Geek Squad "Uber" Calibration - Worth it?

[UlicBelouve]

I have some additional questions on calibration. Just got a new 1080p TV last night (Sharp LC-32GP1U, need to update my signature).

They were also pitching the ISF Calibration done by Geek Squad to me. Now, the demos of the calibrated versus uncalibrated were impressive. However, I do not really want to pay for that type of calibration.

I have the DVD of AVIA Guide to Home Theatre, and started some calibration there. I may also do the Sony calibration off of the Talledega Nights Blu-Ray. I am also planning on getting the Terminator 2 Blu-Ray this week anyways, and I gather that this has a THX Optimizer.

Are these going to be adequate adjustments? I know I cannot compete with ISF calibration, but how far off will I be in terms of quality? I have put together a culmination of tips from this and other forums. So if I arm myself with the following tools, should I be good?

- AVIA Guide to Home theatre DVD
- Sony Optimization from Talledega Nights Blu-ray
- THX Optimization from Terminator 2

Any other tips would be appreciated, I've seen the other forums on backlight settings, noise reduction, and sharpness. If there are any specific pointers for the Sharp LC-32GP1U, that would be appreciated too.

I just want to get the best possible picture without ISF Calibration, but if I will come nowhere close on my own, let me know, and suggest avenues for getting an ISF Calibration (don't have the best faith in Geek Squad).

[Amel]

why would you have anything done by geek squad...

I think by googling you could do more yourself than those guys

[MouseRider]

Here are the main differences:

- Ability to access the maintenance menus to perform more adjustments.
You can probably download the service menu for your TV for that

- Measuring equipment
This is harder as colorimetric equipment is pretty expensive but necessary to do an accurate assessment of your display and the adjustments you are making.

There are lots of cross-relations between contrast, brightness and color that are not immediately apparent to the human-eye just looking at test patterns but they do manifest themselves in normal viewing.

The hardest part to do is probably color correction, that's almost technically impossible to do with eyes alone.

I don't really trust Geek Squad as well, but if you go to the ISF Web site (www.imagingscience.com), you can find a list of certified places that can help you.

That said, it doesn't mean that you won't enjoy your picture through just a visual calibration process, it all boils down to personal preference sometimes.

There's also another caveat with getting a display professionally calibrated IMO; Environmental conditions is a factor to any calibration, so unless your display is in a location where the lighting conditions are very stable, you might be wasting money to get it seriously calibrated unless the display is currently looking very off.

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by Amel

why would you have anything done by geek squad...

I think by googling you could do more yourself than those guys

I am sure you could, but Geek Squad is for the technologically impaired. Most people on this forum will never really need Geek Squad help.


This calibration is different than just turning the color down and brightness up. The Geek Squad (he wears Geek Squad label and drives a Geek Squad Van but this guy does nothing with computers. He knows as much if not more than anybody on this forum about home theater systems) brings a $10000 machine into your house and connects it to your set. This machine connects to the service port on the back of the set via a labtop. From this labtop, the color spectrum is changed, the TVs electrical needs are changed. It decreases the amount of energy used, and in most cases, increases processor speeds and capabilities. If have an extra $300 or so to spend, then do it, it wont hurt anything.

[Amel]

oh I see

I thought he comes out and calibrates it himself

my picture on my Samsung 4665F looks great, but I will look into ISF since I don't know anything about it

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by Amel

oh I see

I thought he comes out and calibrates it himself

my picture on my Samsung 4665F looks great, but I will look into ISF since I don't know anything about it

That would be a great job...Get paid $300 just to go over to a person's house look at their TV and go "No, no, no. That is all wrong here [make a few minor adjustments with the color thru the TV menu] now it is perfect." and then leave.
Sign me up.

[BTBuck1]

ISF calibration is supposed done by a certified Magnolia home theater installer, not geek squad....but i guess YMMV, by location.

[UlicBelouve]

Originally Posted by MouseRider

- Ability to access the maintenance menus to perform more adjustments.
You can probably download the service menu for your TV for that

OK, thanks for the tips. Where would I look for downloading the service menu for my TV? Actually, I'll start with Google, just didn't know if there would be a better direction.

I think that it is not worth ISF calibration for me. I'll do enough calibration to make it worthwhile, and the viewing environment is not consistent enough (for now) to warrant ISF calibration.

Otherwise, am I on the right track? Further tips?

We really should start a "calibration 101" sticky, where we can post our tips and tools, and also post our model, and the settings we have for it.

Edit: No service menu found for download, but I did find these details:

Below you'll find the settings we found best for viewing the Sharp LC-32GP1U in a completely dark room via the HDMI input with a 1080i source. Your settings may very depending on source, room conditions and personal preference.

