Hello all,

I have used DVE (SD) on regular CRTs and had no problems with the pattern in title 12, chapter 2 (DVE PLUGE w/Gray Scale). This is the pattern with the four-block gray ramp in the center and the three black stripes on either side. On my brother-in-law's brand new plasma (LG 50PC5D), I can't see the stripes on the sides no matter how high the white level (brightness) is turned up.

What's going on here? (Please excuse the newbieness of the question, too -- I couldn't find anything on this when searching the site!)

Could be many things but it appears that you player is not passing the below black bar or Blacker than Black BTB information to your display.

What is your connection from your DVD player to your display? Can you try an alternative connection like component?

Not sure if DVE SD has the 21 step gray pattern but you may want to look at it to see that all steps between video black and white are visible.

You may be just loosing the BTB and maybe also the WTW (Whiter than white) information. As long as you are not losing anything else then it may not be a problem although I think it is preferable to pass BTB and WTW. Typically you are not meant to see the BTB and WTW information.

You can still set your black levels to just where you still just slightly see the 2% black bar.

The connection is S-Video right now. Is your suggestion to set both the DVD player and the display to pass BTB? If so, I will have to check -- the terminology used for setting this (e.g. Black Level: Off/On) always confuses me.

Greetings

Check the DVD player to see if it has any picture controls. Brightness ... contrast ... etc.

Sometimes the brightness is set too low at default ... and has to be boosted to reveal BTB.

Regards

Which stripes are you missing? All 3? That would be a serious issue, because two of the stripes are above black, and you should definitely see those. the third stripe is below black and its not uncommon for that to get clipped, unfortunately.

However, you also said "no matter how high the white level (brightness) is turned up."

Brightness is black level, not white level. Contrast is white level. You want to be turning up the black level, which seems to be what you were doing you just had it confused. I would second michael's suggestions to check the dvd player settings and see what you can figure out there.

Chris, thanks for reading my post with more care than I used when I posted!

I indeed had been raising the black level to max and finding no stripes at all. I will try again and update the thread soon.

Trying to calibrate my 4275u with digitial video essentials. I am looking to hear from other people who have used this dvd.....
For adjusting brightness I found with the dark level set to dark the outside pattern lines were never visiable. Using it set to light I was able to bring it up and down to the right level.
I want the best most accurate picture possible. I thought it looked good with it set to dark but after using the dvd feel there is alot of contrast lost with it set on dark...i might be wrong...

My thought is that there is a possible loss of detail with it set to dark....

I hope there are a few people out there who have used this calibration DVD and have some opinions??

I am adjusting it until the inside stripe dissappears or is barely visible... Is this correct. The instructions are confusing??

from previous post....
With my black level set to dark I can see no stripes.
With it set to light I can see all three......... any help in using these tools correctly would help greatly....

I am adjusting it until the inside stripe dissappears or is barely visible... Is this correct. The instructions are confusing??

from previous post....
With my black level set to dark I can see no stripes.
With it set to light I can see all three......... any help in using these tools correctly would help greatly....

Then you should set it to light so you aren't clipping, and then adjust at your display from there. You should lower black level just to the point that the below-black bars are indistinguishable from black such that they blend into the black background and are no longer visible. The other two bars are above black and should remain visible. Setting this may vary with the APL of the pattern, so you may want to compromise towards detail or towards absolute black level depending on your preference.

I was liking the dark setting but always new it was not the most accurate.

After reading your post went back and readjusted with the light setting.
Turned brightness down untill all three stipes were gone which took me to minus four......

On the contrast adjustment I can never get any blooming to occurr. Should I be looking for somthin else as I stare at the white black and gray squares???

To clarify I took your compromise for detail to mean turning it down until all three bars are not visible....

And could still use any help you can give on the contrast setting......

Nono, you misunderstood. Two of those three stripes are above black and must remain visible. You should never lower black level such that you can't see those two above-black stripes, or your black level is depressed and you are clipping/crushing black detail and damaging the image.

What I meant was that there are several iterations of this pattern with a center area of gray at various %. This makes the average picture level of the pattern different depending on which version of the pattern you're looking at. Because most displays spill light, a pattern with a 100% square in the middle may obscure the dark pattern elements more, so if you adjust on that pattern to just get the below black bar to disappear, you may arrive at a slightly higher setting. Conversely if you adjust on a pattern with lower APL you may arrive at a slightly lower setting. Which you choose is a compromise that will weight your black level either towards better shadow detail, or better absolute black, depending.

But again, you always want to see the bars that are above black. Only the below-black stripe should be rendered not visible. If you can't see the above-black bars, you are throwing away shadow detail.

By the way, problem solved: changed the "Black Level" setting on the plasma display and all is well. There was no "Black Level" control on the DVD player; it is quite an old one. Thanks to everyone for their help!