Looking for help on using the DVE calibration disc (the SD side of the SD/HD DVD combo, on an upconvert DVD player) to set contrast on my Panny PX80U plasma. The disc instructions are useless, as they have me looking for CRT scanlines, and discuss projectors but not plasmas.

Searching various threads here points me to the grayscale ramp in the ref. materials - but what do I do with it? Running contrast/picture up from 0-100 makes it increasingly eye-searing, but doesn't noticeably cause the white steps to be more or less distinct from one another.

Thanks.

Looking for help on using the DVE calibration disc (the SD side of the SD/HD DVD combo, on an upconvert DVD player) to set contrast on my Panny PX80U plasma. The disc instructions are useless, as they have me looking for CRT scanlines, and discuss projectors but not plasmas.

Searching various threads here points me to the grayscale ramp in the ref. materials - but what do I do with it? Running contrast/picture up from 0-100 makes it increasingly eye-searing, but doesn't noticeably cause the white steps to be more or less distinct from one another.

Thanks.

In the case of setting contrast on a plasma, you may need to use a light meter. There is a formula for converting its readings to FlL(foot lamberts). Someone more math savvy than I can explain it.

12-16FtL is standard for a movie theater, 30ftL is standard for video.

In the case of setting contrast on a plasma, you may need to use a light meter. There is a formula for converting its readings to FlL(foot lamberts). Someone more math savvy than I can explain it.

12-16FtL is standard for a movie theater, 30ftL is standard for video.

In another thread it was suggested that you may have a credibility problem, D6500. You asked for an explanation...well your answer above is a good example. BTW, what does D6500 mean?

For the OP, setting contrast on a PDP does not require a light meter, though a thorough calibration does require instruments that allow a range of measurements. The first aspect to consider in setting PDP contrast is a shift in gray scale at peak whites that may occur if you run into the limits of one of the primary colors. This is usually done with a gray scale pattern. Basically, turn the contrast up until you see the bightest level change color relative to the rest then back off some. Next, you need to verify that you are not clipping the highlights, and this is usually done with patterns that include white and near white bars within a few percent. You can also do it visually if you have content with lots of white detail, but you have to know that the program material is really at and near white.

With DVE start with the reverse gray ramps and steps. Make sure you don't see a color shift in the brightest bars and that you can see the difference between the bars.

In another thread it was suggested that you may BTW, what does D6500 mean?

The first aspect to consider in setting PDP contrast is a shift in gray scale at peak whites that may occur if you run into the limits of one of the primary colors. This is usually done with a gray scale pattern. Basically, turn the contrast up until you see the bightest level change color relative to the rest then back off some. Next, you need to verify that you are not clipping the highlights, and this is usually done with patterns that include white and near white bars within a few percent. You can also do it visually if you have content with lots of white detail, but you have to know that the program material is really at and near white.

With DVE start with the reverse gray ramps and steps. Make sure you don't see a color shift in the brightest bars and that you can see the difference between the bars.

I don't feel that I have to explain my handle, nor should anybody else, but I do know that D-6504 would have been more accurate. :D

In response to the relevant part of your reply: That shift in grayscale is exactly what many posters(the non-ISF ones and newbies to calibration) here without instrumentation have been complaining they are unable to see or have a hard time seeing. They cannot see a color-shift in the whitest patches so that is why I started recommending light meters to measure output as a means of setting contrast.

I suppose the sunny "Snow Walker" scenes in SW:ESB would satisfy the heavy white content that could really test these displays' capability.

If you can't see a gray scale shift and you don't have instrumentation, then it is probably not a problem to be concerned with. The OP still deserved an explanation better than "you probably need a light meter."

There is no standard called D6500, nor D6504. There is D65, but D6500 is what I consider to be careless slang that confuses the difference between a CCT and the standard illuminant D65. While D65 can be said to have a CCT of about 6504K, a color temperature is an ambiguous and rather useless value from a calibration persective. The fact that you use such a handle makes me wonder whether you intentionally chose to apply some twist to the two concepts of color temperature and illuminant specification, or that you just do not understand the difference.

Many very generous and well informed people have answered your questions on AVS. Your responses and posts have at times been quite difficult to follow and at times confusing to those who understand these matters. To novices, some of your posts have likely done more to confuse than clarify. I do not suggest that you not post, but you might want to be a little more cautious about how you do so, if you want your credibility to be very high.

If you can't see a gray scale shift and you don't have instrumentation, then it is probably not a problem to be concerned with. The OP still deserved an explanation better than "you probably need a light meter."

There is no standard called D6500, nor D6504. There is D65, but D6500 is what I consider to be careless slang that confuses the difference between a CCT and the standard illuminant D65. While D65 can be said to have a CCT of about 6504K, a color temperature is an ambiguous and rather useless value from a calibration persective. The fact that you use such a handle makes me wonder whether you intentionally chose to apply some twist to the two concepts of color temperature and illuminant specification, or that you just do not understand the difference.

Many very generous and well informed people have answered your questions on AVS. Your responses and posts have at times been quite difficult to follow and at times confusing to those who understand these matters. To novices, some of your posts have likely done more to confuse than clarify. I do not suggest that you not post, but you might want to be a little more cautious about how you do so, if you want your credibility to be very high.

At the time I registered here, I did not understand the difference between 6500K and the precise point of D65. Incidentally what does CCT stand for?

If you could PM me with examples you remember of me being confusing I would appreciate and be able to work on in the future. Sometimes I have a hard time wording what I have a good grasp of conceptually.

I would think that using an example of "The loge seats in the shade at Yankee Stadium" as material to set black level by would be clearly understood by most people. You don't want it completely black under that upper deck, nor do you want brightness so high as to make the picture hazy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlated_color_temperature#Correlated_color_temperature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlated_color_temperature#Correlated_color_temperature

Thans for the wiki - LC. Except for all the stuff in a foreign language(I guess that's MATH?), it clarifies a few things.

But back to the OP's issue. If not being able to see the color shift is "not a problem to be concerned with", then how can one correctly set contrast/WL on their plasma?

If you don't see a color shift, set it so that whites are not clipped.

Beyond that, with a PDP, for phosphor wear reasons you may want to set it to the lowest contrast level that yields pleasing dynamic range. I don't worry about that very much because we vary the viewing and setting it for best gray scale tracking has the level low enough anyway. There are certainly compromises with any visual calibration, but contrast settings can be done without test equipment rather easily. When watching a variety of very bright material, if you suspect you are missing peak white detail, turn it down. The Monster/ISF disc is prett good for this because they designed it specifically to push the limits of displays in the whites.