Hey gang,

Been ages since I made any meaningful posts here (if I ever did that in the first place), but I feel that my experience with Jeff Meier of AccuCal is worthy of some gushing. Jeff showed up at my house around 10am and after some quick shooting of the breeze we got into the nitty gritty of calibrating my Samsung HLP-5685. Jeff and I hit it off right away as he was very personable and HIGHLY knowledgeable in just about every area that we happened to discuss. It was a joy to work with him. Anyway, the short version is YES, there is a noticeable difference between the before and after picture quality. For those of you wanting empirical data... here's the before and after graphs and stats:

Gamma Plot Pre-calibration
http://home.entouch.net/hayes/gamma-precal.jpg

Gamma Plot Post-calibration
http://home.entouch.net/hayes/gamma-postcal.jpg

CIE Pre-calibration
http://home.entouch.net/hayes/cie-precal.jpg

CIE Post-calibration
http://home.entouch.net/hayes/cie-postcal.jpg

Colortemp Pre-calibration
http://home.entouch.net/hayes/colortemp-precal.jpg

Colortemp Post-calibration
http://home.entouch.net/hayes/colortemp-postcal.jpg

Grayscale Pre-calibration
http://home.entouch.net/hayes/grayscale-precal.jpg

Grayscale Post-calibration
http://home.entouch.net/hayes/grayscale-postcal.jpg

Simply put... I went from "this looks pretty good" to "WOW.. THIS is why I bought an HDTV". No, it's not quite as good as the higher end 1080p sets out by Samsung right now, but for the time at which I bought it (when the HLP's first hit the scene)... this thing looks great! I can finally bust open about 20 DVDs I have been wanting to watch but putting off watching until I had my room calibrated. Jeff also did the basic audio calibration of my room and again, all I can say is "WHOA!" Watching the "echo dance" (at least I think that's what it's called) from "House of Flying Daggers" nearly made my heart stop. I've never heard an audio demo THAT good... and I've been to AES and NAMM plenty of times. To hear that on my Paradigm Reference speakers, HSU Sub and B&K AVR507... well... I was nearly speechless.

To sum it up, HELL YEAH, calibration is TOTALLY worth it when done correctly. The fact that Jeff was a joy to have in my home and was of like minds in being an A/V enthusiast was just icing on the cake. He ended up leaving around 5:30 that night... and I will definitely have him back if/when I end up with a front projector in the theater room.

Thank you, Jeff.... you took my room from being just a converted bedroom to a THEATER ROOM and for that, I can't thank you enough!

Regards,
Jeff

I wish I was as ecstatic as you after Brian Garner calibrated my HLR5064. It's a newer model than yours so if anything the PQ should have been even better.

WebEffect,

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with your calibration. As with just about everything in life, the job is only done as well as the weakest link. Jeff's done some amazing science with regards to testing just about every instrument that is available for doing this work and comparing them to one another. On top of that, Jeff is an Engineer by degree with LOTS of experience in the field. Applying his particular scholarly skills to the video world gives him quite a distinct advantage vs. some of the less informed ISF guys performing calibrations. I liken it to lasik. Nowadays, a dentist can get licensed to perform lasik on your eyes. I kid you not. Is that someone you want to go to to have it done, or would you rather go to a lasik specialist... maybe even an optometrist or a doctor of opthamology? Any average Joe who takes a couple classes can be certified as an ISF calibrator. The issue is that there are HUGE planet-engulfing variations in the actual abilities and qualifications from one "ISF person" to another. Have you talked to Brian and voiced your displeasure? Did you say anything to him while he was still at your home? Most ISF guys worth their salt will come back out and try to address whatever perceived issue you have for free... at least that's what I've heard. If he doesn't know your unhappy, it's tough to correct the issue, right?

I hope you can resolve your issue. In the meantime, I'll try not to gloat over my own experience. j/k :)

Regards,
Jeff

It's a newer model than yours so if anything the PQ should have been even better.You would think that wouldn't you? However, the Samsung DLPs have actually regressed in some ways since the HLP model line.

Been ages since I made any meaningful posts here (if I ever did that in the first place), but I feel that my experience with Jeff Meier of AccuCal is worthy of some gushing.Thanks for the report. It's about time we has a Captain Kirk in the owner's calibration list. :)

It's linked at the bottom of my post.

I wish I was as ecstatic as you after Brian Garner calibrated my HLR5064. It's a newer model than yours so if anything the PQ should have been even better.Can you provide details?

You would think that wouldn't you? However, the Samsung DLPs have actually regressed in some ways since the HLP model line.I have a HL-P5063 that's been calibrated. We like it a lot, but I would never say that it's better than a 1080p HLS.

Can you be specific?

Thanks, ht! And yes, it appears that the Kirk models are few and far between on AVS for some reason. And the number that have been calibrated is even smaller than that. Glad to be able to contribute.

Regs,
Jeff

I have a HL-P5063 that's been calibrated. We like it a lot, but I would never say that it's better than a 1080p HLS.

Can you be specific?The HLP offered just about everything a calibrator needs to dial in a perfect image. With the HLR models Samsung removed all color decoder and color isolation controls in the service menu, and it also eliminated the ability to turn off DNIe from the user menu.

The post-HLPs are still good sets, and even better in some ways. But in other ways, as I said, they've regressed.

I have a Sony SXRD 1080p set that will be ISF calibrated this week... I hope I get the wow factor you got iceblade....

The post-HLPs are still good sets, and even better in some ways. But in other ways, as I said, they've regressed.The professional calibrators seem to be able to get good results. There might be more HLR reports if I had started the thread that is linked at the bottom of my post a year earlier.

It's true that HLP owners have it easier where some adjustments are concerned. Getting 1:1 pixel mapping and turning off DNIe from the User Menu are two examples that I appreciate.

The HLP offered just about everything a calibrator needs to dial in a perfect image.The model first claimed to allow calibration to almost perfectly match industry standards is the HLS series.

The HLS 1080p models have gotten outstanding reports from UMR, Eliab, and David Abrams. They also report that there are some new techniques that are needed to get the best results.