- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 66,715
- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
About 2-3 months ago I purchased a brand new
Toshiba 57HX81 television under the
recommendation of Toshiba owners who said this
was the best looking RPTV for the buck.
No kidding! When I took this baby out of the
box it looked incredible even before I made my
own personal calibrations. Colors looked awesome,
and I was just awestruck by a picture that rivaled
what I had seen on more expensive sets I had been
considering.
I wanted to break the television in a little
more before I considered having it ISF calibrated.
After two months of heavy use, I invited Gregg
Loewen to come to my home.
Gregg is on his way to becoming ISF certified.
He is currently offering his services in New
England, Eastern Canada and elsewhere by request.
Equipped with a color analyzer and high definition
signal generator, Gregg has been doing professional
ISF calibrations for less cost than other
professionals in his field.
I picked Gregg up at the airport. He brought
along some extra baggage that included his laptop
computer, a printer, and all sorts of calibration
tools.
My biggest mistake was not taking pictures, which
I had originally planned to do, but forgot about
once I got involved in watching Gregg work.
Gregg began our calibration session by sitting
down and talking to me about my particular set and
how it differs from others. Gregg has a clear
knowledge of many different brands of televisions,
with expertise in Mitsubishi and Toshiba. He explained
the red push on the Mitsubishi's and the way that
set gets calibrated as opposed to the Toshiba.
Gregg also gave me a thorough preview discussion
on what he was planning to do with my television
as well as the changes I should expect as a result
of the calibrations.
After warming up my television, Gregg did some
pre-tuning to my set that included pre front panel
adjustments, disconnecting of SVM, electronic and
manual focus. Next thing I knew, He placed
a suction cup sensor on my television which sent
readings back to his laptop computer. I believe
what he was doing was getting readings on overall
color temperature that would ultimately be tune to
an even 6500.
When Gregg insisted that my outer glare screen be
removed, I was a bit hesitant to let him do it.
I wasn't as much as concerned about the safety of
my television's inner screen as I was about the
glossy look that I liked. Gregg explained that
the outer screen was only adding artificial enhancements
to my picture and that I should have it removed.
Well, sure enough, the removal of the outer
protective screen made a remarkable difference in
picture quality resulting in a more natural look.
With the screen removed, Gregg showed me my three
picture guns which were loose. He explained that
this was common, mostly caused by the shipping of
the sets and the ignorance of manufacturers to
properly tighten them. Gregg had a particularly
inventive way of focusing each of the picture guns
with the TV screen attached. I could immediately
see a sharper image coming into view.
For the next 5 hours, Gregg performed a multitude
of adjustments including: Geometry and overscan
adjustments, Grey Scale adjustments, Geometry and
convergences -- and most interestingly -- lense
stripping where he placed a bit of black electrical
tape over my picture guns in order to bring the
color temperature to proper range (which it most
certainly did).
My overall thoughts on television calibration
For all the years I have owned a big screen
television, I had always felt that I could get
by with calibrating the set using Video Essentials.
Keep in mind that I did my own pre-calibrations using
VE.
While I certainly feel that the above methods
of simple self-calibration results in a remarkable
improvement to your video and audio -- there are
further improvements that only a professional can do.
Looking at the pre and post calibration graphs
that Gregg printed out for me, I could see the
huge improvements that were made to my television
after 5 hours of analyzation and adjustments. The
most immediate improvement was the sharpness of my
picture as well as the improved warmth of the colors
across the entire viewing area.
I can only sum up the fruits of his efforts by
saying my TV picture looks friggin' awesome! I
popped in Gladiator and was just blown
away with how sharp and detailed the picture looked.
The blacks were even blacker than before, but yet,
in the dark scenes of Saving Private Ryan I
could see the emblems on the uniforms of the soldiers.
My eye-candy treat came when I popped in Moulin
Rouge. My jaw was just hanging while I watched
vivid, precise colors flash across my screen.
Anyone, like myself, who had believed that spending
a few hundred dollars to have a television properly
calibrated was senseless, should know that I just
has by senses knocked out of me.
There is absolutely no question that anyone who
has invested good money in the purchase of a large
screen television, has wasted their investment if
they don't have their picture and audio properly
calibrated. It's amazing to see that what your eyes
tend to believe is the best picture you can get from
self-calibration, can often be proven deceiving when
you see how much BETTER that picture can be after
a professional calibration.
I fully expect a few more people who also had
their sets calibrated this past week (Gregg did
4 sets in 3 days) to chime in their praise, as
I had the opportunity to hear their comments about
the overall improvement to their televisions.
It's good to see that people like Gregg Loewen
are bringing some much needed competition to the
market by doing professional calibrations at a more
reasonable cost than what is normally charged.
