Worth the cost to calibrate a budget TV?

[cheeseboy]

No here speaks someone who has gone into calibration in great depth...you shouldn't assume I know nothing.

I have used an eye one with HCFR which is far more accurate than a spider and is excatly the same colour meter that the calibrator used when he calibrated my TV, the eye one needs correcting every time you use it for accurate results and the calibrator told me that is true for ALL colour meters.

The calibrator also used Calman software which you have to pay for plus the meter correction tool and software and the other little box of tricks he brought with him which cost thousands of pounds to buy and then you need to learn how to use them by taking courses and getting acredited so if you really think a spider is just as accurate you are wrong I'm afraid.

The spider is reasonable enough for computer screens and will provide good results with TVs but for accurate calibration of a TV you can't beat a professional calibration.

so have you actually used a spider then? As your comments about using the software etc I feel were unwarranted when referring to the spider devices and that's what I was talking about. also, have ever compared a spider calibration to an eye one calibration?

 

[Oldboy]

so have you actually used a spider then? As your comments about using the software etc I feel were unwarranted when referring to the spider devices and that's what I was talking about. also, have ever compared a spider calibration to an eye one calibration?

Why are my comments unwarranted? The thread is about calibration so my comments are completely warranted, a consumer product such as the eye one or spider when used in isolation will never be as accurate as a professional calibration so why is that unwarranted? I think that's a completely justified comment.

I have never used one personally but I do have a friend who owns one and has shown me step by step how it works when calibrating his PC screen so I do know how simple they are, I'm not trying to be argumentative just for the sake of it but you made a statement implying that a spider can do as good a job as a professional calibration which it can't. As I stated earlier any colour meter needs correction before you use it as the meter loses accuracy over time and drifts which makes it less accurate but still more accurate than an out of the box TV setting.

I'm not saying don't use an eye one or spider or any sort of consumer colour meter but it should be pointed out exactly what you are buying and the differences between one of these meters and a professional calibration. The results from my eye one and HCFR calibration and the THX professional calibration prove this, I have experience from both and can confirm the proffesional results are far superior. I'm not trying to cause any offence in any way but I think my experience is worth sharing in this thread.

 

[cheeseboy]

Why are my comments unwarranted? The thread is about calibration so my comments are completely warranted, a consumer product such as the eye one or spider when used in isolation will never be as accurate as a professional calibration so why is that unwarranted? I think that's a completely justified comment.

again,please read what I said. I said that your comments regarding the spyder and the software were unwarranted. when I was talking about the spyder, you said "Plus there is the fact that you would need a good understanding of the software and how to best calibrate colours" and that's the bit I thought unwarranted as you've just confirmed that you've seen how simple they and the software are to use ("I have never used one personally but I do have a friend who owns one and has shown me step by step how it works when calibrating his PC screen so I do know how simple they are. I was not talking about professional calibration, so partly crossed wires I feel.

I'm not trying to be argumentative just for the sake of it but you made a statement implying that a spider can do as good a job as a professional calibration which it can't.

but i never said that. I just said that using a sypder was not rocket science.

I'm not saying don't use an eye one or spider or any sort of consumer colour meter but it should be pointed out exactly what you are buying and the differences between one of these meters and a professional calibration. The results from my eye one and HCFR calibration and the THX professional calibration prove this, I have experience from both and can confirm the proffesional results are far superior. I'm not trying to cause any offence in any way but I think my experience is worth sharing in this thread.

That's fair enough, I wouldn't disagree with that, but since the thread is about calibration of a *budget* TV, I still reckon that something like the afforementioned spyder is a really good option as you can either get multiple uses on multiple sets, or sell it on afterwards and not lose much at all. I mean it's easy to say that if you get a professional to come in and do a professional job using professional equipement at professional rates then you're going to get a bang up job (or at least one would expect that ) however this all has to be taken in context to what the op was asking I feel.

 

[Oldboy]

OK slight crossed wires there then.

When I said about the extra cost of software when calibrating I should have been clearer that it didn't apply to the spyder. I'm not in any way knocking the spyder it must be said, for what it is and the cost it's a useful tool and easy to use as it's basically just a few clicks on a mouse then sit back and let it do it's thing but it can't be as accurate as a professional with thousands of pounds of equipment and the appropriate training that's all I was trying to get across (although not very well I admit) :doh:

Another bit of crossed wires came from your "It's not rocket science guys..." comment which I took to mean calibration in general which is very complicated, now I know you were simply talking about the spyder that's different so apologies for the confusion there also.

As for the issue of getting a professional to calibrate a budget TV I never said it was a good idea, look at my initial response and you will see I recommended something even more simple and at far less expense than any colour meter ie a simple calibration disc. I don't see a professional calibration being justified on anything less than TVs towards the higher end of a range or even at a certain price point (I think I mentioned the £2000 mark somewhere) so I completely agree with you, a meter would be fully justified for a mid range TV though and certainly a viable alternative to a professional calibration.

As I said at the beginning of the thread it's hard to justify a professional calibration until you get up to the top of the product range where both the potential gains from such a calibration and potential cost can be better argued, a potential outlay of £200-300 is quite a lot of money after all but far better justified when it represents 10% of the purchase price of your TV than if it represented 25% or more. I'm sure we can agree on that.

Sorry for the confusion, I certainly didn't mean to cause any offence

 

[cheeseboy]

Sorry for the confusion, I certainly didn't mean to cause any offence

no worries, it's usually myself that gets confused *very* easily, just ask my oh :cheers:

 

[Oldboy]

Sorry for the confusion, I certainly didn't mean to cause any offence

no worries, it's usually myself that gets confused *very* easily, just ask my oh :cheers:

Yeah I get that a lot too

 

[FennerMachine]

Had my TV calibrated today.

It was WAY out!

So far everything looks better.

Better colours, foreground stands out from background properly.

Just better.

Worth the cost.

 

[mr malarky]

Had my TV calibrated today.

It was WAY out!

So far everything looks better.

Better colours, foreground stands out from background properly.

Just better.

Worth the cost.

Result! :cheers:

Not surprising - haven't heard anyone who's had it done who wasn't pleased with the outcome.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

FennerMachine, you'll not be the first person whose TV was, before calibration, way out - on my 64" Samsung plasma the blue readings were literally off the scale! I'm really glad that you are so pleased with it. And now, more than ever, you'll be "keeping your TV until it breaks"! Even if you buy a bigger one at a later date, still keep this one and maybe put into a secondary room. It's good that you've also reported your findings on the main calibration thread "Arguments for and against calibration".