[Helpful references:
Main threads for the 2006-2007 models (xx731, xx732, xx831):
General: 2007 Mitsubishi WD-XX73X and XX831 Owner's Thread
xx731: 2007 Mitsubishi WD-57731 and WD-65731 Owner's Thread
xx732: 2007 Mitsubishi 732 series Owner's Thread (57732, 65732, 73732)
xx831: 2007 Mitsubishi 57” and 65” 831 Owner's Thread [NO PRICE TALK]
Main threads for the 2007-2008 models (xx733, xx734, xx833):
xx733: Official 2007-2008 Mitsubishi WD-**733 DLP
xx734: Official Mitsubishi WD-XX734 Owner's Thread
xx833: Official Mitsubishi WD XX833 Owners Thread ]
I will continuously update this post with my recommended settings and tweaks. There is a FAQ at the end of this post that covers such things as how to make service menu changes.
Be advised that neither my settings, nor anyone else's settings, are necessarily the best for you, for the following reasons:
1. Differences between personal preferences.
2. Differences in lighting conditions
3. Differences from one set to another (especially lamps--yes, a new lamp should mean a new ISF calibration)
4. Differerences between broadcasters, networks, cable companies and satellite services.
5. Differences between set top boxes and between DVD players.
In subsequent posts, I and others provide the original factory settings for the red, green and blue gain parameters in the service menu. Based on the degree of difference observed between the factory settings for RGB gain, it is obvious that the sets vary from each other more than a little (hence requiring substantially different RGB gan parameter values.)
Unfortunately, the optimal settings for brightness, contrast and color intensity depend in no small measure on both the color temperature and the grayscale (both of which are controlled by the RGB gain and RGB bias settings in the service menu.) The inescapable conclusion is that the best user-level settings for one set may differ than those for another, unless both sets have the same grayscale and color temperature.
Absent a professional calibration, the only workable option is to use the same RGB gain settings on all sets that will share the same user-level settings. Although that is far from perfect, as long as the RGB gain values are correct for the set on which they were originally derived, and also happen to be close to the values that are on-average correct for all the sets of the same make and model, it often produces a pretty good result that should at least be acceptable until a professional ISF calibration can be performed (but often does not mean always--and you may not be one of the lucky ones.)
Bottom line: One person's settings should be seen as a starting point that helps others more quickly arrive at settings that work best for them.
Sourcery's WD-xx831 Settings:
The user-level settings I provide below are optimized for my personal preferences and lighting conditions, and for the characteristics of my set's electronics, light engine and lamp. They are also optimized for my current RGB gain parameter values (as set in the service menu, and mostly as recommended by forum member j jnelson2000 and listed below.) In other words, the optimal settings for your set and for your viewing conditions will probably be different, but may not be too far different than the ones below. I provide my preferred settings on the theory that, on average, the typical variation between sets, viewing conditions and viewing preferences are not all that great. But that assumption doesn't always hold.
Update: My set developed the infamous halo ("blooming") problem. For now, that has been fixed by replacing the original light engine with a new one. There are two interesting facts about the new light engine: 1) The set looks better than it ever did, with absolutely inky blacks; and 2) I had to lower the contrast and raise the brightness (and the brightness had to be raised higher than would have ever been good with the original light engine.) The moral of this story should be obvious: There is non-trivial variation between sets of the same year, make and model as to which settings are optimal. The settings offered here may need to be tweaked to get you the best picture on your particular set.
Picture Mode: Natural
[The "picture mode" sets the auto-iris, and I believe it may also change the contrast and/or gamma. The three modes are Natural, Bright and Brilliant. Contrast, brightness and color temperature must be set independently for each picture mode, all other settings are shared among the three picture modes]
Color Temperature: Low
Brightness: 35 (jnelson2000 recommends 31)
Contrast: 48 (jnelson2000 recommends 46)
Deep Field Imager: Off
Color: 31
Tint: 31 (Factory Default)
Video Noise: HD=Low/Medium; SD=Off (this is important)
Sharp Edge: OFF--if it's on, you may get severe artifcating when watching interlaced signals (480i, 1080i.)