Toshiba 57HX81 television under the
recommendation of Toshiba owners who said this
was the best looking RPTV for the buck.
No kidding! When I took this baby out of the
box it looked incredible even before I made my
own personal calibrations. Colors looked awesome,
and I was just awestruck by a picture that rivaled
what I had seen on more expensive sets I had been
considering.
I wanted to break the television in a little
more before I considered having it ISF calibrated.
After two months of heavy use, I invited Gregg
Loewen to come to my home.
Gregg is on his way to becoming ISF certified.
He is currently offering his services in New
England, Eastern Canada and elsewhere by request.
Equipped with a color analyzer and high definition
signal generator, Gregg has been doing professional
ISF calibrations for less cost than other
professionals in his field.
I picked Gregg up at the airport. He brought
along some extra baggage that included his laptop
computer, a printer, and all sorts of calibration
tools.
My biggest mistake was not taking pictures, which
I had originally planned to do, but forgot about
once I got involved in watching Gregg work.
Gregg began our calibration session by sitting
down and talking to me about my particular set and
how it differs from others. Gregg has a clear
knowledge of many different brands of televisions,
with expertise in Mitsubishi and Toshiba. He explained
the red push on the Mitsubishi's and the way that
set gets calibrated as opposed to the Toshiba.
Gregg also gave me a thorough preview discussion
on what he was planning to do with my television
as well as the changes I should expect as a result
of the calibrations.
After warming up my television, Gregg did some
pre-tuning to my set that included pre front panel
adjustments, disconnecting of SVM, electronic and
manual focus. Next thing I knew, He placed
a suction cup sensor on my television which sent
readings back to his laptop computer. I believe
what he was doing was getting readings on overall
color temperature that would ultimately be tune to
an even 6500.
When Gregg insisted that my outer glare screen be
removed, I was a bit hesitant to let him do it.
I wasn't as much as concerned about the safety of
my television's inner screen as I was about the
glossy look that I liked. Gregg explained that
the outer screen was only adding artificial enhancements
to my picture and that I should have it removed.
Well, sure enough, the removal of the outer
protective screen made a remarkable difference in
picture quality resulting in a more natural look.
With the screen removed, Gregg showed me my three
picture guns which were loose. He explained that
this was common, mostly caused by the shipping of
the sets and the ignorance of manufacturers to
properly tighten them. Gregg had a particularly
inventive way of focusing each of the picture guns
with the TV screen attached. I could immediately
see a sharper image coming into view.
For the next 5 hours, Gregg performed a multitude
of adjustments including: Geometry and overscan
adjustments, Grey Scale adjustments, Geometry and
convergences -- and most interestingly -- lense
stripping where he placed a bit of black electrical
tape over my picture guns in order to bring the
color temperature to proper range (which it most
certainly did).
My overall thoughts on television calibration
For all the years I have owned a big screen
television, I had always felt that I could get
by with calibrating the set using Video Essentials.
Keep in mind that I did my own pre-calibrations using
VE.
While I certainly feel that the above methods
of simple self-calibration results in a remarkable
improvement to your video and audio -- there are
further improvements that only a professional can do.
Looking at the pre and post calibration graphs
that Gregg printed out for me, I could see the
huge improvements that were made to my television
after 5 hours of analyzation and adjustments. The
most immediate improvement was the sharpness of my
picture as well as the improved warmth of the colors
across the entire viewing area.
I can only sum up the fruits of his efforts by
saying my TV picture looks friggin' awesome! I
popped in Gladiator and was just blown
away with how sharp and detailed the picture looked.
The blacks were even blacker than before, but yet,
in the dark scenes of Saving Private Ryan I
could see the emblems on the uniforms of the soldiers.
My eye-candy treat came when I popped in Moulin
Rouge. My jaw was just hanging while I watched
vivid, precise colors flash across my screen.
Anyone, like myself, who had believed that spending
a few hundred dollars to have a television properly
calibrated was senseless, should know that I just
has by senses knocked out of me.
There is absolutely no question that anyone who
has invested good money in the purchase of a large
screen television, has wasted their investment if
they don't have their picture and audio properly
calibrated. It's amazing to see that what your eyes
tend to believe is the best picture you can get from
self-calibration, can often be proven deceiving when
you see how much BETTER that picture can be after
a professional calibration.
I fully expect a few more people who also had
their sets calibrated this past week (Gregg did
4 sets in 3 days) to chime in their praise, as
I had the opportunity to hear their comments about
the overall improvement to their televisions.
It's good to see that people like Gregg Loewen
are bringing some much needed competition to the
market by doing professional calibrations at a more
reasonable cost than what is normally charged.