--Picture menu--

Picture mode: User
OPC: Off
Backlight: -12
Contrast: +28
Brightness: -1
Color: -5
Tint: 0
Sharpness: -10

--Advanced menu--

Color temp: Low
Black: Off
Monochrome: Off
Film mode: On
Range of OPC:

--Option menu--
Digital noise reduction: Off

I will use these as a start, and do further fine-tuning with the DVD/Blu-ray tools listed above.

[Cyorg]

Originally Posted by UlicBelouve

We really should start a "calibration 101" sticky, where we can post our tips and tools, and also post our model, and the settings we have for it.

I like this idea.

[OtisBDriftwood]

Originally Posted by BTBuck1

ISF calibration is supposed done by a certified Magnolia home theater installer, not geek squad....but i guess YMMV, by location.

I think they're beginning to do away with the "Magnolia home theater installer" name and just calling them Geek Squad as well. The Geek Squad is much more recognizable to people than the Magnolia installer was. They would still be the same certified installers and have all the necessary equipment, just different name.

[tntkain]

we have that tv in the 37" this is how my husband has our set up
backlight -7
contrast +26
brightness -2
color +10
tint +4
sharpness +6

advanced
color temp- middle
black-on
monochrome-off
range of opc
max +9
min -15
back to the main menu and make sure opc is on

once again though, everyone has their own preferences and your tv may be different because of the size

[UlicBelouve]

Originally Posted by tntkain

we have that tv in the 37" this is how my husband has our set up.....

once again though, everyone has their own preferences and your tv may be different because of the size

I think I will respect your input a bit more, as the other guide didn't seem as knowledgeable on Blu-ray, and they stated "in a completely dark room via the HDMI input with a 1080i source."

You guys seem to know the Blu-ray info, and are probably really utilizing the 1080p. I'd rather get a "user" recommendation on settings than a "we review 100 TVs a month, for about 6 hours apiece, and use 1080i input on a 1080p TV".

As for the "Calibration 101", I might start that one. I was thinking of making a table for the settings, but each TV is different. I also think I would rather hunt down enough info from other threads, so that I start with a good reference post.

[takezo]

Originally Posted by UlicBelouve

I have some additional questions on calibration. Just got a new 1080p TV last night (Sharp LC-32GP1U, need to update my signature).

They were also pitching the ISF Calibration done by Geek Squad to me. Now, the demos of the calibrated versus uncalibrated were impressive. However, I do not really want to pay for that type of calibration.

I have the DVD of AVIA Guide to Home Theatre, and started some calibration there. I may also do the Sony calibration off of the Talledega Nights Blu-Ray. I am also planning on getting the Terminator 2 Blu-Ray this week anyways, and I gather that this has a THX Optimizer.

Are these going to be adequate adjustments? I know I cannot compete with ISF calibration, but how far off will I be in terms of quality? I have put together a culmination of tips from this and other forums. So if I arm myself with the following tools, should I be good?

- AVIA Guide to Home theatre DVD
- Sony Optimization from Talledega Nights Blu-ray
- THX Optimization from Terminator 2

Any other tips would be appreciated, I've seen the other forums on backlight settings, noise reduction, and sharpness. If there are any specific pointers for the Sharp LC-32GP1U, that would be appreciated too.

I just want to get the best possible picture without ISF Calibration, but if I will come nowhere close on my own, let me know, and suggest avenues for getting an ISF Calibration (don't have the best faith in Geek Squad).

You can calibrate your TV your self for free, using the very remote it came with. People tend to forget that, you can calibrate contrast, brightness, saturation, hue, and even backlight level (LCDs only). Manufacturer defaults are very bland, may have too high brightness, too much contrast, and not enough saturation. I had a THX optimizing applet on my Akira (Japanese Animated movie) disk, used it on my TV when i first got it. It showed me how to adjust all those setting i said before, to get the best PQ. After my TV looked 3x better than before, all without spending a penny.

[Xerious]

i'm a big proponent of DIY... especially something as simple as this... use a Sony BD and use the easter egg code to get the calibration settings...

[CptGreedle]

