Calibration? (1 Viewer)

[dhornick]

Calibration? What in the world....... this forum is just to technical for me to really understand. All I want do is be able to buy the Plasma TV I want, bring it home, hang it on the wall and turn it on to watch HDTV. Is this not possible? Please in the simplest form of layman terms can someone explain to me this calibration thing?

 

[Gregg Loewen]

hi Darrell
video calibration is required if you want accurate colors with a maximal contrast ratio. DVDs are manufactured to produce a color accurate image, if the display is correctly setup then you can visually see the accuracy of the director's intent.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

It's more than possible. That's what the vast majority of consumers do. Unfortunately, it leaves you with a hideous, nonstandard, inaccurate, and ultimately (in my opinion) very unpleasant and unwatchable image experience. TVs are not sold for accuracy, but to impress inexperienced viewers who don't care about a quality image. It's unfortunate, but that's the way things are. If you don't care about image quality, just watch the TV. If you care at all about image quality, then you need to calibrate the display, either yourself (basic), or bring in a professional with colorimetry equipment (thorough).

 

[dhornick]

Thanks Chris, I definitely care about the image quality so will most likely do the basic calibration and then eventually have one of Greggs guys stop by.

 

[troy evans]

A few things off the top of my head are to: 1.) Set sharpness control down to zero. This feature adds artificial sharpness and is unwanted with HDTV. 2.) Set contrast no higher than half way point. Example: 1 to 100 set it to 50 and no higher. Contrast or brightness set too high can cause screen retention (specifically with plasmas) of images. 3.)Set your temperature setting to "warm" and select the "movie" mode. You can pretty much use any THX movie that has the THX optimizer for basic calibrations of color and tint controls. Although, unless you have an eye for accurate color and tint settings they suggest you use a blue color filter. It's simular to the kind they use in 3-D glasses for the blue side. Digital Video Essentials is my calibration disc of choice, but, Avia is also excellent. New HD versions of DVE are coming for both HD DVD and Bluray. If you currently have neither HDM format, the sd dvd version will be more than enough. You also get in depth how to's and why's with DVE. So, you not only learn how to calibrate your system, but, why it's needed.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

hi guys
Troy on your points:
1. is not correct. On many sets sharpness should be at another setting besides zero. This is manufacturer dependent.
2. Contrast should be set to maximize the contrast ratio, while not clipping the white image (unlike crt displays of old). When using a movie / pro mode the contrast is at many times at the maximum setting. This is also a manufacturer dependent setting. With some makes, the 50% setting will cause clipping.
3. Dead on...go baby!!!

 

[dhornick]

On my new TH-58PX60U there is no "Contrast" setting. There is
Picture - currently set at +20
Brightness - 0
Color - 0
Tint - 0
Sharpness + 5
Color Temp - Normal
Color mng - On
Video - NR
3D Y/C Filter - On
MPEG - Off
Due to not having a real HDC signal yet I can not get to the Color Matrix or Black Level settings yet.

For breakin and less screen burn what setting should be changed?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Your set's "Picture" setting is the contrast control. The terms are not standardized and vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and even set to set. Since I'm not familiar with that model or the values those scales represent, I can't give you detailed values for settings changes, but can offer a couple of suggestions as a stop-gap until you at least rent DVE (I'd say rent the SD version for now and buy the hi-def hybrid later, or use a movie with the THX optimizer on it.)

Set Picture/contrast to "0" to match brightness and tint. I assume "Color Mng" is "color management" - if so, turn it off. Also set color temp to "warm". Then run a consumer calibration disc. And write down the settings. If you're using multiple inputs on your set for different things, you'll eventually want to move your DVD player from input to input and repeat the calibration process on each of them. The inputs usually have independent video settings and the values that work best for one (an HDMI input say) may not work for another (like a component input.) My main living room set sometimes loses its settings if storm knock the power out long enough for the battery back-up to go out, so I created a Word document with all the settings for each input to quickly restore everything after bad weather. (In truth, I now know all the settings for each input by heart and never look at the doc any more. )

Regards,

Joe

 

[GeorgeAB]

The brightness control setting (black level) is very dependant upon room lighting conditions. It will need to be set higher as the lighting in the room becomes brighter. Typical room lighting will interfere with the picture in various ways.

A bright room will make darker portions of a program appear too dark and can cause loss of detail in the shadows. Turning the brightness control up will raise the threshold of black and reveal more detail in the darker portions of the program. If the lights are turned down or off, brightness will need to be turned down a bit. Otherwise, what looked black under bright lighting will now look gray.

Every TV made will produce its best picture in a darkened room. Picture adjustments will need to be made to achieve the best look in the dark. There are other issues pertinent to room conditions and viewer perception too infrequently mentioned in the context of adjusting and calibrating a TV properly. A good article on this topic is available at the new ISF-affiliated web site. Here's the link: http://www.isfforum.com/index.php?op...d=16&Itemid=48 .

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
G. Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"