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The Official Sony Bravia KDL-Z5100 Calibration / Settings Thread. Post yours!

85K views 316 replies 62 participants last post by  chellspecker 
#1 ·
I will be playing with these settings when I get home tonight and posting what settings get me the best result based on BD thru HDMI.


Please post yours!


*settings as of May 20, 2009*


User Menu Settings

Picture Mode : Standard (**Note each setting (Vivid, Standard, Cinema, Custom) are slightly different by default.)

Backlight:

Picture:

Brightness :

Color :

Hue :

Color Temperature : Neutral

Sharpness :

Noise Reduction : Off

MPEG NR : Off

Advanced Settings

Black Corrector :

Advanced CE :

Gamma : OFF (do not touch this)

Clear White : OFF (not really needed after all)

Live Color : off

White Balance : Factory default (all zero)

Motion Enhancer : HIGH

Cinemotion : Auto2

Game Mode : Off

Video/Photo Optimizer: Video-A
 
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#4 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by BulletHead /forum/post/16496939


no clue what "full pixel in 720p" means? can you elaborate please? im a total noobie. is there something in the menu about it?

0% overscan for 720p

1:1 pixel mapping for 1080p


(So the TV doesn't cut off the edges)


The setting is under "Display Area"


Can you please check if you can set it to "Full Pixel" while sending it a 720p source i really appreciate it, sony is upgrading me to this tv
 
#5 ·
These are the settings in use on my KDL-52Z5100. I'm certain they will change over time. However, I'm pretty happy with the way it looks, so I don't imagine that there will be any drastic changes, pending a monumental firmware update. Remember, YMMV with your set since no two are exactly alike. Different companies accept certain tolerances when it comes to binning the individual parts used to build an electronic device. Any opinions or comments are welcome.


My family/theater room is a cave, so my settings reflect that fact. I'm very happy that even with the low level of ambient light, I do not see any clouding or flashlight effects at all.

Update 9/24/09: I made some changes to my Blu-Ray input settings. I also discovered that I can use 'theater mode' to allow me to have separate settings for my HD-XA2 and PS3, which are connected to my AVR via HDMI. I really wish television manufacturers would start installing an "HDMI through' so that you can take advantage of the multiple HDMI inputs on the TV and then pass the sound onto the AVR. This would allow you to take advantage of the separate settings of each input. Well, this is a workaround that allows me to have two for my HDM content.

Update 10/15/09: Even though I don't have a colorimeter, I used some D65 photographic paper for comparison to a grey raster. I ended up dropping the gains for blue and green down significantly. I also decided that the tearing artifacts during fast, horizontal pans to be too much to bear. Thus, I turned MotionFlow down to standard. I may experiment with eliminating it altogether for BD and HD DVD.


Also, on the Reon processor settings on my XA2, I stopped using edge enhancement on both HD and SD DVDs. The Z5100 really exhibits a lot of ringing if you set the sharpness too high. As an example, using DVE's over-scan patterns, going above 6 for HD and 14 for SD introduced perceptible ringing, especially on the horizontal axis. I'm glad that you are able to turn sharpness down low enough to eliminate the ringing.


These settings will be a 'work in progress' for some time. My wife is always the one to bring me back to Earth from my incessant tweaking. It doesn't take long for me to get the all too familiar "Can you stop screwing around with the television so we can just watch it?" She does have a point but the urge to tweak is very strong indeed!

Update 10-21-09: I think I have finally settled on gamma being at +2. On DVE, it appears that gamma is at 2.2 to 2.4. I'm pretty sure that's where it needs to be. After 1 week I'll see if I still feel the same way...

Update Dec. 10 2009 I've decided to raise my backlight levels, slightly. I'm going to increase it by levels of one, wait a day or two, and see what I think of it. Like I've mentioned, my HT/family room is a cave, so I've never had to have my sets very bright. Even my old primary set, the 60" XBR2, which is as bright as an acetylene torch was set very low on the peak white side.


