Using CNET's Samsung B650 Plasma Settings as a Starting Point for Calibration:

--Picture menu
Mode: Movie
Cell Light: 10
Contrast: 99
Brightness: 48
Sharpness: 0
Color: 48
Tint: G50/R50

Advanced settings submenu
Black tone: Off
Dynamic contrast: Off
Gamma: 0
Color space: Auto
Flesh tone: 0
Edge enhancement: Off
xvYCC: Off

White balance submenu
R-Offset: 25
G-Offset: 25
B-Offset: 25
R-Gain: 25
G-Gain: 21
B-Gain: 21

Picture options submenu
Color tone: Warm2
Size: Screen Fit
Digital NR: Off
HDMI black level: Normal [grayed out]
1080 Full HD Motion Demo: Off
Film mode: Off**
Blue only mode: Off

--Setup menu
Game Mode: Off
Energy saving: Off
BD Wise: Off

**Black levels became lighter when we selected the Cinema Smooth option, so these settings only apply to the Off position, even for 1080p/24 sources.

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-19410_102-0.html?threadID=345810

I want to know if I could use these settings as a starting point and then make the following modifications for a full (meter) calibration:

Set Gamma to -1 and HDMI Black Level to Low then calibrate grayscale, brightness, and contrast then calibrate color with color/tint and custom color space controls.

Am I overlooking anything or would these steps get me the most accurate grayscale, gamma, and colors for this particular model of TV?

(Regarding Cinema Smooth, I'm not sure what to do.)

Personally I would start with the default settings and go from there. Contrast seems awfully high.

I like to start with default movie mode settings also, though I do raise cell light to 10 and reduce color from the default position.
Contrast settings in the upper 90's like that are not necessarily bad; I have ended up at 97-98 at times on these, depending on the room. But it does depend on your individual sample and how much light output you want. Upper 90's like that should get you in the mid to upper 40's fL in movie mode, which might be too much if your room is dark.

I like to start with default movie mode settings also, though I do raise cell light to 10 and reduce color from the default position.
Contrast settings in the upper 90's like that are not necessarily bad; I have ended up at 97-98 at times on these, depending on the room. But it does depend on your individual sample and how much light output you want. Upper 90's like that should get you in the mid to upper 40's fL in movie mode, which might be too much if your room is dark.

According to CNET:

"As we expect from Samsung the PNB650's Movie mode was quite accurate out of the box, if a bit dim (29ftl) for our standard calibration. We increased the set's light output to our nominal 40ftl and tweaked the grayscale controls a bit to remove the slight bluish cast we measured. Linearity from light to dark wasn't perfect but was still acceptable, and as usual the company's primary and secondary colors were nearly perfect. After calibration we measured a gamma of 2.16, which is quite good compared with the 2.2 target."

Based on this, I concluded light output was 40 fL and that a gamma setting one tick in the negative direction would bring average gamma closer to 2.22 (if not a little higher). Maybe the reason the contrast was so high was because the green and blue gains were dropped quite a bit from 25 to 21, for each.

Personally, I NEVER trust CNet settings. They seem to move TVs through their process so fast they rarely ever get the full measure of any TV they "test". I personally find 40 fL too bright for viewing in a dark room. 30 fL is bright enough but looks not-bright-enough if you try 35 or 40 fL. In otherwords, if you only use 30 fL and never see anything brighter, it seems FINE. Why CNet wouldn't use the gamma control to improve the 2.16 gamma to 2.22-2.24 you get from the next setting, I just don't understand.

Finally, even though I have reviewed a sample of some TVs and estabilshed "perfect" settings for those TVs over 2 or 3 months of having access to that TV every day for 2 months or so, when I go to someone's home to calibrate the same model, I never end up with the same white balance or color management settings. So copying settings just doesn't work - I think people, in general, put too much stock in copying settings from various sources. The settings you copy from CNet are potentially no better than factory settings or settings you arrive at using a setup disc.

Personally, I NEVER trust CNet settings. They seem to move TVs through their process so fast they rarely ever get the full measure of any TV they "test". I personally find 40 fL too bright for viewing in a dark room. 30 fL is bright enough but looks not-bright-enough if you try 35 or 40 fL. In otherwords, if you only use 30 fL and never see anything brighter, it seems FINE. Why CNet wouldn't use the gamma control to improve the 2.16 gamma to 2.22-2.24 you get from the next setting, I just don't understand.

Finally, even though I have reviewed a sample of some TVs and estabilshed "perfect" settings for those TVs over 2 or 3 months of having access to that TV every day for 2 months or so, when I go to someone's home to calibrate the same model, I never end up with the same white balance or color management settings. So copying settings just doesn't work - I think people, in general, put too much stock in copying settings from various sources. The settings you copy from CNet are potentially no better than factory settings or settings you arrive at using a setup disc.

I should clarify why I wish to start my calibration from CNET's settings. Keep in mind I don't have the TV yet so I'm just planning ahead since I know for a fact that the TV I will be buying will be very similar to this model if not the exact same. I'm definitely getting a Samsung and it will most definitely be a plasma with 1080p resolution.

That being said, I want to have reasonably accurate picture settings to use during the initial 150-200 hours or so. So I plan on using CNET's settings during this break-in period with just a few changes, which are setting gamma to -1 and hdmi black level to low. After that, I'll simply set brightness with a pluge or black clipping pattern.

After the first 150-200 hours, I can start a full calibration right off of these settings, checking contrast and brightness first, then grayscale, and then color.

I should clarify why I wish to start my calibration from CNET's settings. Keep in mind I don't have the TV yet so I'm just planning ahead since I know for a fact that the TV I will be buying will be very similar to this model if not the exact same. I'm definitely getting a Samsung and it will most definitely be a plasma with 1080p resolution.

That being said, I want to have reasonably accurate picture settings to use during the initial 150-200 hours or so. So I plan on using CNET's settings during this break-in period with just a few changes, which are setting gamma to -1 and hdmi black level to low. After that, I'll simply set brightness with a pluge or black clipping pattern.

After the first 150-200 hours, I can start a full calibration right off of these settings, checking contrast and brightness first, then grayscale, and then color.

You didn't get my last post AT ALL - none of it. I'm telling you that you can get better settings for YOUR TV using a setup disc (correctly) and your eyes, than you can get from copying CNet's settings. CNet does pretty good at turning off anything "dynamic" or "automatic" but everybody should know to do that anyway. For the other settings, you have a Blue-only mode that will get you the right Color and Tint settings for your TV and you have (or should have) a setup DVD that will get you do the right Brightness setting for YOUR TV, etc.

You didn't get my last post AT ALL - none of it. I'm telling you that you can get better settings for YOUR TV using a setup disc (correctly) and your eyes, than you can get from copying CNet's settings. CNet does pretty good at turning off anything "dynamic" or "automatic" but everybody should know to do that anyway. For the other settings, you have a Blue-only mode that will get you the right Color and Tint settings for your TV and you have (or should have) a setup DVD that will get you do the right Brightness setting for YOUR TV, etc.

Ok.

Ever try these http://www.tweaktv.com/tweak-my-tv/calibration-guide/samsung-ln-40b650.html ?

gedanlneil, that link is for LN40B650 (LCD), here's the link to plasma, but no settings have been posted:
http://www.tweaktv.com/tweak-my-tv/calibration-guide/samsung-pn50b650-4.html

Interesting perspective here on CNET settings overall. http://www.tweaktv.com/the-kevin-miller-channel/cnet-calibration-settings-do-they-really-help-improve-picture-quality-for-your-tv.html