Arguments for and against calibration

[Deleted member 2457]

Calibration of all four televisions by Stephen Withers tomorrow! :dance: Pioneer PDP-428XD, Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX5090, LG 60PZ950T, and Samsung PS64D8000.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[rocketrazor]

Calibration of all four televisions by Stephen Withers tomorrow! :dance: Pioneer PDP-428XD, Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX5090, LG 60PZ950T, and Samsung PS64D8000.

i hope he doesn't charge by the hour

 

[strapped for cash]

Calibration of all four televisions by Stephen Withers tomorrow! :dance: Pioneer PDP-428XD, Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX5090, LG 60PZ950T, and Samsung PS64D8000.

I'll be interested to hear what you think. I'd imagine you'll be delighted with the results and I'm certain Steve will do a great job.

 

[strapped for cash]

So what's the verdict, Son_of_SJ? Was calibration worth it?

 

[bigboss]

He's enjoying his TV......won't answer yet!

 

[mr malarky]

So what's the verdict, Son_of_SJ? Was calibration worth it?

Been wondering the same thing, he's clearly engrossed trying to absorb the impact of having all four done at once!

Earth to SoSJ, come in SoSJ....?

 

[mr malarky]

Either that or Steve's still there, being held hostage until he sorts the black level out on that LG!

 

[michael hoy]

:rofl:

Either that or Steve's still there, being held hostage until he sorts the black level out on that LG!

:rofl:

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Calibration of all four televisions by Stephen Withers tomorrow! :dance: Pioneer PDP-428XD, Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX5090, LG 60PZ950T, and Samsung PS64D8000.

I'll be interested to hear what you think. I'd imagine you'll be delighted with the results and I'm certain Steve will do a great job.

i hope he doesn't charge by the hour

So what's the verdict, Son_of_SJ? Was calibration worth it?

Been wondering the same thing, he's clearly engrossed trying to absorb the impact of having all four done at once!

Earth to SoSJ, come in SoSJ....?

Either that or Steve's still there, being held hostage until he sorts the black level out on that LG!

Hello boys,

No, he doesn't charge by the hour (he doesn't even charge by the television, strictly speaking, because what I paid to have all four done was quite a bit less than four times the single price) and yes, he did a great job yesterday, and don't give up the day job, Mr Malarky!

I know that ellisdj has his own meter, but watching Stephen do the first calibration was enough to convince me to leave it to the experts - as (I think) strapped for cash said some time ago, it's not simply a case of adjusting one parameter, then adjusting the next parameter. Adjusting one parameter can affect others, so it's an iterative process. He did explain what he was doing for the first calibration, but then I left him to it because I didn't want him to be here until midnight. I'll put up a couple of pictures of him in action tomorrow.

I didn't report back earlier because I've been actually watching the blessed things! At my suggestion, Stephen calibrated the televisions in order of increasing blackness, hence the LG 60PZ950T in the kitchen first, then the Samsung PS64D8000 in the parlour, then the Pioneer PDP-428XD in my bedroom, then the Pioneer LX5090 in the second bedroom. He did spend the most time, by quite some margin, on the LG, but that wasn't just because of its dodgy black levels! The Pioneers were a relative breeze, and also he didn't have to do 3D calibration for them, remember.

Stephen will send me a document detailing the calibrated settings of all the televisions, in case the measurements are needed again for some reason.

So, the punters want to know, what are the results like? That depends to a degree on how accurate the previous settings were, and by a distance, the set with the most wrong initial settings was the Samsung. When he did his red. blue and green colour measurements, I was surprised to see that on the Samsung, the blue reading was was stronger than the others, despite my having set up all my televisions as best as I could using the Spears and Munsil disc. (Perhaps I was a Conservative voter in a previous life!) Hence, the set with the greatest difference between the calibrated and the previous readings is the Samsung. But it was quite sobering to see, on all the sets, how far out from the ideal things like greyscale and colour balance sometimes were.

I think that I should distinguish between when the televisions are being used to watch Blu-Rays and when they are being used to watch ordinary television programmes. For watching Blu-Rays, I am very happy with what Stephen did and indeed I can say that the previous settings now have that over-processed, over-colourful LED look that you see in most shops. However, for watching ordinary television programmes, I am less certain of the calibrated settings, for the Samsung and LG, though I'd happy with the calibrated settings for watching ordinary television programmes on the Pioneers. That may because the Samsung and LG are physically bigger than the Pioneers? Anyway give me until the end of the week and I might well be happy with the calibrated settings for watching ordinary television programmes on the Samsung and LG also.

