Wild_turkey - Wasn't sure of your experience with LCDs or PDPs, that's all. A majority of people form opinions based on what they see at Best Buy or CC, which is the wrong place to compare displays. A properly calibrated display in any technology will look amazing.
how do I get my 50" DLP calibrated? I have no idea on the setting; it does seam too dark sometimes...
Hey dieucla98 find me a dlp that is better then a Elite PRO110fd or Sony KDL46xbr4. Yes I feel that if you asked this same question over at avs forum you would still find some that think there may be a DLP that is better but if you ask an expert or somebody that is in the field you will find that they will say a LCD or plasma is better then a dlp, fact and it is a fair statment.
I totally disagree but whatever, to each his own. You work as a TV salesman after all. As for getting your TV calibrated, you can use two methods... One is the DVD based method. There are three dvds that most use to calibrate your TV: ISF HDTV Calibration Wizard, Digital Video Essentials, and AVIA. ISF is far and away the easiest but also does the least amount of good, IMO. Digital Video Essentials is really good at setting color balance and brightness/contrast. Avia is suppose to be on the same level as Digital Video Essentials but I have no personal experience with it. The other option is to get it professionally calibrated. This is the best option and obviously, much more costly (the DVD's mentioned above are ~$30-40, give or take). In Texas,The Link is one calibration guru (he's based in Houston and will take road trips). The other isThe Link but they are based in NY/LA but one of them is taking a road trip through Texas soon (might have already happened though, not sure). Both will be in the $300-$400 range if I recall correctly. As DCLonghorn said, a calibrated set will look tons better than a non-calibrated one (in more or less words). In my opinion, after you calibrate your TV, it won't matter if its a plasma, LCD, or DLP... It will looking f'in fantastic regardless. Just a word of warning, a calibrated TV will be significantly less bright than many are use to. If you like a bright bright bright TV, let the calibrator know.
As far as calibration goes, I've used 2 different DVDs. One was a disc that I got from Sound & Vision, the other was one I borrowed from DieUCLA (I think it was the ISF one). I definitely recommend calibration, but neither disc was perfect IMO. Skin tones and black levels are the most important thing to me. I don't want James Bond's tuxedo to appear dark gray, and I certainly don't want Jessica Alba's legs to be the color of Nicole Kidman's *** in the middle of winter. Both calibration DVDs were able to nail the blacks, but the skin tones needed work, so I adjusted it by eye. The good thing about the S&V disc is that it also has an audio tune-up, if you have surround sound. It costs about $18 on Amazon. Also, most TV picture adjustments are made on a numerical scale, like 0-100 for brightness, contrast, color, etc. If you get on AVSforum or run a google search, you can probably find the settings that someone else used on their calibrated set. I think the pros do their work out of the service menu, but at least you can match your set up to someone else who used a DVD on the same model. It's better than nothing.
Scottsins - This is your best source for information regarding settings and firmware updates. Looks like there is a Philips calibration tip sheet that is being compiled on the forum for this PDP. Read through the thread and you will know more about your PDP than you care to know. Wish I could be of more help. Philips 9631D Thread on AVS Forum
I'm also looking for calibration settings for my tv. I have a Mitsubishi WD-57734 and have read the threads on avsforum pertaining to this set. The problem is that I haven't seen the calibrated settings for this particular model. They have the settings posted for the previous year's model, but not mine specifically. I have tried the settings that they list, and it's an improvement, but something still looks off to me. My question is, do you guys know of another website other than avsforum where I might be able to track down the specific settings I need? I tried a basic Google search and didn't come up with much.
Gator, try these per Cnet: Video settings menu Picture mode: Natural Contrast: 24 Brightness: 25 Color: 31 Tint: 29 Sharpness: 31 Color Temp: Low DeepField Imager: Off PerfectColor menu Magenta: 34 Red: 37 Yellow: 35 Green: 40 Cyan: 29 Blue: 30 PerfectTint menu Magenta: 21 Red: 22 Yellow: 29 Green: 15 Cyan: 36 Blue: 30 Global menu Video Noise: Off Video mute: On Film Mode: Auto Sharp Edge: Off Lamp Mode: Standard Setup menu Energy Mode: Low Power Link to settings for 65" model in Dark Room
I chose the Sony rear projection LCD over DLP. For me, DLP is the video equivilant of listening to bright audio. Anytime I watch DLP for more than 20 - 30 minutes, even with the settings toned down, I get a strained, fatigued feeling and need to give my eyes a break. On the other hand, I find the Sony 3 LCD to be sweet.
Scottsins - PM me with your email address. I had a Philips cheat sheet sent to me that you may want to use.
Wow seems I have sparked a nerve in wild-turkey. Yes I am a commisioned salesmen, yes all commisioned salesmen like to sell higher profit items and with that comes the territory of having to know a huge amount about each product that we sell. So in my 15 years of experience doing this job I believe I have come up with some great facts about TVs, from reviews from publications, from going through set up menus and sitting back and comparing set to set. In my statment of find a better DLP then the Elite or the Sony XBR, were you not able to come up with a review that supported your statment, I did and I posted it. If you were to ask the people that I have helped off of the board what they have purchased from me you will find it is a wide spectrum and very few have purchased a Pioneer Elite or a Sony XBR because they were looking for value for dollar. At least you did realize that I was correct with my take on the Pioneer Elite unit. This thread has become way to funny.
