Is there anyway to calibrate your tv without the blue colored glasses? I guess this would be just the color setting portion.

Is there anyway to calibrate your tv without the blue colored glasses? I guess this would be just the color setting portion.
Yes, you can do everything that you'd normally do with the blue glasses without the blue glasses if you're calibrating a CRT TV. That is, if you know how to turn off the red and green electron guns (usually via the service menu) so that the blue gun is the only one active. In fact, that's the preferred method rather than using the blue glasses. When you're using the blue glasses, you can only be mostly sure (but not 100% sure) that you're ONLY seeing the blue light and none of the red and green light is leaking through. But if you can turn off the red and green entirely (like you can on most CRT TVs) then you can be 100% sure that you're only seeing blue.

Yes, you can do everything that you'd normally do with the blue glasses without the blue glasses if you're calibrating a CRT TV. That is, if you know how to turn off the red and green electron guns (usually via the service menu) so that the blue gun is the only one active. In fact, that's the preferred method rather than using the blue glasses. When you're using the blue glasses, you can only be mostly sure (but not 100% sure) that you're ONLY seeing the blue light and none of the red and green light is leaking through. But if you can turn off the red and green entirely (like you can on most CRT TVs) then you can be 100% sure that you're only seeing blue.

Wow, that sounds kind of scary as I have read about some folks completely killing their tv when going into the service menu. Is it fairly easy to do things in the service menu without killing it? I've never actually gone into the service menu before. Is it easy to learn about? I guess if I truly want to maximize the tv without paying some guy several hundred dollars, I'll have to learn!

Wow, that sounds kind of scary as I have read about some folks completely killing their tv when going into the service menu. Is it fairly easy to do things in the service menu without killing it? I've never actually gone into the service menu before. Is it easy to learn about? I guess if I truly want to maximize the tv without paying some guy several hundred dollars, I'll have to learn!
Well, yeah, it is kind of scary to go into the service menu if you don't know what you're doing. And it is risky if you're going to go in and start changing settings haphazardly. Yes, you could mess things up if you change things you don't want to change. Here's some (mostly common-sense) advice on the service menu:

Read about the service menu in the THE SONY SERVICE CODES (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=531494) thread.

Learn which buttons on the remote you use to navigate the service menu.

Think about what you're doing each step of the way and don't press a button if you don't know exactly which button you're pressing and why.

Don't change any setting that you don't know what it is, what it's for, or how it's used.

Write down every setting you change.

Only change one setting at a time.

Don't "save" or "write to memory" any setting unless you're positive that you want to save the setting.

Don't ever do any command that's supposed to "reset" anything -- that's usually when you hear the horror stories... Somebody thinks "reset" means it will be back to the way it was when he bought it, but really "reset" means it's back to the way it was before it was even set up at the factory.

The service menu is an important tool. It has the potential to do a lot of good as well as a lot of harm, much like any other tool. Use caution and take things one step at a time.

How many TVs actually allow you to turn the guns off? Isn't it mostly Sonys that have that feature?

And BTW, I think using a blue filter or turning the guns off is pretty useless if you don't have a TV that allows you to make changes to the colors independently. If all you are able to do is adjust saturation, then I don't really see the point.

Well, my Toshiba allows independent color tuning, but I can't turn the guns off. So the filters are a must for me.

I believe RGBS turns the cycles through certain color guns if you want to adjust color quality accurately.