Quote:
Originally Posted by
bamajeep 
Can you explain what I should be doing with the contrast test pattern?
The pattern with the stars can be confusing. In fact on some displays it just doesn't work right. For me, the only flat panel it worked almost correctly on was the Kuro. It worked perfectly for the Sony 34XBR960 though. For this I recommend choosing the basic test pattern.
Instructions for calibrating contrast with Wow
Choose the basic test pattern and you'll be using the first pattern. The one with the bars on each side (exactly like the brightness pattern). What you want to look at is the 2 bars on the right side. Don't worry about anything else...just the 2 bars furthest on the right side (ignore the 3rd bar even). You can either set your contrast really high or low. If set to 100 you'll reduce it 1 click at a time until you see a faint line in between the bars. Usually this occurs between 80-88. Once you see the line appear at all verify this by adjust +1 to make it go away. Get to the point where +/- 1 either shows a faint line or disappears. This was somewhere around 83-84 for me. If you start low (60) then you'll raise it until the line goes away and both bars blend.
I'm guessing now your between somewhere around 80-85. From here you want to bring it down just enough until there is an obvious line separating the bars. If you don't (line is too faint) then you'll clip whites. It's tricky but you want to keep the bars blending a solid white color until they no longer blend. At that point raise it up +1 until it blends. Now you've reached peak white without clipping. The star pattern didn't work for me because it had my contrast set to 100 and I know that's not right. It's also a tall tale sign that old crts like the 34XBR960 had monstrous contrast ratios.
This can be harsh on the eye so you'll definitely want to re-check it later. You most likely won't be 100% accurate as this is only a test disc for your eye versus a meter but it gets you right in the ballpark. For reference I used test patterns by eye/filter with my 5020 and D-Nice's setting of brightness/contrast/color were identical. However I've used D-Nice's settings with several displays now so call it cheating but it helped me know what to look for in these patterns.
The book included is pretty useful so be sure and read it, along with watching demos.
