow detail--and some bright scenes may look a bit washed out, much of it depends on the source (just like music). Here some pointers:

Contrast: adjust the level of white
If bright scenes scorch your retinas, it's too high. If whites look gray or off-white, it's too low.

Brightness: adjust the level of black (counter intuitive huh?)
If black backgrounds look sort of grayish, it's too high. If you loose shadow detail that you know should be there, it's too low.

Getting these 2 right is the most important. Without good grayscale, you'll never have accurate color. Spend alot of time going back and forth with brightness/contrast until you're sure you have it right (use your patterns). Do your adjustments when lighting in your room is where it normally is for viewing. If you like watching movies in the dark, make your adjustments in the dark.

Color: After calibrating, just verify that skin tones look natural and don't glow. Faces shouldn't look sunburned, and green grass shouldn't look "neon" green.

Tint: Normally this will be left at the default, but it can be checked for proper calibration. (see your disk instructions)

Sharpness: Use the test pattern. Watch for edge distortion or ghosting, then back off just until it disappears.

Color Temp: Usually left in "Normal" setting, but check your specific model for a possibly more accurate mode that is closer to 6500 kelvin.

Common errors:
People tend to overdo Contrast and Color. Why? because it makes the picture "pop." You have to decide if you want a properly calibrated picture, or your own interpretation.

Sherardp

I chose to educate myself and learn the basics which should give you a pretty good image. Now after doing this for so long I'm pretty good at it and can get a great image every time. Check this out.

http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457

steveinaz

That's a very good guide.

twochannel

Thank you for the excellent information. I commute to Harrisburg and did not realize some of these merchants existed. Should have looked in the yellow pages. I have some excellent information about which changes to make in the service menu of my Sony. I just was leary of navigating the menu and making the changes. I'm more interested in correcting some geometry issues that this XBR LCD RPTV had from new. I can always revert back to the factory settings if I make a mistake. I would also be interested in opinions on which set up disc, BR or DVD, to purchase.

spock 2054

Twochannel: Be very careful with service manual adjustments. Geometry adjustments might have to be made internally. I'd suggest the Spears & Munsil HD Benchmark Blu-ray edition for setting contrast and black level. $25

http://www.amazon.com/Spears-Munsil-High-Definition-Benchmark-Blu-ray/dp/B001UM29OC

http://www.spearsandmunsil.com/

Download the AVS HD disc from AVS forum for the color bars - you'll need a blue filter. (The filter included with the S&M disc is kind of lame) Free - burn to a dvd and playback in your BD player.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496

twochannel

I have been in the service menu and have adjusted the verticle location and size, which had been off from new. Its very straight forward with instructions from a service manual. I believe the geometry settings are also in the same menu catagory,but I have not located any info on the settings. Just having the picture centered is a plus. I can always restore the factory settings which are saved somewhere in the software.

danz1906

I thinking of having my LG 50" PK750 plasma done by an ISF calibrator , I hope
it will be worth the cash. The picture in the THX mode looks pretty good to my
untrained eye.

codyc1ark

I just finished using the AVS hd disc on my 47" Phillips Class LCD, I think it's going to take some getting used to, but believe it already looks better. I would recomend anybody to try it to give it a shot, pretty simple to download, burn, and use. There is a link on the second half of the page to a video that explains the steps, makes it very easy.

wallstreet

DVE is a nice disk. I don't worry too much about perfect picture anymore. I set the video up like I like it. That way, I'm always happy.