Official Sony XBR4/XBR5 calibration thread - Page 56

My old cable provider had terrible SD I would have been disappointed had I stuck with it. DirectTV seems pretty clean though.

What I kow about calibration you can fit in a thimble. What I learned about gamma from monitor calibration though was that it's a gamma problem when you have a color gradient that looks stepped and not not smooth. I see this somewhat from time to time on my XBR. Something that is on now that I notice it in is the very begining of Talladega Nights they have a shot of the moon and I can see grey rings around it. The source here is Direct TVHD (Maybe HBO). Anyone else get this ?

Ok, here's the updated settings I promised to post. They were sent to me from the folks who calibrated my display. It covers 1080p24, 1080p60, 1080i and gaming sources. In my opinion they are utterly excellent. I know I’ve said this before but I’m not driving myself crazy with settings anymore, time to set it and forget it. I am very pleased with the service I’ve gotten from my calibrators, they’ve made good and they’re promise to send me updates when available.

- Please live with the settings for 24 hours for your eyes to adjust (unless you absolutely hate them). On each setting brightness can be adjusted up and down up to two notches to accommodate for room lighting and seating distance.

Power Save Mode: Off

HDMI – 1080p24 (1080p24 Blu-ray/HD-DVD & PS3)

Mode: Custom
Backlight: 4
Picture: 95
Brightness: 50
Color: 62 (Only with 1080p24 sources)
Hue: 0 - Middle
Sharpness: 30
Color Temp: Warm 2
Noise Reduction: Off
Mpeg Noise Reduction: Off
DRC: Off
Black Corrector: Off
ACE: Off
Gamma: Off
Clear White: Off
Color Space: Standard
Live Color: Off

White Balance:
Red Gain: -1
Green Gain: -4
Blue Gain: 0
Red Bias: 0
Green Bias: -3
Blue Bias: 0

Detail Enhancer: Low
Edge Enhancer: Off
Motion Enhancer:
Cinemotion: Auto1
Video Color Space (x.v.color): Off
Color Matrix: Auto
Game/Text: Off
Light Sensor: Off
Display Area: Full Pixel

HDMI – 1080i60 & 1080p60 (Cable, Satellite, Xbox 360 & Non 1080p24 Hi-Def Players)

Mode: Custom
Backlight: 3
Picture: 95
Brightness: 52
Color: 55
Hue: 0 - Middle
Sharpness: 30
Color Temp: Warm 2
Noise Reduction: Off (Low for Cable/Satellite)
Mpeg Noise Reduction: Off
DRC: Off
Black Corrector: Off
ACE: Off
Gamma: Off
Clear White: Off
Color Space: Standard
Live Color: Off

White Balance:
Red Gain: -1
Green Gain: -4
Blue Gain: 0
Red Bias: 0
Green Bias: -3
Blue Bias: 0

Detail Enhancer: Low
Edge Enhancer: Off
Motion Enhancer: Off / Standard (Personal Preference)
Cinemotion: Auto1
Video Color Space (x.v.color): Off
Color Matrix: Auto
Game/Text: Off
Light Sensor: Off
Display Area: Full Pixel


Component Video Sources – 1080i

Mode: Custom
Backlight: 3
Picture: 94
Brightness: 40
Color: 52
Hue: 0 - Middle
Sharpness: 50
Color Temp: Warm 2
Noise Reduction: Off (Low for Cable/Satellite)
Mpeg Noise Reduction: Off
DRC: Off
Black Corrector: Off
ACE: Off
Gamma: Off
Clear White: Off
Color Space: Standard
Live Color: Off

White Balance:
Red Gain: 0
Green Gain: -4
Blue Gain: 0
Red Bias: 0
Green Bias: -2
Blue Bias: 0

Detail Enhancer: Low
Edge Enhancer: Off
Motion Enhancer: Off / Standard (Personal preference) - Mines is off
Cinemotion: Auto1
Video Color Space (x.v.color): Off
Color Matrix: Auto
Game/Text: Off
Light Sensor: Off
Display Area: Full

Component Video Sources – 1080p (Component Xbox 360)

Mode: Custom
Backlight: 4
Picture: 100
Brightness: 40
Color: 54
Hue: 0 - Middle
Sharpness: 50
Color Temp: Warm 2
Noise Reduction: Off
Mpeg Noise Reduction: Off
DRC: Off
Black Corrector: Off
ACE: Low (Acceptable for Video Game Sources)
Gamma: Off
Clear White: Off
Color Space: Standard
Live Color: Off

White Balance:
Red Gain: 0
Green Gain: -4
Blue Gain: 0
Red Bias: 0
Green Bias: -2
Blue Bias: 0

Detail Enhancer: Low
Edge Enhancer: Off
Motion Enhancer: Standard (Personal Preference)
Cinemotion: Auto1
Video Color Space (x.v.color): Off
Color Matrix: Auto
Game/Text: On
Light Sensor: Off
Display Area: Full

- Larone.

lrstevens421, thanks, great job. will try in a few.

quick question, for Motion Enhancer pertaining to HDMI (1080p24, 1080p60, 1080ip60), you have nothing. Should this be set to OFF.

Is there any different between your two posts that you did a few minutes ago or was it just duped by mistake.

Yes it should, thanks. I had to retype it all manually. I tried to copy and paste from the pdf but it didn't go as planned.

No, there's no difference in the two posts, just a few keyboard mishaps .

