Sharp LC-70LE845U - Overcoming the Blues on the 70" edge-lit 3D Quattron - Page 2

What you're describing is 'white clipping' and this set does have that problem out of the box -- particularly with the Standard setting. Movie is best to remove it, but is very dull.
The problem is the blue cast of the LEDs that illuminate the pixels. In order to keep brightness up, the green, yellow, and red pixels clip while the blue is within range.
The DVD calibration disc available on this site shows the color scales and you can see that red saturates first and then green while blue keeps the full range.
The Contrast setting is the way to turn down overall White brightness, but you'll want to adjust the color temperature of the white first. If you use the 10-point scale, pay most
attention to the top setting -- it's the one that clips. Back way off on it's blue setting and then adjust the green and red to get a neutral white. Then make the rest of the spectrum
match in color temperature to what you have created at the highlight end. Out of the box, the gray scale is red in the shadows and blue in the highlights, so you'll want to add
green across the entire spectrum to balance those other two colors. Then remove some red at the bottom and some blue at the top. That was my strategy anyway...

You can try monkeying around with the Gamma setting to keep more of the white highlights. I had originally used +2 to keep the blacks and whites in tighter control,
but switched to '0' because it gives more 'snap' to the image. Maybe a +1 would render the picture the way you like, with adequate contrast, but without any burn-through.
I do still notice some white clipping. I settled on this contast setting because it rarely shows burn-through on faces on the news channels, while still rendering highlights
adequately to avoid 'clay face' syndrome -- where faces become lifeless with all the same luminance. There is no one perfect setting for all sources. You have to decide
what's important to you and go with it -- and modify it when you change your mind!...

Glad to help!
Happy trails with the Sony...

The extra $500 is mostly going for the bigger screen size, isn't it?

I've calibrated the TV for both 'Standard' and 'User' modes.
The Standard mode is brighter for any given backlight setting, owing to the use of more of the native LED light source.
This means that color skews towards blue with higher brightness and the white highlights are definitely ice cold blue.
These settings were my attempt to remove as much of this nonlinearity as possible, but it still ended up somewhat blue.
Then I discovered the 'User' mode and found it much easier to bring into good performance, with pleasing whites and accurate colors.
It requires more backlighting for the same final brightness. I notice that LED TVs in sports bars are all running in 'torch mode', with
extremely blue whites in order to keep overall brightness as high as possible. Maybe you want all the snap without all the accuracy?
Sports look pleasing on these settings, with natural colors, but maybe a bit less 'pop' than you might want.
I recently ran across an item that described a backlight source that uses 4 elements instead of the blue LED and yellow phosphor
of most sets, including mine. It would help a lot to have a source for stronger reds. Reds and magentas clip into blue very easily until
the CMS is backed off. I really detest the look of blued-out reds -- it reminds me of old CRT color sets that had weak red phosphors.
I like my TV ok, but if they ever sell a kit to improve the backlight spectrum, I'll jump on that bandwagon...

My settings for Standard and especially for User are good enough for me.
I would recommend that you try those first to see how much better a calibration can make the set look.
I should tackle Movie mode next -- I have a setting for Standard 3D that is still in testing -- it's caused a bit of ghosting so far
and needs tweaking before releasing on this forum. Attempts to brighten the mid-tones is the culprit, I think...

I have the tiniest issue with extreme bright highlights -- glare off of teeth, etc., but not white script or subtitles -- turning green.
To keep the color curve with just the two point adjustment, I have to put up with that.
If I go back into the 10 point setting and make the same curve, minus the top green, I'd be 100% happy...

They are different templates or algorithms. Standard is set up internally to maximize brightness. It takes far more corrective action to make a neutral white level
starting from the Mid-Low color temperature setting as opposed to the same setting in User. Movie is even more different and I have yet to tackle it because the
color gamut is so bizarre there. I had originally assumed that each setting was just a different set of preset values, but they are differently configured as to algorithm.
You can see for yourself that PC will never look the same as Movie and then there are the Fixed Contrast and Dynamic settings which are totally different as well.
Also, each input varies, with the #2 HDMI input capable of 10-point color temperature calibration, but the #1 only capable of 2-point. In order to get rid of the
green extreme highlights, I am now going to use the 10-point scale and I will post my best result when I am satisfied. 3D calibration of gamut and black level (brightness)
is going to require some major tinkering and viewing. I've seen the limits of the technology when I tried to brighten the mid-tones and ended up with shimmer and ghosts.

