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"Hmmm...
Is there really much to calibrate on a direct view TV?"
You bet! One of the first direct views I calibrated was
my 27" Panasonic Super Flat, which I'd had for about
7 or 8 years. Not only did the grayscale calibration improve
the color of the set, but the picture was finally centered
and shaped right!
Since then, I've calibrated many, many direct views. Models
from Sony, Toshiba, JVC, and Panasonic have all shown significant
improvement. In fact, the higher end Sony's even have provision
for touching up the convergence! You owe it to yourself
to see what your set is capable of!
Most CRT's do not have the image properly centered and sized on the
screen. The first order of business when I get to your house,
after documenting and measuring the current settings of
your display, is to center the image so that you won't miss
parts of the picture.
Then I check to make sure the picture is the proper height
and width, and overscan is minimized.
Next up is finding the proper settings for the standard
brightness, contrast, sharpness, color, and tint. If possible,
I'll adjust them so that the default point of the user control
is the correct setting. When possible, I'll also make adjustments
to the gamma, color decoder (eliminating red push), DC restoration,
scan velocity modulation, chroma delay, and dynamic picture/color
controls. Some manufacturers make all these things adjustable
in the service menu, but others might not have an adjustment
for everything. For example, Brand X might have adjustments
for everything except the color decoder- which means that
we'll just have to make do as best as we can without that
adjustment.
Now we come to the heart of the matter- gray scale tracking.
Very few TV's have a properly calibrated gray scale, due
in part to sloppy or time restricted manufacturing and a
desire for the image to scream at you on the brightly lit
showroom floor. Poor grayscale performance can result in
a colored tint to dark areas of the picture in addition
to the inability to look natural no matter how the color
and tint are set. Using a color analyzer, I'll adjust it
as close as possible to the TV standard of D6500.
Finally, I'll go back and fine tune the basic controls.
Then it's time to evaluate the picture! In a few situations,
your display might look more subdued than before calibration,
but vibrant colors and more lifelike details will come shining
through. Picture problems like excessive shimmering, bent
lines, chronically sun burnt flesh tones, washed out images,
and colored shadows will be greatly reduced or eliminated.
The time it takes to do a calibration depends on your display
and how easy and complete it's service menu is. An average
direct view calibration usually takes about 3-6 hours. Some
older displays might not have a service menu, in which case
I will have to take the back off and adjust trim pots. This
does not normally take more time, but it might mean that
the display will have to be moved. Do I mind if owners watch
me do a calibration? Usually not- in fact, it's great to
be able to explain what I'm doing; but there will be some
long, boring time lapses (some with all the lights off),
so have a laptop or something else handy! If something has
been really messed up on your TV, like if you went into
the service mode and accidentally hit "reset"
or if someone got into something they shouldn't have, warn
me ahead of time.
 Many
people have wondered if performing an ISF calibration will
make all displays look more or less the same. The reality
is that while a calibration will get the most out of your
display, there will still be significant performance differences.
It's somewhat like the differences between 2 different speakers
after they have both been equalized and optimally placed
in a room.
The grayscale, color decoder, and other tweaks combine
to make a significant improvement in the enjoyment of your
set!
Note: Not all adjustments or procedures are available or
necessary on every set.
ISF calibration: $375
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I’m truly speechless in AWE after my ISF calibration experience yesterday at the expert hands of one Chad Billheimer.
Chad spent 9 hours virtually uninterrupted, by his own insistence, because he wanted everything to be utterly perfect. Every scan rate, every input, every resolution, chroma, grayscale, colors, geometry, convergeance, overscan, sharpness, you name it! ALL! No stone left unturned!
I was kind of skeptical going in, about how much "better" my TV would be, but now I'm a zealous convert for ISF! EVERYONE should get their displays ISF calibrated! I'll never go without it again.
Chad even started things off by taking the back off my TV and doing the meticulous work of adjusting the magnets so my geometry and convergeance issues could be fixed. PERFECT! That was 2 hours right there before he even got into the main ISF calibration.
I've never seen a person so dedicated, selfless, and unrelenting in their profession than what Chad showed me during this work. He's as humble and gracious as you can possibly imagine from reading this. Perfectionism utterly redefined! You would have thought HE owned the TV instead of me!
Finally: I expected to pay a fairly hefty sum for all this work, based on the ISF SRP's for such work. Chad quoted me a price that completely unfair...TO HIM! I wrote him out a check for more than he quoted me so I could sleep well at night. I'm not kidding.
