Spectracal DPG-1000 Signal Generator Impressions (1 Viewer)

[elwaylite]

Well, after putting some Nat Geo, Boardwalk Empire, and BBCAHD stuff behind me. I'm really digging the result from the DPG. Not really finding anything to complain about PQ wise, yet.

 

[elwaylite]

Got 8 more hours of HDTV under my belt and Im just about convinced that this thing does a fine job for someone like myself. PQ is excellent IMO, and I think it's a good investment vs calibrating with an optical player.

 

[Joshua Quain]

Well, after putting some Nat Geo, Boardwalk Empire, and BBCAHD stuff behind me. I'm really digging the result from the DPG. Not really finding anything to complain about PQ wise, yet.

Very cool, glad to hear, Jason. Let us know if you see any areas we can improve the DPG pattern sets.

 

[elwaylite]

My only current complaint is the Brightness pattern. It is not as easy to "see" the proper adjustment as DVE, Spears and Munsil or AVS709. I know that the Brightness pattern on DVE thru the Oppo, vs the adjustment in the Accupel, is accurate, so i was able to use that to figure out how the DPG test pattern should look.

 

[Joshua Quain]

Good to know. I'll pass this feedback on to the development team so we can improve the brightness pattern on the next generation of patterns. We'll look at the DVE, Spears and Munsil and AVS709 discs as examples.

 

[elwaylite]

I think it's a matter of the 16 and 17 bars, vs the background. On other patterns, the point where you have decreased brightness enough is pretty obvious, the DPG pattern could been 2-3 clicks depending on your eye. The plasma is easy, because you see green dithering in the BTB area until Brightness is lowered to the right position. IIRC, at one point the dithering of the center of the 16 bar stopped, but was still outlined with dithering. What i found was once the bar stopped dithering, it needed another 2 clicks down. This is all splitting hairs really, but if they could take that into account and maybe tweak it about. What I like about the DVE pattern is, you raise Brightness until the BTB bar shows, then as you slowly click brightness down it just disappears after one click. Little easier to use. The bars on AVS709 have some flashing going on and look like the DPG pattern, but the pattern is a little more bright which I think makes it easier.

 

[Joshua Quain]

Splitting hairs is what we like to do. I'll pass this on to the support team as well. I'm sure we can make this recommended tweak.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

Jason, I do know that the unit was using a 0 % APL pluge pattern when it was released. This is not the correct pattern to use when setting the black level. You want to use a 15-25% APL pluge pattern for night time / reference viewing. Gregg

 

[elwaylite]

Thanks Gregg. In my experimentation, I found the Oppo 93 + DVE Blu-ray matched the Brightness setting result from the Accupel 4000. So I just use DVE and the Oppo to set brightness and check contrast.