By the way, Stephen did say that the much-maligned LG does actually produce a pretty decent picture - good colours, motion handling etc - especially when the picture fills the screen! But I've just been watching my Blu-Ray of Hanna in the kitchen and I have to say, even with the still-dodgy black levels, they don't look quite as grey as they did previously! The black -sorry, grey - bars above and below the film don't look as grey as they did previously. So it's nearly all good, I just have to see how I get on with the calibrated settings for watching ordinary TV on the Samsung and the LG.

If I do come into enough money to buy the Panasonic 65VT65, then I WILL be getting that calibrated also!

Lastly, Stephen did write in my visitors' book that this was the first and last time that he would calibrate four televisions in one day!

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Calibration of all four televisions by Stephen Withers tomorrow! :dance: Pioneer PDP-428XD, Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX5090, LG 60PZ950T, and Samsung PS64D8000.

I'll be interested to hear what you think. I'd imagine you'll be delighted with the results and I'm certain Steve will do a great job.

i hope he doesn't charge by the hour

So what's the verdict, Son_of_SJ? Was calibration worth it?

Been wondering the same thing, he's clearly engrossed trying to absorb the impact of having all four done at once!

Earth to SoSJ, come in SoSJ....?

Either that or Steve's still there, being held hostage until he sorts the black level out on that LG!

Hello boys,

No, he doesn't charge by the hour (he doesn't even charge by the television, strictly speaking, because what I paid to have all four done was quite a bit less than four times the single price) and yes, he did a great job yesterday, and don't give up the day job, Mr Malarky!

I know that ellisdj has his own meter, but watching Stephen do the first calibration was enough to convince me to leave it to the experts - as (I think) strapped for cash said some time ago, it's not simply a case of adjusting one parameter, then adjusting the next parameter. Adjusting one parameter can affect others, so it's an iterative process. He did explain what he was doing for the first calibration, but then I left him to it because I didn't want him to be here until midnight. I'll put up a couple of pictures of him in action tomorrow.

I didn't report back earlier because I've been actually watching the blessed things! At my suggestion, Stephen calibrated the televisions in order of increasing blackness, hence the LG 60PZ950T in the kitchen first, then the Samsung PS64D8000 in the parlour, then the Pioneer PDP-428XD in my bedroom, then the Pioneer LX5090 in the second bedroom. He did spend the most time, by quite some margin, on the LG, but that wasn't just because of its dodgy black levels! The Pioneers were a relative breeze, and also he didn't have to do 3D calibration for them, remember.

Stephen will send me a document detailing the calibrated settings of all the televisions, in case the measurements are needed again for some reason.

So, the punters want to know, what are the results like? That depends to a degree on how accurate the previous settings were, and by a distance, the set with the most wrong initial settings was the Samsung. When he did his red. blue and green colour measurements, I was surprised to see that on the Samsung, the blue reading was was stronger than the others, despite my having set up all my televisions as best as I could using the Spears and Munsil disc. (Perhaps I was a Conservative voter in a previous life!) Hence, the set with the greatest difference between the calibrated and the previous readings is the Samsung. But it was quite sobering to see, on all the sets, how far out from the ideal things like greyscale and colour balance sometimes were.

I think that I should distinguish between when the televisions are being used to watch Blu-Rays and when they are being used to watch ordinary television programmes. For watching Blu-Rays, I am very happy with what Stephen did and indeed I can say that the previous settings now have that over-processed, over-colourful LED look that you see in most shops. However, for watching ordinary television programmes, I am less certain of the calibrated settings, for the Samsung and LG, though I'd happy with the calibrated settings for watching ordinary television programmes on the Pioneers. That may because the Samsung and LG are physically bigger than the Pioneers? Anyway give me until the end of the week and I might well be happy with the calibrated settings for watching ordinary television programmes on the Samsung and LG also.

By the way, Stephen did say that the much-maligned LG does actually produce a pretty decent picture - good colours, motion handling etc - especially when the picture fills the screen! But I've just been watching my Blu-Ray of Hanna in the kitchen and I have to say, even with the still-dodgy black levels, they don't look quite as grey as they did previously! The black -sorry, grey - bars above and below the film don't look as grey as they did previously. So it's nearly all good, I just have to see how I get on with the calibrated settings for watching ordinary TV on the Samsung and the LG.

If I do come into enough money to buy the Panasonic 65VT65, then I WILL be getting that calibrated also!

Lastly, Stephen did write in my visitors' book that this was the first and last time that he would calibrate four televisions in one day!

