regarding 57 FAQ - What You Need To Do To Your New HDTV thread, I tried PMing 57 and Hugh to no avail.


Read this thread again and again, and my low end Samsung 4142 HDTV ready widescreen as my techno friend, tells me could use some big-time tweaking for my Star Choice DVD subscription.

I am almost ready to order "Digital Video Essentials" (DVE), but again my buddy advises that this is really beneficial for "higher-end" units.

My question, would the DVE only utilize the tuning available on the Samsung which is minimal and could it make a noticable difference.

Thanks

Frank

Any HDTV will benefit from a proper calibration. Most TVs have the following settings which drastically change the look of the TV.

Picture modes - Dynamid/Vivid, Standard/Normal, Custom/Movie, etc. The default (vivid/dynamic) mode is usually very inaccurate.

Colour Temp - Cool2, Cool1, Normal/Standard, Warm, Warm2. Most HDTVs default is cool, which is also inaccurate. The colour temperature must be set FIRST (almost always to the warmest setting), then the rest.

Contrast
Brightness
Colour
Tint
Sharpness.
Various auto settings like auto colour, edge enhancements, etc.

Each of the above are also almost always set "inaccurately" at the factory.

So, if your TV has all/most of the above, then the picture will be changed dramatically - for the better with a proper calibration.

It's actually the "lower end" TVs which often benefit the most. Some of the higher end TVs are not as far off when they come from the factory.

Are you sure you got your TV model number correct? I did a search and came up empty.

I also didn't see a PM, however, there is a problem with PM'ing right now, which I have reported to all moderators and the Admin.

I don't recall any PM from you but please note that 57 and I will not answer questions (other than those of a personal nature or in response to moderation on the forums) via PM. The whole point of the forum is to ask your questions in it.

I'm not sure what your buddy is saying but any TV can benefit from a calibration disc. Search the forum for calibration to learn more as well as preferred calibration discs.

Thanks guys, I will order the DVE.

57: "The colour temperature must be set FIRST (almost always to the warmest setting)."

57, why is this? I would have assumed that setting the colour to warm would push colours away from what they should be. Why isn't normal or standard the setting that we should use?

cheers,
supervij

A word of caution here. I am sure people have their favorite calibration disc. I have both DVE and Avia. I find DVE menu system very confusing and get lost in it, if I need to do a simple calibration. I see myself using Avia over and over again.

When the techie came to calibrate my set (Hitachi 61UWX10BA) he first checked to make sure it was set to standard mode. The other two modes I had were cool & warm.

Why isn't normal or standard the (colour temp) setting that we should use?For the same reason that Vivid or Standard picture modes are not the closest settings to the NTSC standard.

I've done hundreds of setups and the closest temperature has always been the warmest colour temperature setting available (in the user menu). ISF technicians will tell you the same thing, as will the reviews in magazines like Sound & Vision.

When an ISF technician calibrates the TV, it doesn't matter what the colour temperature is set to, because he's going to go into the service menu and set the temperature properly. Many times the ISF will also "center" (50 on a scale of 0-100 for example) all the settings like brightness, colour, tint etc and then make all the necessary changes in the service menu.

Huh. I just figured that any setting that's labeled as "Standard" or even "Neutral" would be the closest the whatever the standard setting is. And if I'm adjusting the colour and tint controls as well when I calibrate, wouldn't that push all colours and whites to the NTSC standard?

Of course, now I have to redo all my settings using warm instead of neutral. Sigh. Oh well. Tweaking is what we do, right? :)

cheers,
supervij

Cooler colour temperatures = brighter looking picture = more eye-catching = easier sell

So almost always, even the warmest factory colour temperature pre-set is too "cool" as compared to the D65K industry standard for white balance.

I agree with 57, the warm colour selection seems to look the best...don't know why though....

Why? Because it's closest (though still usually far away) from the industry standard, so it's the factory setting that will deliver the most natural colour rendition.

For anyone who is not in mood to look for a calibration disc or can't wait, check your old DVD collections and you may see one that is THX certified and has a mini THX Optimizer for both video and audio. It is actually pretty easy to use and the results are not bad either. I have this program in "The Village" DVD.

I also used Avia to calibrate my plasma, but I just did the THX one for the Viewsonic 27" LCD in the bedroom because the Avia one didn't seem to work well in the VS.

How long should you own the tv before you calibrated your new hd tv set???

You can calibrate it immediately. It doesn't drift much, if at all. The only problem with doing a calibration right away is if you have a TV that needs to go back to the store you'll need to calibrate your replacement.

I would suggest that you remove the TV from the "Vivid/dynamic" picture mode as soon as you can and perhaps wait a week to see if there is anything wrong with the TV that would necessitate a return.

Whether you use Warm or Neutral, does it that not depend on TV at hand though? For my Sony, there is a guide in AVS, prepared by an ISF specializing to Sony. I am pretty sure he suggests Neutral. I am gonna check when I go home, for sure...

Why do we have to calibrate the screens is beyond me, not if (I am convinced there is a need)..I have owned-used more than a douzen of laptops in the last few years and never have I seen anything on PC screens calibration and god knows most of us spend way more time on those than on TV's .. well hopefully unless TV's are workrelated. ??

If you edit pcitures, you should calibrate yoyur PC monitor. I did...

good point .. graphic arthist, photo editing, etc...

Whether you use Warm or Neutral, does it that not depend on TV at hand though?Well, in theory, yes but in actuality no. If the temperature of the "Neutral" setting were closer to the 6500K spec, then that's what you'd use, however, in the experience of many ISF calibrators, Sound & Vision magazine, having tested hundreds of TVs, and having myself set up hundreds of TVs, the warmest setting has always been closest to the 6500K standard.

As JohnnyG indicated earlier, even the Warmest setting is often a bit too cool.

If you have one of the recent Sony models, like the SXRDs, you'll see that in the Custom mode, the colour temperature selected is "Warm2", which again is the closest to the 6500K standard.

As discussed earlier in this thread, an ISF technical can use whatever "user" setting he likes, since he'll be going into the service menu to make tha actual accurate adjustments.