New calibration disc - Page 71

Thanks for all the input guys. Yes I did read the manual, it was all greek to me. I could not find any "calibration stickies" Also, I have know idea what a blue filter is or even how to use one.

"Stickies" are the permanent articles at the top of this forum.

Blue filters are described in appendix A of the manual you read. THX glasses are very convenient.

If your display has a blue calibration mode, you don't need a filter.

-Bill

Get Joe Kane's DVE (Digital Video Essentials). It will come with all filters and explanations so long they'll put you to sleep.

Dood... 95% of the Getgray disk is not for use without a meter. There are perhaps 5 screens for people that don't own a meter. The rest requires a probe like the i1 Display LT.

If you DONT have a color filter (blue) go to a camera shop and ask for the Blue as explained in the manual.

Look. Download the manual. Only read...

Page 5 - A brief description of Video Levels for Brightness and Contrast.

Page 6 - Middle of the page is How to set Brightness.

Page 7 - How to set Contrast.

PAge 9 - How to read the 5% Ramp Pattern after you think you have Brightness and Contrast set right. Really not much you can do there but try to see if you see color shift or clipping in the steps between Black 16 and White 235. Although there is little you can do about color shifting (greens are bad to see in the pattern)... It should look as grey as possible throughout. Not uncommon to see a little blueishness to the grey (slightly cooler than D65). But only slight. This pattern relates to your greyscale to some degree which cannot be fixed without experience, Access to the Service Menu, understanding the service menu, an actual coloromiter with software and so on. If you DO see obvious color shift (red yellow or Green tints), and I do mean obvious... and you don't have the tools I meantioned, you might eliviate it a bit by trying different contrast settings. Often lowering it can help.

Page 10 - Gradient Ramp version of what I describe above. Just for visual evaluation only.

So far. All you have done is play with your contrast and Brightness. Which are HUGE contributors to a proper picture.

You now have to SKIP TO PAGE 15!!! Everything in between is for use with a coloromiter and software which most people do not own. But included anyway.

Page 15 - Color and Tint calibration but you need a BLUE FILTER to stare through. Refer to page called Apendix A after page 21 for where to get these things. From the manual...

Blue filters & filter sets: Blue filters are available from a variety of sources.

Listed below are several options as of the writing of this document:
1. THX® glasses. Highly recommended. THX® offers a pair of blue "glasses" for use with
their consumer DVDs. These glasses are produced in cardboard glasses form like those provided
with 3-D movies. These work very well since you can wear them, completely freeing your
hands. These glasses are available by ordering directly from from the THX® website (Contact
THX® or see the DVD->THX Optimizer® section at www.thx.com). "Free" plus shipping and
handling charges.2.

Photographic quality Deep Blue Tricolor 47B filters:
a. 3x3", #LEB47B3 from www.adorama.com
b. 3x3", #LE47B33 from www.bhphotovideo.com ~$15.00
3. Other calibration discs may include a Blue Filter. Those filters are of course suitable for use
with any calibration disc, including this one. Filters or replacement filters may be available for
users of Videoessential's Digital Video Essentials® products or Ovation Multimedia's Avia®
Products for a small mailing charge. Check their websites for details.
4. Lee Filters. These are films using in the theatrical lighting industry and are usually available
at a local stage or theater supply shop. The proper Lee Filter colors are::
Tokyo Blue = #071
Primary Red = #106
Primary Green = #139
The Lee Filter Tokyo Blue, #071, filter is identical to the blue filters used in the THX® g



Page 19 - Pattern for checking sharpness setting.

That's all you can do really without equipment. Only problem with the manual is that the pages I list above are good reading for the BASIC settings without special equipment but are scattered in the manual. They should be in a little Basics area. The rest then could be in an Advanced only area which requires hardware.

Hope this helps.

Check out AVS709 as well. It is free and it's manual is complimentary to that of Getgrays as well. They go well together.

C.

I have a samsung 72" DLP would this disk work good for me to calibrate my tv ok? This is a Brand new 08-09 model.

Yes and No. It entirely depends on what signal sources you use with your new display. Since it's a new set, I'm assuming that you are using it for HD (high definition), 1080i or 1080p, material. The GetGray calibration disc is designed for SD (standard definition) sources (SD-DVD players). If you will be playing SD-DVDs on your set, then the GetGray is very good. However, if you have a BD (Blu-ray Disc) player, and plan to play mostly BD discs, then the GetGray disc is not the best to use.

The grayscale (no color) is the same for both SD and HD signals (from DVDs), and any calibration disc will work to set the Brightness (Black Level) and Contrast (White Level) controls. However, the color matrix is different for SD (Rec. 601 specification) and BD (Rec. 709 specification) sources. Therefore, the color adjustments may not be the same, depending on how the SD GetGray disc gets translated from a 720 x 480i signal (on the disc) to a 1080p picture on your HDTV set.