-Eric, Sony 34"
Some of you may remember Q of BanditZ's glowing testimonial for the services of Midwest-based ISF Calibrator, Chad Billheimer. I certainly do, so when I finally got my own XBR960, I waited 30 days or so to allow it to break-in, and then immediately contacted Chad through his site. He promptly responded and, despite the fact that Chicago was outside his "official" service area, he told me that he'd be happy to make the trip and calibrate my TV.
I was very anxious to get the job done before the end of the year, as my free time would dwindle considerably in January. However, our schedules weren't matching up. I made one last ditch effort at a possible date (Jan 2), and Chad actually rearranged one of his other appointments in town to accommodate me, going the extra mile (literally) in the process.
Q of BanditZ's account is very detailed, so I won't rehash it here. Suffice it to say that I had a similarly excellent experience. Chad said that he's getting a lot of time in on 960s. so he expected the job go fairly quickly. Nevertheless, he spent six hours tweaking and retweaking every input at every resolution to ensure that optimal quality was attained. He was even game for trying to improve my set's above-average geometry, even though he thought the difference might not be visible (he was, of course, right; my set had no interior magnets from the factory and the application of a few did very little). A dedication to perfection appears to be one of Chad's hallmarks.
He also happens to be a very nice guy. When I was pulling my hair out because I couldn't find the remote for my DVD player so that he could zero out all the settings before he calibrated that input, he simply smiled and went about his business on another tweak (I finally found it in the couch cushion's thirty minutes later). Furthmore, as I am interested in the whole process of calibration, I sat behind him almost the entire time watching him work. By all rights, this should have driven him crazy, but he was more than happy to indulge me, explaining different aspects of the job and answering my questions as he went along. Personableness is definitely another of Chad's most prevalent traits.
As for the calibration itself, the results were stupendous. My most notable problem, black crush, is gone. Scenes like the Mines of Moria from LOTR had previously been impenetrably dark. Now the set handles such scenes with finesse, achieving a huge increase in shadowy detail (I expect to see similar improvement with the ultimate test: night scenes on Lost). Skin tones look vibrant without pushing towards either end of the spectrum. Colors in general appear vivid yet realistic (hello, Discovery HD Theater!). And thanks to the added black detail, the set looks even brighter in Pro/Monitor mode.
Chad was also thoughtful enough to slightly increase the gamma on the inputs on which I play games. He explained that the equipment used by game designers and producers might result in darker material on home screens, and that a stronger gamma than the one he set on the "reference" HDTV and DVD inputs might look better. Once again, he was absolutely correct.
The topper on all of this is his fee. It's more than reasonable, and he charges no travel expenses! However, if you're outside or on the periphery of the "official" coverage area, you may have to wait until he lines up a few other nearby jobs. So if you know some buddies who are ready to take the ISF plunge, round them up! Scheduling his visit might be easier, and you might even qualify for a discount.
Overall, I couldn't be happier with Chad Billheimer's work. I give him the most enthusiastic of recommendations.
-Justin, Sony 34"
I had my XBR960 ISF'd by Chad this past Monday (4/17/06). Needless to say, the results are still amazing me! After watching my 27" Sony 4:3 CRT for the last 8 yrs, and then getting and watching this TV (XBR960) for the last month, I wondered how much better the picture could get? Well, A LOT better thanks to Chad, who is also one of the kindest technical types I've ever met. Chad did such a thorough job, and was more than happy to answer all of my questions. He did several inputs and scan rates, all for his exceptionally low price (see his website.) I just happened to be one of the lucky few whose XBR960 out-of-the-box grayscale and color tracking was exceptionally close to spot on (May '05 PA built)... but Chad was able to get it even better! He stayed just slightly over 4 hours, and this was a lot shorter than normal only because he didn't have to open up the TV to tweak geometry (although he did offer to.) I refused this because of two reasons: we're moving in the next 6 months -which will cause the geometry to go out of whack again, and the because the geometry was already nearly perfect.
I'd say for anyone who is always fiddling with their picture controls.... now is the time to put your mind at ease, and hire and ISF calibrator (Chad Billheimer) to calibrate your XBR960. When finished, it will be spot on, and you'll never have to manipulate your picture controls ever again, cause you'll know it's PERFECT (or rather that you won't be able to make it any better)!
-Jacob, Sony 34" |
