Anyone else find TV calibrating extremely difficult? (1 Viewer)

[Andy Kim]

Don't laugh! I'm having a very hard time with it.
After having my Wega for a few months and it only being calibrated by THX Optimode, I bought the Sound and Vision disc.
Generally, has anyone else found calibrating extremely difficult and frustrating?!!?!?
It sounds silly but I just can't figure out my 1) contrast 2) sharpness settings.

THX Optimodes has a contrast test where they show 8 different squares of white and if the contrast is too high you won't be able to differentiate them. Well, even with my contrast set to max I could still differentiate each square so a big reason I bought the S&V disc was to get a different contrast test. But its just as difficult to calibrate.
With the S&V contrast, I can't detect the point where the top white box starts to bloom. The edges between each box certainly don't become less edgy when the contrast is increased. Its almost become a test of how "white" do you like things?
And also, does anyone know what the white bars moving back and forth on the bottom left hand screen are for? It looks similar to the pluge test except for contrast.

And with the sharpness, the horizontal lines in the crosshair area doesn't really change with adjustment which leaves me to go only with the horizontal lines in the crosshair. As for the sets of lines on the top and bottom, there's always some portion of it that's of a different contrast. Argh!

I would welcome any suggestions on what to look for in calibrating these two settings.
Oh, and another thing, should I be calibrating with 16:9 mode (it will squish the test patterns) on as my DVD's will be watched with this mode on? I recall reading something about how smaller screen areas require lower contrast.
Thanks
Andy

PS. My DVD player's manual states when using a component connection I should set the player's black level to "dark".
I've tried to calibrate it this way but when I change to analog TV, everything is sooo bright. Anyone know why the DVD player would require a darker setting when using component video?

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Andy,
Most modern sets won't bloom no matter how high you turn the contrast.

Try turning down contrast until the top square turns grayish, then back up until it just starts to look truly white.

For sharpness, look at the vertical black lines. Turn up the sharpness until you see whitish outlines around the lines, then back down until the whitish outlines disappear.

Do two calibrations, and store them under different modes. Calibrate in Movie mode using component inputs and the black level enhancement on the player turned on. Then hook it up via S-video and recalibrate under Standard mode with black level enhancement off.
Use the Movie settings for dvd via component inputs, and Standard for everything else.