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What criteria to evaluate potential calibrators?

post #1 of 10
12/19/06 at 12:32pm
Thread Starter 
I got a name off of the ISF site of a local calibrator. He was very nice, and said he charges $250 for a calibration and that he has a $8000 piece of equipment he uses. Then he went on to say that "using the equipment is not always necessary" and that sometimes he can calibrate through the menus alone.

What sorts of check list items should I require that he do in order to assure I get the best calibration possible? Should he be providing a before/after printout of all the settings he changed and the resulting readings from his equipment? I'm new to this whole thing, and I want to make sure I get my money's worth...although the get $250 worth doesn't sound like it would be hard since this usually runs much more.

Any advice for interviewing potential ISF certified calibrators?
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post #2 of 10
12/19/06 at 1:10pm
I don't think you should pay someone $250 to do basic video adjustments with AVIA then choose the low colortemp preset and call it done - something worth about $50 if you don't want to buy AVIA yourself. ISF is supposed to include advanced grayscale adjustments using his $8K worth of gear to make sure that low colortemp is equal to D65 measurements from white to black. $250 is recommended rate for a TV first input - often those that do TVs charge more because they go beyond even just grayscale as well as more inputs to do. Also front/rear PJ is more complicated and it is recommended they cost more.

While pre/post calibration leave behind reports and recording settings in case of wipeout are not requirements - that certainly is good customer service.
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post #3 of 10
12/19/06 at 1:13pm
Greetings

Basic calibration ..

One input grayscale type ... usually your DVD player of choice or from an HD signal generator.

Will look at:

Brightness
Contrast
Color
Tint
Sharpness

Grayscale work ... RGB stuff ... either in the Service menu or User menu ... depends on TV.

May ... also look at image centering ... SVM ... overscan adjustment ... centering user controls or redefining what RESET does on the TV.

May ... also look at color decoding items.

Provide a before and after graph for the grayscale work. Should take about 2 to 3 hours assuming there is talking involved.

Of course not all calibrators are the same quality ... much like there are good lawyers and bad ones. Good doctors and bad ones. Get references or ask on the web site for others that have used the service from him.

Regards
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post #4 of 10
12/19/06 at 1:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by krasmuzik View Post

I don't think you should pay someone $250 to do basic video adjustments with AVIA then choose the low colortemp preset and call it done - something worth about $50 if you don't want to buy AVIA yourself. ISF is supposed to include advanced grayscale adjustments using his $8K worth of gear to make sure that low colortemp is equal to D65 measurements from white to black. $250 is recommended rate for a TV first input - often those that do TVs charge more because they go beyond even just grayscale. Also front/rear PJ is more complicated and it is recommended they cost more.

Thanks for your reply krasmuzik. He did mention he was shooting for 6500K, so I would assume he would have to use his gear to make that determination. So in addition to the Color Temp getting synched to D65, is it normal for him to also adjust anything else? Dispay Gamma, Gray Scale RGB Ratio, CIE 1931 TriStimulus (??).

Thanks again.
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post #5 of 10
12/19/06 at 1:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael TLV View Post

Greetings

Basic calibration ..

One input grayscale type ... usually your DVD player of choice or from an HD signal generator.

Will look at:

Brightness
Contrast
Color
Tint
Sharpness

Grayscale work ... RGB stuff ... either in the Service menu or User menu ... depends on TV.

May ... also look at image centering ... SVM ... overscan adjustment ... centering user controls or redefining what RESET does on the TV.

May ... also look at color decoding items.

Provide a before and after graph for the grayscale work. Should take about 2 to 3 hours assuming there is talking involved.

Of course not all calibrators are the same quality ... much like there are good lawyers and bad ones. Good doctors and bad ones. Get references or ask on the web site for others that have used the service from him.

Regards

He said he's bought $8000 worth of equipment and sent himself and another employee to ISF to get certified, but he's only had 3 calls to do calibrations! He does home theatre setups and does the calibration as a part of that, but it doesn't sound like he's done alot.

But...that $250 sounded like it included both inputs. He was going to call ISF to check to see if his equipement could be used for my specific set (TH50PH9UK) and get back to me. He was very straightforward and honest, so I'm thinking of going with him as long as he agrees to before/after graphs of all you discuss above.

Thanks for your reply.
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post #6 of 10
12/19/06 at 1:41pm
Greetings

Things that can be done on your set ... (not what is usually included)

Grayscale can be done both in the service menu and the user menu. But it is recommended that it be done on the service menu side since there is usually not enough "range" in the user menu to get it right. And people hitting reset by accident can lose that data.

the TV can handle 3 distinct SD grayscale settings and 3 distinct HD grayscale settings if one so chooses. Things like contrast ... brightness ... sharpness ... color ... tint are better done on the user menu side. There are also basic color decoder items here ... R-Y ... and B-Y stuff.

Pretty much all instruments can work on plasma sets so you are good to go.

Regards
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post #7 of 10
12/19/06 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael TLV View Post

Greetings

Things that can be done on your set ... (not what is usually included)

Grayscale can be done both in the service menu and the user menu. But it is recommended that it be done on the service menu side since there is usually not enough "range" in the user menu to get it right. And people hitting reset by accident can lose that data.

the TV can handle 3 distinct SD grayscale settings and 3 distinct HD grayscale settings if one so chooses. Things like contrast ... brightness ... sharpness ... color ... tint are better done on the user menu side. There are also basic color decoder items here ... R-Y ... and B-Y stuff.

Pretty much all instruments can work on plasma sets so you are good to go.

Regards

Thanks Michael I appreciate your time.
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post #8 of 10
12/28/06 at 8:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael TLV View Post

Greetings

May ... also look at image centering ... SVM ... overscan adjustment ... centering user controls or redefining what RESET does on the TV.
May ... also look at color decoding items.
Provide a before and after graph for the grayscale work. Should take about 2 to 3 hours assuming there is talking involved.
...............
Regards

May???
Mike, he SHOULD do it not MAY do it: color decoder, color space, 1:1 mapping, (if possible) and many other things.
Report - must follow.

Regards
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post #9 of 10
1/11/07 at 10:53am
Greetings,

Here is a link to choosing the right video system calibrator:

HIRING A VIDEO CALIBRATION TECHNICIAN

Enjoy!

Dave
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post #10 of 10
1/13/07 at 11:33am
hi guys

Dave, that is a great link!

ChrisCT: I regularly service all of CT and have worked on your exact model 5-6 times. I have worked on last years model 30 plus times, and own 2 of that model line myself (the 37" and 42" versions). You will be in the very best of hands.

All Lion AV consultants use spectroradiometers to calibrate a display, not the Sencore tri stimulus piece that your contact was referring to.

I could get to you in the last week of this month if you book very soon, if not it would be in the last half of February.

Feel free to email me at gregg@lionav.com if interested.

Happy viewing

Gregg
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