I'm thinking about getting a plasma tv (Panasonic VIERA TH42PZ80U) but have a question about calibrating. I had another plasma that i couldnt calibrate (i didnt have the options on the tv), i was probably doing it wrong. I plan on purchasing some sort of device that will allow me to calibrate it (havent looked into that yet) but could i pretty much calibrate any plasma tv with a device that i purchase? Or using any other methods found on this forum? I just dont want to purchase a tv and not be able to calibrate it myself because it doesnt have the options that i need.
Calibrate any tv?
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7,998 Posts
Define "calibrate."
Define "calibrate."
This is from tweaktv dot com
User Menu Settings
Picture Modes
Picture Mode : Standard
Color Temperature : Warm
Aspect Ratio : Full
Picture Settings
Picture (Contrast) : +65
Brightness : +53
Color : +45
Tint : -6
Sharpness : -50
Color Temperature : Warm
Color Management : Off
Advanced Picture
Video NR : Off
MPEG NR : Off
Black Level : Light
User Menu Settings
Picture Modes
Picture Mode : Standard
Color Temperature : Warm
Aspect Ratio : Full
Picture Settings
Picture (Contrast) : +65
Brightness : +53
Color : +45
Tint : -6
Sharpness : -50
Color Temperature : Warm
Color Management : Off
Advanced Picture
Video NR : Off
MPEG NR : Off
Black Level : Light
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3,871 Posts
definition: to make my tv display the best possible picture
I was not really looking for specific settings to put in, just really a conformation that i (as in me not a professional) will be able to calibrate it. I guess i should really research into calibration first, although i tried on my last tv and failed, it didnt have some color settings (dont really remember what setting). But i'm guessing that if i purchase a device i will be able to calibrate it.
I was not really looking for specific settings to put in, just really a conformation that i (as in me not a professional) will be able to calibrate it. I guess i should really research into calibration first, although i tried on my last tv and failed, it didnt have some color settings (dont really remember what setting). But i'm guessing that if i purchase a device i will be able to calibrate it.
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Greetings
Only if you are willing to put in the time and effort. One should be able to calibrate any and all TV sets. Just have to find the right information.
regards
Only if you are willing to put in the time and effort. One should be able to calibrate any and all TV sets. Just have to find the right information.
regards
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a list of setting has as much to do with calibration as everyone in the world having the same meal every day without regards to specific differences in each person. Some need more calories, some need less. Some have high metabolism rates, others low. Some have allergic reactions to certain foods. Some are diabetic. Etc.
You can get a recommendation but that does not to tailor to the individual.
a list of setting has as much to do with calibration as everyone in the world having the same meal every day without regards to specific differences in each person. Some need more calories, some need less. Some have high metabolism rates, others low. Some have allergic reactions to certain foods. Some are diabetic. Etc.
You can get a recommendation but that does not to tailor to the individual.
Yep, those settings are a good starting point. They do make it easier to get in the ballpark than the vivid factory settings, though.
I did my Samsung and only needed to vary a few points one way or the other to be "perfect" to me (and more importantly, my wife). My settings may not be "perfect" to anybody else, though.
Yep, those settings are a good starting point. They do make it easier to get in the ballpark than the vivid factory settings, though.
I did my Samsung and only needed to vary a few points one way or the other to be "perfect" to me (and more importantly, my wife). My settings may not be "perfect" to anybody else, though.
But that being said, is it not true that some tvs will calibrate better than others, both in terms of their physical limitations such as phosphor/filter accuracy AND in terms of the specific controls the mfr makes available regardless of whether they're in the UM, SM, or physical trim pots?
But that being said, is it not true that some tvs will calibrate better than others, both in terms of their physical limitations such as phosphor/filter accuracy AND in terms of the specific controls the mfr makes available regardless of whether they're in the UM, SM, or physical trim pots?
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Absolutely. Each can be done ... but to different degrees. Just like all people are not equally smart.
A person need only set the brightness and contrast right on the TV and they have done a whole lot of good for the image. Two simple things like this have far greater weighting in terms of importance than anything else you could do to the TV.
regards
Absolutely. Each can be done ... but to different degrees. Just like all people are not equally smart.
A person need only set the brightness and contrast right on the TV and they have done a whole lot of good for the image. Two simple things like this have far greater weighting in terms of importance than anything else you could do to the TV.
regards
Guys... I don't see anywhere the OP requested settings for his TV. I can't really comprehend all the talk about pro's and con's of using someone else's settings, the OP doesn't want to do that.
He asked if he would be able to calibrate his TV using equipment and knowledge gained here.
