Arguments for and against calibration

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strapped for cash

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I'm pleased that contributors to this thread that have taken the plunge are happy with the results. I hope the positive reports will encourage more forum members to make the investment.

Calibration may seem expensive; but as I've argued throughout, when you compare it with money spent on a new BDP (which at best offers negligible improvement), calibration remains the best pound-for-pound upgrade you can make.
 
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theflyingwasp

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I'm frikken hopeless I'm surrounded by all this technology and I've taken about 8 pictures in the dark of some skyfall scenes but attaching them to this is a different story :wall: .
 

mr malarky

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strapped for cash said:
Calibration may seem expensive; but as I've argued throughout, when you compare it with money spent on a new BDP (which at best offers negligible improvement), calibration remains the best pound-for-pound upgrade you can make.

Yep, definitely.
 

mr malarky

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theflyingwasp said:
I'm frikken hopeless I'm surrounded by all this technology and I've taken about 8 pictures in the dark of some skyfall scenes but attaching them to this is a different story :wall: .

If you create a Flickr account you can upload them to flickr and then copy & paste into a forum post (sounds a bit convoluted but it's the only way I know of getting them in the thread). others upload to an Instagram page and post links to that.
 

strapped for cash

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mr malarky said:
strapped for cash said:
Calibration may seem expensive; but as I've argued throughout, when you compare it with money spent on a new BDP (which at best offers negligible improvement), calibration remains the best pound-for-pound upgrade you can make.

Yep, definitely.

And we still can't convince Gel that it's worthwhile.
 

mr malarky

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I know, all very strange as he's such a sensible chap in most other respects!?!

By my count there's 6 on this forum who've given it a go, and all 6 said it was worth the money (ok, technically 5 said it was worth the money as Ellis did his own).

Come on Gel, what more proof d'ya need? :)
 
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mr malarky said:
I know, all very strange as he's such a sensible chap in most other respects!?!

By my count there's 6 on this forum who've given it a go, and all 6 said it was worth the money (ok, technically 5 said it was worth the money as Ellis did his own).

Come on Gel, what more proof d'ya need? :)

:) I still can't make up my mind. I suppose part of me thinks why mess with it when I am already 100 per cent happy already, but then I think I will be even happier after having it done. This is the first time I have been seriously considering though! :grin: Little bit concerned that something will go wrong with the TV still.

I can't see me changing this TV for a very long time though, so that points to having it done. I will see. :)
 

Son_of_SJ

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mr malarky said:
I know, all very strange as he's such a sensible chap in most other respects!?!

By my count there's 6 on this forum who've given it a go, and all 6 said it was worth the money (ok, technically 5 said it was worth the money as Ellis did his own).

Come on Gel, what more proof d'ya need? :)

There are in fact seven, being:

Ellisdj - the Prophet of calibration, he's been banging on about its benefits for a long time;

Strapped for Cash - the High Priest of calibration, he started this thread and has also been urging others forward;

The disciples are Voodoo Doctor, Son_of_SJ, Mr Malarky, Oldboy and Theflyingwasp.

Only partly converted to the new calibrated religion - Gel and BigBernardBresslaw, with Gel in particular knowing that the Calibrates speak the truth, yet he is hesitating like a vicar outside a massage parlour;

Still quite some way to go - bigboss and BenLaw, who might want to see the effects of calibration before handing over their cash!.
 
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Son_of_SJ said:
mr malarky said:
I know, all very strange as he's such a sensible chap in most other respects!?!

By my count there's 6 on this forum who've given it a go, and all 6 said it was worth the money (ok, technically 5 said it was worth the money as Ellis did his own).

Come on Gel, what more proof d'ya need? :)

There are in fact seven, being:

Ellisdj - the Prophet of calibration, he's been banging on about its benefits for a long time;

Strapped for Cash - the High Priest of calibration, he started this thread and has also been urging others forward;

The disciples are Voodoo Doctor, Son_of_SJ, Mr Malarky, Oldboy and Theflyingwasp.

