Mr Bob
03-24-07, 09:11 PM
This is a reprint from about a month ago, of a review I did recently on a CraigM Mit.
I just completed a redo on a Craig Miller Mit, and the result is absolutely breathtaking. If any owners out there are contemplating replacing their set because it doesn't look the way Craig left it anymore, WAIT! Let me at it first.
The unit is a WS 65909, and is the centerpiece of its owner's home cinema, tricked out with M&K digital surround audio, in its own dedicated viewing room.
It's owner just bought a Panny 1080p DLP for his front room, and comparing the 2, found his Mit set really wanting in comparison. So he called me and got in on my current SoCal visit.
His optics were the primary problem. They were very dirty, as ALL CRT RPTV optics will be, after 4 years. The mirror as well. 30 KV of HV really does a number on the internal optics of ALL CRT RPTVs. Luckily enough, tho, Mit seals their lenses in there nice and tight, and he did not need the deeper optics cleaning, as Pioneer owners do.
I found his grayscale to be absolutely sound, even after 4 years. I changed the RCUT by one click, but a consumer would never know the difference. It was only to remove a small bit of overall redness in the darks, which completely disappears when color is present. I could have left it alone and nobody would have ever known the difference.
I found the same thing on the color decoding, changed absolutely nothing there, and both scanrates passed my Accupel's test with flying colors.
The only thing I did to really change things on it after fully cleaning the optics, was to basically reverse his contrast and brightness settings.
He had left the brightness at 21. I found this to allow way too much haziness in the darks, so I took it down to 13. Much better. The blacks then clamped to black properly. Before, there was never a true black, there was always a filminess over the picture, rather than the true nature of movie film, which is to have the blacks clamp properly and disappear, wherever it should be fully black in the picture. It now clamps to black properly.
He had left the sm contrast at 22. Original factory setting is usually 36. IMHO, this 22 setting is not enough, and doesn't allow for a really punchy picture. He runs his user contrast at midpoint, which of course on a Mit is 80-90% up, which is fine by me, esp. on a 4 year old set. I left that alone as well, with all user settings centerpointed.
I put the contrast back to its original 36, took the brightness down to 13, left everything else at midpoint as usual after a cal, and the picture is now absolutely stunning. Leaps out at you.
We watched Gray's Anatomy on it tonight together - he, his wife and I - and several times during this hourlong event he commented on how dazzling the picture looks. He no longer considers the DLP downstairs the better set.
Craig Miller did incredible work, and left a legacy like nobody else in the calibration field when he retired. He was booked months in advance, deservedly so, and worked exclusively on Mits's.
But he has now retired.
I have not.
Please allow me to restore your Craig Miller set to its former glory. It is NOT worn out, and his grayscale and color decoding settings will probably need no redoing, presenting fleshtones like you would not believe.
I would recommend my br/contr settings in place of his, if this TV is any indication. And the optics cleaning.
But don't even THINK about replacing it! It would be a crime.
Mr Bob
PS - Even if you don't own a CraigM calibrated set, you might enjoy reading the results of a thread on this and other websites I started a little while ago entitled, "Don't dump your CRT RPTV!" It has had resounding response, and is quite fascinating reading, from all those who share my views on the subject.
I just completed a redo on a Craig Miller Mit, and the result is absolutely breathtaking. If any owners out there are contemplating replacing their set because it doesn't look the way Craig left it anymore, WAIT! Let me at it first.
The unit is a WS 65909, and is the centerpiece of its owner's home cinema, tricked out with M&K digital surround audio, in its own dedicated viewing room.
It's owner just bought a Panny 1080p DLP for his front room, and comparing the 2, found his Mit set really wanting in comparison. So he called me and got in on my current SoCal visit.
His optics were the primary problem. They were very dirty, as ALL CRT RPTV optics will be, after 4 years. The mirror as well. 30 KV of HV really does a number on the internal optics of ALL CRT RPTVs. Luckily enough, tho, Mit seals their lenses in there nice and tight, and he did not need the deeper optics cleaning, as Pioneer owners do.
I found his grayscale to be absolutely sound, even after 4 years. I changed the RCUT by one click, but a consumer would never know the difference. It was only to remove a small bit of overall redness in the darks, which completely disappears when color is present. I could have left it alone and nobody would have ever known the difference.
I found the same thing on the color decoding, changed absolutely nothing there, and both scanrates passed my Accupel's test with flying colors.
The only thing I did to really change things on it after fully cleaning the optics, was to basically reverse his contrast and brightness settings.
He had left the brightness at 21. I found this to allow way too much haziness in the darks, so I took it down to 13. Much better. The blacks then clamped to black properly. Before, there was never a true black, there was always a filminess over the picture, rather than the true nature of movie film, which is to have the blacks clamp properly and disappear, wherever it should be fully black in the picture. It now clamps to black properly.
He had left the sm contrast at 22. Original factory setting is usually 36. IMHO, this 22 setting is not enough, and doesn't allow for a really punchy picture. He runs his user contrast at midpoint, which of course on a Mit is 80-90% up, which is fine by me, esp. on a 4 year old set. I left that alone as well, with all user settings centerpointed.
I put the contrast back to its original 36, took the brightness down to 13, left everything else at midpoint as usual after a cal, and the picture is now absolutely stunning. Leaps out at you.
We watched Gray's Anatomy on it tonight together - he, his wife and I - and several times during this hourlong event he commented on how dazzling the picture looks. He no longer considers the DLP downstairs the better set.
Craig Miller did incredible work, and left a legacy like nobody else in the calibration field when he retired. He was booked months in advance, deservedly so, and worked exclusively on Mits's.
But he has now retired.
I have not.
Please allow me to restore your Craig Miller set to its former glory. It is NOT worn out, and his grayscale and color decoding settings will probably need no redoing, presenting fleshtones like you would not believe.
I would recommend my br/contr settings in place of his, if this TV is any indication. And the optics cleaning.
But don't even THINK about replacing it! It would be a crime.
Mr Bob
PS - Even if you don't own a CraigM calibrated set, you might enjoy reading the results of a thread on this and other websites I started a little while ago entitled, "Don't dump your CRT RPTV!" It has had resounding response, and is quite fascinating reading, from all those who share my views on the subject.