I'm renting a place in Florida for a couple months and the only display is CRT. As an enthusiast I need HD so I went down to HH Gregg and picked up a Haier 40D3505 for $250 on sale. For an inexpensive TV the picture with factory settings was watchable especially because flesh tones didn't look too bad. As a calibrator, though, I put a meter on the screen, found several fixable problems, and that is what this thread is about.
Here it is the day I brought it home.
I can't speak for all Haiers as this is the first one I've adjusted, but, the User Menu is both very poorly designed, AND, very poorly implemented. There is no LED Backlight luminance control, no Gamma presets, and the Tint control is grayed out. Futhermore, the only adjustments you can make are in Picture Mode > User. If you try and adjust any other mode, as soon as you change one item, one setting, the mode automatically switches to User and all settings in the User mode are reset to mimic the other mode you started with.
This is astronomically bad implementation. The Chinese are going to have to come around to the rest of the world's way of thinking.
There is but one answer: Adjust the settings in the Service Menu. I know I know I know. Don't be phobic. Just do what I tell you, (NOTHING MORE), and all will be good with the world.
Here's how you get in and out of the Service Menu:
Post number 2 will show you what needs to be adjusted, my settings, and my results graphically.
Use Picture Mode > User for night viewing (32.5 foot Lamberts) and Picture Mode > Normal for day viewing (48.3 fL). This is what the settings will look like in the User Menu after the settings have been entered in the Service Menu. NOTE: Both User and Normal have these same basic settings.
Enter the Service Menu
GOTO Picture > Picture Mode and enter the following settings.
At this point, all subsequent setting will fall under Picture Mode > User
Back out using the "Menu" button.
GOTO Picture > White Balance and enter the following settings:
Back out. Select Panel Setting >Backlight You are still in Picture Mode > User so set the Backlight at about 69 for night viewing. Later, when you're adjusting Picture Mode > Normal you will set the Backlight to 100.
Back out. GOTO General Settings and turn off Dynamic Contrast if it is on.
Back out. GOTO Picture Mode and change User to Normal
Adjust the Normal Setting same as User except make the Backlight 100.
Get out of the Service Menu by pressing either Exit or Menu (2 or 3 times).
That's it.
Remember if you make any adjustments in the User Menu in any Picture Mode other than User you're going to be kicking yourself in the butt!!!!!
Here are my results:
Grayscale
75% Saturation Color Gamut
Gamma - sorry, the Green line is all you get. If you're curious as to how I got the Blue line you'll have to look here.
Hi, great information. In your second post, few of the pictures are broken. Can you re-upload those pictures? I picked this TV up from Costco over the holidays and the factory settings are just horrible
First off thanks for the info and calibration results. Surprised a tv this cheap can achieve such good results.
One thing I was wondering is if you have any info about contrast ratio and/or black and white levels. Was thinking of buying this tv, but its hard to find any info on these lesser known brands.
You'll notice that my Haier was only capable of 48+ foot Lamberts with the Contrast control properly set to avoid high end clipping and the Backlight set to max. That's all it can do but it's good enough for day time viewing. I didn't measure 0% black to get On/Off and ANSI contrast figures as the MLL (minimum light level) is not very good so I didn't bother. To put it simply, there are no contrast bragging rights.
You can get the free AVSHD calibration disc here. With it you can precisely set Brightness and Contrast for your particular TV. Don't forget to download the Patterns Manual from the same page. It will give you all the information you need.
I found something that is really annoying about this TV. Every time I change input source or even change resolution, the overscan settings (in factory mode) resets! Anyone found a way to make overscan settings permanent? Or disable overscan altogether?
Mine does the same exact thing, but not every time. When flipping from HDMI1 to VGA, the screen is overscanned and/or moved to left by ~100 pixels etc. A simple power off/on solves the issue, but is indeed annoying.
You have good knowledge about these tv's. I was trying to reset the clock using the factory settings and I entered an aging mode. Now all it does is change colors. Any ideas?
Night and day difference! Bought this unit from Costco a few days ago. Was about to make the trip to return it, but after doing the changes above, made the WORLD of a difference!
The only issue I have now is the overscan. I set it to 0/0/0/0 but it doesn't seem to want to save this preset. I can't be entering in this overscan manually every time I turn the thing on. If it isn't able to save this overscan setting, I might have to return it
Any ideas on how to fix that? Awesome job by the way with this calibration post. Will benefit many people!
wondering if anyone tried these settings with the 65 inch haier tv? thinking about making these changes for it but noticed this thread is referring to a smaller model
I recently purchased the 55E5500U. Many of the menu items are greyed out including the time and date. Can this be addressed through the factory menu? I would like to reset the TV for the "initial start-up menu" i.e. the fist power on setup. There is an item in the Factory Menu named "shipping init". If select the submenu asks "Are you sure? no Yes" I have not been brave enough to select yes
Anytime you enter the Service Menu you run the risk of permanently bricking your tv. There are folks who have braved the SM trying to enable/disable certain features and have been successful, but settings can vary between firmware versions so what works on one tv, even the exact same model, might not work as expected on another tv.
Did you purchase this tv new or used? If used, maybe the previous owner was messing with the SM and that's why you are experiencing issues.
The TV is new. The firmware is very similar to the 40D3505. I was able to use Buzzard767 instructions and my Color Spyder to calibrate the TV. Just curious about the SHIP INIT
I was simply trying to set the time and date. The menu option was 'greyed out" (unaccessible). I did not plan on using the ASTC tuner. Luckily I hooked an antenna to the TV and it automatically updated the date and time presumably from the ASTC signal. Problem solved.
Wow! What a difference! I bought 2 very cheap 720p haier tv (like 100$ each at walmart) for a custom arcade project 2 years ago and picture was so fake and over sharpened. I thought it was because the tv was too cheap but after applying your setting and having sharpen down to 0. Woah! What a difference it makes. Thanks a lot! it's really appreciated!
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