Well got it done today. Took the tech. 3.5 hours for s/video and component calibration. He had some trouble trying to understand how the settings were working, since they are in reverse ( going up made the settings come down) Anyways s-video is better but not perfect since he couldn't get the white , white enough. And the s-video brightness issue was bugging him a bit. But on component the default setting were almost perfect, just a little tweaking needed. Picture is much brighter now on both inputs. To anyone who is thinking about having this done, do it it's worth it. It cost me 300$ and the results are there.

Thanks for the report.

Can you expand on the differences you see pre and post calibration? Aside from being "brighter?"

(I have to say it's unusual to hear of a display being brighter post ISF calibration - usually it's the reverse).

Thanks.

I too had my 50phd7uy calibrated recently after a 3 month break in period. The calibrator told me that I had the brighness set too low (-8 vs 5 after) . My TV appears brighter than before but the real difference is in the darker scenes. I could not see the details in the dark scenes before the calibration and even comedies seemed a bit dark to me.

Here are the seeting before and after. My "uncalibrated" setting were the result of my efforts with an Avia disk.


Uncalibrated, Calibrated

Picture Settings Standard ,Cinema

Picture 8 ,0
Brightness -8 , 5
Color -4 ,-2
Tint -1 , -2
Sharpness 0
Color Temp Normal ,warm
Color Management off , off
Adv. Settings on

Adv. Settings on,on
Black Ext. -,-
Input Level -7 , 0
w/b High R
w/b High B - , 4
W/B Low R - , -3
W/B Low B - , -3
Gamma 2.2, 2.2
AGC off, off

Formatting seems nearly impossible from Excel to this page.

beanagee1,

Amazing. After my ISF calibration my ISF settings were at:

Brightness -1 (Which is pretty far down on my set).

Contrast - 30 (Which is the contrast all the way down!!!).

(This is in my "Cinema" picture setting).

All my calibration were made in the service menu since , the setup menu did not give enough setting for the tech. As soon as have them i will post them . Right now everything is at " 0 " and wonderful. But like the tech said , my settings will only give you an idea of the calibration and are not transferable to another display, since every display is different. Mine had blue push.

I don't have the Panny, but I just got my Runco 50" plasma ISF calibrated last week. What a difference. The biggest difference is the true life like colors and textures of them. I also have a Loewe 38" high def CRT and the Runco surpasses this.

Ken

You can use the code tags.

I made a chart for you.

Thanks BruZZi. You are a good sport.

I want to know what is with some of these calibrators not calibrating your displays via the "Service Menus"?

A good calibrator will research the various displays and will determine what models allows access to the "Service Menu" and what models don't.

I have had three displays calibrated (one CRT and 2 Plasmas) by two different calibrators and each one asked me if I had the "Service Manual". I had to search out and purchase the "Service Manual" before they would come out and calibrate my displays.

Just curious?

Dave

I am also curious about the Service Manual purchase. You would think that ISF techs would buy these as a cost of doing business, as they likely calibrate several of the same sets. What is the point of an owner buying a Service Manual, having it used for the calibration, and then never using it again; or does calibration not hold for more than some unspecified period of time.

I am in the middle of a calibration. My guy worked for about 1.5 hours with the DVE disc, which I was utterly unable to use effectively, and got pretty good results. Oddly, my set is less bright, displayiing a warm, rich picture (whatever that means), with colour gradations I hadn't seen on my PDP before, particularly in the area of dark greens and dark blues - very nice. I also see more colours and details in dark scenes. He is going to complete the calibration in the Service Menu and using a Colour Analyzer. I expect my final cost to be less than CDN$300.

I was unimpressed with my Panny TH-42PA20 before the calibration. Now, I can't wait to look at all of my DVDs to see how much better they look - a worthwhile investment.

Hi Dave

There certainly are valid times when a calibrator may ask you to provide a service manual for a rare TV, but this should be the exception rather than the rule.

Sharing adjustment settings: This is a futile endeavor. The user settings are relative to their much larger adjustable range in the service menu. Copying user settings from a professionally calibrated set on to a non calibrated set will most likely cause degradation rather than improvement.

Rich: Long time no talk. You are right that most people feel the image is darker on a calibrated set, due to reducing the contrast to more of a movie spec. But even pre cal, with a brighter overall image, the "Brightness" (black level) setting could still be crushing detail in the dark scenes. In this way the peak output may have been reduced, but with a proper adjustment of the black level it will appear brighter, at least in the darker parts of the image.

SethS,

I have no problem with purchasing the "Service Manual". If it helps the calibrator perform his calibration and provides a road map to some of the codes and definitions then all the better.

My main concern was the "Service Menu" vs. "User Menu".

Dave

Same thing here , he asked me for a service manual. Thanks to some on this forum i was able to get on for the PWD4 series and it help a bit. My tech did all the setting in the service menu, user menu was reseted to default and all at zero.