Hi everyone,

I didn't have time to read all 56 pages of this thread for duplicate information, but I read at this website:

http://hdguru.com/?p=131

Quote:
"I quickly discovered that this Sony does not properly deinterlace 1080i in the factory default “Vivid” picture setting. In fact, it also drops 50% resolution in the “Standard” picture mode as well. However, the set does properly deinterlace the 1080i signal and does deliver all frames, and thus does display the full vertical resolution, in either “Custom” or “Cinema” picture mode!"

Since this thread is about getting the best possible picture I'm thinking that this bit of information will help somebody.

Since there is no specific date of when this article was written (except I know it is in 2007), does anyone know if this is still an issue?

lrstevens421,

Thanks for your new settings! I just got my set last week (40" XBR4) and have been struggling with the "right" settings.

If you had to put "OTA QAM HD" in a category above, what settings would you choose? Cable/Satellite? Something that's not HDMI or Component.

Thanks!

Hi Chris, that's a good question. I would try the hdmi 1080i settings first. If the image appears too bright try the 1080i component video settings. Just don't drive yourself crazy .

Larone

has anyone played around with the DRC setting during HD sports viewing?
I was watching the HD NHL feed on NBC and noticed some blurring around the helmets when the players were skating, but if I set DRC to Auto1 the blurring would go away...maybe I am just imagining things, but anyone else care to comment on this setting? (It does seem to add some noise to the overall picture)

Will do.

One more question, how about the Black Level setting in the Xbox 360 menu for both component and HDMI?

Thanks for your help!

Which black level setting are you referring to?

Thanks, Bro.

I've been using your settings since the day you first posted them and haven't tweaked since. Curious, what would prompt your calibrators to update your configs.? Something they've learned over time by calibrating other xbrs, etc.......?

Thanks again, you're very generous.

To be honest with you, I called them last week to inquire about calibrating my in-laws new display. We ended up on the phone for nearly an hour, that's when he told me about the updated settings. He's done quite a few XBR's since mines was done. I was hoping he would do my in-laws display for free as well, but no such luck . Looks like my industry accomodation has run its course . I really don't know what caused them to update the settings. Personally I know a great deal about HT but when he starts talking about grayscales and what not I get lost in techno bable land. He knows I like a picture with a lot of "contrast" so maybe that prompted him.

There only seems to be minor differences between these settings and my original ones.

Larone

Forgot to ask: what do you have your PS3 output to your xbr? By that, I mean what do you set the PS3 setting for:

BD / DVD Video Output Format (HDMI): Auto, RGB or Y Pb / Cb Pr / Cr?

RGB Full Range: Limited/Full

RGB can crush the life out of blacks and ruin shadow detail. I assume your calibrations are not using RGB at all? I like to use the "Super White" setting on the PS3, but you can't use that unless you use auto or Y Pb / Cb Pr / Cr on the above setting. Not really sure which is best or if I can even tell much difference....

DRC is an evil setting (for me). Some folks like the punch it gives SD, but truthfully, I wouldn't go near it, especially on HD sources. Tooo much noise and it hurts the PQ.

Sorry Vumcrab, I'm an Xbox 360 man .

However, you are right on about RGB settings.

+1, DRC = . YMMV.

System Blade
Console Settings
Display
Black Level

Choices are "Standard, Intermediate and Extended".

Oh ok, I'm not sure. I'll check when I get home tonight. I'm pretty sure It's set to whatever the default level is. I'll update later.

BTW, my Xbox only outputs component 1080p.

Larone

Also assuming "Hue at 50" means "0" otherwise those are some seriously red or green folks on screen!

Excellent! Thank you. I'm running component 1080p as well.

Yeah, I'll fix it. Thanks.

I feel like such a dunce... but I cannot find the above options, including the power save option, and the rest beginning with Cinemotion.

They are located in the "general" and "screen" settings located in the main menu.

Home button > Video Options (around the middle of the list)

I have been using lrstevens421 settings and they are perfect, will try the new ones when i get home tonight. I have only had my 46 xbr4 for a few days. My question is, does anyone use the "cinema" mode for watching movies or have any tweaked settings for cinema, or do most people watch cable/movies in the same settings? manual says cinema is for watching movies in a dark room. Just wondering if anyone does this. I havent had the opportunity to watch any movies yet.

And another probably stupid question, with my old tv we used to just get movies on demand (pay per view), would renting/buying movies for new upscaling dvd player be considerable better quality?

Larone,

I am curious how you settled on Detail Enhancer = Low. What differences did you notice between the Low and Off settings.

Thanks,

Mike

During calibration we noticed that in it's "low" setting it didn't do any harm to the image, in fact it worked as advertised. On close-ups it brought out lots of fine detail. Give it a shot, pick a film that has a some facial close-ups, it's hard to turn it off after you've seen what it can do. I wouldn't go any further than the "low" setting though, anything higher creates an unnatural image and can add excessive sharpness/edge enhancement.

It's one of the few enhancements in the picture menu that actually does more good than harm. Sony's NR setting on the other hand creates motion blur even in it's "low" setting. I'm forced to use it for cable sources due to it's effectiveness but unfortunately I have to live with it's tradeoffs. Rumor has it this is one of the issues Sony is going address with it's upcoming firmware update, we'll see. I'm going to stay optomistic.

Larone

Just curious Larone as to what you have for the following

Wide Mode
Auto Wide
4:3 Defult

Thanks for posting your settings

4:3 default, my cablebox fills the screen for 4:3 sources (whenever I have the stomach to watch them ).