OP, the short answer is yes, if your willing to do your research. I understand your last TV didn't have a color setting you wanted to adjust. A newer one probably would, however it wouldn't be too difficult to request the salesmen (or just do it yourself) access the user menu's while demo'ing the TV's. This would show you what you'll be able to access. I can speak from personal experience that the newer Samsung LCD's have a fairly extensive user menu and allow you to adjust pretty much all you'll need to adjust to achieve a non-professional calibration. You'll also need a calibration disc such as Avia or DVE.
However, a more in depth calibration would possibly require access to the service menu. Extreme caution should be taken if you decide to do this. Make sure and do all your research first as these changes are not easily un-done, and you can really screw up your set if you don't know what your doing.
He asked if he would be able to calibrate his TV using equipment and knowledge gained here.
OP, the short answer is yes, if your willing to do your research. I understand your last TV didn't have a color setting you wanted to adjust. A newer one probably would, however it wouldn't be too difficult to request the salesmen (or just do it yourself) access the user menu's while demo'ing the TV's. This would show you what you'll be able to access. I can speak from personal experience that the newer Samsung LCD's have a fairly extensive user menu and allow you to adjust pretty much all you'll need to adjust to achieve a non-professional calibration. You'll also need a calibration disc such as Avia or DVE.
However, a more in depth calibration would possibly require access to the service menu. Extreme caution should be taken if you decide to do this. Make sure and do all your research first as these changes are not easily un-done, and you can really screw up your set if you don't know what your doing.
So if the OP wanted a box to drag around to each of his or hers televisions...so that the box would supply the signals to do grayscale tracking, Primary & Secondary colors in windows, maybe some other test patterns...Maybe the box would have Component & HDMI outputs.
Anything in the Sencor or other mfgr's lines you could suggest ?
Anything in the Sencor or other mfgr's lines you could suggest ?
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First off... the Panasonic panels don't have many controls that help with "calibration"... there are no gamma controls per se, there are no controls to make the primaries and secondaries more accurate.
If you specifically want a TV with a wide range of controls that are usable and useful for calibration, Samsung plasmas are far more "equipped" with adjustments including controls to make the primary and secondary colors accurate. "Most" plasmas are more like the Panasonics... just 2 calibration controls. The Samsungs are unique (so far) among plasmas... a $1500 Samsung plasma has more and better controls than a $3500 Pioneer - that doesn't mean you'd end up picking the calibrated Samsung picture over the expensive Pioneer picture as the Pioneer does things the Samsung can't do... but for a $1500 TV, the 50" Samsung plasma is pretty impressive.
What are your motives for DIY calibration? Do you think you can do as good a job with a $200 meter that a professional would do with $20,000+ of instruments and software? (you can't) If you think you can save money over a pro-calibration (probably $300-$400 depending on who you get), that's probably not going to happen - because - people who get into calibration to save money are rarely (maybe never) successful (they either end up spending more than a calibration would have cost, or end up with results that are not as good as a professional calibration... or both).
Those who get into DIY calibration for "fun" are generally fairly successful as long as they understand up front that to do the job on a pro level, they'll need more than a $200 meter and that they'll very probably end up spending considerably more than the cost of a pro calibration plus invest 100s of hours in study/research and practice... those people mostly end up doing a pretty good job for themselves. "Fun" may not be exactly the right word, but there are a lot of people who enjoy researching things and learning new skills and "fun" is pretty close to it for those people who would get into this and end up being good at it... at least for their own video display.
We (pro calibrators and veteran AVS Forum members) always worry/wonder about people who want to calibrate a TV but know very little about the topic (you seem to be in that category, no offense intended). One pro calibrator likes to say "it's not rocket science" and he's right, it's not. But it's not making a piece of toast for breakfast either. If you really know little or nothing about TV technology, color theory, image quality assessment, using specialized tools and software to analyze test patterns, how to use various test patterns, the issues with SD and HD color, calibrating for different inputs... and on and on... it's still possible to learn all of that, but it's quite a big bite to chew off. The goal here isn't to dissuade you from doing this, but to help provide scope/perspective so you understand what you would be getting into.
You should have a look at the calibration threads here on AVS Forum before committing 100% to doing this yourself - there's a lot of info there that you may find to be more detail than you want to deal with... or not. Only you can judge.
First off... the Panasonic panels don't have many controls that help with "calibration"... there are no gamma controls per se, there are no controls to make the primaries and secondaries more accurate.
