HDTV Calibration

[cityboy-stl]

I finally decided my 20 year old ProScan TV had outlived it's time. I went all out and brought a top-of-line [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]Sony BRAVIA XBR55HX929. I got a good price on Amazon and it will be delivered later in the week.

But...I am not going to pay $300 to have some dude come out and twiddle the settings to do the calibration. But I am willing to pay some bucks for a good usable tool with instructions and do it myself. Besides, I like doing that kind of thing. [/SIZE][/FONT]http://www.displaymate.com/ looks to have some good tools. Is anyone knowledgeable about TV calibration and possibly have some suggestions or pointers in the right direction?

Thanks!

 

[mark1111]

Sorry for the stupidy, I didn't know you needed calibration. I took my hd right out of the box.

 

[trinket]

Cityboy-stl, congrats on the purchase - I hope to be upgrading my TV myself soon, too. One disc that I've seen coming highly recommended in home theater magazines/podcasts is the Spears & Munsil test disc. Amazon and others carry it. Digital Video Essentials is another.

 

[vulgar_newcomer]

I be everything you need to know about calibration to your taste could be found on various electronic, home theater forums right on the web.

 

[Chip12414]

Not entirely sure what you mean by "calibration", but I was able to set my Sony Bravia 46" 60hz refresh rate, 1080 p picture setting to "vivid" and my picture seems to be to be *far* better than my friends' LED 120hz refresh rate. Very sharp and brilliant colors at the factory "vivid" setting. I love it!

 

[Phlash]

I've got an Aunt that works at ABC Wearhouse and when I asked her what would be good to use for calibration, she said that she had never heard of it before. Then she went and asked a co-worker who told her that the TV's get calibrated before they arrive.

I've never had to really mess with either of my two hdtv's. Maybe someone else will have the info you're looking for, but I think it's all kind of a scam.

 

[trinket]

Then she went and asked a co-worker who told her that the TV's get calibrated before they arrive.

Ack! That co-worker's remark would probably send home theater installers off the deep end, though I'm not suggesting the average person needs to pay for (or get for free/included, if they buy enough home theater gear through a dealer) such a person. It's true TV's are factory set with certain standards, yes, but invariably you would need to make some adjustments based on your room - things like lighting (ambient/light source) and positioning, and also the set's greyscale and color balance, and optimization for the type of source you most commonly watch with the TV. I know home theater purists argue the types of meters and gauges tools needed for correct TV calibration aren't likely to be owned by consumers and so a home theater installer is worth the visit for his toolbox of devices, but my sense is you don't have to go to that extreme and still can improve the factory TV setting yourself for your room by buying one of the calibration discs out there (some Blu-Ray players, like the high-end Oppo models, or TVs themselves come bundled with one) I suggested in my post above.

Here's an article with some of the things you'd need to observe (see also Tomsguide's The Secrets of Professional TV Calibration and Crutchfield's "Getting The Best Possible Picture on your HDTV").

...1080 p picture setting to "vivid" and my picture seems to be to be *far* better than my friends' LED 120hz refresh rate. Very sharp and brilliant colors at the factory "vivid" setting. I love it!

Well, my thought is whatever pleases your own eye is hard to argue with. I know the top tip from home theater columnists or podcasters is the first thing you should do when buying a new set is remove the "vivid" setting because TV's are shipped that way from the factory, as you say, meant to stand in a showroom filled with multiple TVs where the brightest signal gets all the attention and the overhead lighting can be overly fluorescent. But it can depend on your room lighting and I know some people prefer that "pop" of the vivid setting and think more muted or natural settings look weak or pale. It's all personal preference!

 

[cityboy-stl]

I did actually purchase the Spears and Munsil disk you suggested. It just arrived today. I will work with it over the weekend and let you know the results. Thanks again.

 

[seven2go]

Don't waste your time "calibrating" anything.
There will be PLENTY of adjustments for you to make the display the way YOU like it.
I can't STAND oversaturated colors and such.......maybe you like it that way.
Set it up for you......not some standard you might (probably won't) not like.......

 

[cityboy-stl]

I would say this was a very worthwhile effort. I spent several hours going through all the settings and adjusting according to the test patterns. I did reset and start over several times as I learned how to interpret the patterns and make adjustments. This gave me a good reference point to work from. The TV is a Sony Bravia XBR-55HX929. There are a considerable number of additional settings not addressed by the calibration disk. After completing the main disk adjustment I went back and fine tuned, using the demo video on the disk and finally with a real broadcast, to adjust the picture to where I thought it looked best. The end result is what I believe is a very natural and realistic looking image. Not artificial with over bright colors or unnatural contrasty lights and darks. I am very pleased with the results.

Searching for the perfect TV picture has been a passion of mine since I was little kid. I used to get into a lot of trouble for fiddling around with the knobs on the back of the TV trying to get the best picture possible. "Stop playing around with the TV, you're going to break it!" my dad would yell at me. I never broke it and we had the best picture you could get with an antenna. I love doing this stuff. It's fun for me.

 

[trinket]

Seven, I'd agree with the point you make that the eyes and one's natural senses are perhaps the best things to trust, so relying on something that removes those instincts in favor of a "benchmark" isn't always advised. To me, though, part of the idea of a calibration disc is that it unlocks the potential and plants the seeds to tweaking your TV so that it can look better, regardless of how closely you follow it or if you want to take it further in a direction that you favor. There are some people who will buy a set (default showroom "vivid mode" and all) and set it up and never mess with it, and some who will tinker with it endlessly - but I think of a calibration disc like a cookbook. Let's say someone is eating McDonald's and that's all they like and know - and that's fine for them. Let's say a cookbook enlightens them to how to create a gourmet burger. And then let's say they use the cookbook a few times, then start their own experimentation and no longer need it - or, just seeing the cookbook makes them realize what is possible. All of that, no matter where a person sits on the spectrum, can be a good thing!

cityboy, nice to get your personal experiences with the disc, I enjoyed reading your post - I don't own the disc, but hear it/read about it being consistently recommended, and I believe it's newer than the Digital Video Essentials one. My next new TV (maybe this year), I'll pick it up as well and experiment.

...get into a lot of trouble for fiddling around with the knobs...

And you're still fiddling with knobs (of all manner) to this day!

 

[seven2go]

LOL Trinket......I AM a fiddler too........but only to the extent that I get things to display the way I like them.
If I was in a graphics field where I needed things set to a standard THEN the/a disc would be absolutely essential.
I really like my Panasonic LCD TV's. They have enough onboard controls for the average viewer to do, pretty much, anything they might want to get a display that suits them.......