Perfect Color: Factory Defaults, except for the following:
..Magenta: 30
..Red: 26
..Green: 39
..Cyan: 38
Perfect Tint: Factory Defaults, exept for the following:
..Magenta: 61
..Yellow: 20
..Green: 63
..Cyan: 43
Service Menu Settings (The procedure for making service menu changes is explained in the FAQ at the end of this post)
6. GGL -1020
7. GRL - 1050
8. GBL - 915
Change log:
2007-10-13T23:07:00-0700:
....Changed contrast from 38 to 48
....Changed color from 27 to 31
2007-06-24T13:44:00-0700:
....Changed Brightness from 34 to 35 (Reason: additional fine-tuning for new light engine)
....Changed color from 29 to 27 (Reason: additional fine-tuning for new light engine)
2007-06-17T15:10:00-0700:
....Changed Contrast from 46 to 32 (Reason: new light engine)
....Changed Brightness from 27 to 34 (Reason: new light engine)
....Changed color from 26 to 29
2006-11-14T17:18:00-0800:
....Changed Contrast from 40 to 46
....Changed Color from 28 to 26
....Changed SharpEdge to off for SD--and added reason why
2006-11-06T22:58:00-0800:
....Changed to jnelson2000's settings (with a few differences, as noted above)
....Changed 6.GGL from 911 to 1020
....Changed 7.GRL from 990 to 1050
....Changed 8.GBL from 798 to 915
....Changed Contrast from 34 to 40 (jnelson2000 recommends 46)
....Changed Color from 20 to 28 (jnelson2000 recommends 31)
....Changed PerfectColor->Magenta from 31 to 30
....Changed PefectColor->Red from 31 to 26
....Changed PerfectColor->Green from 31 to 39
....Changed PerfectColor->Cyan from 31 to 38
....Changed PerfectTint->Magenta from 37 to 61
....Changed PerfectTint->Red from 31 to 26
....Changed PerfectTint->Yellow from 27 to 20
....Changed PerfectTint->Green from 31 to 63
....Changed PerfectTint->Cyan from 33 to 43
2006-10-20T21:07:00-0700:
....Changed PerfectTint->Magenta from 34 to 37
....Changed PerfectTint->Yellow from 28 to 27
....Changed PerfectTint->Cyan from 31 to 33
....Changed PerfectTint->Red from 34 to 31
2006-10-14T12:48:00-0700:
....Changed Video Noise to different values for HD and SD
....Changed SharpEdge to different values for HD and SD
2006-10-12T20:45:00-0700:
....Changed brightness from 31-33 to 30-32
....Changed color from 22 to 20
....Changed PerfectTint->Red from 23 to 34
....Changed VideoNoise from Off to Medium
2006-10-10T10:25:00-0700:
....Changed RGB gain parameter values in the service menu to those recommended by JKohn
....Changed brightness from 28-30 to 31-33
....Changed contrast from 40 to 34
....Changed color from 23 to 22
....Changed PerfectTint->Magenta from 36 to 34
....Changed PerfectTint->Red from 31 to 23
....Changed VideoNoise from Off to Medium
2006-10-08T16:42:00-0700:
....Changed contrast from 44 to 40.
2006-10-08T14:49:00-0700:
....Changed color from 24 to 23.
2006-10-08T12:48:00-0700:
....Changed brightness from 28 to a range, based on lighting conditions.
....Changed PerfectTint->Magenta from 40 to 36, and PerfectTint->Yellow from 24 to 28. The initial values overcompenstated for the red push.
Methodology:
I use Digital Video Essentials to set brightness, contrast and sharpness.
In the absence of the requisite equipment, I use my own judgement to set color and hue. The DVE color/hue setting procedure apparently depends upon an accurate grayscale/color temperature, which my set does not yet have.
My goals in tweaking the picture settings are as follows:
1. Make the picture look as real and natural as possible. I look at the real world, observe how things really look, and try to make the picture on the TV look like that.