Only partly converted to the new calibrated religion - Gel and BigBernardBresslaw, with Gel in particular knowing that the Calibrates speak the truth, yet he is hesitating like a vicar outside a massage parlour;

Still quite some way to go - bigboss and BenLaw, who might want to see the effects of calibration before handing over their cash!.

Lol. :grin:
 

mr malarky

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gel said:
mr malarky said:
I know, all very strange as he's such a sensible chap in most other respects!?!

By my count there's 6 on this forum who've given it a go, and all 6 said it was worth the money (ok, technically 5 said it was worth the money as Ellis did his own).

Come on Gel, what more proof d'ya need? :)

:) I still can't make up my mind. I suppose part of me thinks why mess with it when I am already 100 per cent happy already, but then I think I will be even happier after having it done. This is the first time I have been seriously considering though! :grin: Little bit concerned that something will go wrong with the TV still.

I can't see me changing this TV for a very long time though, so that points to having it done. I will see. :)

Well there you go Gel, I bet you weren't expecting to be compared to a vicar outside a massage parkour when you woke up this morning! :grin:

Apologies SoSJ, overlooked Voodoo in my headcount, 7 and counting!!
 
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mr malarky said:
gel said:
mr malarky said:
I know, all very strange as he's such a sensible chap in most other respects!?!

By my count there's 6 on this forum who've given it a go, and all 6 said it was worth the money (ok, technically 5 said it was worth the money as Ellis did his own).

Come on Gel, what more proof d'ya need? :)

:) I still can't make up my mind. I suppose part of me thinks why mess with it when I am already 100 per cent happy already, but then I think I will be even happier after having it done. This is the first time I have been seriously considering though! :grin: Little bit concerned that something will go wrong with the TV still.

I can't see me changing this TV for a very long time though, so that points to having it done. I will see. :)

Well there you go Gel, I bet you weren't expecting to be compared to a vicar outside a massage parkour when you woke up this morning! :grin:

Apologies SoSJ, overlooked Voodoo in my headcount, 7 and counting!!

Nope. :grin:
 

strapped for cash

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gel said:
Little bit concerned that something will go wrong with the TV still.

That's why I think you should have a chat with Jules. I can't speak on his behalf, but I suspect he can put your mind at rest about being covered if the TV develops a fault.

His price is also excellent (£205 for my calibration, for which I got day, night, and 3D modes) and he's local to you, so may not charge for petrol.

I know your other concern is image pop and brightness; but calibration actually helps in both regards. My day mode is set to maximise what the TV can achieve in terms of brightness and contrast; while calibrated images in all modes have greater pop and depth.

If you've checked your TV over thoroughly, and there are no issues with banding or uniformity, I'd say you're on pretty safe ground.
 
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theflyingwasp

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Ultimately like most things it comes down to price .if calibration cost £100 a heck of a lot more people would get it done .but say to the average person you can get 2 TV sets calibrated or you can have a brand new ipad air ................
 

Son_of_SJ

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This afternoon my dear friend Ann brought back a Tannoy TS10 subwoofer that I gave her two or three years ago. This is so that I can have a matching pair of TS10s in the second bedroom, where at present I have a TS10 and a TS12. I gather that if you have multiple subwoofers, it's best if they are identical. So, although she protests, she'll be getting the TS12 for Christmas! Anyway the point of this is that she doesn't visit very often, so to impress her I had set up Skyfall to be showing on all four of my televisions. Now, bearing in mind that she had just come from watching a film in the commercial cinema, she said, briefly watching Skyfall on the much-maligned (because of its dodgy black level, but calibrated) LG 60PZ950T in the kitchen, she said, totally unprompted by me "It's a fantastic picture." And, and, wait for it, that was with the two five-foot fluorescent lights in the kitchen switched ON!!!! So far, far from ideal viewing conditions, but the calibrated picture with Skyfall Blu-Ray still impressed, and it was just an ordinary scene from the film, it wasn't even the spectacular night scenes from Shanghai or Macau.

Calibrate. You know it makes sense.
 

Son_of_SJ

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theflyingwasp said:
Ultimately like most things it comes down to price .if calibration cost £100 a heck of a lot more people would get it done.

