[Mark Hunter]

It's 5:15 AM. I've been up all night. It was very much a breakthrough evening for Dilard. I'm happy to announce that the Dilard Calibration Wizard now lives, and does a fantastic job!


I will let you all know more soon, but the nasty colorspace transformation math is now working like magic, and auto-calibrates a D-ILA projector! You just go through the Calibration Wizard (formerly the 'Gamma Correction Wizard'), click on the "DO IT" button, and go get a snack (it takes a bit o'time).


The next thing you see is the status report. Your calibration is done! Make sure to have your 'Fifth Element' DVD handy.


More news to come...first, some sleep.

 

[belmore]

Congratulations! This is exciting news! When will it be available?

 

[Phat Phreddy]

Hear ye... Hear ye... Hear ye... And on this day did the grand wizard millori step forth with the ultimate of magic...


Seriously I noticed you where posting well into the night (your side) and its good to hear that this is looking good.. Just makes me want a DILA all the more !!!


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[email protected]
HTPC without using windows... GUI Front Ends for Home Theater

 

[videohot]

So thats why ya didn't call me last nite...now dammit what's important in your life Mark? http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif


This is Wonderful news!


My new G15 is great to watch during the day on my current smallish screen but I'm blind afterwards trying to watch it at nite in the dark!


Where/when do I sign up to get this CA-1 or whatever probe I need?


Larry


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G15 D-ILA

Lexicon MC1 7.1 system

Radeon Based HTPC

NHT, velodyne & bag end speaker systems

Panasonic, Dish, HDTV recording setup.


[This message has been edited by videohot (edited 07-21-2001).]

 

[PapaSloth]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.


Thank you.


Do you think you'll have your deal in place to sell Spyders before or after the calibration wizard is released? I.e., should I just go ahead and buy one now so that I'm set, or should I wait?


Thanks http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

 

[Tryg]

damn it Mark, you tried to tell us nine month ago it couldn't be done. It wasn't till after we demanded you do it, that this was accomplished. Don't scare us like that anymore. I can finally get some sleep.


YOU ARE THE MAN! ... I can't wait!


Nice job.


Now figure out how to retrofit my G1000 with that QXGA chip http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

[videohot]

Wasn't there a lot of talk about digging into the projectors innards voiding the warranty? I remember JVC digital refusing to opening it up to do that because of that.


Do most of the folks that do calibrations do that now?


Larry


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G15 D-ILA

Lexicon MC1 7.1 system

Radeon Based HTPC

NHT, velodyne & bag end speaker systems

Panasonic, Dish, HDTV recording setup.

 

[Don O’Brien]

Congrats.


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STOP HDCP on DVI

Don O

 

[Patrick Bennett]

Mark, will a calibration done with DILARD be an entire projector calibration for all input sources?

I don't use an HTPC for DVD playing, so obviously whatever DILARD is outputting through the projector for calibration screens, etc. will not be same source I use for DVD's, DSS, etc.


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The Bennett Home Theater: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Album...654&a=12500765

 

[Mark Hunter]

Andy,


The folks that perform it do say that the quarter wave plate can make a difference on projectors that don't have the plates aligned quite right. It is impossible to tell if a unit needs this adjustment without calibrating and checking the contrast. It should be 500:1 or better if the QWP is OK. I have a 656:1 contrast on my G11 without the QWP adjustment.



Larry,


Yes, opening the projector will void the warranty. I believe that the JVC projectors have a 3 year warranty and Dukane projectors extend that to 5 years.



Andy,


Dilard will also give hard numbers as well. It will not be a comprehensive analysis of the display like Colorfacts, but the relevant stuff will be presented...grayscale linearity (D65), contrast, etc.



Tryg,


Persistence http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif .



Don,


Thanks!



Patrick,


Yes, the calibration applies to any and all inputs. You need a computer to do the initial calibration, but then you can put it away. You don't need an HTPC to benefit from it.



Thanks for all of the feedback!


"Man, this is a very exciting time" - The Matrix

 

[adaseng]

I'am giving you a deadline of October 1, 2001 or else. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif


ps. just kidding



seng

 

[Patrick Bennett]

Mark, first of all, what can we expect to pay for 'recommended' calibration device(s) that DILARD will work with?


Also, since I have a GreyHawk screen, how would I compensate for its effects on the image?

I wuold assume I would have to tweak the brightness/contrast after the wizard was finished anyway.


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The Bennett Home Theater: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Album...654&a=12500765

 

[ham]

Mark,


Congratulations! What an effort! I am waiting, with A NEW LAPTOP to put good ol' Dilard on to bring my DILA to new heights.


Great job--let us know all the details asap.




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ham

 

[brian_vh]

Excellent Mark,


I can't wait to see your work in action again. It sounds as if you accomplishing more than you thought you could - the fruits of an excellent programmer!


