Hi,
BB is now offering calibration service at a reasonable price with a TV purchase.
I was told that the calibrators are BB employees that have had ISF training.
Does anyone have any experience with this service? In Ohio?
Right now, I'm told they have one guy for the entire state of Ohio and my appointment for my Pio 4280 isn't until the end of September.
I have since been referred to a good local calibrator and may decide to go with the local guy (even if he's a little more expensive) rather than risk the "unknown quantity".
Thanks,
--M--

Greetings

Ultimately, they do have some locations that will offer ISF calibration services, but most will offer a service somewhere in between.

Think of the concept of down selling.

Buy a TV ... they talk to you about $300 ISF calibration ... customer winces ...

Well if you can't afford or want to spend the $300 for that service level, we also provide a $150 service that gets you about 80-85% of what the $300 service gets you.

Rather than be presented with a $300 or nothing alternative ... they now have the middle choice.

BB is actually counting on people taking the middle choice rather than the full calibration.

The mid level calibration is in the same league as the SpyderTV pro calibration. A blue shirt need only follow instructions from the DVD and laptop and can calibrate the TV without even really know why he does what he does ...

Regards

Greetings

The mid level calibration is in the same league as the SpyderTV pro calibration. A blue shirt need only follow instructions from the DVD and laptop and can calibrate the TV without even really know why he does what he does ...

Regards

Thanks Michael, but I was led to believe that what I purchased will be the full "ISF" calibration. The salesperson said that their tech for Ohio has the big-buck calibration equipment. I was not offered a "mid level" option.
The brochure they hand out is rather vague but it does mention "ISF".
So I am just wondering if anyone has had any experience yet with them and if that experience was good and the tech actually knew what he was doing.
--M--

Thanks Michael, but I was led to believe that what I purchased will be the full "ISF" calibration. The salesperson said that their tech for Ohio has the big-buck calibration equipment. I was not offered a "mid level" option.
The brochure they hand out is rather vague but it does mention "ISF".
So I am just wondering if anyone has had any experience yet with them and if that experience was good and the tech actually knew what he was doing.
--M--

From what I have heard no BB or Magnolia has big-buck calibration equipment. They are using Sencore equipment which is a low cost filter based colorimeter. Big-buck is a PR-670 or Minolta CA-1000. Ask them the model of the equipment they are going to use. I would trust nothing other than some type of spetroradiometer.

From what I have heard no BB or Magnolia has big-buck calibration equipment. They are using Sencore equipment which is a low cost filter based colorimeter. Big-buck is a PR-670 or Minolta CA-1000. Ask them the model of the equipment they are going to use. I would trust nothing other than some type of spetroradiometer.

Thanks Jeff, I will ask them.
Will you be coming to the Cleveland area anytime soon??
--M--

Thanks Jeff, I will ask them.
Will you be coming to the Cleveland area anytime soon??
--M--

I will be in Cleveland in December. My service is also as much focused on audio as video. I do not work on video alone outside of Houston.

I will be in Cleveland in December. My service is also as much focused on audio as video. I do not work on video alone outside of Houston.

Cool!...understood Jeff, I am an audio engineer so will not need that part of your service. I will PM you.
--M--

Cool!...understood Jeff, I am an audio engineer so will not need that part of your service. I will PM you.
--M--

There is no reason to. I will not work on video alone outside of Houston.

I tried replying to your PM and I cannot send you any. I would suggest you look at www.accucalhd.com/pricing.htm along with other areas of my website for the information you requested.

I tried replying to your PM and I cannot send you any. I would suggest you look at www.accucalhd.com/pricing.htm along with other areas of my website for the information you requested.

Thanks Jeff,
Will do.
--M--

Greetings,

Be very wary of the mass market, large store, calibrators as they are often ill equipped, as mentioned above, and do not perform a full calibration service. I have witnessed their calibration skills on several occasions with their results being sub-par all around.

Good Pictures! :)

Dave

BB/Mag uses the Sencore5000 I believe, I'll check the next time I go into work.

Greetings,

Be very wary of the mass market, large store, calibrators as they are often ill equipped, as mentioned above, and do not perform a full calibration service. I have witnessed their calibration skills on several occasions with their results being sub-par all around.