I've got a 10-point setting that I can post now -- duplicating the look of the 2-point setting above, but without the extreme highlights turning green.
Less white clipping, too.
This is for USER and set to Mid-low temperature:


Red Green Blue
Position 1 (darkest)

10 (brightest) 0 0 0 (mid-setting)

It should be noted that the calibration disc does not register the extreme high brightness level.
I set it to neutral because the Mid-low color temperature that I started with is satisfactorily white in extreme highlights.
I've removed the 10-Point settings after watching a black and white movie -- overall green cast with beige highlights -- yuck!
The problem lies in the fact that the calibration disc doesn't extent into the upper reaches of the brightness scale.
I'll try again and submit the modifications when they are good enough. Meantime, stick with the 2-Point scale. Sorry!

I left the 2-point temperature scale where I had it set above and all other values are the same.
I may have to modify the CMS settings to either boost or reduce the Red if reds are too dull or if there is red clipping.
I don't think I'll have to do that since I went through all those settings before and have only slightly altered my original 10-point setting here...
Edited by johnfull - 12/1/12 at 2:56am

Well I see pagination destroyed my carefully crafted columns!
The readings are all RGB from left to right...

I thought that I might use different settings for different inputs, but this hasn't proven necessary for my uses.
I use Satellite and BluRay and both look very good with the calibrated picture. I recommend the 10-Point settings just posted
because they add a lot of snap and subtlety to the picture. I'm noticing a little bit of banding in some advertisements, but I can't
tell yet if it is the discontinuity in the 10-Point scale between brightness levels or if it's in the source -- hopefully, it's the latter.
Now, I need to try some 3D sources and see if my calibration of that mode is sufficient for posting.

I removed the 10-Point settings for now. The color is so much better, but in black and white, there was a green cast and highlights were way too warm.
The calibration disc doesn't extend to the upper highlights, so I have to do those by the seat of my pants, so to speak. I shall return. Meantime, 2-Point is ok...

Anybody know how to control the aspect ratio on these Sharp sets?
It plays new BluRay material and 3D flawlessly, but some older titles stretch and flatten inappropriately and I don't know how to correct the problem.
I have a Denon 3D BluRay and a cheapie Dynex DVD player and they both render these poorly. Older TVs had picture size controls, but I can't find it on this one.
...?...

It has more problem with the intermediate-sized stuff than 4x3 -- 185 - something-or-other.
I played the DVD of Young Doctor Frankenstein (and found my 10-point settings all wrong) in a squashed and stretched aspect.
I tried it with two different machines and the squashing was worse with the BluRay player, but the cheap DVD machine did a weird fish-eye thing to it as well.
I have no idea why it couldn't read the proper ratio. The 'View Mode' had 'Dot for Dot' which did not solve the problem. It seems to be delivered to the TV distorted
through both machines. The BluRay is HDMI-connected, of course, but the cheapie Dynex DVD is just RCA jacks.
I had a problem with one other disc recently -- can't recall what it was -- but it was an older title as well and stretched rather than properly rendering...

I got it. The Denon has an Auto-squeeze setting that cleared it up.
The small Dynex machine has a grayed out option, but it's rarely used for movies.
Thanks!

I've got a set of 10-point values that are very good with black and white material as well as color.
I've tamed the white clipping a bit more and have a slightly warm balance from top to bottom with no green, red, yellow, or blue cast.

I'll post it as soon as I get time...later today or tomorrow...

Went back to get the 10-point settings to post and found the TV had changed to Standard Mode and 2-Point and no access to 10-Point!
Buggy software in these galldarned teevees. That's not the first time I've lost settings. Neither HDMI 1 nor 2 will now allow 10-Point in User Mode.
Did I mention goddamnitalltohell?...

Updated settings for the Standard Mode and 3D Mode:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1444684/sharp-lc-70le845u-calibration-including-3d

It looks like all the inputs use the same settings for each Input setting, but you could use User for one and Standard for another and Movie for yet another, etc.
I found that User didn't allow access to the 10-point setting in the first HDMI input, but did with the second, so there are some issues per input.
I've been told that 845 and 847 are different in their settings, so I'm glad to know that mine were at least a point of departure.
If nothing else, it shows a lot of the range of what is possible. There are several strategies to get to a good picture, too...