TV Calibration?????

EFW

:cool: Any of you experienced tweakers out there have any advice on tweaking in the picture on my Mits. WD-62627 (62" DLP Rear Proj.)? I know the picture can be better than what I am getting, and it has become my mission in life to do just that. I tried the video essentials HD-DVD, and found it to be very un-userfriendly. The things I did figure out from watching it helped slightly, but i'm sure there is more tweaking I can do. I have read nothing but negative reviews on Monster's version of the DVD so I am not so sure about trying it. Any ideas out there? Does anybody else have this set? Is this something I should get into? or should I just drop the cash ($400.00):eek: and have it profesionally ISF Calibrated? Thanks for the advice..........EFW

cmy330go

I personally really like Digital Video Essentials, but totally understand how it could be confusing to use. I know many that like using AVIA. I have used both on my Mits and am very pleased with the results. I don't doubt that an ISF tech could do better, but I'm just too tight to spend that much for a calibration.

PolkThug

DVE does suck. The Sound & Vision DVD is easier to use. Also, perform the manual convergence in the Mits Setup Menu.

jakelm

I have both DVE and Avia. I prefer DVE, becuase it has an excellent audio callibration as well. What is it your having problems with?

Without getting into the service menu, there isnt much you can do becides get the color temp as close to d65 or 6500k, brightness, tint and color adjustments.

Get it right from the disk, leave it there for a couple of weeks and see if you get used to it. If not, tweek from those settings, but I would use those settings as a starting point.

Serendipity

Does your TV have any built-in test patterns? I know some Sony sets have them built in, and I find these to be better than anything from DVE or Avia.

Also like PolkThug said, look in the Mits setup menu. The internal test patterns should be VERY good.

EFW

Thanks for all the replys guys! The biggets issue I have with the set is it can tend to get grainy at times as I mentioned in my above post when there are scenes filmed in the dark of night or under water. i.e. horror, submarine movies etc. As for the built in test patterns, if it does have them I am not aware of them. Thanks again foe the help........EFW

jakelm

I hate to refer you to another forum, but .. www.hometheaterspot.com is great and they have a ton of Mit lovers like you and myself.

Grain is mostly a signal problem, it can be somewhat corrected with brightness and contrast control. ISF callibration is really what you need on that set.

kuntasensei

DVE is the better disc for digital displays. However, DVE also has serious errors in its audio test tones (both DTS and DD) that make it absolutely useless for audio calibration. The subwoofer test tones are 10dB incorrect in both bitstreams, which I've verified digitally (by breaking down the DD into its component tracks and measuring digital level) and a guy who now works for SVS verified via ground plane testing. Also, the tones it has marked as 40-80Hz tones are not limited to that range, so are incorrectly labeled. The speaker test tones are also digitally off by about 2.5 dB from the proper level to determine reference on your system. To date, Joe Kane refuses to acknowledge any of these problems, though they have been well documented in several forums. In short, don't use DVE for audio calibration. Avia or your AVR's internal tones will get you way closer. The only audio test I use on DVE is the speaker test tones that are centered between channels, since that helps nail speaker distance/delay to ensure good imaging between speakers.

DVE's instructions are crap, however. The quick-and-easy way to use it is to first bring up the screen that shows a series of boxes - white to black - that run along the top and bottom. To both sides, you will see 3 dots that represent 0 IRE (black) and 100 IRE (white). Beyond those areas are segments beyond the 0-100 IRE (i.e. above white and below black). Adjust contrast until the 100 IRE box above or below the 3 dots starts to blend with the box brighter than it. Then, back contrast down so that you can just barely (and I mean BARELY) tell a difference between the two segments. This gives you a little range at the high end and will prevent whites from clipping.

Then, go to the screen immediately before that and you should see 3 black bars on each side. The black bar furthest out is actually below 0 IRE (i.e. below black). At first, you may have to raise the brightness control to even see this bar. What you want to do is adjust brightness down until that darkest bar blends with the background completely, but you can still see the other two bars.