2. Blacks should be black, but details of the picture should not be obscured. The sense of depth should be maximized.
3. Minimize artifacts, pixelation, macroblocking, ringing, noise, white crush and black crush.
Pictures:
FAQ:
Video Input signals:
Connection: {VerticalRes [p | i] frames-per-second}
HDMI: 480i60, 480p60, 720p60, 1080i60, 1080p24, 1080p30, 1080p60
Firewire: 480i60, 480p60, 720p60, 1080i60, 1080p24, 1080p30, 1080p60
DVI-I: 480p60, 600p60, 720p60, 768p60, 1024p60, 1080p24, 1080p30, 1080p60
Component: 480i60, 480p60, 720p60, 1080i60
Video/S-Video: 480i60
HDMI is supported at version 1.2a
Calibration Reports:
Jeff Meier (UMR):
....WD-xx831 (TV belonging to AVS Forum Member Midnite1971):
........ WD-65831 Calibration Report.pdf
........ WD-65831 Initial Tristimulus.pdf
........ WD-65831 Final Tristimulus.pdf
....WD-xx732 (TV belonging to AVS Forum Member Cap'n PreShoot):
........ WD-65732 Calibration Report.pdf
........ WD-65732 Initial Tristimulus.pdf
........ WD-65732 Final Tristimulus.pdf
TV Calibration Articles & Resources:
The Service Menu
Service menu settings are universal across all inputs.
WARNING: Write down all defaults if you are going to change anything. Do not change anything you don't understand. Changing some of the settings may permanently damage your TV, or make it impossible to see any picture at all (so that no one would ever be able to see what was happening on the screen so that they could fix the problem using the service menu.)
According to UMR (Jeff Meier,) who is a professional ISF calibrator, "...in the past if you happened to press PIP while in the SM the memory was hosed and would need to be reset by a factory download. Who knows what little gems are present in this model that can cause your display to go south."
To enter the service menu, press the following keys in sequence on the remote: MENU 2 4 5 7
To see the video test patterns: fast forward, rewind
To scroll through the options, press the VIDEO key.
To change the values, press the UP or DOWN buttons.
To save a change, press the ENTER button.
To exit without saving, just press the EXIT button.
Main threads for the 2006-2007 models (xx731, xx732, xx831):
General: 2007 Mitsubishi WD-XX73X and XX831 Owner's Thread
xx731: 2007 Mitsubishi WD-57731 and WD-65731 Owner's Thread
xx732: 2007 Mitsubishi 732 series Owner's Thread (57732, 65732, 73732)
xx831: 2007 Mitsubishi 57” and 65” 831 Owner's Thread [NO PRICE TALK]
Main threads for the 2007-2008 models (xx733, xx734, xx833):
xx733: Official 2007-2008 Mitsubishi WD-**733 DLP
xx734: Official Mitsubishi WD-XX734 Owner's Thread
xx833: Official Mitsubishi WD XX833 Owners Thread ]
I will continuously update this post with my recommended settings and tweaks. There is a FAQ at the end of this post that covers such things as how to make service menu changes.
Be advised that neither my settings, nor anyone else's settings, are necessarily the best for you, for the following reasons:
1. Differences between personal preferences.
2. Differences in lighting conditions
3. Differences from one set to another (especially lamps--yes, a new lamp should mean a new ISF calibration)
4. Differerences between broadcasters, networks, cable companies and satellite services.
5. Differences between set top boxes and between DVD players.
In subsequent posts, I and others provide the original factory settings for the red, green and blue gain parameters in the service menu. Based on the degree of difference observed between the factory settings for RGB gain, it is obvious that the sets vary from each other more than a little (hence requiring substantially different RGB gan parameter values.)
Unfortunately, the optimal settings for brightness, contrast and color intensity depend in no small measure on both the color temperature and the grayscale (both of which are controlled by the RGB gain and RGB bias settings in the service menu.) The inescapable conclusion is that the best user-level settings for one set may differ than those for another, unless both sets have the same grayscale and color temperature.
Absent a professional calibration, the only workable option is to use the same RGB gain settings on all sets that will share the same user-level settings. Although that is far from perfect, as long as the RGB gain values are correct for the set on which they were originally derived, and also happen to be close to the values that are on-average correct for all the sets of the same make and model, it often produces a pretty good result that should at least be acceptable until a professional ISF calibration can be performed (but often does not mean always--and you may not be one of the lucky ones.)
