Projector Calibration

[zachd73]

I pulled out my SD Avia home theater set up dvd last night to calibrate my new MITS HC1600 projector.

I found it interesting.. and somewhat confusing how some of the calibrations did not work as easily as they had on my MITS RPTV.

Wondering if anyone else had run calibration recently and might offer some help.

I found it difficult to set the contrast level according to the given test with the stack of grey to white boxes and the pulsing vertical white bars at the bottom. Blooming and bending of the vertical lines were N/A for projectors and I could see the bars bouncing back and forth no matter what I set the contrast too.

THe color seemed pretty accurate by default.. looking through a blue filter a minor adjustment made it so that I could not see a difference in color of the boxes on that test.

Tint - the tint settings for the MITS is locked. I wonder why that is?


Also on sharpness - I could only go -5 to +5. According to the test pattern which stated the sharpness was good when all the boxes appeared to be the same brightness except the right one which should be slightly darker - my ideal setting was +5. That seemed odd but according to the test was correct.


On a related note, I tried to compare upscaling to 720P over hdmi with my samsung bdp-2500 versus just doing 480p over component cables. I was using an older dvd mad max 3, thunderdome to compare. They looked exactly the same. The component actually seemed a tiny bit less 'noisy' in some scenes especially white/sky/cloud scenes.

Also I read a threat about calibrating on here that involved buying some calibration equipment and computer software.. seemed like overkill to me!

Not that I wouldn't try it if I had the equipment but it seems like the avia disc will get you 90% of the way there which is good enough for me and most people

[Disky76]

I have the same projector.

I have found that, rather than using a calibration disc, I adjust the settings manually based on what looks good to me.

[zachd73]

Originally Posted by Disky76

I have the same projector.

I have found that, rather than using a calibration disc, I adjust the settings manually based on what looks good to me.

Maybe we should just turn this in to a thread about the 1600??!

I guess with a projector that would be easier to do than with a RPTV. With my MITS TV it was pretty difficult to get it to look good without going in and adjusting the red levels and I found after running the basic calibrations from the AVIA disc it looked a lot better.

I calibrated my speakers last night for the first time in a long time and also since getting a new amp.

It made a big difference and sounds much better now that I did it and got all the speakers calibrated to 75 db.


But with the video settings on the 1600.. as I mentioned there are a lot less options and the color by default seemed pretty good to go.

Even though I barely got set up last week I think I am going to start looking for a better screen...

Do you like the Draper 1.1 screen you have?

I bought a dalite 106" model C pull down. I'm pretty sure this is about the bottom rung of screens you can get without hanging a sheet on the wall

It has some "waves" in it because it's not tensioned in any way. Also I can make out the texture of the screen as well in bright scenes. I have read some screens are better than others about this screen texture showing.

I bought it because at $50 I couldn't pass it up!

Also , any more thoughts from anyone on calibrating a mits projector are welcome. I am still reading on it but with so much information available it's good to talk to regular people who have actually figure out their own settings and methods.

[Disky76]

I love the Draper screen. I got it from Amazon, and have had no problems with it whatsoever. The picture is fabulous, bright and sharp, even if the lights are on.

In terms of the Mitsubishi HC 1600, I think its a great projector. Sure got me hooked!