No, they wouldn't. That's because at the moment there are only four official (not including ellisdj for the time being) calibrators that we know of (Julian in Leicester, Stephen Withers, Mark Hodgkinson and Gordon Fraser) who are active in the whole of the United Kingdom. You had to wait six weeks before Stephen could fit you in; if the calibration were cheaper and more people wanted it to be done, you might have had to wait six months!
 
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theflyingwasp

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The Macau scene will take some beating it really is stunning.i do not care how much money Sam mendes and his cinematographer ask for the next bond film just give them it ,even if it means replacing Daniel Craig with Roseanne barr.
I'm watching transformers revenge of the fallen at the moment and it does bring a tear to the eye (no not because it's that bad) the calibrated picture is stunning.im going to send Shia lebouf skin cream ,good god it brings out all the flaws the sole of foot looks better than his cheeks.
 
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theflyingwasp

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Hmmm yes good point son of sj ,it's not a thing that's in high demand but 4 calibrators is very low and they could at most only do 2 people a day with 1 screen and in the same general area.
 

Son_of_SJ

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theflyingwasp said:
Hey mr malarky to answer your question from yesterday sir,I think my amp and speaker dream bubble has burst.i was going for the pioneer lx87 and monitor audio silver package,but after a conversation about it with steve I think the room simply isn't big enough.he was very impressed with the yamaha ysp2200 soundbar tho .back to the drawing board :?

If you are passing Edinburgh any time soon, perhaps I could demonstrate to you this 5.0 package, which forms part of my kitchen setup. Including postage from France, it costs 555 Euros http://www.son-video.com/Rayons/HomeCinema/EnceintesAV/Eltax-Shine.html. Obviously I don't know how good it is compared to other, good, speaker packages like the Monitor Audio ones that Bigboss and others have been recommending, but it is good enough for me!
 
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theflyingwasp

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Yes thanks .i will definatly keep you in mind if I'm in edinburgh.my only venture into sound has been this soundbar
.even the cheapest 5.1 setups with a half decent receiver will probably do me,perhaps there is no need to spend £4500 on the pioneerlx87 and monitor audio silver set up.
i just want to keep everything up to the spec of my tv and blu ray,I seldom play movies at high volumes but to hear a 8.1 or 11.1 like you have would be an experience.
 
theflyingwasp said:
I think it's the speakers that's going to be a problem more than the amp due to the space I have ,had my heart set on floor standers and the rear RXFXs I may have to drop down to a style speaker package. In fact the apex might be top of the pile now.

Check out Monitor Audio R270, which is one of the most compact floor standers around:

http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/radius/radius-270/

Match it with Radius 200 centre, and Radius 90 for rears. Demo it.

http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/radius/
 

rocketrazor

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If I had a set that wasn't faulty I'd get it calibrated, although I'd also share gels worry about it going wrong. It would cost me a little more as I'm sure I'd have to sweet talk the wife so might have to buy some new jewellery to get the green light :)
 

Oldboy

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It's good to see this thread is still going and reading Son_of_SJ's comments about gel being compared to a vicar outside a massage parlour was brilliant and gave me a good old chuckle :rofl:

I'm going to be rather predictable here here and just confirm what everyone else has said about calibration as some two months on I'm still over the moon with the results and had forgotten about the Maccau scene in Skyfall, just put it on and sat here dribbling lol...the colours and impact of those scenes is seriously impressive and just left me grinning from ear to ear.

I've not regretted getting it done for one second and it was money well spent, don't worry as time goes by gel will cave in the end, it's just a matter of time healing a few wounds so that he's a bit more comfortable that the TV won't develop an issue but so far so good so I think he may well be the next of us to get it done fingers crossed.

Skyfall has so many good test scenes...just been flicking through it and it does look very nice indeed, another good scene is the fight in the skyscraper where it is all glass and neon, it's a real test of blacks and low level detail. Love the film and bravo for hiring Sam Mendes for the next bond movie, I gather they even put production back as he had committments to a London show rather than look for another director and even then he took a lot of convincing but it is happening which is great news.
 

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