TV Calibration

Unless you are using the TV as a monitor for editing and adjusting images/video that are subsequently transferred to other devices (printers, webpages etc) then true, accurate calibration Vs "just make it look nice" may not be worth your extra money. Why not just set up a custom setting(s) that suits your personal preferences. I find I use two settings on my Sony - one for dark rooms and one for daylight viewing. I didn't mess with hue or colour balance (it seemed neutral and natural out-of-the-box) - just brightness, contrast and saturation.

Winky,

Certainly you're correct that unless I would plan on using my TV as a reference monitor, it doesn't make a whole lot of fiscal sense to dicker over the details. However, I'm anal and not having what the MPAA would prefer my viewing experience to be leaves me knashing my teeth.

I understand the TV manufacturers pre-set their products at rediculously sharp levels so that they "pop" on the showroom; I just find it rediculous they can't install one of their factory settings to be as technically close to the ISF standard as possible.

Aric

Hi Aric.

I got digital video essentials in bluray to calibrate my Optoma HD65 projector. It was a very worthwhile investment. I gained significant amount of detail in the darker scenes and the picture became more natural. More importantly, it allowed me to setup the image dead center on the screen without cropping (not a concern for flatscreens). However, when it cam time to setup the RGB colors I had some difficulties and couldn't reach the desired calibration. Is it my eyes or the projector being entry level? I don't know. But the picture is natural and when there are dark parts of scenes where I can't see what's happening I know that is the intention of the director

Regards...

Hi Flame,

Yes, I know of the suite of products made by Joe Kane's group. Unfortunately they seem not to make a calibration tool for a standard DVD player that is meant to calibrate Plasmas/LCDs etc. Winky has another post in this forum where he talks about the dynamic realization of HDTV/Blu-ray/and even up converting DVD players and how the picture becomes like viewing through a window of an actual event. I find this okay for sporting events or nature shows etc., but for movies, IMO, it is disconcerting. Couple that end result with the higher price required to achieve it and for me it's an easy decision to go with 720p and my current, but still quite manageable, Sony DVD player.

Last night I was watching standard ESPN (cable)on my current CRTV Sony Trinitron and the picture quality was really fantastic! What was the difference over most other channels? You could tell that the game was being recorded with a high definition camera. Funny how it's the link on the "other end" that is really the most critical. After all, my current tv does not export 720p, but tops out at 480i. I am quite happy with 480i if the feed signal was recorded at the higher rate.

For movies 720p is really as high as I want the event to be broadcasted in. Video games (which I don't play), sports, nature shows, that sort of thing, I can see wanting the penultimate. However, I'm more of a movie watching man and prefer that experience to all others.

Regards,

Aric

Aric

quote:

For movies 720p is really as high as I want the event to be broadcasted in. Video games (which I don't play), sports, nature shows, that sort of thing, I can see wanting the penultimate. However, I'm more of a movie watching man and prefer that experience to all others.

Hey, it's your eyes and your preferences but isn't this like buying a good hi-fi and then adding a graphic equaliser to filter out the frequency extremes?

Cheers

Jim

Jim,

I would agree if the TV manufacturers did the same thing that a Naim or Rega do; that is, build a product that produces a balanced sound and doesn't stress one spectrum of the audio frequency. Unfortunately, for the mass tv producers, they are trying to highlight certain aspects of what our eyes observe.

The calibration I am after is what the ISF and MPAA want us to see. In other words it's the reference point and I would rather not deviate from this.

There are some other members on this forum who are much more familiar than I with the movie industry and they have expressed disdain for 1080p and HD. If I was a director I could certainly understand. It's amazing how many actors' acne is now visible for all to see.

Personally I would rather not have this level of detail. But I would like my color saturation, contrast, sharpness, et al to be as accurate/balanced as possible.

Aric

Aric

quote:

The calibration I am after is what the ISF and MPAA want us to see.

I think I know where you are coming from but I would rather just adjust it myself to something I like rather than some standard that someone else sets....after all you wouldn't buy a piece of hi-fi equipment just because it had a ruler flat frequency response curve.

That said I did have my 65" rear projection Mitsubishi professionally calibrated but that actually involved taking it apart, adding light absorbent material as well a calibration. It still gives a picture that matches anything else out there at 1080i.

Cheers

Jim

It's been a bit of a recent revelation to me that the "hyper-accuracy" isn't always the best solution for visual (movie/video) reproduction. I lusted for 1080p and 120Hz - but I now believe that there is actually the need for a "suspension of disbelief", facilitated by lower quality, for a lot of movies and drama to work properly. Watching documentaries and sport in the best-possible quality is fine; but for stuff that is fiction, there sometimes needs to be a certain lack of realism(!) for it to work. I have talked about frame-rate elsewhere, but I also think resolution can also be too high.

An example of how this works is when viewing classic B&W movies. The lack of visual accuracy actually allows for the story and the art to come through. Photography is similar - grainy B&W is often artistically valid. Hyper-real hi-def colour shots can be wonderful, but I get as much pleasure from the old and traditionally styled stuff.

I wonder if we don't experience something similar with music. We Naimiacs often criticise other set-ups as being to "Hi-Fi". Is this the same thing as 1080p and 120Hz?