I've settled on gamma at +2 and may try out the next and last setting, maximum. I've read several reviewers state that in order to achieve gamma of 2.2 to 2.4, they have had to set gamma to max. Once I read that, it kind of piqued my interest. I do have a difficult time reading the gamma pattern.


I have now concluded, IMHO, that there is absolutely no reason to set MotionFlow to high. It causes an extreme number of artifacts, especially during moderate to fast horizontal pans. Additionally, it really accentuates the 'soap opera effect'.

Update 12-21-09 I thought I might share my new gaming settings. I only play Rock Band 1 and 2, plus Beatles: Rock Band. If there is a game that needs as little lag as humanely possible, these would certainly fit that bill. I do the following. 1st, I use analog component connections. Also, I use standard RCA jacks for audio. Ensure that MotionFlow and CineMotion are off. Calibrate your game and, viola...The least amount of lag. One more thing, I also use 'direct' in my AVR to further help the cause. My Onkyo, and I'm sure, all other HDMI based AVRs have these issues to contend with.

Update 2-4-10 So, I make a post about the virtues and pitfalls of the sharpness setting and realize that since October of 2009, I haven't updated sharpness since I first wrote the update ranting about sharpness! My apologies for any confusion I may have caused!

Update 9-14-10 I just picked up an LG BD-590 Blu-Ray player. As soon as I started a movie, things just didn't seem right. I brought out the trusty calibration disks, blew the dust off of them, and went right to work. What stood out the most was that while I was watching the first movie (Star Trek 2009, I saw what looked like edge enhancement. Since I know the movie does not have issues with EE, I pulled up the raster and was kind of shocked to see ringing, even at the low sharpness setting the I've used since I purchased the set. One click at a time, I brought the level down. The ringing didn't completely disappear until I hit 0 (minimum)


I had just a few other changes to make to color and hue that were very minor.


I also bumped my back-light up, finally. I set it to 3 for all inputs! I still do not have any issues with back-light bleed or clouding. I'm still in love with this display, over a year later. I think we're soul mates!


Blu-Ray

Picture Mode - Custom
Backlight - 3
Picture - 88
Brightness - 44
Color - 48
Hue - R1
Color Temperature - Warm 2
Sharpness - Minimum
Noise Reduction - Off
MPEG Noise Reduction - Off
MotionFlow - Standard
CineMotion - Auto 2

ADVANCED SECTION

Black Corrector - Off
ACE - Off
Gamma - +2
Auto Light Limiter - Off
Clear White - Off

WHITE BALANCE

Red Gain (-2)
Green Gain (-12)
Blue Gain (-10)
Red Bias (0)
Green Bias (0)
Blue Bias (-2)

OTA (Tuner)

Picture Mode - Custom
Backlight - 3
Picture - 90
Brightness - 45
Color - 45
Hue - 0
Color Temperature - Warm 2
Sharpness - HD 10 SD Oh...Not applicable! I don't watch sub channels
Noise Reduction - Off
MPEG Noise Reduction - Off
MotionFlow - Standard
CineMotion - Auto 1

ADVANCED SECTION

Black Corrector - Off
ACE - Off
Gamma - +2
Auto Light Limiter - Off
Clear White - Off

WHITE BALANCE

Red Gain (-2)
Green Gain (-12)
Blue Gain (-10)
Red Bias (0)
Green Bias (0)
Blue Bias (-2)

HD DVD (Theater Mode)

Picture Mode - Cinema
Backlight - 2
Picture - 91
Brightness - 44
Color - 53
Hue - 0
Color Temperature - Warm 2
Sharpness - 6
Noise Reduction - Off
MPEG Noise Reduction - Off
MotionFlow - Standard
CineMotion - Auto 2

ADVANCED SECTION

Black Corrector - Off
ACE - Off
Gamma - +2
Auto Light Limiter - Off
Clear White - Off

WHITE BALANCE

Red Gain (-2)
Green Gain (-12)
Blue Gain (-10)
Red Bias (0)
Green Bias (0)
Blue Bias (-2)

Games USING COMPONENT CONNECTION AND RCA STEREO AUDIO.