Here are the specs:

Before Cal. After Cal. Before After
for S-video (numbers are in kelvin) For Component

100IRE 6709 7029 7180 6468
90 IRE 6870 6969 6886 6557
80 IRE 6907 7208 7042 6496
70 IRE 6735 6887 6907 6420
60 IRE 6556 7145 6818 6599
50 IRE 6401 6753 6961 6640
40 IRE 6005 6784 6773 6589
30 IRE 6148 6557 6341 6530
20 IRE 6851 6530 5901 6515



Tech said display had a real problem with brightness retention. On s-video he could not get the desired light ouput because of that.

Interesting. Usually an ISF calibration will result in a dimmer, more subdued picture.

My White output were too low, tech moved them up

Question: The DVI, HDMI, and VGA inputs don't show the Color and Tint options on the picture adjustment menu, but the Component input does have these options. I'm just got my 50" 7UY plasma about 1.5 months ago and am now attempting the calibration process using AVIA. I'd like to know why these options aren't available on the screen?

Also, as I read in this thread, I think I should be calibrating the plasma via the service menu (which I know how to access), but I don't yet understand how to utilize the service menu. Any suggestions to help with this process are greatly appreciated!!

Bruzzi, Harkness, or anyone else have thoughts about this?

photoflow
Proceed with caution. Attempting Service Menu adjustments, if you don't know or fully understand what you are doing, may get you into a lot of trouble. Should you still want to proceed, the most important rule is to write down every settings value (per the Service Menu section that you access -- there are many) before you make any changes.

All of the inputs that you mention should directly (sort of) feed the display's video driver: the source determines the RGB values. As for the component input, Tint should not be an option because the phase information is included in that format's signal. If you adjust the Tint, you change the phase. That's not something you should have to adjust/change.

Brightness and Contrast, on the other hand, are environment and player related. A dark room would require different settings than a well lit room.


As Seth has already said, trying to input someone else's settings with your display is ridiculous. The only way it would come close would be if you were comparing settings from signal generators -- not DVD players, VCRs, HDTV receivers, etc. Just look at the DVD player Benchmark results from Secrets: the output level for White varies between players from <97 IRE to >103 IRE!


Rich
Some of the settings I'm seeing look way out of whack compared to mine (at least via component). A few clicks here, a few clicks there are to be expected. Of particular interest is the Input Level and Contrast settings. I realize that the models are different (you have a 4UY, I have a 6UY and these new models are 7UYs), but the difference is a bit wild.

For instance, I have a Denon DVD-1600 hooked up via the component input. Using patterns from Digital Video Essentials, I have my 50" 6UY set to the Cinema setting (from what I can tell, it does the same "thing" as the Standard setting when all numerical values are identical), Black Level at 0, gamma at 2.5, Color at 0, Tint at -4 and Brightness at +7. Where are the wacky numbers? How about Contrast at -30 and Input Level at -28 on my display! Just so you'll know, the Denon outputs 99.3 IRE for White. There are only about 3 players in the Secrets' Benchmark test that get closer without exceeding perfection (White is 100 IRE).

If I had to guess, a venture into the Service Menu might reveal that the settings there were maxed-out for some parameters.

beanagee, you are right when you say these settings cannot be transferred. I put them on my 50hd7uy and i was very dissappointed with the results. I like my plasma best on dynamic mode

After having my 7UY calibrated and talking with the tech. I mentioned that i would post my settings here, he said that that wouldn't do anyone any good since every display is different. Some have green push, mine had blue push, lighting conditions are not always the same, input quality, etc...So you see that all the setting do is to give you a base on which to build your own. My setting are now all at "0"...Since all adjustments were made via the service menu. The user menu only gives you standard and very limited choices. ISF calibration, IMHO, is worth the investment.

Any recommend any decent ISF calibrators in the chicago area? If you could either PM me or post them, that'd be great (name, contact, price if you feel like disclosing it).

Thanks!

My recommendations would not do you any good i'm afraid since i'm in Montreal, Canada. But i know there is a site where you can get some adresses, can't find the link. Maybe someone has it?

Me too! Me too!

I would be willing to bet that there aren't any certified ISF calibrators in my berg, but Tucson is only an hour away.

Any such known in Tucson???????

TIA

ISF Dealer Locator for Consumers
http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm

Short list of ISF Calibrators
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/isf/isf_calibrators.html

Avia Expert Tips
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/expe.../avia_tips.html

Dave

I just had my TH-42PWD6UY calibrated by Gregg Loewen (lion AV).... He had previously done my Panny CRT a few years ago.

The net adjustments were mostly in the blue channel.... It was somewhat pushed to high... Using the Milori equipment he then calibrated it in the Service Menu (It's silly that a professional calibrator would do otherwise).

The set was not that far-off as compared to my previous CRT set. The slight magenta hue is now gone and the picture is stunning.

Gregg is top-notch and seems to tour the entire country. I am in San Diego County and he is in New England.

Sam