richardifield:
The THX spex are a nice gesture - can't even remember the last time that what hi-fi had a decent free gift with it so well done. Good though they are though I don't think you guys are giving the whole picture (
to people with your advice on how to improve picture quality.
As I understand it optimising your TVs picture using these glasses will improve picture quality but it will only improve it in a general sense. The settings on most TVs can't be adjusted per input, only overall. So those settings will affect all the inputs, won't they? But video sources all have different picture characteristics so a DVD player will have a different balance from a Sky HD signal. Optimising the settings for one will mean that the other source is still less than perfect... you can improve the picture you still can't get it spot on.
As far as I can tell the only way that these glasses can work properly is if there is only one video source being fed to the TV. For that you need to to route your video sources via a receiver - used as a video hub - but they are still going to vary in colour balance. You still need to correct those video signals individually before they arrive at the TV.
According to Joel Silver of the Imaging Science Foundation there's only one line of AV receivers in the world that is currently capable of doing that... Onkyo's. Mr Silver says the TX-NR906 receiver (and the TX-SR876 I think) offer the ability to individually tailor tune all the video sources connected to them via the ISF calibration menu. That way you can calibrate the video sources individually, connect one HDMI video feed to the TV and then optimize the display using the THX spex and discs. There's a really instructive video where Mr Silver talks about this here...
EDITED BY MODS for house rules infringement
I might be wrong I've never seen what hi-fi mention anything about the effectiveness or need for ISF calibration in the magazine, even though you've reviewed those Onkyo receivers in the past - the reviews just talked about what you thought of the sound quality - which is an entirely subjective matter - and largely skated over useful features like this.
Looking through your ratings the ISF-capable Onkyo receivers have been given 4 star reviews despite the fact that no other makers offers such capability... is that right?
Did you actually assess their ISF capabilities at all? Did you fully understand what they were for?
I know you have a lot on your plate producing an excellent magazine every month but video related features like ISF seem really important. If you're going to preach about the benefits of video calibration and pass judgement on the PQ of HDMI cables then perhaps you ought to spend some time advising us at how to improve things through the whole video chain - including via the receiver - not just how to optimise PQ when it's at the display.
Being able to adjust the video quality of a video source and its interconnects in something like a TX-NR906 before it gets to a display strikes me as being totally logical thing to do and something what hifi should be advocating and encouraging - couldn't it correct colour balance issues in interconnects too?
Mebbe you're reluctant to recommnd ISF calibration because if people knew they could fix anomalies in interconnects and video sources in a receiver then they might end up preferring to buy Onkyo receivers, whatever you think of their sound quality? Mebbe that's too cynical.
Whatever, I think an article about getting the best video quality though using ISF
and THX calibration is an obvious thing to feature in your magazine. How about it?
Three members of our test team are ISF-trained, so we're more than up to speed on the technology and benefits of ISF calibration.
And yes, it's a more sophisticated system than THX - it's also, obviously, a far more complex and costly solution to implement.
If ISF had a system that was as accessible and affordable as THX, then of course that would be an option for giveaways etc. In the meantime, the THX Optimiser is a quick and easy way for anyone to tweak their TV.
We mention how you can take calibration further - there have been many discussions here about the ISF option on the Pioneer plasmas, for example - and the Onkyo receivers' capabilities were certainly considered.
In the latter case, however, there's no escaping that their sound quality - still the element of primary importance with an AV receiver - can be beaten for the money. If Onkyo dialled-down the bombastic tuning of their receivers, they would be back in the running.
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