Quote:
Originally Posted by AUPigskin-- /forum/post/0
I can't take credit for below, but it belongs in this tread...Folks lets PLEASE keep this thread for tweaks/tips only....thanks..
Thank you AUPigskin--
This setup list was written by KTTV Images. I have Edited the original list (shown above) in order to simplify and update the settings . The updated version follows and was Edited on March 6, 2006.
I intend for these setup instructions to be a guide for those who are looking for assistance in getting the best picture possible from their SXRD sets.
These settings have been tested on a 60 inch SXRD for several months, and for my eye resulted in an excellent picture (except for SD sources) using a large collection of TV show segments recorded on an HDTV DirecTV Tivo including off the air programs. Some of the suggestions will help reduce the "bluish -black" problem these sets can exhibit.
Note that two of the most outstanding image quality shows (these are shot using video cameras --no film used ) are the new CBS sitcoms "Out Of Practice" and "Courting Alex". Try them out out with these settings.
Incidentally, these are not "tweaks", these are simply the settings of the normal owner's adjustments provided on the Sony SXRD sets. (In my opinion, easily the best collection of accessible and valuable adjustments on any 1080p set I have seen so far).
KTTV Images
Since the TV sets these days are Digital there is a strong tendency for different sets of the same model to perform very much alike if they use the same settings. So these suggested settings should work on any of the new SXRD sets and look very similar to the results I see on my 60 inch SXRD.
Sorry, but there are 22 of these adjustments we need to set up.
Before you begin you must setup your room lighting the way you intend to use your set. This is critcal to the correct setup of the brightness and iris controls that follow. For the deepest blacks set the bulb power to "Reduced".
A. First thing to do before any settings are dialed in is to choose the PRO mode. This will turn off the vertical enhancment that is present in Standard mode and you may notice a distinct drop in picture brightness.
You should use PRO because it alone provides a number of special adjustment options not available to you in the other 2 modes.
Note; The following settings will be stored for each input #1-8. For example, this means that you will need to enter a complete set of the following settings if you were to use DVD inputs using the Component connection #4, do it all again if you use a DVD using an HDMI input connector on input #6, and all over again if you use a HDTV tuner at the 2nd HDMI input #7. All these settings are retained.
B. In the PRO mode the most likely good starting points for the various settings follows: These settings can be verified and then, if needed, modified by using, as a test source, your DVD player and Avia, Video essentials, or Digital Video Essentials test disks.
1. Iris: For bright daylight viewing set this to the highest setting. For evening viewing try 2. For a darkened room use 1. This setting will reduce the picture brightness in the brightest and most importantly the darkest areas of the image. Use of the lowest setting will help reduce the visibility of the bluish or purple colored blacks some sets seem to exhibit.
2. Picture: Set at the dot. In general I have found Sony's dot choices are pretty close to optimum if you are in the PRO Mode.
3. Brightness: Set at the Dot, or 4-5 clicks to the left of the Dot. This setting will depend on the source . The correct setting is where the blacks look black but where some detail is still visible in portions of the image just a bit brighter than black.
How to setup: For HDTV I suggest you look at the Tonight show with Jay Leno. Look for the darkest parts of the image--black looking. Now increase the brightness to see if there is any detail in those black parts of the image. If there is little detail in the dark image the camera thinks these areas really are near-black. Now reset the brightness control downward untill those dark areas are near or at black. That then is the correct seting of the brightness control for any HDTV show (HDTV pictures are under very good control).
4. Color: Set at the dot or 4-5 clicks to the left of the dot. Set the color intensity by looking at the skin coloring. Set for the most natural look.
5. Hue: Set at the dot.
6. Sharpness: Try the Dot or a setting near the middle of the scale. This control adjusts the amount of all the other 4 sharpness adjustments (like DRC, DTE etc.) applied to the picture.
Note that there are 5 different sharpness type adjustments available to you in the Pro mode, so adjustment of these 5 controls will be a challenge. However that said, the availability of these 5 adjustments are one of the nice thing about the Sony SXRD sets that puts them at the top of all the 1080p sets out there today. More about his later. Again you must be in the Pro mode to access most of these controls.
7. Color temperature: Use Warm. There is an Advanced adjustment available in the Pro mode that can be used to try to dial in a good uniform gray scale, but for now just chose Warm.