Hey GatorDave and Scottsins, Just realize that the settings DC are providing you guys are starter settings so don't expect too much from them. They are the settings that the professional calibrator that came up with them uses whenever they do a full scale calibration of that particular TV (in most cases). Every TV is different even ones that are the same model and every environment is different. Both have a huge impact on the calibration that is right for your tv and environment.
The LinkSorry hl, I didn't have time to browse the web looking for TV reviews yesterday. I checked on cnet this morning to see that your Sony XBR LCD received an average user review of 8.3 and the Pioneer Kuro doesn't have any reviews. Looked at some DLPs, but very few had a user review. One Mitsubishi received a 8.6 average rating, so I guess that beats your LCD's score. I'm not a fan of Mitsubishi though, so I didn't link it. Tell me where else to look up TV reviews and I'll search again later.
Here is the link for you wild-turkey. The Link Notice that one and two are both Pioneer units, number 3 being the Sony XBR2 SXRD, 4 Panasonic plasma and last but not least the Sony XBR4 lcd panel. Which mits got an 8.6 the highest mits that I have found only gets a 7.6.
DCLonghorn, Can you give me the settings for my Panasonic? Model #TH-58PZ750U. I'd like to add something to the conversation here. Attacking the advice/opinion that hlaustin is offering because he sells TVs is simply ridiculous. When I was looking towards buying my set, I visited with hlaustin at his store and he never pushed any product at me. We discussed what I was looking for, what my budget was, and what met my needs. I also happened to be able to get a great deal on my set through a preferred buyer program at work. When I mentioned the deal to hlaustin, he advised me to buy that set for that price. He didn't try to sell me something else. He held my best interests above his commission. He also hooked me up with an independent installer to mount it on my wall and gave me a good price on the wall mount kit. So, feel free disagree with his opinions, but please don't say that he is pimping his high commission products rather than offering honest advice. He's trying to help us, not himself.
Mitsubishi that got an 8.6 The Link Not sure why it doesn't show up on your "Most Popular" list, but it is a DLP with a higher rating than the Sony XBR. Like I said, I don't really like Mitsubishi, but since so few of the other DLPs have a review, this is the best I can provide.
My next purchase is the Pioneer Kuro 5080HD and I'll be moving the Panny to the bedroom after football season is over. It'll be nice to have 2 PDP displays to watch football. You guys need to cool it.. Everyone likes what they like so long as they are happy!!
LordHornAustin - Try these: Normal: No Picture mode: Custom Picture: +22 Brightness: +9 Color: -2 Tint: 0 Sharpness: -30 Color temp.: Warm Color mgmt.: Off C.A.T.S.: Off Zoom adjust: (grayed out) PC adjust: (grayed out) Normal: No Picture Mode: Custom Picture +14 Brightness +5 Color -3 Tint -1 Sharpness -10 Color Temp: Normal Color Mgmt: Off CATS: Off Normal: No Picture Mode: Cinema: Picture: +16 Brightness: +17 Color: -1 Tint: +2 Sharpness -20 Color Temp: Normal Color Mgmt: Off CATS: Off Keep these settings for all: Video NR: Off 3D Y/C filter: Off (grayed out) Color matrix: HD (grayed out) Block NR: Off (grayed out) Mosquito NR: Off 3:2 pull-down: Off (grayed out) HD size: Size 2
You should calibrate your TV in the setting you watch the TV the most. If thats during bright daylight with all windows open, so be it. It doesn't do much good to calibrate your TV to a dark environment if you watch the TV during the day 95% of the time. GatorDave, grab a copy of Digital Video Essentials (~$20 new from Amazon - I bought mine for that much from one of their sellers, not directly from Amazon though). It comes with a color filter that makes it super easy to balance color. Using that DVD, the only TV I've seen that I think looks better than mine is my FIL's professionally calibrated set (when it was properly setup before some freak settings reset due to a power surge... he wasn't happy about that...). But that thing blew mine away which is why I'm always pushing for professional calibration. And I disagree about the "only on high dollar equipment" part... I would rather drop $300 to make my $2000 TV look perfect than have a crappy looking $2000 TV. Though I'm not sure where "high dollar starts" either ($2000 is high dollar to me and most HDTV's above 50" fall into that range).
High dollar meaning more than a satellite box and a basic HDTV. I would understand hiring a professional if you have a dedicated theater room with possibly a front projector, or maybe if you had one of the higher-end Pioneer plasmas. If you are this concerned about your picture quality though, and if your eyes are good enough to tell the difference between professional and DVD-based calibration, then you should also invest in an external video processor. You can easily drop more money on those than you did on the TV itself though. My main problem with professional calibration is that it doesn't seem permanent. With DLP, the bulb dims over time, and then you eventually replace it. The natural brightness of the TV varies in this sense, so I would think the calibration gets skewed. Same thing happens with LCD and PDP, only they have a continual dimming process until the TV finally burns out. Do you have to hire the professional once a year to make your TV always looks its best? That's ridiculous to spend $300-500 a year on some guy that adjusts your picture settings. If you have a DVD though, you can pop it in periodically and make your adjustments as needed. The other thing is, I adjust my picture settings based on what I'm watching. Sometimes I like my sports to be a little brighter than my movies, but it really just depends on how the picture looks. If I put in a movie and someone's face looks orange, then I'm gonna make adjustments on the fly. I keep my calibrated settings saved so that I can revert to them once I am done, but I'm not going to leave it there 100% of the time just because a DVD says so.
