Calibrating An HDTV

[NikolaeVarius]

Just got a new HDTV. Its Beautiful, 61 Inch Samsung 1080 DLP/LED TV.

How does one go about calibrating it to get he best picture? A google search came up with a few results, but I want to know how people here did it.

 

[Slick5150]

Either get Avia or Digital Video Essentials. Its a DVD with color filters that will help you properly adjust all of the settings.

 

[SLCentral]

ISF Calibration FTW. It'll run $300-$400, but it's worth every penny. If you don't want to do that, go buy Avia or Home Theater Essentials. If you're really cheap, go rent Finding Nemo, there's a THX calibrator on the disk. Obviously, the more you spend, the better the quality.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
Either get Avia or Digital Video Essentials. Its a DVD with color filters that will help you properly adjust all of the settings.

Yep, in the meantime, here's what you can do. IN ORDER!

1) Set the color bias to warm. Turn off any special image enhancements.

2) Turn sharpness down...almost all the way. 20-25% max.

3) Fire up a DVD, find a dark scene. Turn brightness down to the point where the screen doesnt get any blacker. At this point, the scene shoulde just get darker and darker. Then turn it up until it does begin to get brighter, and stop at the point where the black blacks start to brighten (even slightly). You want to set it at the point where black is black, but shadow detail isnt lost.

4) Then turn contrast down...50% or less, depending on your light. If the room is pitch black, 25-30% is usually pretty good.

5) Then adjust color/saturation until the scene looks natural.

6) Then tweak hue.

You will likely think it looks like crap, because youre used to over bright, over saturated, over sharpened displays. Give it a little time for your eyes to adjust, and you'll appreciate how much better it looks.

This will certainly get it much better, but the avia disc will get it perfect (nearly). I prefer avia much, much, much more than digital video essentials.

 

[Viper GTS]

Since when does Samsung have a 61" LED DLP? Is it one of the new HLT's?

Guess I answered my own question

Next question, what'd you pay? I may just start regretting my HLS purchase.



Viper GTS

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: SLCentral
ISF Calibration FTW. It'll run $300-$400, but it's worth every penny. If you don't want to do that, go buy Avia or Home Theater Essentials. If you're really cheap, go rent Finding Nemo, there's a THX calibrator on the disk. Obviously, the more you spend, the better the quality.

On a 61 inch DLP, I'd definitely recommend an ISF calibration if youre really serious about video. They will get it to near perfection.

 

[pennylane]

Avia/DVE.

Also, head on over to avsforum. They often have "tweak" threads for recent/popular TV's (they should have one for your Samsung, or at least that particular product line). Usually you can just use the settings other users have had good success with. That should be good help. They even talk about service menu tweaks there, but of course you have to be more careful.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Since when does Samsung have a 61" LED DLP? Is it one of the new HLT's?

Guess I answered my own question

Next question, what'd you pay? I may just start regretting my HLS purchase.



Viper GTS

yeah, I got one of those.

My family paid 2200 for the TV, 1 year warranty (Probably extend it soon), a 2 meter composite cable, and one of those HDTV surge protectors.

 

[Viper GTS]

Here's the AVS thread

Looks to be brand new, barely a week old. Probably not a lot of detailed info yet but I'm just getting started reading it.

Viper GTS

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I see.

I got the HL-Txx87S
I wanted the HL-Txx89S, but thats like a $1000 increase. I wanted the HDMI 1.3, but this one only has 1.2 or 1.1.

 

[Viper GTS]

Doh you beat me to it. I don't feel too bad then. Damn $3200 for the 89, that's in the neighborhood of double what I paid for my HL-S6187W.

Viper GTS

 

[NikolaeVarius]

87 series. As I said 89 is a $1000 increase in price, which isn't worth it just for the 1.3 hdmi

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Doh you beat me to it. I don't feel too bad then. Damn $3200 for the 89, that's in the neighborhood of double what I paid for my HL-S6187W.

Viper GTS

Sorry for double, but that was what I was going to get until my friend said the new series was out, so I should get that instead.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Since when does Samsung have a 61" LED DLP? Is it one of the new HLT's?

Guess I answered my own question

Next question, what'd you pay? I may just start regretting my HLS purchase.



Viper GTS

Whew...glad I waited. I'm torn between the Mitsu and the Sammy DLP's. Was waiting for the LED's to get right on the price.
Might just be new DLP time.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Yeah I recommend it. Its beautiful.

On a side note, I played Resistance at the store I bought my TV from. It was a small electronics store, and so I stood there for 30 minutes playing on a 70" screen. That was amazing.

 

[Juice Box]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
Yeah I recommend it. Its beautiful.

On a side note, I played Resistance at the store I bought my TV from. It was a small electronics store, and so I stood there for 30 minutes playing on a 70" screen. That was amazing.

My buddies have a 52" LCD with Resistance (PS3)...my god that game looks amazing on a nice screen. I can't wait to get a 720p projector this summer and play it at 100+"!!!

 

[Pacfanweb]

From the AVS thread:

HL-Txx87S - no PiP, no Bluetooth and unspecified HDMI versio (probably 1.1 or 1.2)
HL-Txx89S - Single tuner PiP, Bluetooth (wireless headphones?) and HDMI v1.3 w/CEC

That's the only differences? Then screw that, I'd pick the less expensive set....PIP is irrelevant unless you're either using OTA or have two tuner boxes, and honestly....I've had PIP capability through my cable boxes for years and never use them. Worthless feature to me. So is Bluetooth, and the USB.
All I'm worried about is the inputs for video. And this thread has made me very happy in that regard.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Is there a Real discernible difference between HDMI 1.2 and 1.3?

 

[Gunslinger08]

How's the viewing angle on these new LED DLPs? When I was looking at the standard DLPs before I bought my plasma, the angles were pretty bad. My typical viewing angle is anywhere from center to 40 degrees off center, but I'm also 1 to 2.5 feet below the bottom of the TV.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Err. The Vewing angle is actually kind of bad. I don't care because I'm looking straight at the screen which is should/eye level. But when I shift a few feet, the picture is gets waayyy too dark.

 

[pennylane]

hdmi article - wikipedia

Deep color isn't a big deal since there aren't deep color sources (I think?). The lip sync thing may be useful but I'm sure there are ways to work around that. The high-def audio formats aren't a concern for a TV.

 

[JoPh]

www.avsforum.com

 

[cubby1223]

Dang you. I've barely even begun to pay off my HLS series LED DLP. If it weren't for the Bears in the Superbowl, I would have been able to wait out the HLT series.

How's the black levels on the new sets? Color banding? On the HLS-5679W, the only acceptable picture mode is movie mode, which gives the picture a somewhat dirty tint (in exchange for being able to distinguish the dark colors, and no color banding).

I still have to get my tv properly calibrated, in darker scenes, flesh just does not have the right color.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Holy. The Black Looks like Pure Black. I was flabbergasted.

I'm on movie mode too. It gives the best picture in my opinion.

All I've done till now is play around with the settings. I'll do my amateurish calibrating later.

Not sure about color banding. I haven't watched it enough.

My only complaint is that on Sd, there is still some of that .. shimmering on some of the lines. Anyone know how to fix it?

 

[Matt2]

I love my 50" Samsung DLP.

Enjoy!