NOTE: A calibration DVD (any of them) cannot be used to accurately calibrate your set for TV sources (cable, satellite, or OTA = Over The Air). Each source may have different settings for best picture. Most people (like me) use the same settings for TV as well, since it is usually fairly close to correct, and no two TV stations have the same quality signal anyway.

IMHO, the best calibration discs are:
(1) For SD-DVD players, GetGray (the instructions are available on www.calibrate.tv) - I prefer it for setting the grayscale;
(2) For BD (or HD-DVD) players, you have two "preferred" choices. The commercial choice is the "Digital Video Essentials HD Basics [Blu-Ray]", which is available from Amazon, and other online sources. The second choice is the free "AVS HD 709" disc: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496. Both of these have HD-DVD versions also, if you have a HD-DVD player, and not a Blu-Ray one.

Both the GetGray and AVS HD 709 discs require that you download the files, un-zip them, and burn your own disc (the free ImgBurn software is the most trouble-free for burning either of these discs). Both use regular DVD writable discs (DVD-R or DVD+R) depending on what type of discs are compatible with your player. The "AVS HD 709" disc is only playable on a BD player (it will not work in a SD-DVD player). Also, for both of those discs, you need to get at least a blue filter (THX Optimizer Glasses (THX.com), or either the AVIA (Ovation Multimedia) or DVE color filters. Lee Filters also sells them too (Tokyo Blue = #071, Primary Red = #106, & Primary Green = #139).

As always, YMMV. While you can get fairly good results using a calibration disc and your eyeballs as the measurement instrument, using a colorimeter, or other measurement instrument, will get better results (for more money, of course).

If you are new to the concept of video calibration, I would highly recommend that you read the "Sticky Threads" at the top of this forum's main page. They will provide a lot of background into the calibration process and why you are doing calibration in the first place (no display is set correctly from the factory, and only a very few are even close). As a minimum, you should read: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1021933, and http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=585527.

I am a total noob and just got a new hdtv and would like to calibrate it. The tv is a 47" Vizio XVT. My question is regarding which calibration DVD that I should buy. My DVD player is a Pioneer that upconverts to 1080p and it's connected to the tv via HDMI cable.

Any suggestions on which DVD would be of best use to me? Currently, I am leaning towards the Digital Video Essentials HD DVD. Should I go with this or something else? Thanks in advance!

The easiest way to start is with the THX Optimizer, which is available for free on many discs. Once you have practice and experience with that, all the other discs (which have more features) will make more sense.

-Bill

what is the link to the THX optimizer?

THX Optimizer: http://thx.com/home/dvd/optimizer/index.html

search for THX Optimizer titles: http://thx.com/home/dvd/search.html

THX filter glasses: http://www.costore.com/THX/producten...=87&pid=930793

-Bill

Just a side note, if you buy the blue filter glasses from THX-

The default shipping option is UPS ground that charges $10-12 for shipping, but they ship them via USPS for $2.50. So you aren't actually charged the high shipping cost. The order total should be about $5.

Thanks for the help BTW.

tvbuyerquestions -- You don't want to get the DVE "HD-DVD" version. That is only for HD-DVD players (which are now obsolete). For a Blu-Ray player, you want the "Digital Video Essentials HD Basics [Blu-Ray]" disc. Neither version will play in a standard DVD player (and one will not play in the other type of player). You have to be very precise in your descriptions, or you could be getting the wrong version.

You didn't tell us which Pioneer player you have, and they have many different models.

If you only have a SD-DVD (standard progressive &/or upscaling) player, then your best bet (for someone new to calibration) is the AVIA II "Guide to Home Theater", or the "Monster/ISF HDTV Calibration Wizard DVD". Both are available from Amazon. The AVIA II is more expensive, but has actual calibration test patterns. The Monster disc (distributed by monster, but not made by them) uses selected video clips to use for basic adjustments.

The best SD-DVD calibration disc, however, is the GetGray calibration disc - as discussed in this thread. It is available through www.calibrate.tv, and the instructions are on that site, about 3/4 of the way down the page (GetGrayCalDiscReadme.zip). You should download and read those instructions. If you can understand how to use the disc from these instructions, then it is OK to use it, even if you haven't used a calibration disc before. It does require that you have a DVD burner in your PC (use the free IMGburn software - it's very straightforward).

Is there any word on GetGray creating a HDTV - REC 709 disk? It would be great to have both.

The AVS HD 709 disc is worth looking at:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496

It's what I use for Blu-ray. "GetGray" contibuted some of the content.

-Bill

Not until Scott can get access to BD authoring software, etc. He has previously stated, that that effort is too expensive for his "avocation" effort (and his "day job" takes too much of his time), at present.

BTW, the GetGray disc can still be used for calibrating the HD grayscale, since that is the exact same for both SD and HD equipment. The only difference is in the color coding matrix (Rec. 601 vs Rec. 709).