8. Noise reduction: Try Off. The SXRD sets have no visible internal noise. All noise comes from the sources. Therefore, generally you should not typically use noise reduction, on good-clean HD sources. Some poorly transferred DVD movies or noisy SD movies might benefit from some noise reduction and for these I suggest Low. For reference quality disks like "The 5th Element" turn it off.
Noise reduction is accomplished by averaging successive video frames. If motion occurs the moving portion will start to become blurred. This effect is most visible on the highest setting and is usually not noticeable on the Low setting.
9. Direct Mode: Off
10. Game mode: Off
11. Advanced:
Chose Advanced. Here is where the payoff for choosing Pro comes in.
The adjustments below are all found under the Advanced mode.
12. DRC mode: Chose CineMotion if it is available (with 480i and 1080i sources). This mode will apply reverse 3-2 pulldown required for all films ... this means Movies and all TV shows produced on film.
In this mode, if the source changes from film to Video (i.e. to live camera feeds like HDNet sports, The Tonight show on NBC, and David letterman on CBS) the Set will automatically drop the use of the reverse 3-2 pull down and process the image as a Video source. Note that if you leave this control in Mode 1 or 2 all Film shows will have interlace type artifacts. (You can test this by looking at the problems, when Cinemotion is not used with film, by looking at the beginning of the DVD - The Fifth Element -as the boy walks up the ramp into the temple.)
Opinion: These SXRD sets have a motion adaptive pixel based video deinterlacing capability appearing identical to the Qualia 70 inch sets.
SXRD sets passed the Video deinterlacing tests reported recently in Sound and Vision magazine. Mitsubishi 1080p sets did not
13. DRC Palette: This setting may be best at 0,0 , especilally for HDTV programs at 1080i. For DVD movies and SD at 480i chose Custom 3 and try setting the moving Dot with the 2 controls provided over the Sony Dot.
To reduce any possible motion smear introduced by the Clarity control you can reduce that level toward 0 (move the dot to the left side of the box). Raising or lowering the Reality control (up and down inside the box) will sharpen the picture but will increase the visibility of interlace and other artifacts.
Note that with HDTV 1080i sources this control will appear to make no difference, but in fact if you look very closely at, for example, Jay Leno's Tonight show you will see this control can increase the level of very very fine detail in the picture. Best settings for HDTV are at 0 or at the lower levels.
14. Bit smoother: Off
15. Advanced Iris: Set this to high. This will produce images with the deepest blacks.
16. Color Corrector: Try Off. Use ON if you prefer the way it looks.
17. DTE: Use low. This control adds detail or texture to the picture. By detail I mean clothing texture, Facial and hair detail. Detail does not mean edge enhancement.
18. Clear White: Off
19. Detail Enhancer: Use a setting of low. This control provides several different levels of edge enhancement--which if overused produces outlines around , for example, the edges of legs, picket fences, tree trunks and the tops of a distant mountain range.
Very little edge enhancement should be used for High definition images. That said if the picture looks too unsharp to you can add a little detail enhancement with the Texture (DTE ) control as described in #17 above. The goal with Movies is to achieve a natural smooth film look. This means we do not want the overly-sharp typical standard TV look.
20. Black Corrector: Off
21. Gamma Corrector: Usually Off. The setting of this control will vary with the nature of the source. If the picture looks dark -raise this control up 1 notch. Example use: Older Black-and- White movies often have a very high contrast look. This type of picture can be improved by increasing this Gamma contol setting. Note that the level of the black and peak-white areas of the picture are not affected by this control. Only the gray levels in-between are brightened.
22. White balance: For now leave these controls alone. They adjust the gray scale and the ability to do this is a big plus with the Sony XBR and Qualia sets. If you want to try adjusting for the best uniformity use these 2 rules:
The Gain adjustments affect the bright and White portions of the picture. The Bias adjustments control the dark and near-black portions of the picture.
Remember, you can always reset these controls back to the factory settings if you don't like the adjustments you have made.
Bluish black problem: You can reduce the amount of blue in the black levels by reducing the Blue Bias setting. This may also require reducing the 2 other bias settings to maintain black or neutral near black portion of the gray scale. If the bluish look is not too bad you may have success in reducing the problem to an acceptable level. The Gain controls may also then need a trim to keep the mid gray levels looking gray. These adjustments will not be useful to correct non-uniformity of color across the screen (i.e. the Green Blob problem).
So that's it. A lot of settings to play with. I hope these inputs will be helpful as a starting point.
Edited to simplify and update March 6, 2006
Enjoy.