Picture Mode - Custom
Backlight - 2
Picture - 90
Brightness - 44
Color - 48
Hue - R1
Color Temperature - Warm 2
Sharpness - 8
Noise Reduction - Off
MPEG Noise Reduction - Off
MotionFlow - Off
CineMotion - Off

ADVANCED SECTION

Black Corrector - Off
ACE - Off
Gamma - +2
Auto Light Limiter - Off
Clear White - Off

WHITE BALANCE

Red Gain (-2)
Green Gain (-12)
Blue Gain (-10)
Red Bias (0)
Green Bias (0)
Blue Bias (-2)



Regards...Will
 
#7 ·
The color/tint looks fine except...the pants look gold-green on my football team's uniform instead of just gold (are gold on other tv's). The face tint is accurate so I don't want to adjust hue. Would adjusting the White Balance settings help (under Advanced settings)? If so, do I adjust green level, green bias, etc under White Balance? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.
 
#10 ·
Contol the amount of light that the backlight produces ....dont set it too high or can cause clouding with the Z5100/Z5500. I'm really interested with one of these sets or last years Z4100 (not sure if that is correct, I'm from UK)/Z4500. Any body got any insight on how they differ performance wize? There is almost £400 difference between the Sony Bravia KDL 46Z4500 & 46Z5500 series, is it worth it in your eyes fellas? I know the speakers on the Z4500 were supposed to be better but since I'm using it in a dedicated theatre room thats a non-starter for me. BE3 is preferable over BE2 for sure but what I really would like to know is how bright is it? What is the black level like? Has anybody had bleed/clouding issues (which the Z4500 didn't have)? Also how does it fair with SD/Blu ray once calibrated (will mainly use the projector for Blu ray/HD stuff
) but sometimes will use this too, mainly for the wife & "easy viewing" when can't be bothered to fire up all the equipment.


All opinions welcome.

Thanks,

Thick As
 
#11 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thick As /forum/post/17223657


Contol the amount of light that the backlight produces ....dont set it too high or can cause clouding with the Z5100/Z5500..

So, does anybody know what is "too high" for the backlight? I suppose it depends on the viewing environment, but any suggestions as to starting point would be welcome.
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by CSonntag /forum/post/17230779


So, does anybody know what is "too high" for the backlight? I suppose it depends on the viewing environment, but any suggestions as to starting point would be welcome.

With the Sony Bravia Z5100/5500 it varries from 0-10 & from what I've read it would seem that the "best" is around 4, this (from reviews I've read) is the standard setting for 'user' in the choice of standard settings which are:


"Users: Backlight 4 Contrast 90, Brightness 50, Color 50, Color Temp. Warm2, Sharpness Min, Dynamic Noise Reduction Off MPEG noise reduction off, Motionflow Standard" as standard.


Most reviews went on the say they disable motionflow with Blu Ray & then also choose warm1 for more natural skin tones saying:


"Gray-scale: In the standard picture mode are neatly worked out all the subtleties in contrast, only the upper black area, the differentiation could be even better. Double contours are practically not available, to avoid them completely, the sharpness still about 3-4 steps are reversed. In the user mode, the contrast is still a better differentiation of Deuteronomy, the slight weakness in the black area is eliminated here, and a complete differentiation of the blocks without difficulty. The warm color temperature is a matter of taste, and for us a little too much, Warm1 instead Warm2 here seems a good choice. In Brilliant receives a very cold a sharp, crystal-image. Double contours are clearly visible, unfortunately, the blocks are partly white and completely in the black area is no longer differentiable.


