Digital Video Essentials BD: Contrast Adjustment? (1 Viewer)

[CraigF]

I may be an idiot, but what am I looking for when I "calibrate" with this test pattern? Most of the other tests are easy because you adjust until you can or can't see something, but I don't see anything like that here, seems like a matter of "taste". Or am I missing it? Thanks.

I'm using 1080i component from a PS3, it won't do BTB and WTW over component...maybe that's making the setting less obvious to do?

I used my SD setting for HD contrast until I find something better. It was very obvious with that test pattern... My SD player does do BTB and WTW, and the display too of course.

 

[troy evans]

For the most part, when you adjust the "contrast" setting it will get softer and darker as it goes down. If you turn it up it gets lighter and washed out. If you're not noticing this, I would just leave it right around the center position. As far as what you said about "taste", believe it or not that plays a big part in your individual calibration settings. Unless you pay to have your set ISF calibrated your not going to get a 100% accurate settings with anything unless you're lucky. These discs will get you close, but not all the way. However, I've also noticed different discs have better test patterns than others. I love the "color" setting patterns on the DVE Blu-ray. I use the Monster ISF dvd to set my "brightness" and "contrast". Then Avia, to me, has the best audio set-up tests. Again, all these discs will get you close and thats better then alot of peoples tv sets which they do by there own eyes with no test patterns. Once you achive the closest measure you can get with the DVE test patterns go ahead and tweak from there. There's noting wrong with a little "personal taste" in PQ.

 

[CraigF]

I have multiple setup discs too, but only ONE for BD/HD... The thing is, in this DVE they go on and on about NOT adjusting using regular source material. Yet, without some "goal" or "marker" on this contrast test pattern, that is essentially what you're doing: adjusting randomly to taste. Obviously some extreme contrast settings aren't correct, but one would think with a test pattern there would be some indicator of a "theoretically correct" ballpark. I'll have another go at it, but again, the SD test disc was much more obvious and IMO gave very good long-term results (I think I used Avia for that adjustment). Where I adjust for taste is in red push, I really detest the color red in general (hard on my eyes), so always have it a couple notches lower than it probably should be...

 

[troy evans]

Let me ask you this, between your adjustments using an sd dvd test disc vs. an hd dvd test disc, how much difference was there? Was it substancial or just a few degrees in either direction? You could compare what the settings were for your sd setup and what you're using now to see what the variances are. For example, if the sd dvd disc had you're "bright" setting at 55 and your "contrast" setting at 75 and your "color" setting at 50 and you felt they were reasonably accurate. Then, your new hd disc settings are "bright" at 65 and "color" at 60, logic would dictate the "contrast" setting would need to be 85.

 

[CraigF]

I saved the SD settings in one memory, and the BD settings in another. Not even close, and I really think the SD ones are far more accurate. I just couldn't get a good setup with the BD for color. Now, it could be because my display is not digital, uses component inputs, and doesn't use the HD "stuff" that good HD displays use (or, according to DVE, are supposed to use but mostly don't).

When I view the DVE demo material in 1080 or 720 (my display converts 720 to its native 1080) it all looks great, and the display does excellently with the 1080 test patterns. BDs look good. With the SD settings. Player is a PS3. Frankly, I'd have to say this disc isn't much use for the test patterns with a display like this, the SD test discs work much better for setup. Oh well, I'll save it for the next display.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Plasma and direct view-CRT sets should not have the contrast turned up more than halfway. Projection CRT should not have the contrast turned up more than a third.

A contrast test with a line that may bend as you tweak the contrast is applicable to CRT sets only.

Also check to see that the steps in a gray scale step test pattern are distinguishable. Seeing the steps for blacker-than-black and whiter-than-white (if your TV can show these) is optional.

The optimum contrast setting will be different depending on how much sunlight is entering the room or how many lights are turned on. The eyestrain that supposedly occurs if you watch TV in a really dark room will not happen if the contrast is turned down lower.

Video hints: Video Technicalia Made Easy

 

[CraigF]

Thanks for answering. I think I have two hardware "features" conspiring against me using this setup BD for video in general:

1) My display is analog. HD in that it does 1080i excellently (actually, I'm impressed that Sony actually made this rather good some years before it was "common"). Many of the things the test patterns are meant to allow you to adjust are not adjustable on analog (input) HDTVs outside of the service menu.

2) My BD player is a PS3, which will not do BTB and WTW on the *analog* outputs: this is the biggest impediment with contrast with this BD setup disc for me IMO. This makes the contrast adjustment VERY difficult to set using the test patterns. The contrast test pattern looks rather good from like 20% to 100% contrast on my set, never any blooming or ringing or blending of whiter areas, really there's no obvious setting to choose. When using a good pre-HDMI DVD player and an SD setup disc, then I get my BTB and WTW and contrast adjustment is easy and obvious. (edited for what passes for "clarity" to me LOL.)

It would probably make the pros crazy that I was setting up a display for a BD player using an SD setup disc, but I can still get the brightness/contrast/sharpness/etc. very good (so there's no visible problems) but it's the color that I can't get "HD perfect" as analog sets don't have these adjustments outside of the service menu (which I don't mind going into) and probably don't have the proper HD decoder (as apparently many digital HD sets don't have either). OTOH, I don't have to worry so much about the emulation of analog that digital displays have to do to accept analog broadcast etc. HD signals (gamma and such), some of it is almost natural to the genre and the signal systems were designed to accomodate it long before digital sets existed or were common.