I have my RPTV ISF Calibrated

polkatese

a couple of weeks ago. It does look like it breathe a new life. Compared to my Sony LCD, the biggest improvement is the 3D dimensional feel on HD sources. Color is less vibrant than the LCD, but I expected that, but is more film-like in most HD-fed materials. The calibrator also clean the lenses.

One question I have to those that are still on RPTV, what is your contrast setting? When he left, he set everything to 0 (it reminds me sort of having the tone controls on an amplifier to flat settings). After he left, I increased the setting of contrast to 10 out of 30 (max) and black level to -6 out of 30 (max). FYI, it's a PE PRO-520HD, and to my eyes it looks perfect balance.

One of the other benefit of RPTV is that I can sit 3 ft away from the screen and not seeing the jagged pixels as I've seen on my LCD.

All in all, it was a good $450 investment to give my RPTV an extended live, at least for another 2 years, and by then, hopefully all movies are 1080p 24fps and that format will become the standard! (yeah, right...!)

PhantomOG

wow.. $450? I always wondered what calibration cost.

Do you feel it was worth it? I guess the lens cleaning, if necessary, isn't very do-it-yourself-able.

Have you ever adjusted your TV using Avia/DVE etc.? I was just wondering considering you paid the guy a considerable amount and then immediately deviated from his professional settings.

polkatese

Do I feel it was worth it? yes. Lens cleaning would not be something that I would even remotely think of DIYing myself. Especially when I am not familiar with the PE. It tooks him 15 minutes to dismantle the front screen, exposing the guts. It would have taken me a minimum of 2 hours, with a service manual (which I don't have).

I adjusted the setting with AVIA a couple of years ago, but since this is the first time I did ISF calibrated since it was put in service (5+ years ago), setting was off from the get go. He did a before-and-after chart on where the setting should be, and it looks like a chart of a notch filter graph that I did with my Velodyne DD sub. For example, the color temperature is now about 6100K, it was 9200k (too blue), and the standard is 6500K.

PolkThug

I think its funny you paid for an ISF calibration, then took it out of calibration after the guy left.

Try watching it for a couple weeks, then if you're not happy, make the changes.

polkatese

yeah, but the thing is, what he did was resetting the baseline/standard, and correcting that baseline. If, after calibration, we all should be content with 0 (zero) setting across the board, then what's the point having those control to begin with? And we are talking about a setting of 0 for ALL, right down the middle, for Contrast, Color, Black Level, Brightness, and Hue. Isn't that user preference still be the subjective after all said and done?

PhantomOG

Sure, but +5 off of a 0 calibrated set is still achieved with a +6 off a 1 un-calibrated set, no?

The important thing is your happy with it. I agree with PT though, I assumed the calibration wasn't just to set a "baseline" per se, but to achieve the *best* or most accurate picture available with that set, meaning no further adjustments would be necessary.

What source did he calibrate to? Were you able to have him calibrate multiple inputs differently for each source you have? Does your TV lose these settings if un-plugged for a prolonged period of time?

PolkThug

polkatese wrote: »

yeah, but the thing is, what he did was resetting the baseline/standard, and correcting that baseline. If, after calibration, we all should be content with 0 (zero) setting across the board, then what's the point having those control to begin with? And we are talking about a setting of 0 for ALL, right down the middle, for Contrast, Color, Black Level, Brightness, and Hue. Isn't that user preference still be the subjective after all said and done?

He changed the settings in the ISF service menu, to correspond to your 'zero' settings in the user interface for the most accurate picture. (unless he didn't really do anything)

Truth vs. Beauty

BIZILL

PhantomOG wrote: »

Do you feel it was worth it? I guess the lens cleaning, if necessary, isn't very do-it-yourself-able.

i'll never again let the dumb-**** sears service tech clean my lenses again. did a poor job with wipes that seem to have the ability to scratch. also, he left lint all over the lens. what a dicc. i let his dumb-**** leave and your's truely did it right! just take off the rear panel and use lint-free camera lens wipes with an appropriate cleaning solution. not a single trace of lint.:cool:

jakelm

Did he leave you before and after readings for greyscale alignment? If he did the adjustments in the service menu then the adjustments are there to stay, even if unplugged.

Contrast and brightness do have an effect on greyscale, so after correcting greyscale if you went back and adjusted brightness and/or contrast then greyscale has been effected.