By the way, I didn't see the answer to Kromkamp's first question - that is whether or not Dilard will now help out the issue of posterization from modified projectors? I'm very curious to know what you think of the image you are now getting on your D-ILA, when compared to one from the version that we all are using (without Gamma adjustment).


I'm sure that you have seen plenty of changes which have resulted in a better image quality in your machine over the last few months, how close to a hands on calibration are you now?


Anyway, thanks for your recent efforts on Dilard. I'm glad to see it back on track and doing more than anticipated!


Brian


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Our Home Theater - http://www.fatbulldog.com

Last updated 6/1/01

 

[Mark Hunter]

Wow. I'm really going to like this thing.


If I can pull all the code together the way that I would like, one Wizard will do the entire calibration.


Definitely hold off before buying any 'generic' hardware! We have been working closely with the manufacturer over the past few months for the equipment to do what we are doing, and neither ColorFacts nor Dilard will work with the standard garden-variety hardware anymore. I can't say more about that, but definitely wait on any hardware purchases.


Thanks, guys! I must get back to work.

 

[kromkamp]

Great news Mark ... now you've made my calibration choice harder.


When you wake up http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif , maybe you could give us some insight into the following:


- How closely does the projector track a true 6500K flatline post calibration?


- Does the Black Level Wizard become automated as well, to automagically calibrate contrast ratio and color at the same time?


- What kind of Contrast Ratio are you seeing coming out of your calibration?


Thanks,


Andy K.

 

[Mark Hunter]

Hi Andy,


Good questions!


I will use Video Colorfacts to do some analysis of the 'after' image and find out what the D65 tracking looks like and what the contrast ratio is. I can post those pictures if you'd like.


Yes, the black level, white level and grayscale are being merged into one "Calibration Wizard". Previously the code for these was separate, but it makes more sense to have them together. Plus, that allow the Wizard to make decisions about settings that interact.


An important note to mention is that a human calibrator may do one service that Dilard will never be able to do: Quarter Wave Plate adjustment. This procedure involves opening the projector and adjusting the polarizer plates to try to produce a higher contrast ratio.


Anyway, I will gather some facts for you this evening. I have already deemed tonight (Sat.) "movie night" based on how nice the picture came out from the Calibration Wizard. I will measure all of the statistics while I have it on.

 

[kromkamp]

Mark, what are you doing up? Go back to sleep http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

Quote:

Originally posted by milori: An important note to mention is that a human calibrator may do one service that Dilard will never be able to do: Quarter Wave Plate adjustment. This procedure involves opening the projector and adjusting the polarizer plates to try to produce a higher contrast ratio.

This is kind of the heart of my question. My "baseline" expectation for Contrast Ratio from a full calibration is 500:1. (I realize that sometimes its a little higher, sometimes a little lower.) So I'm curious to see if DILARD calibration, without this internal adjustment, can get close.


Also, One of the benefits of the full calibration is that the gamma curve has been specifically designed to eliminate posterization-type artifacts (both from MPEG-2 sources and from noisy NTSC sources VHS, CableTV, etc). I'm wondering if your calibration results also help to hide these problems? (if not, they probably give a good baseline to hand tweak this anyways, but I'm curious nevertheless)


Thanks,


Andy K.

 

[kromkamp]

Oh, one other thing:

Quote:

Originally posted by milori: I will use Video Colorfacts to do some analysis of the 'after' image and find out what the D65 tracking looks like and what the contrast ratio is. I can post those pictures if you'd like.

Does this mean that, unless we purchase Colorfacts, we will never know what the results of the Calibration wizard are in hard numbers?


Andy K.

 

[Mark Hunter]

Seng,


I will see what I can do.



Hi Patrick,


I might be wrong, but I would think that one calibration a year (probably after a bulb change) is plenty. I don't have pricing info. on that right now, though. Soon!

Quote:

Also, since I have a GreyHawk screen, how would I compensate for its effects on the image?

I just installed my Grayhawk today. Wow! Great screen.


The calibration is for the projector, and the colorimeter is aimed right into the lens, so the screen doesn't matter to the calibration. However, you can use the 'front panel' controls to adjust the brightness if you wish. I leave everything at exactly 0 after the calibration.



Ham,


I can't wait for the first reviews. I can hardly keep this to myself. The difference is quite something.



Brian & Andy,


This next step raises the bar a lot. I am not going to say too much, as no one wants to hear me blow the horn myself. My goal is to get this into the hands of some folks who can post their own reviews.


This is nothing like what was there previously. In fact, the installation for the next version will not have the Black Level Wizard, so if you want to keep that for some reason, hide it somewhere. There is no need for that tool anymore. There was little that was scientific about it, and it frequently caused less accurate colors, I'm sorry to say. I'm not the first to report that, of course.


Thanks again! I will be fine-tuning and completing this over the next week.