Faces: The faces of the two ladies work in standard mode durchzeichnet very well by the high sharpness of the hair of the two can be finely differentiated. Also facial contours are well identified and the image depth is high. The color reproduction seems authentic, the skin tones are very realistic. Here the picture in the user mode slips a bit off to créme-beige, the skin tones drift thereby change something in his brown and earthy. Again, we can confirm a better color reproduction when choosing the color temperature warm 1″. The plasticity adheres to a very good level, the necklace of the blonde lady stands still extremely well off of their skin. Withdrawn by the sharpness of the coloration of facial contours and the differentiation of hair does not quite optimal, an increase in the sharpness value is recommended. The Brilliant mode is not recommended here. The image is very bright, authenticity of skin tones is no longer given. Also the sharpness is tightened. The color reproduction is lost very pop, very fine details of facial contours pass through the maximum image brightness."


This would seem to suggest, that when the backlight is too high you loose some of the detail resolution in dark areas of the image. Any opinions on this vs the Z4100(Z4500 UK)?

Cheers,

Thick As
 
#13 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thick As /forum/post/17236322


Most reviews went on the say they disable motionflow with Blu Ray & then also choose warm1 for more natural skin tones saying:


"Gray-scale: In the standard picture mode are neatly worked out all the subtleties in contrast, only the upper black area, the differentiation could be even better. Double contours are practically not available, to avoid them completely, the sharpness still about 3-4 steps are reversed. In the user mode, the contrast is still a better differentiation of Deuteronomy, the slight weakness in the black area is eliminated here, and a complete differentiation of the blocks without difficulty. The warm color temperature is a matter of taste, and for us a little too much, Warm1 instead Warm2 here seems a good choice. In Brilliant receives a very cold a sharp, crystal-image. Double contours are clearly visible, unfortunately, the blocks are partly white and completely in the black area is no longer differentiable.


Faces: The faces of the two ladies work in standard mode durchzeichnet very well by the high sharpness of the hair of the two can be finely differentiated. Also facial contours are well identified and the image depth is high. The color reproduction seems authentic, the skin tones are very realistic. Here the picture in the user mode slips a bit off to créme-beige, the skin tones drift thereby change something in his brown and earthy. Again, we can confirm a better color reproduction when choosing the color temperature warm 1″. The plasticity adheres to a very good level, the necklace of the blonde lady stands still extremely well off of their skin. Withdrawn by the sharpness of the coloration of facial contours and the differentiation of hair does not quite optimal, an increase in the sharpness value is recommended. The Brilliant mode is not recommended here. The image is very bright, authenticity of skin tones is no longer given. Also the sharpness is tightened. The color reproduction is lost very pop, very fine details of facial contours pass through the maximum image brightness."


This would seem to suggest, that when the backlight is too high you loose some of the detail resolution in dark areas of the image. Any opinions on this vs the Z4100(Z4500 UK)?

Cheers,

Thick As


Who the heck wrote that stuff? Reads like it's been electronocally translated from a foreign language.
 
#14 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by CSonntag /forum/post/17239513


Who the heck wrote that stuff? Reads like it's been electronocally translated from a foreign language.

I know
like video instructions, was taken from a Google Translation of the Area DVD review. Pretty technical but I thought it might be helpfull
long story, short ...backlight of 4 ish, with colour temp of 'warm1' & poss some sharpness tweaks. I was waiting for the Home Cinema Choice review (UK HC mag) of the sony bravia Z5500, usually pretty technical but very accurate with regard to D65 colour measurements & contast, should be out in a week or so, I'll post a link back when it appears (pdf's
).

Cheers,

Thick As
 
#15 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thick As /forum/post/17242707


I was waiting for the Home Cinema Choice review (UK HC mag) of the sony bravia Z5500, usually pretty technical but very accurate with regard to D65 colour measurements & contast, should be out in a week or so, I'll post a link back when it appears (pdf's
).

Cheers,

Thick As

That would be great ThickAs. Will they actually publish their calibration or tweak settings?


Does anybody know if the US Z5100 and UK Z5500 are identical?


By the way, in reference to your username, is it "...A Brick", or "...Thieves"?
 
