ISF Display Calibration - $375

Recommended holiday gift by Home Theater magazine, December 2003.

Recommended Holiday Gift under $500 by Sound & Vision Magazine, December 2003.

As an ISF/THX trained display calibrator, my goal is to help you get the most accurate, lifelike picture possible from your TV. There are strict standards for both standard and high definition video. If you're a home theater enthusiast, you know it's extremely important to adhere to these standards as closely as possible. When you're watching your favorite show, you don't want to see a tainted rendition with flat, cold colors and obscured or over hyped detail; rather, you want to soak in the rich, lifelike surroundings... to notice the details in the shadows... to see the nuances in the actor's faces with lifelike colors. Interestingly, while many displays have the capability to deliver that experience, very few even come close without careful calibration.

Why don't they take care of that at the factory? The most reputable manufacturers go to great lengths to make sure their sets can be made more accurate. However, depending on the type of display, there are many reasons accuracy can't be attained from the factory:

• Manufacturers can be influenced more by market researchers than accuracy standards.  Marketing research has shown that the majority of TV buyers are attracted to the brightest set in the showroom, and manufacturers have been going crazy ever since- making their displays excessively gaudy and overdriving them to grab your attention and keep it from the other brand. Once you get it home, the side effects can become distracting and annoying.
• Brand recognition is highly sought after, so Brand X might push colors (or some other aspect of performance) to the extreme in an effort to look different from Brand Z.
• The TV manufacturer can't know what equipment makes up the rest of your system, or how that equipment is set.
• Since our eyes perceive bluish whites to be brighter than neutral whites, making a television’s whites bluer or “cooler” than the standard has become a common practice. Television standards do not call for this cooler shade of white, and it therefore causes an unnatural cast to the picture that can’t be eliminated with regular color and tint controls.
• To keep prices low, tight manufacturing tolerances are relaxed- which makes the set’s performance rather unpredictable. To compensate for this, manufacturers typically add picture “band-aids,” which cover up inaccuracies but cause problems of their own. For example, it has become quite common to boost red hues to make sure flesh tones don’t look green.

Most TVs have advanced picture controls hidden away in a secret service menu or advanced user menu. Dozens, sometimes hundreds of picture quality adjustments are kept securely there. Proper calibration requires experience and knowledge of the service menu or advanced user menu, precision test equipment to measure the results, and the dedication and determination to do the job right without cutting corners. That's what you get with a full service ISF calibration from HDTV by Chad B. Every used input type on your TV will be optimized with it's own calibration whenever possible. The best results are obtained by digging deep and doing whatever is possible to increase picture performance. Your display will be fine tuned and calibrated to NTSC and HDTV standards, which will make the picture truly shine!

Is there a downside? Since it is now truly accurate and is not sugar-coating source problems with inaccuracies of it's own, a calibrated set may be more ruthlessly revealing of quality differences between sources. Occasionally that may take some getting used to, especially if your cable service is of questionable quality. But that's a small price to pay for true picture fidelity. Sometimes the more earthy-toned white balance may come as an initial shock after watching uncalibrated displays for so long. The purpose of calibration is to eliminate or reduce your display's editorialization of the picture. Simply put, after calibration you can say goodbye to those rose colored glasses once and for all!

What will it look like? Most displays will:

• Be smoother but with more natural detail
• Have more accurate and rich colors but with less "sunburn" effect on skin tones
• Have more natural looking dark scenes and shadows, with more things visible in the dark shadows
• Look less strained and "clayfaced"
• Look more 3 dimensional
• Be easier to read program guides and information
• Have a more natural overall intensity

I am committed to provide the most thorough, meticulous, and careful calibration available!  No corners will be cut, and I'll spend as much time as required to get it done right.  Calibration times range from about 1 1/2 to 4 hours for flat panels, 3 to 6 hours for most projectors, and around 12 hours for an average CRT front projectors. Pricing is a flat fee ($375 for everything except CRT front projectors) with no hidden expenses. Standard audio setup generally takes 1-2 hours, and advanced audio calibration averages around 5 hours. The calibration is done in your home, and every effort is made to be very prompt for the appointment time.

Calibration FAQ

Q: How much peak light output do you prefer after calibration?

A: It's important to keep the environment and owner's viewing preferences in mind while calibrating a display.

For conventional TVs, I like to end up with around 35 fL in a totally dark room, 45-50 fL in a typical dimly lit media room, and 65 fL in a bright living room.

For a front projector, I've calibrated some CRT projectors that looked quite good at 6 fL, but I prefer to get anywhere between 9.5 and 16 fL.

Q: Should I make the room totally dark before you come to calibrate my TV?

A: Only for front projectors.  For normal TVs, just close the blinds or drapes when possible.

Q: Do I need to wait until I get my new Blu Ray player before I schedule a calibration?

A: It wouldn't hurt for peace of mind, but it's not necessary.  All Blu Ray players I've come across are accurate enough with their HDMI outputs at default positions (not in any preset picture modes except normal or default) that they match the output of my pattern generator perfectly.  When I use my generator to calibrate your TV, it will be ready for your Blu Ray player.

Q: Is it OK to route all my sources through my receiver and into one input on the TV?

A: Usually, but in rare instances one source may have an inaccurate output and no picture adjustments to correct it with. Also, if you are routing S-Video or composite into your receiver and having it transcode to HDMI, there may be some mismatch on that source. In either of these cases it would be possible but not ideal to do so.