Bottom line: One person's settings should be seen as a starting point that helps others more quickly arrive at settings that work best for them.
Sourcery's WD-xx831 Settings:
The user-level settings I provide below are optimized for my personal preferences and lighting conditions, and for the characteristics of my set's electronics, light engine and lamp. They are also optimized for my current RGB gain parameter values (as set in the service menu, and mostly as recommended by forum member j jnelson2000 and listed below.) In other words, the optimal settings for your set and for your viewing conditions will probably be different, but may not be too far different than the ones below. I provide my preferred settings on the theory that, on average, the typical variation between sets, viewing conditions and viewing preferences are not all that great. But that assumption doesn't always hold.
Update: My set developed the infamous halo ("blooming") problem. For now, that has been fixed by replacing the original light engine with a new one. There are two interesting facts about the new light engine: 1) The set looks better than it ever did, with absolutely inky blacks; and 2) I had to lower the contrast and raise the brightness (and the brightness had to be raised higher than would have ever been good with the original light engine.) The moral of this story should be obvious: There is non-trivial variation between sets of the same year, make and model as to which settings are optimal. The settings offered here may need to be tweaked to get you the best picture on your particular set.
Picture Mode: Natural
[The "picture mode" sets the auto-iris, and I believe it may also change the contrast and/or gamma. The three modes are Natural, Bright and Brilliant. Contrast, brightness and color temperature must be set independently for each picture mode, all other settings are shared among the three picture modes]
Color Temperature: Low
Brightness: 35 (jnelson2000 recommends 31)
Contrast: 48 (jnelson2000 recommends 46)
Deep Field Imager: Off
Color: 31
Tint: 31 (Factory Default)
Video Noise: HD=Low/Medium; SD=Off (this is important)
Sharp Edge: OFF--if it's on, you may get severe artifcating when watching interlaced signals (480i, 1080i.)
Perfect Color: Factory Defaults, except for the following:
..Magenta: 30
..Red: 26
..Green: 39
..Cyan: 38
Perfect Tint: Factory Defaults, exept for the following:
..Magenta: 61
..Yellow: 20
..Green: 63
..Cyan: 43
Service Menu Settings (The procedure for making service menu changes is explained in the FAQ at the end of this post)
6. GGL -1020
7. GRL - 1050
8. GBL - 915
Change log:
2007-10-13T23:07:00-0700:
....Changed contrast from 38 to 48
....Changed color from 27 to 31
2007-06-24T13:44:00-0700:
....Changed Brightness from 34 to 35 (Reason: additional fine-tuning for new light engine)
....Changed color from 29 to 27 (Reason: additional fine-tuning for new light engine)
2007-06-17T15:10:00-0700:
....Changed Contrast from 46 to 32 (Reason: new light engine)
....Changed Brightness from 27 to 34 (Reason: new light engine)
....Changed color from 26 to 29
2006-11-14T17:18:00-0800:
....Changed Contrast from 40 to 46
....Changed Color from 28 to 26
....Changed SharpEdge to off for SD--and added reason why
2006-11-06T22:58:00-0800:
....Changed to jnelson2000's settings (with a few differences, as noted above)
....Changed 6.GGL from 911 to 1020
....Changed 7.GRL from 990 to 1050
....Changed 8.GBL from 798 to 915
....Changed Contrast from 34 to 40 (jnelson2000 recommends 46)
....Changed Color from 20 to 28 (jnelson2000 recommends 31)
....Changed PerfectColor->Magenta from 31 to 30
....Changed PefectColor->Red from 31 to 26
....Changed PerfectColor->Green from 31 to 39
....Changed PerfectColor->Cyan from 31 to 38
....Changed PerfectTint->Magenta from 37 to 61
....Changed PerfectTint->Red from 31 to 26
....Changed PerfectTint->Yellow from 27 to 20
....Changed PerfectTint->Green from 31 to 63
....Changed PerfectTint->Cyan from 33 to 43
2006-10-20T21:07:00-0700:
....Changed PerfectTint->Magenta from 34 to 37
....Changed PerfectTint->Yellow from 28 to 27
....Changed PerfectTint->Cyan from 31 to 33
....Changed PerfectTint->Red from 34 to 31
2006-10-14T12:48:00-0700:
....Changed Video Noise to different values for HD and SD
....Changed SharpEdge to different values for HD and SD
2006-10-12T20:45:00-0700:
....Changed brightness from 31-33 to 30-32
....Changed color from 22 to 20
....Changed PerfectTint->Red from 23 to 34
....Changed VideoNoise from Off to Medium
2006-10-10T10:25:00-0700:
....Changed RGB gain parameter values in the service menu to those recommended by JKohn
....Changed brightness from 28-30 to 31-33
....Changed contrast from 40 to 34
....Changed color from 23 to 22
....Changed PerfectTint->Magenta from 36 to 34
....Changed PerfectTint->Red from 31 to 23
....Changed VideoNoise from Off to Medium
2006-10-08T16:42:00-0700:
....Changed contrast from 44 to 40.