Thanks for the feedback. Did you ask him what he thought of the new Panasonic TVs?

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Hello gel,

I thought for a moment that you had been as wordy as I had, then I realised that you'd just quoted my entire long posting back! I myself don't quote unless the particular topic was some way back in the thread.

No, I didn't ask him directly as such, but he did mention that the Panasonic VT, ZT and a ninth-generation Pioneer are all very close regarding (calibrated) picture quality, except the Pioneer doesn't have Freeview HD, Smart features or 3D. However, he has just reviewed the 65" Sony 4K television, you can read it on the AVForums website.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

This is picture of Stephen's Klein meter, with a pattern generated by his equipment, against my much-maligned LG 60PZ950T television in the kitchen.

http://imageshack.us/a/img833/3419/bi71.jpg

and this picture, which I have also taken on a decent camera, shows Stephen Withers, the man who can calibrate everything from a 64" Samsung plasma to a 5.5" CRT television!

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/2647/hfuz.jpg

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Hello gel,

I thought for a moment that you had been as wordy as I had, then I realised that you'd just quoted my entire long posting back! I myself don't quote unless the particular topic was some way back in the thread.

No, I didn't ask him directly as such, but he did mention that the Panasonic VT, ZT and a ninth-generation Pioneer are all very close regarding (calibrated) picture quality, except the Pioneer doesn't have Freeview HD, Smart features or 3D. However, he has just reviewed the 65" Sony 4K television, you can read it on the AVForums website.

Ah thanks.

Did you have also have any conversations about the future of Panasonic plasma TVs and what he thought or heard would happen in the next few years? Cheers.

 

[strapped for cash]

as (I think) strapped for cash said some time ago, it's not simply a case of adjusting one parameter, then adjusting the next parameter. Adjusting one parameter can affect others, so it's an iterative process.

I did. I was really arguing against copying settings. As you'll perhaps concur, you'd need to watch a TV being professionally calibrated, or calibrate using a meter yourself, to appreciate how copying settings cannot lead to accurate results. In all likelihood, you'll do more harm than good.

When he did his red. blue and green colour measurements, I was surprised to see that on the Samsung, the blue reading was was stronger than the others, despite my having set up all my televisions as best as I could using the Spears and Munsil disc.

Samsung TVs are typically pushed toward blue out of the box. Viewers often prefer this, because CRT TVs were generally set up to push blue. This is perhaps why Samsung sets greyscale and colour balance up this way. It's often commented In WHF reviews of Panasonic plasma TVs that the Normal preset gives the most pleasing out of the box picture. Yet this preset also pushes blue and is less accurate than the THX and ISF modes.

I think that I should distinguish between when the televisions are being used to watch Blu-Rays and when they are being used to watch ordinary television programmes. For watching Blu-Rays, I am very happy with what Stephen did and indeed I can say that the previous settings now have that over-processed, over-colourful LED look that you see in most shops. However, for watching ordinary television programmes, I am less certain of the calibrated settings, for the Samsung and LG, though I'd happy with the calibrated settings for watching ordinary television programmes on the Pioneers. That may because the Samsung and LG are physically bigger than the Pioneers? Anyway give me until the end of the week and I might well be happy with the calibrated settings for watching ordinary television programmes on the Samsung and LG also.

That's interesting. The benefits for Blu-ray and HD broadcast viewing should be the same (i.e. the Rec.709 standard calibrated to is used for both Blu-ray mastering and HD broadcast content creation). As you say, maybe you need some time to adjust, having become accustomed to the inaccurate settings.

I had to get used to the post-calibration picture, but I could clearly see improvement in key areas by switching from the THX preset "optimsed" using test patterns to the professionally calibrated ISF modes.

 

[mr malarky]

This is picture of Stephen's Klein meter, with a pattern generated by his equipment, against my much-maligned LG 60PZ950T television in the kitchen.

http://imageshack.us/a/img833/3419/bi71.jpg

and this picture, which I have also taken on a decent camera, shows Stephen Withers, the man who can calibrate everything from a 64" Samsung plasma to a 5.5" CRT television!

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/2647/hfuz.jpg

Thanks for these SoSJ. Am looking forward to getting mine done as from reading your post/picture, and Strapped's previous posts, I'm expecting to learn an awful lot on the day (I'm also expecting to be quite surprised by how far mine is also "out" on things like greyscale etc, especially now I've been playing around with menu settings for a few months).

In terms of TV pictures taking a while to get used to, what is it d'you think is causing that? Are they a bit dimmer or have less contrast than your used to?