#17 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Munshower /forum/post/16670417

OTA (Tuner)


Picture Mode - Custom

Backlight - 1

Picture - 90

Brightness - 45

Color - 45

Hue - 0

Color Temperature - Warm 2

Sharpness - 7

Noise Reduction - Off

MPEG Noise Reduction - Off

MotionFlow - High

CineMotion - Auto 1


ADVANCED SECTION


Black Corrector - Off

ACE - Off

Gamma - 0

Auto Light Limiter - Off

Clear White - Off

Thanks for these settings. I applied them to my 52Z5100 with some minor adjustments to suit our space and I like it a lot for general DirecTV watching. It's a little tougher in my living room, though, because we have a couple of skylights in the middle room. They're tinted so it doesn't get too bright, and the TV is also offset from the roof opening by about 8 feet, but nonetheless it isn't ideal. I adjust the Backlight up a couple notches during daytime watching, but the colors stay pretty balanced. The Backlight doesn't wash them out by that much. If I put it back down during the night time it's just amazing.


I also disabled the Cinemotion, because it would make the picture jitter in some programming (it gave me headaches). Keeping it off and just putting Motionflow to Standard is great for general TV show watching. For sports I'll just adjust the Motionflow to High - It feels like you're in the game. Skin tones are great.


I suggest everyone try Will's settings just as a base. There is some minor variation in displays, but this will probably be a good starting point for anyone.
 
#18 ·
I've made major changes to both the settings and the formatting appearance of my settings post. It's a few entries up or just click 'My KDL-52Z5100 Settings' in my signature.


I have been experimenting with raising gamma 1-2 notches. It seems there is an issue with shadow detail. I've always had problems with gamma rasters. I have a tough time discerning the level of gamma with them but I gave it the 'old college try' yesterday.


I am going to use +1 for about a week and then do the same for +2. I feel pretty confident that the final setting will be at least +1 to maintain a gamma of 2.2.


I'm also revising my MotionFlow settings. High just creates too many artifacts...Especially during fast moving horizontal pans. The tearing is awful.


I have also experimented with dropping the gains for green and blue down significantly (-9 to -12). I don't have a colorimeter but I do have a piece of D65 photographic paper to put up on the screen along with a grey raster from DVE. I was surprised how green it was. Once I dropped down green, the blue really stuck out so I backed the gains down for it as well.


The grays look very natural now. And since I dropped the backlight down to 1 and raised the gamma, the shadow detail is fantastic...Better than any LCD set I have ever seen (except for LCDs that incorporate LED with local dimming instead of CCFL back-lighting.)


When I first got this TV, I loved the Advanced Contrast Enhancer. Now, I hate it like poison.


I hope this helps somebody. If anyone has some input or opinions, I would really like to hear them. It seems that not too many members of this fine board have purchased the Z5100. This is a shame because it is a fine television.


Regards...Will
 
#19 ·
At Will's request, I'm posting my meager adjustments to my KDL-52Z5100. I'm not doing anything too far off the out-of-the-box settings as I'm only setting up for Dish HD (ViP 722 DVR) and OTA HD via Dish and the on-board DTV tuner in a well lit (lots of natural light from numerous windows) family room. Come Christmas time, I'll be getting a BD player and I'll then do a formal calibration for watching BD movies. Meanwhile I haven't bothered to calibrate my Sony upscaling DVD player as I use it so little. So here goes.


Scene Select = Auto


Power Saving = Low

Light Sensor = Off


Wide Mode = Full

Auto Wide = On

4:3 Default = Off

Auto Display Area = Off

Display Area = Normal


Picture Mode = Standard

Backlight = 6

Picture = 80

Brightness = 50

Color = 50

Hue = 0

Color Temperature = Warm 1

Sharpness = 15

Noise Reduction = Auto

MPEG Noise Reduction = Low

Motionflow = Standard

CineMotion = Auto 2

Black Corrector = Low

Adv. Contrast Enhancer = Low

Gamma = 1

Auto Light Limiter = Off

Clear White = Off

White Balance = 0
 
#22 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by CEB II /forum/post/17362939


At Will's request, I'm posting my meager adjustments to my KDL-52Z5100. I'm not doing anything too far off the out-of-the-box settings as I'm only setting up for Dish HD (ViP 722 DVR) and OTA HD via Dish and the on-board DTV tuner in a well lit (lots of natural light from numerous windows) family room. Come Christmas time, I'll be getting a BD player and I'll then do a formal calibration for watching BD movies. Meanwhile I haven't bothered to calibrate my Sony upscaling DVD player as I use it so little. So here goes.


