What to look for with plasma calibrations?

[ShaRayz]

*Posted this in the calibration pinned threads a few days ago had no responses*

I have a calibration scheduled this weekend for my panasonic 50 inch plasma.
Its with best buy-geek squad...I know most of you say not to go thru them but I got a great deal when I purchased the Tv with it, so figured I'd give them a shot.

Any quick things you guys could give me a heads up about to look for or ask to see how qualified the technician doing the job really is.

I'm mainly using the TV for blu ray movies so I just want the best picture quality possible.

any help is appreciated.

thanks

Sha

[ewsjr]

Originally Posted by ShaRayz

*Posted this in the calibration pinned threads a few days ago had no responses*

I have a calibration scheduled this weekend for my panasonic 50 inch plasma.
Its with best buy-geek squad...I know most of you say not to go thru them but I got a great deal when I purchased the Tv with it, so figured I'd give them a shot.

Any quick things you guys could give me a heads up about to look for or ask to see how qualified the technician doing the job really is.

I'm mainly using the TV for blu ray movies so I just want the best picture quality possible.

any help is appreciated.

thanks

Sha

I hope you have checked out how and what they are going to do during this calibration. There are at least two types of calibrators out there ... if we exclude the bad ones. So assuming that both know what they are doing, you end up with a calibrated display in both cases.

However ... in one case, the person shows up ... does his job ... and is out in 1 hour ... 90 minutes ... and you are left wondering just what he did? And why he did it ... and why it looks different than what you started out with.

He gave you an answer ... problem is ... you don't understand the answer ... so the end result is kind of meaningless.

The second kind of calibrator will come in and he will treat the calibration session like a seminar on calibration and he will walk you through every step of the process to make you understand what he does and why he does it. He educates ... and at the end ... you not only have your answer (same as in case 1) ... but now you actually understand this answer ... so it has greater value for you.

Both can charge you the same money ... so it is up to you to figure out who will do the education. (And if they promise things to you over the phone like you will love the image ... be really careful). Some calibrators will calibrate 1 HDMI-input, some will calibrate a lot of inputs,(my ISF technician did 3) he should at least calibrate two HDMI-inputs.

You should check out several calibrators,$$$$-inputs-reputation.But most important, ff they are not doing your greyscale with a computer and a Clorimeter your calibration will be worthless. This is easily the most fundamental thing an ISF calibrator does. If not done properly, not only will you not have a true white or black, all the colors on your display will be off. So be wary if they try and do this adjustment by eye or using a gray card. My entire calibration for my 65" Panasonic plasma was $300 plus traveling fee (I think it was 50.00). I have a pdf of my calibration report you can take a look at if you want. It is too big to attach here and I can't figure out how to attach it to a PM so can contact me if you want it and we can figure something out.

[ZIPPO]

Originally Posted by ewsjr

I hope you have checked out how and what they are going to do during this calibration. There are at least two types of calibrators out there ... if we exclude the bad ones. So assuming that both know what they are doing, you end up with a calibrated display in both cases.

However ... in one case, the person shows up ... does his job ... and is out in 1 hour ... 90 minutes ... and you are left wondering just what he did? And why he did it ... and why it looks different than what you started out with.

He gave you an answer ... problem is ... you don't understand the answer ... so the end result is kind of meaningless.

The second kind of calibrator will come in and he will treat the calibration session like a seminar on calibration and he will walk you through every step of the process to make you understand what he does and why he does it. He educates ... and at the end ... you not only have your answer (same as in case 1) ... but now you actually understand this answer ... so it has greater value for you.

Both can charge you the same money ... so it is up to you to figure out who will do the education. (And if they promise things to you over the phone like you will love the image ... be really careful). Some calibrators will calibrate 1 HDMI-input, some will calibrate a lot of inputs,(my ISF technician did 3) he should at least calibrate two HDMI-inputs.

You should check out several calibrators,$$$$-inputs-reputation.But most important, ff they are not doing your greyscale with a computer and a Clorimeter your calibration will be worthless. This is easily the most fundamental thing an ISF calibrator does. If not done properly, not only will you not have a true white or black, all the colors on your display will be off. So be wary if they try and do this adjustment by eye or using a gray card. My entire calibration for my 65" Panasonic plasma was $300 plus traveling fee (I think it was 50.00). I have a copy of my calibration report you can take a look at it. I will PM it to you or you can contact me.

Who did your calibration, Chad B?