I just completed a thorough calibration of my Qualia using the excellent OpticOne system distributed by A/V Science. Before sharing the calibration results, I want to say some good words about the OpticOne for anyone interested in learning more about an excellent calibration tool.
OPTICONE CALIBRATION SYSTEM
The OpticOne offers some excellent features to make the calibration easier and more accurate. First, it offers a "Bulls-eye" graphic: As you more closely balance the red, green and blue, a circle moves closer and closer to the 6480K bullseye. You can keep adjusting the color balance for a given IRE until you land the circle on the bullseye. Another useful graphic is the Red, Green and Blue chart where you can select any two colors and see their percentages relative to the third color (for example, if your temperature is too warm, you can see what percentage blue and green are and adjust them until all three colors have the same percentage). Since I am not a professional calibrator, I found the OpticOne tools invaluable. You can also click a button that repeatedly takes measurements many times a second. That way, you can watch your color temperatures change in real time as you make your adjustments. They also allow you to enter an adjustment for your screen (in my case a Firehawk) so that your calibration is matched to the slight impact of your screen on color accuracy (for the Firehawk, this meant increasing the "X" and "y" values by 0.004). Plus, I received expert and patient technical support--very appreciated for someone like myself who enjoys this as a hobby, not a living.
CALIBRATION RESULTS
The Qualia was set at High Lamp, Iris 2 and had 170 hrs. of use on the bulb.
Even though the picture was stunning before, the calibration brought the Qualia to an even higher level of enjoyment. Pre-calibration revealed a flat color temperature of approx. 5700K from 30-100 IRE-- consistent but below the ideal D65 (6480K). These measurements were based on using the "cinema" mode and the middle color temperature. After calibration, the Qualia was within +/-82 degrees of 6480K from 30-100 IRE. So, it was able to be calibrated very accurately across the light levels. The 20 IRE level was approx. 500 degrees too high, but it's difficult to obtain accurate readings at this low a light level. "Gamma 3" gave the best results in matching the OpticOne's recommended 2.2 Gamma curve. Using Gamma 3, the Qualia produced a gamma curve of 2.34, with the actual curve tracking almost exactly with the recommended curve. At 100 IRE, the projector produced an average of 16.1 fL for a 96" wide screen. With a total of 36 square feet on a 16:9 screen, this produced a total of 580 Lumens in High lamp, iris 2.
PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS
While the low lamp setting was acceptable, I much prefer the brighter images produced by the high lamp setting. And with brightness to spare,
even with some drop in lumens over the life of the bulb, I see no reason for Qualia owners to be concerned IF they are using a screen close in size to mine. Visually, the Firehawk is an excellent compliment to the Qualia, although I have not made any direct comparisons between this screen and others. The Qualia/Firehawk combination produces satisfactory blacks, excellent contrast and definitely passes the "looking through a window" test.
Using a Denon DVD-5900 and allowing the player to output a 1080i signal via DVI cable to the Qualia, there were not visible artifacts on film-based material. The images on better films such as Gladiator were so smooth and rich in color that you might easily mistake it for a high-definition image. I used the usual Fifth Element, Superbit Edition to revisit familiar scenes after calibration and the flesh tones, deep blacks and creamy-smooth images were a joy to watch over and over again. And 1080i from satellite provided even richer color detail and resolution.
The one weakness I could detect was in some video-based material, such as Deep Space Nine, which is 4:3 source material. Since the Qualia will not accept the original 4:3 in 1080i, you must change the output from the Denon player to 480P. As a result, you clearly see motion artifacts in many scenes, especially pans on space-ships where jaggies are evident. At the same time, other 4:3 video material was much smoother, so I wonder how much of the problem is caused by the Qualia's scaling limitations with video-based material from 480P versus the quality of the source material.
Overall, I am just thrilled with the Qualia's calibrated picture. This projector finally produces an image that has removed any upgrade bug I might have for projectors--and I've owned three previous projectors over the past 10 years, each of which reminded me daily of weaknesses that bothered me, from lower resolutions to the gray haze of earlier D-ILA projectors.