You may have to bounce between these two screens and double-check each setting, since brightness and contrast tend to interact with each other. On a digital set, this gives you the maximum digital range of white to black.

I'm not at home or I'd offer chapter/title numbers. Going from memory, you can find these screens by picking PROGRAM GUIDE, then REFERENCE MATERIALS, then VIDEO PATTERNS. If you have any other questions, let me know.

Serendipity

EFW wrote: »

Thanks for all the replys guys! The biggets issue I have with the set is it can tend to get grainy at times as I mentioned in my above post when there are scenes filmed in the dark of night or under water. i.e. horror, submarine movies etc. As for the built in test patterns, if it does have them I am not aware of them. Thanks again foe the help........EFW

They might be hidden test patterns, on my Sony VPH-D50Q I have to press Enter, Enter, Up, Down, Enter, Yes, Enter to view the hidden test patterns.

PolkThug

I see its a DLP, ignore my convergence comment.

Serendipity

Forgot to mention, an HTPC connected to a calibrated monitor AND your display can be a huge help. Just display test patterns on the first monitor and then calibrate the set to match the monitor.

If you are experiencing grainy images, sometimes just lowering the contrast will help.

PolkThug

kuntasensei wrote: »

However, DVE also has serious errors in its audio test tones (both DTS and DD) that make it absolutely useless for audio calibration.

Yep! I reported on one of the sweeps being incorrect back in 2005. Also, Dr. Spec found the sub calibration problem.

kuntasensei

PolkThug wrote: »

Yep! I reported on one of the sweeps being incorrect back in 2005. Also, Dr. Spec found the sub calibration problem.

When confronted, Joe Kane tried to pass the subwoofer tone issue off as a matter of "spectral shaping", and that it was made so that it would read correctly on consumer grade SPL meters. He also tried to blame it on people's individual setups or gear being the problem, because he said the levels were correct at the encoder. However, the tones aren't even close to correct on a digital level, completely independant of any gear or metering. If you strip the DD bitstream down into its individual channels and run a C-weighted reading on the LFE tone, it's so far from correct that his meter excuse doesn't apply.

My theory is that he neglected to remember the 10dB differential in the .1 channel that is handled during decoding. Either way, DVE is useless for serious audio calibration and tweaking. Avia, on the other hand, has a ton of great test tones for the hardcore tweaker, and I verified that its level tones are 100% dead-on-the-money digitally correct using the same method I did with DVE.

EFW

Thanks kuntasensei, good stuff. appadv I still can't find any test tones. Do any of you guys have the perfect color adjusted? If so what are your settings? If you don't mind my asking. Thanks again for the input guys, it is great to have a place with the knowledge this forum has to talk about this stuff. Thanks again........efw

jakelm

EFW wrote: »

Thanks kuntasensei, good stuff. appadv I still can't find any test tones. Do any of you guys have the perfect color adjusted? If so what are your settings? If you don't mind my asking. Thanks again for the input guys, it is great to have a place with the knowledge this forum has to talk about this stuff. Thanks again........efw

Every setting will be different for every tv. I have it on my Mit RPTV and left everything at mid point. I had my tv ISF callibrated and still left the "perfect" color alone.

One thing you can do is take off any enhancements you have on. Black inhancement and sharpness inhancement, stuff like that. Sometimes that, in itself, can add grain or artifacts that are not part of the original signal. But in all honesty I found prfect color to be pretty much useless and just reverted back to the "good ol" tint control.

kuntasensei

I'm not sure what "perfect color" is, but if it allows you direct control over red, green and blue saturation/tint instead of just general color/tint controls, Avia has test patterns specifically to line up the saturation and tint of each color (though I don't know of any on DVE other than the standard color bars). On my Sanyo PLV-Z3 projector, I used Avia to get red, green and blue decoding dead perfect, and the results are NICE.

Serendipity

The settings will differ on every TV, even on sets made by the same manufacturer. Like jakelm said, try turning off any enhancements or "dynamic" picture modes. That should make a difference.