So now that I've got the ToastyBarco reasonably focused, my biggest issue is that the gamma is *way* off. It's super, super dark toward the low end, and I can't seem to get it right onboard the PJ without turning blacks gray (which kind of defeats the purpose).

Is there a known way to do a rough levels calibration without a colorimeter like the Spyder?

I thought about it a bit and built a test image in photoshop which is kind of an extended version of usual gamma tests, which have a 50% gray solid and then a 50% on/off pattern; defocus your eyes (or monitor) and they should match. So I built one using diffusion dithering over ~10 levels, figuring I could defocus optically and adjust the levels in FFDShow so each bar matched up.

But I'm not sure whether that even would work in theory; it's just a guess.

The other stuff I've googled up is mainly about calibration of CRT direct view monitors for print work, which is very different and usually just says, "ZOMG yr color temps to hi lolol".

The funny bit is that the diffusion gamma ramp I built in photoshop suggests that i'm way too dark on my main CRT too, which I've suspected for a while anyway... :p

ToastyBarco / gamma is *way* off. It's super, super dark ( read the 1st word in this post )

Dont waste your time trying to calibrate a toster. Just make it as best as you can by eye and forget eveything else until you buy new tubes. You just wasting your time and youll have to do a clomplete reste anyway when and if you replace the tubes. You may wind up running the unit hard to get it to look good and blow some other electronics up over toates tubes, to me its not worth it.

For the moment, new tubes aren't an option. I'm keeping my ears to the ground and intend to replace the blue (and hopefully the green) absolutely as soon as possible, but 808s tubes are hard to find for anything approaching a cost I can afford. My best bet is to snap up somebody's roasted 808s that still has good tubes, but I have to wait and pounce. In the meantime I'd like to get some use out of it.

It's plenty bright on the *HIGH* end. In fact, with the room control I'll have (planning on flat paint, dark matte ceiling, dark carpeting, and complete ambient control) I doubt I'll need to run it at more than 40 contrast to have full whites at an acceptable level.

But the *gamma* is *way* off; I guess what I'm seeing is described as black crush although it's severe.

Basically, instead of a ramp like

00, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100,
I get
00, 00, 00, 05, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, 100.

...in perceived brightness. So the problem isn't that the PJ isn't physically capable of displaying anything in the spectrum, it's just not interpreting the signal correctly.

If, in software, I can set my levels so it compensates on the output end for the crush on the PJ's side, I'll lose color space resolution on the low end at the PJ (I'm guessing dark grays will be grainy or noisy, though probably not banded given 8 bits/channel) but at least I'll have dark grays.

The problem is also as bad with reds and greens as it is on the blue, so I'm pretty sure it's not the tubes, as the red tube is minty and the green at least a 7/10.

I've tried messing with it by eye in FFDShow, but the curve is complex enough that it's very difficult to eyeball it, which is why I'm wondering if there's a rule-of-thumb way to get reasonably close without spending a lot of time trying to figure out what's wrong when I don't know if I'm supposed to be seeing shadows in a scene or not anyway. :)

The standard method is:

1) Turn on the PJ and let it warm up while watching regular images.

2) Bring up a StairStep (aka Grey Ramp) test screen

3) Light only the Green CRT and adjust G2 until the second darkest bar is just distinguishable from the darkest.

4) Light only the Red CRT and adjust G2 until the second darkest bar is just distinguishable from the darkest.

5) Light only the Blue CRT and adjust G2 until the second darkest bar is just distinguishable from the darkest.

You may need to repeat a couple of times to get them balanced.

Then, light up all the CRT's while still displaying the StairStep pattern. Adjust the individual Drive controls for Green, Red, and Blue until the lightest bars are White and there is no tint in the middle bars as well.

This will get you in the ballpark.

My 2 cents