Mike Knapp
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Aug 4, 1997
- Messages
- 644
- Real Name
- Mike
This is the second segment in a three part series about squeezing the most performance from your Home Theater set-up. It is intended to educate and stimulate discussion so that others may benefit.
Lets have a look at the video portion of our Home Theaters.
First we will look at TV’s in general.
TIPS:
1) Watch in the dark. Room light will remind you that you are watching a TV. There are many that recommend a soft diffused light behind the set, I have found this to be distracting. Total darkness will allow you to lose yourself in the image…no matter the size.
2) Make some blanking bars. These are used to cover the letterbox bars on films that are not the same ratio as your screen. I have seen few tweaks that produce as dramatic an effect. No matter what type of set you have, the letterbox bars are not black. By covering them up you create a “floating” image. You will notice more detail in the shadows and the contrast will seem better. I cannot stress how much they help. Run a search on almost any forum and you will find instructions on how to make these most useful devices.
3) Turn that sharpness down. This is covered in the calibration discs but I see it ignored all too often. Many times the “ringing” seen on DVDs is caused by the sharpness being up too high. Use the test patterns and then leave it alone!
4) Use a calibration disc! If this list were in order of importance this would be first. TVs come out of the box poorly calibrated and they need to be adjusted. The image may appear dark to you when you are done but you have been looking at poorly adjusted TV most of your life and so this should not be a surprise. The whites should not bleed all over the place when you watch the credits and the reds should stay on that cardigan the newscaster is wearing. The calibration discs will get you in the ballpark and perhaps be close enough for comfort. But if you want it to be absolutely right….
5) Have an ISF tune-up. You cant do the gray scale by yourself without the proper tools. Call a professional. Gray scale is like the bass/treble controls on your receiver. They need to be flat and neutral. If the gray is off, so will be all the colors.
6) Sit the proper distance away from the screen. Too close and the scan lines can be seen (non HD sets) too far and the image does not fill your field of vision. You don’t want to have to move your head to see the whole screen but you don’t want to need field glasses to see it either. Twice the diagonal of the screen is a good general rule.
7) SVM (scan velocity modulation)….have it disconnected or disabled.
PROJECTION TV TIPS:
1) Geometry, geometry, geometry. Before you do the convergence make sure the geometry is correct. Circles must be round, not oval. When a scene pans up to down we don’t want to see “waves” in a mountain range. Make a geometry grid or buy one from your manufacturer or just have the ISF tune up done but be sure the geometry is correct.
2) Convergence, convergence, convergence. This does not mean the little cross-hairs that come up when you press the user menu function. Pull up that 64 pt (or whatever) grid and get those colors aligned. If you go to the service menu, always do the green first…it is the reference gun. Align the blue and red to the green and then clean up the overall convergence. A poor convergence job can make a grand set look like one on a showroom floor.
3) Adjust your Over-scan. You want ant the most image possible, don’t you? Set the over-scan using a calibration disc pattern. Most sets come from the factory with too much over-scan. You can be missing as much as 10% of your image due to an incorrect over-scan adjustment
TWEAKS & CAVEATS:
Use a power conditioner on your TV. Get a good one. Once I put one on mine I had to re-calibrate to lower settings. Lower setting means less wear on the tubes. That is a good thing.
Watch for burn-in. Excessive video game use, watching lots of programming that does not excite all the phosphors in the tube (doesn’t fill your screen with image) and those annoying channel ID bugs can all cause screen burn-in. I had to replace my green gun because of my kids watching the Disney channel in its correct OAR (4:3) on my 16:9 set, so no one is immune from this. Prudence and vigilance should help avoid this (I was remiss). After a 2:35:1 movie let the set run with a full image for a while to balance it out. Not much effort for big dividends.
Do not de-activate the gray bar feature. My trouble came from making my gray bars black. I now either use masking bars to cover the gray or I just suffer the gray sides. This WILL help preserve your tubes, don’t give into the temptation to defeat the gray bars.
Use good quality cables. Unlike in the audio realm, video cables can make or break an image, especially a large image. Don’t skimp here. I repeat, don’t skimp here. The differences can be astounding.
Don’t run your video signals through your processor for switching. Go directly to the display whenever possible. Use macros on your remote to automatically change the TV inputs or do it manually. You will almost certainly obtain a superior image with a direct connection from the source to the display.
Room wall color. Black is best, gray will do….If you must use color, dark colors are going to give the best results. Try hanging a black sheet from the ceiling on either side of and behind your display, you will be getting out the paint soon after. Anything that helps the display to disappear visually will be useful.
MOST IMPORTANTLY:
Watch all your programming in its OAR (original aspect ratio). Don’t stretch your newscasts, don’t zoom your sitcoms…pay some respect to the creative team that composed the image. A little balance between 4:3 OAR shows and 16:9 OAR shows will stop the 4:3 burn in on your widescreen sets. Many people feel that OAR should only apply to movies, I disagree and I recommend watching all your programming in its original aspect ratio. Just my opinion.