What BluRay's have you had chance to try yet other than hanna?

(and the much-maligned LG looks very nice by the way! )

 

[Oldboy]

Hi all,

Just caught up on this thread as have been busy trying to slove my rebooting issue with my new Samsung UE55F8000 which it looks like I have finally got to the bottom of at last.

I have tried to email Kalibrate twice now to get some info about getting my tv calibrated but I've yet to get any response, I first emailed a week ago and got no answer then sent a follow up one yesterday so it looks like they are not interested in talking to me about a calibration so can anyone recommend another calibrator that may be willing to travel to Essex to calibrate my please?

I really want to get a proper calibration done on my tv as it will be a keeper now I've got my issue resolved and Strapped suggested Kalibrate to me a while back, I was going to give them a ring on saturday as it's the only day I really get a chance to call but got busy and forgot all about it. Now a week has passed I'm of the opinion that they won't be in touch and simply aren't interested which is disappointing so I'm looking for an alternative and can't find the link Strapped supplied of all the calibrators in the UK so any help would be appreciated.

Good to read the positive experiences of everyone who has had a calibration carried out and it's spurred me on to get it done now, looking forward to seeing the results for myself.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Hello Oldboy, this is the link that Strapped for Cash gave on page 2 of this thread

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&t=h&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=2107664413...

He said also "Most will travel, so it's wise to do some research first on individual calibrators and prices."

Of course, I can warmly recommend Stephen Withers, and also his colleague Mark Hodgkinson. I believe there is someone called Julian (in Leicester ?) who did Strapped for Cash's calibration and who is also very good.

 

[Oldboy]

Very many thanks Son_of_SJ for the info.

I really enjoyed reading about your experience with getting your tvs calibrated and yours and strapped experiences has got me thinking about getting it done myself now I'm settled on a TV. Will get some quotes and see who I prefer to do it and hopefully get a date set very soon.

 

[rocketrazor]

Very many thanks Son_of_SJ for the info.

I really enjoyed reading about your experience with getting your tvs calibrated and yours and strapped experiences has got me thinking about getting it done myself now I'm settled on a TV. Will get some quotes and see who I prefer to do it and hopefully get a date set very soon.

let us know how it goes oldboy, as an Essex man as well it will be interesting to see who will travel to calibrate and if I keep my tv (will decide in a few weeks after the football returns as that was the main issue) I might get mine done.

ta

 

[Oldboy]

let us know how it goes oldboy, as an Essex man as well it will be interesting to see who will travel to calibrate and if I keep my tv (will decide in a few weeks after the football returns as that was the main issue) I might get mine done.

ta

Well the best option for me by some way is Jules who is the guy strapped got to calibrate his tv which is displaycalibration.co.uk, he will travel for the day and do a full calibration of all sources and 3D for £205 plus £20 for petrol so £225 in total which is really reasonable I thought especially when compared to the other figures I got quoted today.

I'm booking up tomorrow once we can get a mutually agreeable date so will let you know the magic date once I've got it, really looking forward to seeing how much difference it makes now.

 

[strapped for cash]

Well the best option for me by some way is Jules who is the guy strapped got to calibrate his tv which is displaycalibration.co.uk, he will travel for the day and do a full calibration of all sources and 3D for £205 plus £20 for petrol so £225 in total which is really reasonable I thought especially when compared to the other figures I got quoted today.

I'm booking up tomorrow once we can get a mutually agreeable date so will let you know the magic date once I've got it, really looking forward to seeing how much difference it makes now.

Sounds great, Oldboy. Jules is extremely thorough and his price is very reasonable, especially when you appreciate that many professionals still don't offer 3D calibration. Jules is a nice guy, too, which helps, as you'll be spending several hours in his company.

 

[ellisdj]

I live in Essex and depending on what TV you have I could possibly do the cakibration for you??

 

[Oldboy]

I live in Essex and depending on what TV you have I could possibly do the cakibration for you??

Hmmm food for thought there ellisdj...thanks for your generous offer.

Only problem with that is that I don't think we can't share personal info on these forums so just how we could arrange for such a thing to happen is beyond me, my TV is a Samsung UE55F8000 3D LED TV by the way.

 

[ellisdj]

I aimed that comment at Razer - you have a samsung, I have not calibrated a Samsung before so you should get the pro in

 

[Oldboy]

I aimed that comment at Razer - you have a samsung, I have not calibrated a Samsung before so you should get the pro in

Ooops my mistake, sorry