6500 lumins or 65k is the standard for grey, some seem to think it looks too red, but manufactures "crank" up the blue and contrast to give a "brighter" picture for showroom use. We get used to the blue, but its not a true grey.

My reccomendation to you is leave the set at its original user menu setting that were set by the ISF callibrator and see if in a week or at least 3 or 4 days you do get used to it. Once you get used to it, when you or someone would changed the setting, you will see it looks worse or in some cases, terrible.

But congrats, $450 is not a bad price for callibration AND cleaning.

danger boy

most of us have TV's that are way to high in contrast and brightness.. for home theater you really need to turn that stuff down.

I have a set up disc like alot of people... and when I set it up to what it says to.. i'm amazed at how low the brightness and contrast levels are.. but it does look better and I like watching movies in near darkness.. if i don't calibrate it... the contrast and brightness freak out my eyes to much.

polkatese

PolkThug wrote: »

He changed the settings in the ISF service menu, to correspond to your 'zero' settings in the user interface for the most accurate picture. (unless he didn't really do anything)

Truth vs. Beauty

he did make all of his adjustment through service menu, and it was impressive to watch him navigating the menu fast but very methodical (to me).

jakelm, he did greyscale alignment, and I am sure changing his settings will changed the balance. I did watch it for a week without adjusting his settings, but I was compelled to make that couple adjustments, since I can't get used to his settings. Oh well, I am happy..

jakelm

polkatese wrote: »

jakelm, he did greyscale alignment, and I am sure changing his settings will changed the balance. I did watch it for a week without adjusting his settings, but I was compelled to make that couple adjustments, since I can't get used to his settings. Oh well, I am happy..

Yes absolutly.. put the picture where you like it. At least after calibration you have the satisfation of knowing that your tv is accurate.

I'm adjusting mine all the damn time...it aggrivates my wife and kids. But the most annoying thing are the movies themselves. I wish the movies were all recorded the same way, in terms of color, contrast and brightness. Watching 2 hours of one movie, then putting another one in, only to find its dark. So ther I go, reaching for the remote, adjusting brightness. And I wont even get into the different picture qualities on cable channels.

polkatese

PhantomOG wrote: »

What source did he calibrate to? Were you able to have him calibrate multiple inputs differently for each source you have? Does your TV lose these settings if un-plugged for a prolonged period of time?

He used the following gears:

http://www.photoresearch.com/current/pr655.asp
http://www.accupel.com/HDG3000_intro.html

and did overscan adjustment on Input 1,2 HD Components (DTV DVR HR20, Oppo 970HD SD-DVD) and input 4 of Wii (RCA)

mantis

Setting numbers don't mean anything man. He calibrated everything to 0. You don't have to change the settings.Put it back to where he set everything.
Your uncomfortable due to the numbers, there only numbers man.

Dan

jakelm

polkatese wrote: »

He used the following gears:

http://www.photoresearch.com/current/pr655.asp
http://www.accupel.com/HDG3000_intro.html

and did overscan adjustment on Input 1,2 HD Components (DTV DVR HR20, Oppo 970HD SD-DVD) and input 4 of Wii (RCA)

Where was he able to get your overscan?

I got mine to 4% for STD and HDTV, makes a huge difference.

DarqueKnight

polkatese wrote: »

... and to my eyes it looks perfect balance.

That's all that matters.:)

polkatese

jakelm wrote: »

Where was he able to get your overscan?

I got mine to 4% for STD and HDTV, makes a huge difference.

yes, he was able to adjust the overscan down, so it fits on full mode. I had issue with the usual DTV DVR banner cut-off on the top.

DarqueKnight, yep. I am happy.

Dan, what's up?

Monster Jam

I used the THX calibration tool that comes free with some THX certified movies when I first got my Hitachi HD RPTV. Haven't messed with the contrast/color settings since. The only thing I do on a regular basis is manually magic focus (convergence) the set. Its easy to tell when thats out of whack. I still get comments on how clean and vibrant the picture is on it from visitors: I dont think you can beat the contrast of a CRT.

That said, I'm looking to flat panel or true projection in the near future, and I have a taker for the 250 lb. Hitachi. I'm willing to sacrifice a little picture quality to free up real-estate.