Quick calibration question................ (1 Viewer)

[Daniel Becker]

I have a quick question about adjusting my Wega. I've been told the "warm" setting in the Wega's menus in the NTSC standard for picture warmth. The "normal" setting is lableled "pro monitor" like. What is the appropriate look for movies? Do movies follow the same NTSC standards or are most movies made to be viewed in the "normal" type of coloring?


Also, the only reference option I have for tweaking is the THX optomizer found on many of my dvds. I've adjusted everything and it all looks nice and I clearly noticed an improvement after using the new settings for movies. But i've had one problem that I can't seem to fix. There is this one particular test which shows a circle in two boxes and the boxes are suppose to show perfectly straight lines and the boxes are both suppose to be visible. Well, on my set it's displaying the circle very nicely but the second outer box is missing it's left side. It's viewable when I tweak my service menu and pull it over but here is where the problems come in. I've altered the horizontal size so the boxes fit perfectly and all four sides are clearly visible. Then I turn on a Gamecube game and i'm now seeing the sides of the screen not being used %100 now. Not to mention the screen is not perfectly centered. Then I turn on a movie and it looks perfect. Then I turn on the weather channel and it's not perfectly centered and i'm missing a little bit of text on the side. So what i'm saying is that it seems no matter how I tweak things i'm off on something. It's like they're all not perfectly centered. What gives?


Dan.b

 

[Jack Briggs]

Sony, like most manufacturers, claims its "Warm" temperature setting is the closest to the D6,500 standard.

Don't use cablecasts and broadcasts to assess geometery issues; there is no guarantee the broadcaster is doing his job correctly. Use a test disc instead (preferably a dedicated test disc instead of the Optimizer feature on some DVDs).

 

[Daniel Becker]

Thanks for the reply Jack. I will tell you this. When I check with the THX optomizer it's the same no matter which DVD i'm using to adjust this. They all show my screen is pushing to the left.

Also, when I do adjust this it's affecting my cable broadcast as well as my videogames. I would think videogames would be pretty accuarate.


So, when i've got the THX optomizer telling me everything is perfect, everything else is screwed up!

One more thing to keep in mind. I own a 24" Wega. It's not exactly a tv i'm wanting to spend $40 on a Video Essentials disk for. I know i've got it pretty well calibrated with the THX disk. My color and image quality is very nice at this point.


Dan.b

 

[Jack Briggs]

Ah, but it's the display you will be using and enjoying for a little while. A $40 investment to obtain optimal performance (and which can be used later on subsequent, more-ambitious TVs) seems like a good deal to me!

 

[Daniel Becker]

Your right. It's worth it for the $40. However, at this point with my tv I just figure it's probably not worth it. I'm beginning to think my tv can't be perfectly calibrated. I know thats probalby wrong but thats what i'm thinking right now. Thats because I recently began tweaking my service menu and I still can't get things perfect. I have it very close but not exactly perfect.


Will the calibration disks actually give me help for tweaking my service menu? If they don't offer that then I have no use for them. I've already got my regular adjustments very close to perfect.



Dan.b

 

[Jack Briggs]

The calibration discs are for working in the user menus only. For service-menu tweaks, you're on your own.

The most glaring issue with Sony direct-view sets is that they run almost clear off the grayscale (and look very blue-tinted as a result). The only way to cope with that is to have specialized equipment (i.e., a color analyzer) and knowledge.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Will the calibration disks actually give me help for tweaking my service menu? If they don't offer that then I have no use for them. I've already got my regular adjustments very close to perfect.

A note of caution: should you decide to address something like overscan from the service menu, write down any settings that you are even considering changing. The XBR800 series has no magic reset button.

 

[Daniel Becker]

Thanks Lew. I already have all my orignal setting carefully logged and saved. I have already tweaked my service menu a bit and got things a little tighter but I really didn't mess with the big stuff at all.


Is convergence actually a problem on a tv like mine? I've got a 24' Wega.




Dan.b

 

[Mike Hamilton]

Jack Briggs said:
"The most glaring issue with Sony direct-view sets is that they run almost clear off the grayscale (and look very blue-tinted as a result)."
I'm not certain that is a generality that can be made. Many of the Sony Direct Views that I have calibrated have needed very little adjustment throughout the range and have been very close to D65K per the Progressive Labs CA-1.

To all who use the THX Optimizer discs to set brightness:

DON'T! The pattern is at the bottom right hand corner, where light fall-off on any monitor except light valve technologies has a differential on the order of 300-400%.
Acquire the AVIA disc or the new Digital Video Essentials when available in the late Spring and adjust your display more accurately.
It should be noted that the studios incorporating the patterns on their movies be applauded for alerting the public that display adjustments are necessary for better viewing. Unfortunately mis-placing the pattern lends itself to mal-adjustment.

 

[Daniel Becker]

I'm not sure what your talking about with the THX optomizer. The brightness setting on my disks shows a grey bar across the bottom and stop of the screen. It tells you to adjust your brightness down all the way and then adjust it up until you can see the seventh and final box in the lines. It seems to be a perfect setting to my eyes. Since then i've noticed my movies seem to be very nicely ballanced between dark and light scenes in movies.

I have my set on the "movie" setting and the only tweaking I did to the basic options was bring the brightness down a few notches to go along with the THX optomizer. In other words the tv seemed to be set very close to perfect on it's movie setting with the warm tone.



Dan.b

 

[Mike Hamilton]

Daniel,
My apologies, in that THX Optimizer discs apparently have changed the type of Brightness adjust pattern that they are using.
It used to be that they used a conventional "Pluge" pattern and it was placed at the bottom right corner of the image.
If it is now stretched across the bottom and/or top, that is somewhat of an improvement, but not much. Direct View and CRT RPTVs have the most light output at the center of the screen. Around the perimeter, light falls off radically, as much as 300-400% of a differential.
Adjusting for brightness there is likely to result in too dark of an image, rather than the correct adjustment for the best dynamic range.
This does not apply to lightvalve technologies such as LCD or DLP, which have dramatically better Whitefield uniformity and do not suffer the drastic light fall off of CRTs.
The best disc based patterns for adjustment are going to be from Video Essentials, or Avia / Sound and Vision (Ovation Software).