If you specifically want a TV with a wide range of controls that are usable and useful for calibration, Samsung plasmas are far more "equipped" with adjustments including controls to make the primary and secondary colors accurate. "Most" plasmas are more like the Panasonics... just 2 calibration controls. The Samsungs are unique (so far) among plasmas... a $1500 Samsung plasma has more and better controls than a $3500 Pioneer - that doesn't mean you'd end up picking the calibrated Samsung picture over the expensive Pioneer picture as the Pioneer does things the Samsung can't do... but for a $1500 TV, the 50" Samsung plasma is pretty impressive.
What are your motives for DIY calibration? Do you think you can do as good a job with a $200 meter that a professional would do with $20,000+ of instruments and software? (you can't) If you think you can save money over a pro-calibration (probably $300-$400 depending on who you get), that's probably not going to happen - because - people who get into calibration to save money are rarely (maybe never) successful (they either end up spending more than a calibration would have cost, or end up with results that are not as good as a professional calibration... or both).
Those who get into DIY calibration for "fun" are generally fairly successful as long as they understand up front that to do the job on a pro level, they'll need more than a $200 meter and that they'll very probably end up spending considerably more than the cost of a pro calibration plus invest 100s of hours in study/research and practice... those people mostly end up doing a pretty good job for themselves. "Fun" may not be exactly the right word, but there are a lot of people who enjoy researching things and learning new skills and "fun" is pretty close to it for those people who would get into this and end up being good at it... at least for their own video display.
We (pro calibrators and veteran AVS Forum members) always worry/wonder about people who want to calibrate a TV but know very little about the topic (you seem to be in that category, no offense intended). One pro calibrator likes to say "it's not rocket science" and he's right, it's not. But it's not making a piece of toast for breakfast either. If you really know little or nothing about TV technology, color theory, image quality assessment, using specialized tools and software to analyze test patterns, how to use various test patterns, the issues with SD and HD color, calibrating for different inputs... and on and on... it's still possible to learn all of that, but it's quite a big bite to chew off. The goal here isn't to dissuade you from doing this, but to help provide scope/perspective so you understand what you would be getting into.
You should have a look at the calibration threads here on AVS Forum before committing 100% to doing this yourself - there's a lot of info there that you may find to be more detail than you want to deal with... or not. Only you can judge.
I couldn't have said anything better Mr. Blackburn. Thanks for saying what I couldn't, haha. You make a VERY good point about doing a DIY calibration to save money vs learn a new hobby. I would definately agree with that, even though I've never done either, it makes sense.
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Well said, Doug.
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Not to hijack the thread but:
We at SpectraCal are working on a low cost portable video test generator for enthusiasts and pro calibrators alike. It will have an HDMI output and support up to 1080p60 and 1080p24. The SpectraCal CalMAN VTG will support automation with CalMAN v3.21 just the high-end ones we support now from Sencore and Quantum Data.
We also have added automation support for the DVDO Edge with firmware v1.1 that now has its built-in patterns just like the DVDO VP30, 50 and 50pro.
Not to hijack the thread but:
We at SpectraCal are working on a low cost portable video test generator for enthusiasts and pro calibrators alike. It will have an HDMI output and support up to 1080p60 and 1080p24. The SpectraCal CalMAN VTG will support automation with CalMAN v3.21 just the high-end ones we support now from Sencore and Quantum Data.
We also have added automation support for the DVDO Edge with firmware v1.1 that now has its built-in patterns just like the DVDO VP30, 50 and 50pro.
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1,884 Posts
Yes our CalMAN VTG will cost much less than the HDG-4000. We will have it at CES/THX later this week for some further testing for anyone that would like to see it. Once we have testing done and CalMAN v3.21 updated to support the VTG we will make an announcement in a few weeks.
Our CalMAN VTG is not meant to replace the AccuPel HDG-4000 or the Sencore VP-400 series. Because the CalMAN VTG will not have component or SDI outputs just HDMI. But for anyone that just needs HDMI we will have all the necessary patterns plus automation with CalMAN.
Yes our CalMAN VTG will cost much less than the HDG-4000. We will have it at CES/THX later this week for some further testing for anyone that would like to see it. Once we have testing done and CalMAN v3.21 updated to support the VTG we will make an announcement in a few weeks.
Our CalMAN VTG is not meant to replace the AccuPel HDG-4000 or the Sencore VP-400 series. Because the CalMAN VTG will not have component or SDI outputs just HDMI. But for anyone that just needs HDMI we will have all the necessary patterns plus automation with CalMAN.
To the OP, I personally went with the Display2/Calman bundle and am extremely happy with it. My TV doesn't have that many adjustments, (1 RGB, color/tint) nothing fancy and I was able to achieve an excellent calibration.
Here are my latest calibration results:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=#post15471512
Daniel
Here are my latest calibration results:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=#post15471512
Daniel
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