HDTV owners, how many of you calibrate?

steveinaz

...using either DVE or Avia?

Seems like quite a few don't. Your second purchase (first being your HDTV) should be a calibration disc. For a "mind-boggling" $29 bucks, you can make your new shiny HDTV display look like a million bucks, so don't be cheap.

Some hints that I have learned, that may help:

- let the tv warm up for a good 30 minutes
- room lighting should be adjusted to when you do the majority of your watching
- make no picture adjustments on your source (DVD/BluRay)
- make sure to start out with all display settings centered and sharpness at ZERO
- Brightness and contrast are settings you'll need to go back and tweak..more on that later
- Color is pretty straight forward, but run the levels up and down several times to get an average best setting (remember, BLUE filter!) Don't get too bent out of shape if you see some decoder error--it's gonna happen. Out of 4 TV's I own, guess which one had a perfect color decoder? The $127 RCA on the patio---go figure. Just try to get the best adjustment possible, it will look good.
- Tint will do a fine adjust of your color settings (in essence). Just as with color, run the adjustment up and down numerous times and get a best average setting.
- Sharpness. Contrary to popular belief, and mentioned on DVE, your TV may be too "soft" at zero. Use the test pattern as described. Sometimes it helps to move a little closer than typical viewing distance to get this just right. My Samsung DLP NEVER shows clipping or jaggies, even with sharpness at maximum. So what do you do then? Back it down to zero, and work up until the picture is sharp, and stop. For my set that was "20" on a 0-100 scale.

- Back to brightness/contrast:
If you find after adjusting these 2 that contrast is still blowing you out of your room, bring down some; then go back and re adjust brightness to correspond with the contrast level. The 2 controls feed off of each other, so I found the easiest way is to give contrast the priority, then go back and get the correct brightness. All too often people way overdo the contrast setting. There should not be "halos" around white lettering on a black background, bright sunlit scenes should still have detail in them.

Remember, CONTRAST is WHITE level, BRIGHTNESS is BLACK level. Sounds counter intuative huh? Is scenes are too white, back off on contrast; if dark scenes are too dark, up the brightness. Spend alot of time getting these 2 just right, you'll be rewarded with a very rich, natural picture. If gray levels are not right, color never will be.

A word about television:
I start with my BluRay calibrated setting levels and go from there. I had to back down contrast some, and then recalibrate brightness (remember?). Color was a little over-done on TV, so I dropped it a few settings.

TV is going to require compromise, as channel quality is all over the map. Pick your most often watched channels and calibrate by "eye" using your source calibration settings as a starting point.

ryanjoachim

Once I replace the lamp in my tv (or cry/whine my way into a new plasma) i'll definitely be trying out a calibration dvd (is there a difference between the dvd versions and the blu-ray calibration versions?)

Willow

I have both (Avia and DVE) and use them, along with Pixel Protector.

BlueFox

Good tips. For best results you need the hidden service adjustments accessed by ISF technicians. I did it to my Hitachi 57" RPTV and it was worth every penny.

steveinaz

Another "real world" finding: If colors at the correct calibrated setting still seem "neonish" this points to too much contrast typically--if contrast seems otherwise ok, bring color down abit until colors seem natural, and not glowing.

Green is a good color to watch for this. If grass looks "electric" you need to readjust. I like using the first Lord of the Rings movie at the beginning to double-check my color setting. Lots of green grass.

steveinaz

ryanjoachim wrote: »

Once I replace the lamp in my tv (or cry/whine my way into a new plasma) i'll definitely be trying out a calibration dvd (is there a difference between the dvd versions and the blu-ray calibration versions?)

Ryan
I have used both on my HDTV, either will work fine.

steveinaz

BlueFox wrote: »

Good tips. For best results you need the hidden service adjustments accessed by ISF technicians. I did it to my Hitachi 57" RPTV and it was worth every penny.

Yes, but be warned. Make sure you have a service menu guide and write down all settings before phutzing.

billbillw

I have the Avia disc. For members with Directv, you should also test using HDNet's calibration screens. Search the guide for when it is on. Its only 8 minutes or so, but it helps to confirm that the satellite box feed is calibrated like the DVD/BluRay feed is.

FYI: there is a freebie calibration disc available over at AVSforum as well.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496
It may not be as full featured as the commercial ones, but the price is right;)

dvran

For my Samsung PNB550 Plasma, I went to http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/compare-reviews.php and set my TV up to the settings they listed for the test to get the most perfect setup.

This was free and my TV looks great. Every factory setting I've noticed has the sharpness and contrast cranked, which looks great watching sports, but movies were terrible.

steveinaz

You'll also here some talk of "these don't work on DLP's, yada, yada" Bull puckey. Color is a bit challenging because of additional colors on the color wheel, just adjust color/tint to the best setting; you'll be fine. I have a DLP, it looks beautiful after calibration.

kuntasensei

I not only calibrate with a disc (I own DVE, Avia, Spears & Munsil, etc.), I tweak grayscale using the aforementioned AVSForum disc and an X-Rite EyeOne Display LT. My 1080p projector is about as close to D65 as I think possible (though now that I have ISF controls in my AVR, I may revisit it and tweak red a bit).

steveinaz

dvran wrote: »

For my Samsung PNB550 Plasma, I went to http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/compare-reviews.php and set my TV up to the settings they listed for the test to get the most perfect setup.