As a professional Digital Imaging Technician, I know monitor calibration well enough to give you enough info on how the pros do it.
There are a number of tools available for calibrating a system, and the best are expensive and probably not in a normal person's budget. So having a professional use their tools is the best idea and much cheaper.
There are tools that can read the different color values and wavelengths as well as the sharpness, flicker, temperature (color), distortion, etc... of screens. The best optimization will adjust the levels of the colors, matching them to an ideal graph, making sure that all the shades of each primary color (RGB) are balanced and meet the ideal graph as close as possible, especially concentrating on the shadows which are often the hardest to adjust. They will also adjust the pure white/black levels to make sure the lightest light is set at 6500K (or equivalent) (this is the light level/brightness, I won't go into detail), and the black is not too light (LCDs tend to have blacks that "glow" due to the nature of the screen), and to make sure they are pure and free of residual color. They will then also adjust the sharpness of the image to make sure distortion and blurriness are balanced properly. They then adjust other features of the screen to get the best image. THX certification is not really all that great and I would not rely on it. But there are other good certifications that work very well.
Also, a good calibration will include the sound, whether it is a 2 channel stereo, or a 9.1 surround sound system. I know that BEST BUY offers a wonderful and very professional service for this through the Magnolia center, but it costs around $300 for the entire service. You can get the cheaper service for about $100, but it is basically adjusting the image based on graphs on the screen, and not using special tools, something you can do yourself at home.
There are movies that have optimization/calibration features, and these tend to be decent for a quick calibration, but the professional calibration is FAR superior and beyond anything any DVD/Blu-ray could do.
I highly recommend the professional calibration over everything else, as it gets the best picture and sound hands down.

[UlicBelouve]

I applied the settings from both CNET (bleh) and tntkain. The one's from tntkain just looked better. Then I used the optimization off of the Talledega Nights, and had to make very minimal adjustments. The CNET recommendations I listed at the beginning would make the whites look a bit grey or yellow. So I'm right in not respecting their opinions.

I'll rerun the AVIA guide, and maybe the THX optimization....but I think I'm set after watching the casino scenes in Casino Royal (you have green on the table, red on the chips/cards/lipstick, reflections from dresses or glasses, great black/white contrast on the tuxedos....I think it should be a staple scene for Blu-ray calibration).

I'm happy and proud of my LCD, despite its smaller size, etc. And that's what I want, to be proud of the LCD I just purchased.

I'll take a lot of the stuff I came accross, details, etc., and try to make a really good start for Calibration 101. I think it will help that I know very little, so it will be appealing to other beginners.

Edit: CptGreedle, I've always respected your input, and it's great that you can help me out like this. I will strongly consider that calibration, but perhaps in a few months, to see if the current settings really bother me (plus, I will be relocating). I've also noted from the demonstration at Best Buy that there is a temperature difference after calibration (the screen runs cooler). That may also be a plus. I think I was just real apprehensive of it because it was being pushed on me with everything else at the point of the sale.

[CptGreedle]

As for DIY, yes you can get a better image than the factory default settings.... but it is IMPOSSIBLE for someone to say.... adjust the blue light level at the 3/4 tone by removing red or green without affecting the rest of the system. It is also impossible to remove a magenta color in the highlights or a green effect in the shadows. It may be possible to adjust these on some TVs without special tools, but adjusting them properly requires specialized tools.

It's also important to note that each TV will calibrate differently. You may see how other people calibrate their systems, but it is not going to be the same for other TVs.

[WickyWoo]

You can calibrate your TV your self for free, using the very remote it came with. People tend to forget that, you can calibrate contrast, brightness, saturation, hue, and even backlight level (LCDs only). Manufacturer defaults are very bland, may have too high brightness, too much contrast, and not enough saturation. I had a THX optimizing applet on my Akira (Japanese Animated movie) disk, used it on my TV when i first got it. It showed me how to adjust all those setting i said before, to get the best PQ. After my TV looked 3x better than before, all without spending a penny.

THX Optimode is for that title only. It specifically helps you to adjust to that particular film's highs and lows

While it'll give you a base calibration, you really need Avia or DVE

[T-Town Oil]

if nothing else, wait for a month or 2 until DVE hor blu-ray comes out. i used the standard DVE dvd and it worked wonders. DVE (digital video essentials)

[MouseRider]

Originally Posted by takezo

You can calibrate your TV your self for free, using the very remote it came with. People tend to forget that, you can calibrate contrast, brightness, saturation, hue, and even backlight level (LCDs only). Manufacturer defaults are very bland, may have too high brightness, too much contrast, and not enough saturation. I had a THX optimizing applet on my Akira (Japanese Animated movie) disk, used it on my TV when i first got it. It showed me how to adjust all those setting i said before, to get the best PQ. After my TV looked 3x better than before, all without spending a penny.

Well, I think the big difference here, as several others have pointed out, is you can either "Adjust" your display or you can "Calibrate" it.

Everybody can adjust their own display by using the controls that are easily accessible with the help of visual test screens and some simple aids like color filters specifically designed for visual adjustment of displays.

Calibrating your display on the other hand does involve controls that are typically not exposed to the consumer but can be accessed through the use of service codes. There's a pretty good reason why the manufacturers don't want these controls to be easily accessible because they can really mess up the picture if you don't understand what you are doing.

Calibration also uses measurement instruments like colorimeters and is never simply visual.

CptGreedle had a good summary in his message.