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.

[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...).

[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]

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?

[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.

[LIONSFAN20]

The guy I talked to asked how many inputs I had going into the TV and said that it would take him a good 3-4 hours to calibrate it properly. So saying that $400 does not sound that bad.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by donaldheil

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.

In general, high brightness and contrast do not equal a well-calibrated set. An ISF calibration is not based on any type of personal preference. It's all done with various light/color meters that are used to accurately set greyscale, color, brightness, etc. It is all standardized.

[reallyagi]

Originally Posted by LIONSFAN20

The guy I talked to asked how many inputs I had going into the TV and said that it would take him a good 3-4 hours to calibrate it properly. So saying that $400 does not sound that bad.

3-4 hours of calibration sounds good. I wouldn't pay for a 15 minute job, concerning TV calibration of course.

Regarding settings, your TV needs to display colors within a target RGB gamma, which includes contrast and brightness, or in other words black and white. So in that case there is a standard much more precise than just bumping up the contrast.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by LIONSFAN20

The guy I talked to asked how many inputs I had going into the TV and said that it would take him a good 3-4 hours to calibrate it properly. So saying that $400 does not sound that bad.

The time/cost sound "reasonable". If you don't plan to use all of your inputs, you might be able to talk him down some. Personally, I would only calibrate the inputs used for cable/sat and blu-ray. I can live with playing games on a not-perfectly-calibrated set, if it saved a good bit of $.

[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.

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by franklinpross

It's really all very subjective.

There is nothing subjective about it. There is only one accurate way to reproduce color and grayscale, if you want it to look exactly like it was seen in the editing room.

Now, if you are not interested in accurate picture reproduction and prefer something else, there is nothing morally or ethically wrong with that. But just because an individual thinks it looks better, doesn't mean it looks right.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

There is nothing subjective about it. There is only one accurate way to reproduce color and grayscale, if you want it to look exactly like it was seen in the editing room.

Now, if you are not interested in accurate picture reproduction and prefer something else, there is nothing morally or ethically wrong with that. But just because an individual thinks it looks better, doesn't mean it looks right.

Well said.

[[1080-p]]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

In general, high brightness and contrast do not equal a well-calibrated set. An ISF calibration is not based on any type of personal preference. It's all done with various light/color meters that are used to accurately set greyscale, color, brightness, etc. It is all standardized.

to me brightness should come from the video not the tv
and since some people perfer movie mode I suggest

Contrast--zero ---------black levels high
brightness--zero --------dynamic contrast high
sharp--zero colortone----whatever perfered
colors--80
white balance---offset 15, gain all +30
tint--51
dnr--on
backlight--5 ```color space--auto

gamma---- minus 3
edge--on
XVYCC Color--on
Aspect Ratio : 16:9
DNIE --on
HDMI Black Level : Normal

this way the only colors and brightness is totally based on whats on blu-ray give it a try

[Halcro 1]

Well worth the money get it done you will love your new set

[franklinpross]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

There is nothing subjective about it. There is only one accurate way to reproduce color and grayscale, if you want it to look exactly like it was seen in the editing room.

Now, if you are not interested in accurate picture reproduction and prefer something else, there is nothing morally or ethically wrong with that. But just because an individual thinks it looks better, doesn't mean it looks right.

At the beginning of any CNET review of any TV they do a review on, they
say specifically that the recc. settings are subjective. This depends on room lighting, the source,personal preference . . . . actually what does that mean?

Is that like saying a steak should be cooked only one way? Or all cars should be BLACK? Does it mean that just because somone went to college they are assumed to be
intelligent? . . .no . . . .of course not . . . .

imho, even though folks go out and buy calibration discs or use techs
to tune-up their TV sets . . . .does that mean that everybody else is NOT seeing the RED color they're supposed to? Or that the SHARPNESS they are living with isn't what the maker of the set wanted them to see?

What I'm saying is that this mania of calling ISF or whatever - is silly.

There is only one way to see an HDTV picture. And that is what the buyer likes looking at. It's America.

was there such clamour over black and white TV in the 50's. Not at all.
You plugged it in, made it brighter or darker, punched up the contrast
and lo and behold . . . . . . magic.

Don't make such a big deal out of this . . . .


OK . . . . . . ready . . . aim . . . FIRE . . . .

[LIONSFAN20]

I am scheduled to have it done this Sat. I am pretty excited about it, as EVERYTHING I read says it makes a huge difference. The tech is ISF-certified and I read some stories on his work. I think I made a good choice, and we shall see come Sat. I will let you all know.

[FIDDYPOP]

As far as inputs go, do you only need to have one calibrated if you are runnig all of your other components through a receiver?