Good Pictures! :)

Dave

Thanks Dave,
It sounds like I should cancel the BB calibration appointment. I don't want to take a chance of having them screw up my 4280.
--M--

BB/Mag uses the Sencore5000 I believe, I'll check the next time I go into work.
Thanks Kampfer,
If this is the $10k Sencore, is it really that bad?
A local calibrator that was recommended to me has the $10k Sencore and actually charges less than BB.
Wouldn't the experience and skill of the calibrator outweigh the equipment as long as that equipment meets a certain level of accuracy?
What is it about the $20k equipment that makes the $10k Sencore equipment a problem?
This is really getting confusing!
Thanks,
--M--

Greetings

It's a combination of experience and equipment.

for your case ... a pioneer plasma set ... any basic probe device down to a Spyder probe will work on this thing. Be it
$20K in gear or $200 ... it all reads the same for this technology.

The only down side is that Pioneer Electronics frowns on professional calibration for their non-elite sets. This will void the warranty on the TV. It is considered by them to be hacking.

Regards

Greetings

It's a combination of experience and equipment.

for your case ... a pioneer plasma set ... any basic probe device down to a Spyder probe will work on this thing. Be it
$20K in gear or $200 ... it all reads the same for this technology.

The only down side is that Pioneer Electronics frowns on professional calibration for their non-elite sets. This will void the warranty on the TV. It is considered by them to be hacking.

Regards

Hold up are you saying if I get a calibration on my Pioneer PDP-5080HD I will void my warranty?

Greetings

Pioneer's policy on the regular line is ... you enter the service menu area for what ever reason ... "and we find out" ... we void your warranty.

So you know what that means. :)

Regards

You know, this whole calibration issue really is ridiculous if you think about it.

These brand new, expensive devices should not have to be "calibrated".

Wouldn't it be a lot better if the TV manufacturers actually shipped the sets with ONE preset that was set up properly to begin with??

Would it kill them to at least have ONE good ISF calibration done on a prototype of each model and then incorporate those settings as a "CAL" or "Reference" preset in production units?

I mean, these are DIGITAL sets we are talking about here with software controls, not CRT's that differed a lot more from unit to unit and needed expensive, labor intensive analog setup for every unit.

Does anyone know if thee really is enough variation in the panels that each unit needs its own factory tweaking?

Its almost as if the manufacturers are screwing the sets up intentionally.

Is this whole thing done to "out torch" the competition on the sales floor?

Are they actually setting up the sets whereby proper performance is unattainable with the user settings just to get another 10 ft lamberts out of them for the big-box showroom?

If so, that is unacceptable and we should demand better.

Would you buy a brand new car with an engine that was intentionally tuned to hesitate unless you paid $500 to have it "calibrated" by a special mechanic?

Of course not. Then why are we accepting sub-standard out-of-the-box performance from the TV manufacturers?

Sorry for the rant,

--M--

factory calibrations can get within 10% - and cannot account for PJ screens, and you still need basic adjustments for your sources. The interesting thing is those who seek out the good factory calibrations - are enough of a videophile to get that last 10%!

These are not digital systems - they are optical systems with a digital front end. Individual lamps vary in color temperature and with age, while RGB filters have QA tolerances. LCOS/LCD panels are in fact analog driven and there can be variations there. HDMI over a DLP is your only pure digital signal - modulated of course by optical lamps/filters.

Greetings

It's not substandard out of the box. It gives you the picture quality that sold you on the TV in the showroom in the first place.

The marketing of a TV has nothing to do with delivering accurate images. It has everything to do with selling TVs.

Calibration of a TV is like tuning a piano in your home. Why don't pianos come tuned from the factory? Why should I have to pay someone to tune it?

A proper calibration calibrates the TV to the environment. Your environment. Not the environment of a factory floor.

And it won't cost you anywhere close to $500 to get it calibrated. $250-300 is more like it.

Calibrated TVs do not sell on showroom floors. They are the only TVs that look wrong.

A plasma set like you have comes with a mode that is closer than others. You just have to figure that part out. Read the instruction manual. (Although is practice, it may be close or far off ... who knows.)

Regards

Thanks Kampfer,
If this is the $10k Sencore, is it really that bad?
A local calibrator that was recommended to me has the $10k Sencore and actually charges less than BB.
Wouldn't the experience and skill of the calibrator outweigh the equipment as long as that equipment meets a certain level of accuracy?
What is it about the $20k equipment that makes the $10k Sencore equipment a problem?
This is really getting confusing!
Thanks,
--M--

That's correct. It's about $10K worth of equipment. That's why few stores offer it currently. Installer experience level plays a large factor. We have a certain installer that I wouldn't let anywhere near my stuff, and it's not like I have anything particularly nice.