OPTICONE CALIBRATION SYSTEM
The OpticOne offers some excellent features to make the calibration easier and more accurate. First, it offers a "Bulls-eye" graphic: As you more closely balance the red, green and blue, a circle moves closer and closer to the 6480K bullseye. You can keep adjusting the color balance for a given IRE until you land the circle on the bullseye. Another useful graphic is the Red, Green and Blue chart where you can select any two colors and see their percentages relative to the third color (for example, if your temperature is too warm, you can see what percentage blue and green are and adjust them until all three colors have the same percentage). Since I am not a professional calibrator, I found the OpticOne tools invaluable. You can also click a button that repeatedly takes measurements many times a second. That way, you can watch your color temperatures change in real time as you make your adjustments. They also allow you to enter an adjustment for your screen (in my case a Firehawk) so that your calibration is matched to the slight impact of your screen on color accuracy (for the Firehawk, this meant increasing the "X" and "y" values by 0.004). Plus, I received expert and patient technical support--very appreciated for someone like myself who enjoys this as a hobby, not a living.
CALIBRATION RESULTS
The Qualia was set at High Lamp, Iris 2 and had 170 hrs. of use on the bulb.
Even though the picture was stunning before, the calibration brought the Qualia to an even higher level of enjoyment. Pre-calibration revealed a flat color temperature of approx. 5700K from 30-100 IRE-- consistent but below the ideal D65 (6480K). These measurements were based on using the "cinema" mode and the middle color temperature. After calibration, the Qualia was within +/-82 degrees of 6480K from 30-100 IRE. So, it was able to be calibrated very accurately across the light levels. The 20 IRE level was approx. 500 degrees too high, but it's difficult to obtain accurate readings at this low a light level. "Gamma 3" gave the best results in matching the OpticOne's recommended 2.2 Gamma curve. Using Gamma 3, the Qualia produced a gamma curve of 2.34, with the actual curve tracking almost exactly with the recommended curve. At 100 IRE, the projector produced an average of 16.1 fL for a 96" wide screen. With a total of 36 square feet on a 16:9 screen, this produced a total of 580 Lumens in High lamp, iris 2.
PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS
While the low lamp setting was acceptable, I much prefer the brighter images produced by the high lamp setting. And with brightness to spare,
even with some drop in lumens over the life of the bulb, I see no reason for Qualia owners to be concerned IF they are using a screen close in size to mine. Visually, the Firehawk is an excellent compliment to the Qualia, although I have not made any direct comparisons between this screen and others. The Qualia/Firehawk combination produces satisfactory blacks, excellent contrast and definitely passes the "looking through a window" test.
Using a Denon DVD-5900 and allowing the player to output a 1080i signal via DVI cable to the Qualia, there were not visible artifacts on film-based material. The images on better films such as Gladiator were so smooth and rich in color that you might easily mistake it for a high-definition image. I used the usual Fifth Element, Superbit Edition to revisit familiar scenes after calibration and the flesh tones, deep blacks and creamy-smooth images were a joy to watch over and over again. And 1080i from satellite provided even richer color detail and resolution.
The one weakness I could detect was in some video-based material, such as Deep Space Nine, which is 4:3 source material. Since the Qualia will not accept the original 4:3 in 1080i, you must change the output from the Denon player to 480P. As a result, you clearly see motion artifacts in many scenes, especially pans on space-ships where jaggies are evident. At the same time, other 4:3 video material was much smoother, so I wonder how much of the problem is caused by the Qualia's scaling limitations with video-based material from 480P versus the quality of the source material.
Overall, I am just thrilled with the Qualia's calibrated picture. This projector finally produces an image that has removed any upgrade bug I might have for projectors--and I've owned three previous projectors over the past 10 years, each of which reminded me daily of weaknesses that bothered me, from lower resolutions to the gray haze of earlier D-ILA projectors.