2006-10-08T14:49:00-0700:
....Changed color from 24 to 23.
2006-10-08T12:48:00-0700:
....Changed brightness from 28 to a range, based on lighting conditions.
....Changed PerfectTint->Magenta from 40 to 36, and PerfectTint->Yellow from 24 to 28. The initial values overcompenstated for the red push.
Methodology:
I use Digital Video Essentials to set brightness, contrast and sharpness.
In the absence of the requisite equipment, I use my own judgement to set color and hue. The DVE color/hue setting procedure apparently depends upon an accurate grayscale/color temperature, which my set does not yet have.
My goals in tweaking the picture settings are as follows:
1. Make the picture look as real and natural as possible. I look at the real world, observe how things really look, and try to make the picture on the TV look like that.
2. Blacks should be black, but details of the picture should not be obscured. The sense of depth should be maximized.
3. Minimize artifacts, pixelation, macroblocking, ringing, noise, white crush and black crush.
Pictures:
FAQ:
Video Input signals:
Connection: {VerticalRes [p | i] frames-per-second}
HDMI: 480i60, 480p60, 720p60, 1080i60, 1080p24, 1080p30, 1080p60
Firewire: 480i60, 480p60, 720p60, 1080i60, 1080p24, 1080p30, 1080p60
DVI-I: 480p60, 600p60, 720p60, 768p60, 1024p60, 1080p24, 1080p30, 1080p60
Component: 480i60, 480p60, 720p60, 1080i60
Video/S-Video: 480i60
HDMI is supported at version 1.2a
Calibration Reports:
Jeff Meier (UMR):
....WD-xx831 (TV belonging to AVS Forum Member Midnite1971):
........ WD-65831 Calibration Report.pdf
........ WD-65831 Initial Tristimulus.pdf
........ WD-65831 Final Tristimulus.pdf
....WD-xx732 (TV belonging to AVS Forum Member Cap'n PreShoot):
........ WD-65732 Calibration Report.pdf
........ WD-65732 Initial Tristimulus.pdf
........ WD-65732 Final Tristimulus.pdf
TV Calibration Articles & Resources:
- "Steaming Rat," or "Rich's Method For Achieving A More Realistic Image..."
- BAD VIDEO, GOOD VIDEO
- Avical's DVE user-level video calibration tutorial
- Avia Explained by Guy Kuo
- Joe Kane Productions: Digital Video Essentials
- MPEG-2 Transport Stream Test Patterns and Tools
- ISF: The Imaging Science Foundation
The Service Menu
Service menu settings are universal across all inputs.
WARNING: Write down all defaults if you are going to change anything. Do not change anything you don't understand. Changing some of the settings may permanently damage your TV, or make it impossible to see any picture at all (so that no one would ever be able to see what was happening on the screen so that they could fix the problem using the service menu.)
According to UMR (Jeff Meier,) who is a professional ISF calibrator, "...in the past if you happened to press PIP while in the SM the memory was hosed and would need to be reset by a factory download. Who knows what little gems are present in this model that can cause your display to go south."
To enter the service menu, press the following keys in sequence on the remote: MENU 2 4 5 7
To see the video test patterns: fast forward, rewind
To scroll through the options, press the VIDEO key.
To change the values, press the UP or DOWN buttons.
To save a change, press the ENTER button.
To exit without saving, just press the EXIT button.