Greetings! I have a PS3 connected to my Hitachi 51F500 Rear Projection CRT via HDMI cables and had a question after using the Digital Video Essentials setup disc (Blu-ray version pushed back to '08... dangit!)

I'm using their color bar reference screen and have been able to setup the blue and red so the required boxes match the background using both the provided filter and also by turning off all other channels directly through the set. My confusion stems from the different boxes for blue and red being essentially the same color. For example, when I use the red filter the red and magenta boxes are essentially the same color. When I use the green filter the cyan and yellow patches aren't even close to one another. Perhaps I misunderstand what they mean by 'green intensity'?

Per DVE "If the Green intensity in the cyan patches and yellow patches match when observed through the filter, decoding in the green direction is accurate. If there is a difference in intensity the decoder is not functioning properly."

Anyone have any thoughts? I've been reading various threads for the past few days and couldn't find an answer so I thought I'd try posting. Thanks for your help!

Since the color you see thru the filter is only green - that means the blue in Cyan is blocked and the red in Yellow is blocked. You cannot see hues - they do not exist. All you are seeing is that the amount of green in Yellow and the amount of green in Cyan are not the same - but they should be if your grayscale is balanced to D65 and your color decoder is correct and you have balanced the tint control with the blue filter already. Is your display recognizing your source as SD and using SD decoding or is it doing HD decoding? This is often the cause of green decoding errors.

I've balanced the tint control with the blue filter and am wondering if there's something strange going on with the decoder. This might be a stupid question, but how would I tell if my display is using SD decoding or HD decoding?

Experience reading the patterns and using the filters. Someone once posted pics of improper decoding which will help gain experience.

Some displays will report what they think they are decoding...

My TV allows me to 'Set User Colors' (Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Green, Yellow, and Red) and I found I was able to match everything up by adjusting a color individually and then going back and looking at the reference screen using the appropriate filter. I watched a movie last night and the colors looked pretty good... is this a valid technique or simply an easy work around for a non-techie?

Depends if it is a calibration control or marketing feature. Some TVs let you make green grass purple- which is obviously not a calibration feature.

You need full gamut test patterns (DisplayMate on PC or AVIA PRO) in order to see if color adjustments are properly changing gamut/decoding - or just changing the test pattern colors only.

... And of course the green filter is almost certainly of little use due to "leakiness." Turn off red and blue on the set (if you can) for an accurate evaluation.