These are some of the things that I have learned from experience. They may or may not work for you. I post them here as a reference for starting. Since the goal of this piece is to educate I welcome additions and corrections. Thanks for reading
Mike
Lets have a look at the video portion of our Home Theaters.
First we will look at TV’s in general.
TIPS:
1) Watch in the dark. Room light will remind you that you are watching a TV. There are many that recommend a soft diffused light behind the set, I have found this to be distracting. Total darkness will allow you to lose yourself in the image…no matter the size.
2) Make some blanking bars. These are used to cover the letterbox bars on films that are not the same ratio as your screen. I have seen few tweaks that produce as dramatic an effect. No matter what type of set you have, the letterbox bars are not black. By covering them up you create a “floating” image. You will notice more detail in the shadows and the contrast will seem better. I cannot stress how much they help. Run a search on almost any forum and you will find instructions on how to make these most useful devices.
3) Turn that sharpness down. This is covered in the calibration discs but I see it ignored all too often. Many times the “ringing” seen on DVDs is caused by the sharpness being up too high. Use the test patterns and then leave it alone!
4) Use a calibration disc! If this list were in order of importance this would be first. TVs come out of the box poorly calibrated and they need to be adjusted. The image may appear dark to you when you are done but you have been looking at poorly adjusted TV most of your life and so this should not be a surprise. The whites should not bleed all over the place when you watch the credits and the reds should stay on that cardigan the newscaster is wearing. The calibration discs will get you in the ballpark and perhaps be close enough for comfort. But if you want it to be absolutely right….
5) Have an ISF tune-up. You cant do the gray scale by yourself without the proper tools. Call a professional. Gray scale is like the bass/treble controls on your receiver. They need to be flat and neutral. If the gray is off, so will be all the colors.
6) Sit the proper distance away from the screen. Too close and the scan lines can be seen (non HD sets) too far and the image does not fill your field of vision. You don’t want to have to move your head to see the whole screen but you don’t want to need field glasses to see it either. Twice the diagonal of the screen is a good general rule.
7) SVM (scan velocity modulation)….have it disconnected or disabled.
PROJECTION TV TIPS:
1) Geometry, geometry, geometry. Before you do the convergence make sure the geometry is correct. Circles must be round, not oval. When a scene pans up to down we don’t want to see “waves” in a mountain range. Make a geometry grid or buy one from your manufacturer or just have the ISF tune up done but be sure the geometry is correct.
2) Convergence, convergence, convergence. This does not mean the little cross-hairs that come up when you press the user menu function. Pull up that 64 pt (or whatever) grid and get those colors aligned. If you go to the service menu, always do the green first…it is the reference gun. Align the blue and red to the green and then clean up the overall convergence. A poor convergence job can make a grand set look like one on a showroom floor.
3) Adjust your Over-scan. You want ant the most image possible, don’t you? Set the over-scan using a calibration disc pattern. Most sets come from the factory with too much over-scan. You can be missing as much as 10% of your image due to an incorrect over-scan adjustment
TWEAKS & CAVEATS:
Use a power conditioner on your TV. Get a good one. Once I put one on mine I had to re-calibrate to lower settings. Lower setting means less wear on the tubes. That is a good thing.
Watch for burn-in. Excessive video game use, watching lots of programming that does not excite all the phosphors in the tube (doesn’t fill your screen with image) and those annoying channel ID bugs can all cause screen burn-in. I had to replace my green gun because of my kids watching the Disney channel in its correct OAR (4:3) on my 16:9 set, so no one is immune from this. Prudence and vigilance should help avoid this (I was remiss). After a 2:35:1 movie let the set run with a full image for a while to balance it out. Not much effort for big dividends.
Do not de-activate the gray bar feature. My trouble came from making my gray bars black. I now either use masking bars to cover the gray or I just suffer the gray sides. This WILL help preserve your tubes, don’t give into the temptation to defeat the gray bars.
Use good quality cables. Unlike in the audio realm, video cables can make or break an image, especially a large image. Don’t skimp here. I repeat, don’t skimp here. The differences can be astounding.
Don’t run your video signals through your processor for switching. Go directly to the display whenever possible. Use macros on your remote to automatically change the TV inputs or do it manually. You will almost certainly obtain a superior image with a direct connection from the source to the display.
Room wall color. Black is best, gray will do….If you must use color, dark colors are going to give the best results. Try hanging a black sheet from the ceiling on either side of and behind your display, you will be getting out the paint soon after. Anything that helps the display to disappear visually will be useful.
MOST IMPORTANTLY:
Watch all your programming in its OAR (original aspect ratio). Don’t stretch your newscasts, don’t zoom your sitcoms…pay some respect to the creative team that composed the image. A little balance between 4:3 OAR shows and 16:9 OAR shows will stop the 4:3 burn in on your widescreen sets. Many people feel that OAR should only apply to movies, I disagree and I recommend watching all your programming in its original aspect ratio. Just my opinion.
These are some of the things that I have learned from experience. They may or may not work for you. I post them here as a reference for starting. Since the goal of this piece is to educate I welcome additions and corrections. Thanks for reading
Mike