This was free and my TV looks great. Every factory setting I've noticed has the sharpness and contrast cranked, which looks great watching sports, but movies were terrible.

Dan, are these exisiting settings that other people use, or are you actually doing a calibration on YOUR set?

dvran

I used this site for my TV. Sorry for the wrong link:

http://reviews.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/samsung-pn50b550-review.html

Dialed in to D6500.

rayslifecycle

I am definitely starting with the free one and working my way out from there.....

billbillw

dvran wrote: »

I used this site for my TV. Sorry for the wrong link:

http://reviews.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/samsung-pn50b550-review.html

Dialed in to D6500.

What Steve is saying is that is a setting that someone chose for their TV. Its a good starting point, but you should calibrate your set for your viewing conditions. Every set has variations as does each video source.

steveinaz

Exactly, thanks Bill. Even changes from component to HDMI cables required major calibration changes to my set.

mrbofus

Steveinaz,
what calib. disc did you use and where did you get it.? I have a new 40" Sharp and have been considering doing this. I am just not all that pleased with the picture quality-some channels / scenes too bright or to dark and the colors seem wacked at times. I have tried manual adjustments but can not find the "right" setting.
This thread is very helpful, thank you

steveinaz

I have the Digital Video Essentials (DVE). Picked it up at BestBuy.

TV will take some tweaking, but if you can get baseline numbers with a DVD player, you'll be close. CNNHD is a very good channel (on DTV) for setting up. Also ESPNHD, HDNET, any good quality channel.

I had a bit of a challenge with my local CBS affiliate KOLD, Tucson (channel 13). It's broadcast in HD, but the picture is very washed-out compared to most everything else. I finally found a good compromise.

mrbofus

Thanks,
next time to best buy I will pick one up. I also noticed some HD channels look pretty good, others look pretty poor. You pick 1 channel such as you mentioned and calibrate off that-- and the others will improve as well?
Greg

steveinaz

Greg
It's more an exercise in compromise. You can get good across-the-board settings, but it takes time and patience. It's a little easier to get good skin tones and such from a good broadcast, that's why I recommend CNNHD (their broadcast seems very accurate color-wise). I switch between these channels, and tweak until I'm satisfied (all HD):

ABC
CBS
NBC
CNN (newsroom, not Headline news)
HDNET
HDTH (HD Theater)
ESPN
FOX (news)
SMITHSONIAN
NGC (National Geographic channel)

DVD/BluRay sources are way easier. You calibrate, your done. Sure you might have to tweak a few settings, but generally everything will look very good.

Serendipity

Definitely calibrate. You have to get into the service menu to really do a thorough job, though.

polktiger

I do calibrate mine, but was wondering...
I just got a TV for the bedroom, should I "break in" the TV for a month or so before calibrating?

Lowell_M

polktiger wrote: »

I do calibrate mine, but was wondering...
I just got a TV for the bedroom, should I "break in" the TV for a month or so before calibrating?

I'm getting my new TV tomorrow and I plan to calibrate after it is on for an hour or so and then recalibrate after a month or so. I don't know if I will see a difference on the second calibration, but I figured I'd get the picture to it's best out of the box and then see if there was any creep later.

vc69

I use DVE and Spears and Munsil. I wish I could swing an ISF calibration but I am very pleased with results I have achieved using those discs.

Great tips Steve.

Lowell_M

I use Sound and Vision Home Theater Tune-up (or whatever it is called)

Serendipity

Lowell_M wrote: »

I'm getting my new TV tomorrow and I plan to calibrate after it is on for an hour or so and then recalibrate after a month or so. I don't know if I will see a difference on the second calibration, but I figured I'd get the picture to it's best out of the box and then see if there was any creep later.

It depends on the TV. Some sets (like CRT-based rear projection TV's) will drift every once in a while.

danger boy

are the Avia or DVE calibration discs in blu ray or standard DVD?

having worked in Tee Vee for 29 years.. I know what a properly set up TV should look like, but i'm sure the calibration discs would be helpful.

vc69

danger boy wrote: »

are the Avia or DVE calibration discs in blu ray or standard DVD?

having worked in Tee Vee for 29 years.. I know what a properly set up TV should look like, but i'm sure the calibration discs would be helpful.

Definitely!

I think they are available in both SD and BluRay. I use DVE SD version and Spears and Munsil BD version. I think it may be good to check with both types.

Serendipity

danger boy wrote: »

are the Avia or DVE calibration discs in blu ray or standard DVD?

having worked in Tee Vee for 29 years.. I know what a properly set up TV should look like, but i'm sure the calibration discs would be helpful.

Some sets have internal test patterns (but you have to go into the service menu to access them) for color, greyscale, and convergence.

I haven't used an Avia or DVE disc in years.

TouchOfEvil

maybe i should calibrate my sets lol.

vc69

Serendipity wrote: »

Some sets have internal test patterns (but you have to go into the service menu to access them) for color, greyscale, and convergence.

I haven't used an Avia or DVE disc in years.

I think a fair warning is due.

One who doesn't know what one is doing can eff up a set quickly jacking around in the service menu.