Is HDTV Calibration worth it?

[LIONSFAN20]

Well I did some research and found a local guy that is ISF Certified HDTV calibrator and he wants $400 to do it all. Every possible adjustment and calibrate each input to the TV. That is a lot of money, will I really notice a difference in picture quality? By the way I have a Samsung HL-T5689S DLP LED. Thanks for your guys and gals input. I am pretty sure I will do it, but I will need to convince the wife.

[reallyagi]

Definitely worth it. I calibrated my own tv, with the help of a computer, a colorimeter and 6 head scratching hours of my time. I wouldn't call it ISF calibration, but it looks damn good to me. You should see a difference, especially in color tones. Best of luck!!

[reallyagi]

Hopefully someone here can tell you if the price you are paying is reasonable, I wouldn't really know.

[franklinpross]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...ml?tag=nl.e702


http://www.tweaktv.com/tweak-my-tv/c...dl-46xbr2.html


(punch in your model)

[big-bleu]

Originally Posted by franklinpross

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...ml?tag=nl.e702


http://www.tweaktv.com/tweak-my-tv/c...dl-46xbr2.html


(punch in your model)

I keep all my white ballance rgb gain at +30,
offset at 15

I tried that tweaktv and did't like their settings one bit don't like warm colors or movie mode

[donaldheil]

Originally Posted by big-bleu

I tried that tweaktv and did't like their settings one bit don't like warm colors or movie mode

The same here. If I'm going to have a good calibration, I'd have to begin with something that gives me more brightness, contrast and definition.

This makes you wonder if there really is an ideal objective standard of calibration, or everything depends in the end of each person.

[franklinpross]

Originally Posted by big-bleu

I keep all my white ballance rgb gain at +30,
offset at 15

I tried that tweaktv and did't like their settings one bit don't like warm colors or movie mode

true. That tweaktv is just suggestions.

I also do not like warm 2. Looks green to me. Cnet likes warm 2 on my TV
model. I dont.

It's really all very subjective.

there's no one way . . . like the way a car is supposed to run perfectly.

some other poster who is fed up said . .'doesn't this technology seem so convoluted?'

yea . . . I suppose it's a hobby . . . huh? . . .

In five years we'll be bellyaching about other, stranger things.

[big-bleu]

http://www.displaymate.com/isf/dwshots.html
http://hiddenwires.co.uk/resourcesar...060206-01.html

http://files.support.epson.com/pdf/p...plpc1080ig.pdf
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/p...0u-review.html

worth a shot?

[MattVollet]

Originally Posted by LIONSFAN20

Well I did some research and found a local guy that is ISF Certified HDTV calibrator and he wants $400 to do it all. Every possible adjustment and calibrate each input to the TV. That is a lot of money, will I really notice a difference in picture quality? By the way I have a Samsung HL-T5689S DLP LED. Thanks for your guys and gals input. I am pretty sure I will do it, but I will need to convince the wife.

Well... it IS worth it for a lot of reasons such as elongating the life of your set and keeping the set from getting hot...
With that being said, I got mine calibrated by the Geek Squad (looking back I know this wasn't the best decision but it was REALLY cheap with the television) and it took about 20 minutes.

I could see a difference when he was doing it- he would say "here's the before... and the after! ta-da!!" but I don't think I would have been like "well this set is just crappy" if he didn't do it (especially since on the AVS forums they have so many calibration options for so many different TVs).

It's probably a personal call depending on how much extra scratch you have lying around. I know if I paid someone 400 dollars to do it and they were here for a quarter of an hour I would probably lose about 2 years off my overall life span (soo.. much... money...).

[LIONSFAN20]

Since my last thread got locked and I cant post this in there, i will start a new one. I am getting a little worried about having my TV calibrated. Not the actuall process, but for those of you that have had it done, will I notice a $400 difference in picture quality? I know that is a though question, and maybe I did not ask it right, but I will notice a BIG differnece right?

[DavePS3]

I suppose it depends how bad it is to begin with but having it calibrated does several things... it starts with the 'temperature' of the picture. The easiest way to describe temp' is with the whites. Back in Black & White movie days, the old carbon arc lamp projectors, had a redness to the picture. That redness, translated to about 5400 kelvin if memory serves. At the theater, the lamps give a slightly more greenish tint and a Sony TV for example, places a lot of blue into the whites to make the whites look cleaner. When you calibrate a set, it takes that overall temperature and sets it where the industry says is the best - usually between the red and greenish from what I've seen, rather than bluish. Then they work the contrast, making sure your whites don't bloom or bleed out from the edges, the sharpness is usually pulled way back as well, giving you a more 'film-like' image.

Basically, all displays will benefit from this process. Projectors, CRT's Plasmas and LCD panels and the real reason manufacturers don't do this right from the factory, seems to be money. It's a laborous process and honestly, the dealers or those certifed, preder to make some cash doing it for you. It cost them a bundle to take the course.

[LIONSFAN20]

thank you very much.

[DavePS3]

By the way... I've never heard or seen anyone NOT love their display after the process has been done. Afterwards, make notes on where all the settings are at so if someone comes in and mucks with the picture settings... you'll have some idea of where to take them back to. Contrast, tint, sharpness, color saturation... all those will have new settings after the guy is done. Is it worth doing. Yes. It's like having a new panel - one that looks great as opposed to the crappy image the display comes with out of the box.

[Blu3]

Getting mine next month

[LIONSFAN20]

well I got my calibration done. I must say I see a VERY nice improvement of overall picture quality. It is amazing to flip back to the "Dynamic" setting and to the calibrated setting and see how bad Samsung had it out of the box. That being said, knowing the difference I would say $400 was a bit to much. $300 would have been just right. I guess I would pay $100 for the things that I learned though. So there you go $400. I would recommend doing it to anyone out there that can afford it. My wife sees a difference but can not justify the $400, oh well its not her TV. haha

[Cordre69]

My TV will be calibrated in a week
I am excited!

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by DavePS3

By the way... I've never heard or seen anyone NOT love their display after the process has been done. Afterwards, make notes on where all the settings are at so if someone comes in and mucks with the picture settings... you'll have some idea of where to take them back to. Contrast, tint, sharpness, color saturation... all those will have new settings after the guy is done. Is it worth doing. Yes. It's like having a new panel - one that looks great as opposed to the crappy image the display comes with out of the box.

Are you seriously saying that anyone buying a $5,000 television is going to be looking at a "crappy image"?

Statements like these are why I think this whole calibration thing is a hoax.

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by LIONSFAN20

Since my last thread got locked and I cant post this in there, i will start a new one. I am getting a little worried about having my TV calibrated. Not the actuall process, but for those of you that have had it done, will I notice a $400 difference in picture quality? I know that is a though question, and maybe I did not ask it right, but I will notice a BIG differnece right?

I doubt it's worth $400 on top of your TV's price.

I can't help it...this whole calibration thing sounds like a complete hustle to me.