what hi-fi team calibration?

[camper 1]

HI Following an excellent review of the samsung 37 b550 ipurchased this tv.First impressions are very good.When the tv)s are reviewed by the team are they calibrated first or straight from the box.IF calibrated is there a reason why you cannot on the forum publish the most appropriate settings for our use?Regards _keep up the good work.

 

[Andrew Everard]

They are viewed both out of the box and after calibration. And we have been asked many times to publish these settings, but the calibration is so specific to how you have the Tv set up in your own room that such figures would be of marginal use, if any.

 

[ElectroMan]

From the title, I thought this would be a question about how the WHF review team is calibrated before they go into action, e.g. with beer or wine ...

 

[John Duncan]

ElectroMan:how the WHF review team is calibrated - e.g. with beer or wine...

We have been asked many times to publish these settings, but the calibration is so specific to how you have the team set up in the licensed premises that such details would be of marginal use, if any.

 

[Anonymous]

John Duncan: You might delete this, because I refer to another website, but Which? give recommendations for settings, which probably aren't particularly defined, but will work for Joe Public. What are you frightened of - are we going to sue for "something"? Surely you can quote "settings as tested" and post a caveat - there are plenty of folk here recognising you have the tools and expertise to help guide the settings, with no recriminations.... Open up!

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yes noted, but Which? only publishes one set of calibrations, with little or no idea what kind of set-up they are best suited to. Actually it's probably better to do it by eye, or using the THX sequence on appropriate discs, and set it up how you like it.

 

[Anonymous]

well , when i recently had a samsung 46b650 , i really struggled to get a picture i was happy with , so i searched the web , and i applied some settings that i found , they worked very well , im sure the tv could have been made to look a little better with a proper calibration , but how many people are going to pay for that , £300ish i believe , on a £3000 tv maybe , but on a regular 40-46in tv costing £800ish ??

ok there are the thx discs , and other devices , but i cant see any harm in just applying specific settings for specific tvs , should people not want to bother trying to calibrate themselves , they will probably look much better than any factory preset , which may be good enough for many , horses for courses....

 

[Messiah]

My experience was like yours Max. I could not get my TV set quite right, even with the THX set up disc. But I got my settings from another site and they worked a treat!

 

[PJPro]

A good start point might be worth considering....but arguably, they are the default settings.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

I for one aplaud WHSAV for sticking to their guns and not publishing the settings they found to produce optimum proformance for any of the TVs they test as these results would be for their ambient conditions and their equipment and not idealy suited to your viewing conditions at home. I personally don't get it where someone has just spent say £1000 on a new TV yet can't be bothered to spend a few hours calibrating it, not only will this give you the best picture for your home but it will also give you a far better understanding on just how each setting effects each other.

Home calibration need not cost a fortune, I am sure we all have a DVD with the THX optimiser on it, while not giving a proper calibrated result this will still ofter be better than the factory pre-sets.

If you are after propper calibration results for around £100 then it's well worth investing into a colouromiter like either the Spyder or the Display One LT which can both be used with the colorHCFR software which is free and fairly simple to use along with the DVD HD BASICS blu-ray, this will not only give you a propper set of basic control levels but also let you correctly set your TVs Greyscale/White ballance (unless you own a Panasonic as they don't give you white ballance controls in basic user settings) these results will trounce on any "by eye" settings.

Full details on proper calibration and where to download the free software are HERE