As Bill (wmcclain) said, Scott contributed to the AVS HD 709 effort, and since that BD calibration software already exists, there isn't any real incentive for him to take on the added effort and expense to provide a virtual duplicate calibration disc. Bill provided the link to the AV HD 709 thread, in the previous post (in answer to your question). It uses a lot of the similar type of test patterns as is used in the GetGray disc.

I will second (third ?) the recommendation for the AVS HD 709 disc.

For video calibrations I use two discs, GetGray for SD playback on my HTPC, and AVS HD for BluRay playback on my BD55.

Both are excellent discs.

Only thing to be aware of is that you will get different luminance readings between the two on CRT and Plasma when measuring a white window on account of these two disks using different size windows.

C.

True, but I use them for different display devices (HTPC vs BD55) and interfaces (HDMI vs VGA) anyway so they are completely different calibrations in my setup.

Not to mention the 601 vs 709 reference difference.

Thanks for the info.

Hi,........I've had my Samsung HLP5063 DLP since '04 and have never done anything other than adjust things in the user menu, but have never done anthing with a calibration disc of any type. I watch tv with a Directv HD dvr, and Dvd's with an Oppo DV-980H dvd player, for whatever that is worth. I know I'm not getting the maximum out of my tv......the color is off and I'm tired of it. What do you folks suggest to a complete novice at this kind of thing? I'm not afraid to jump in with both feet with this sort of thing, but the most user friendly would obviously be the best way to start. I want to get the most I can outside of a professional calibration.Thanks in advance!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=2111

-Bill

Doesn't say where to get it, and I also read some things that say it's very limited.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=2113


You said user friendly and complete novice. It's free and readily available, what do have to lose by trying it?

Once you have exhausted THX Optimizer I recommend GetGray (which is the subject of the thread you are in now) for DVD and the AVS HD 709 disc for Blu-ray: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496

Neither have any tutorial material, so would not be good for the complete novice.

-Bill

O.k.......didn't realize the first time I clicked on the link that it's on store bought dvd's. Thought it was like Avia or DVE. I'll give that a try first. Does it also help with tv programming, or does that differ with every channel, to some degree. I imagine it would.

acillatem -- The "instructions" for the GetGray Caldisc is free (GetGrayCalDiscReadme.zip) and is on www.calibrate.tv, about 3/4 of the way down the web page. If you read and are able to understand that, then you are likely to be able to use it without problems. If you decide to buy the GetGray disc, you can always send me a PM, if you do run into problems using it. You should also get the THX Optimizer Glasses: http://www.costore.com/THX/producten...=87&pid=930793. They are needed to set the color Saturation & Tint controls.

You should have no problems running it on your Oppo DV-980H, if you have gotten the latest FW update for your Oppo. It is also recommended that download and install the latest version of IMGburn software - that will make it easier to burn a DVD (a DVD-R disc is the best): http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download - assuming that you are using a Windows PC (XP or Vista).

Yes, I have IMGburn, I'll get the THX glasses too. I imagine I would get the latest firmware for the Oppo at their site, yes? Thanks for the info!

Although I haven't measured it the output from my Oppo looks "right" using SD and HD outputs. That is if I feed 480 via component I can select either matrix on the display. The correct one looks right and the wrong one looks too bright. If I feed 1080p (via HDMI) it looks right too (using the Y/C delay pattern). Does this suggest that in this case it's reasonable to calibrate color for both HD and SD inputs using GetGray?

bodosom -- It's quite likely that the Oppo (you have the 980?) does the correct transfer of the Rec. 601 color matrix to Rec. 709 matrix when upscaling to 1080p (or 720p). From what you said, it seems that it does, if you see a difference.

You can certainly use the GetGray disc for calibrating the "HD mode" (and it will do a "correct" job for your Oppo player anyway, in either mode, since it's designed to be used for SD-DVDs) - you will have 2 separate settings, 1 for the 480, SD mode, and 1 for the 1080, HD mode.

If you also have a BD player, then you should use the AVS HD 709 calibration software for it.

acillatem -- Yes, you get the FW updates from the Oppo web site.

O.k. thanks! So, in your opinion, after I use the THX optimizer, the GetGray disc would be user friendly enough for a novice like me? I saw a few posts back a guy not being happy with it. Things I have read suggest that it is more straightforward than Avia or DVE, but I'm new to all of this. I am a novice, but let me add that I'm also not afraid of stuff like this. Not patting myself on the back by any means, but I don't call Directv to aim my dish, and I do it without a meter,I usually fix anything with our appliances by going to a forum, asking questions, getting the part, and doing it myself, etc. etc. Plus, I like figuring stuff like this out.That may sound like a lame description, but I think you know what I'm saying.......

I HIGHLY recommend the DVE, whether it's Blu-ray or HD-DVD version. It's the best for me when it comes to brightness, color and tint (sharpness is easy, just turn it all the way down usually). Contrast is the same as anybody else's contrast test pattern. I bought the Monster Calibration disc and it has helped me with my contrast settings (it's also fairly decent for brightness).

I'm not familiar with the GetGray disc, though.