Scene Select = Auto


Power Saving = Low

Light Sensor = Off


Wide Mode = Full

Auto Wide = On

4:3 Default = Off

Auto Display Area = Off

Display Area = Normal


Picture Mode = Standard

Backlight = 6

Picture = 80

Brightness = 50

Color = 50

Hue = 0

Color Temperature = Warm 1

Sharpness = 15

Noise Reduction = Auto

MPEG Noise Reduction = Low

Motionflow = Standard

CineMotion = Auto 2

Black Corrector = Low

Adv. Contrast Enhancer = Low

Gamma = 1

Auto Light Limiter = Off

Clear White = Off

White Balance = 0

Backlight at 6? I've read here that some feel that the flashlight/clouding issue rears its ugly head at this high a backlight level. WillMunshower has his set at 1, and mine is set at 3 and I still see the problem on dark scenes. Are you experiencing it as well?
 
#23 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by CSonntag /forum/post/17429744


Backlight at 6? I've read here that some feel that the flashlight/clouding issue rears its ugly head at this high a backlight level. WillMunshower has his set at 1, and mine is set at 3 and I still see the problem on dark scenes. Are you experiencing it as well?

i agree...6 would be way too high for me. i still see clouding at 1 when i watch late at night...it only happens at pitch black scenes so it isn't a huge bother, but nonetheless it is still there.


i tried upping my gamma by one and the G and B gains down per Will's suggestion. i'll try it like this for a while to see how i like it. it usually takes me a few hours of watching to get used to a setting and see how it differs.


i, too, am surprised how little press this TV gets. i got mine for $1799 on-sale at best buy and i could not have done a better job. i love it.
 
#24 ·
Ike and CSonntag,


How did the low back-light, higher gamma and blue and green gain drops do for you? I definitely decided to keep mine at the levels in my revised post. I wish I had a colorimeter. Perhaps Santa will have one for me at Christmas.


I still have to narrow down my Paramount Red to Blu titles down to 25 and do it quickly. I doubt I'll get them by Christmas.


Looking forward to hearing from you...Will
 
#25 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Munshower /forum/post/17468986


Ike and CSonntag,


How did the low back-light, higher gamma and blue and green gain drops do for you? I definitely decided to keep mine at the levels in my revised post. I wish I had a colorimeter. Perhaps Santa will have one for me at Christmas.


I still have to narrow down my Paramount Red to Blu titles down to 25 and do it quickly. I doubt I'll get them by Christmas.


Looking forward to hearing from you...Will

Hi Will,

I used your settings, and have found them to be excellent. Color seems spot on, and shadow detail is great without losing black level. I did however settle on +1 Gamma instead of +2...I just like the deeper look a little better.


I may play a little more, but since I don't really know much about how the color gains and bias levels interact, I really wouldn't know where to start.


Just wish someone would have a z5100 professionally calibrated so we could tell if we are way off base, or close.
 
#26 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by CSonntag /forum/post/17473263


Hi Will,

shadow detail is great without losing black level. I did however settle on +1 Gamma instead of +2...I just like the deeper look a little better.

I still struggle with gamma on +1 or +2. I'm in the same boat as you...the tradeoff between darker blacks and having decent shadow detail. I'm still sticking with +2 (for now)


I'm glad the white balance and back-light control settings are working out for you! Like you, I absolutely hate clouding and flash-lighting like poison. My theater/family room is in a very dark room with the exception of the D6500 bias lighting behind my display. With these settings (non-white balance), I don't see a single flashlight.


The other advantage is that I have no need for the black enhancement circuitry on my TV, AVR, media streamers or disk players at all.


But, like anything else that needs tweaking...I'm certain that will change in the future.



Regards...Will
 
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