The Official Home Theater Calibration Discussion/Help Thread

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Since this topic has been brought up before in other topics I figured we should have an official topic to discuss it.

I finally got around to calibrate my cousin and I's living room TV last night using the AVSHD calibration disc burnt to a blank BD and this simple guide. http://lifehacker.com/5858625/how-to-ca ... es-or-less

Sadly that guide only covered simple stuff like Brightness, Sharpness and Contrast as well as Tint I didn't cover the tint portion of it because I don't have anything pure blue to use to calibrate it like the guide suggested. Doing those calibrations improved the picture a lot in some aspects on our Samsung UN46D6420UF 3DTV and the PS3 HDMI hook up (HDMI3). Everything looks better but the reds sometimes seem a bit off so I was curious John if you have suggestions for how to do more in depth calibrations using the AVS Disc or have a link to other guides to help calibrate the colors and other settings? I know you work in the industry.

Sometime when I get more time I'm going to calibrate our other inputs on that TV. I'll probably burn the it on a DVD so I can calibrate our Xbox 360 input too. On a side note for my TV I have to use a DVD because my Xbox One doesn't read burnt BDs due to DRM issues. My TV is the LG 42LM6200

John would you recommend getting a different calibration disc? I've thought about getting one of these two:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ADJG56Q/ref ... 6EGVI97J3S

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CKWI13O/ref ... ZMOH1ZUS7S

Or would the AVSHD calibration disc do what those do? I know the first one comes with that color piece to help calibrate what I would assume is your tint? Can I pick one of those up separtly?

EDIT: I forgot to mention I used the Standard video mode as my calibration basis. I couldn't find a "Custom" mode like in the Video that's on the AVS disc suggested. Is this hidden now on TVs or maybe its because both our TVs in the house are 3D?

[John Schuermann]

Hey Tom -

Cool you started a thread like this. It's hard to get me to shut up about HT gear, especially since there is so much misinformation out there about what you need to do to get the best sound and picture. I always feel compelled to try and set the record straight (especially when people are being urged to spend money on stuff that doesn't bring a visual or audible benefit - like hi-rez audio, expensive cables or pricey turntable setups).

Let me try and answer your questions:

I haven't played with the AVSHD calibration disc, so can't really comment too authoritatively. I did read over the instructions on the page you linked to, and they seem pretty spot on to me (other than saying "cinema" is usually a high brightness mode - in most sets I've seen "cinema" is usually the most accurate out of the box setting). Most calibration discs are pretty similar; they vary most in how clearly they explain how to get things done.

Of the two you linked to, both will do an excellent job. I have the Spears and Munsil and THX calibration discs, and other than the blue filter they come with, they don't really do any more than what you already have. I haven't laid eyes on Joe Kane's DVE Blu-ray, but my guess is that his would have the clearest instructions. I know Joe and he spends a great deal of time educating people on video technologies, and while I don't always agree with him point by point, he does really know what he is talking about.

Most of the additional tweaks you can do involve getting into the service menus. Unfortunately, if you don't know what you are doing, sometimes you can mess things up Beyond the basic color, tint, sharpness, contrast and brightness controls there is not much else a consumer can mess with. I know a calibrator who says that once the consumer gets the display out of "torch mode" (usually called "vivid" or "bright room" or "game"), they are more than halfway there toward getting a decent picture. Sets vary by manufacturer in what they label their picture modes, sometimes even model by model, so it's hard to give concrete recommendations as to a starting point. The "cinema" setting on one set may be entirely different than on another. If there is a THX mode, that will usually give you the best picture without much tweaking (my JVC projector has a THX mode and it is about 95% of the way there).

An option is to seek out calibration settings threads on the specific model TV you are looking for. The AVS Forum (www.avsforum.com, I'm all over it, especially in the Constant Image Height forum) often has calibration settings threads, and even some TV reviewers will post their calibration results online and how they achieved them. The problem is that not every set comes off the assembly line with identical specs, so often copying calibration settings won't give the absolute optimum picture for your exact display.

You can get a blue filter separately, btw - even the link you posted to mentions that THX sells the blue glasses for $5:

http://www.costore.com/thx/productthumbnails.asp

Just keep in mind that adjusting the tint may not fix the red issue you describe. It may require getting in and adjusting controls within the service menu, and without the proper test gear, it's would be very hard to dial in anything with any accuracy.

Good luck!

[John Schuermann]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Thanks for the info John I've had a chance to watch a few BDs and they look fantatsic colors are spot on so it must be non full HD sources give me the issue? A minor issue I noticed and this might be because I'm not used to seeing things in details is that I'm getting blur in some areas. For example I was watching Pacific Rim on BD the other night and I noticed that some of the characters faces would be blurry this might have been because the focus was on another character and not them or is it a different issue all together?

When googling calibration tips I came across a website that was a database of sorts that gave recommended settings for various TV sets. I'm going to test out their recommendations on my set before doing a calibration disc to it. Since both of the discs I linked to are pretty much the same as the AVS thing I'll just burn a copy to DVD and do a calibration on the 360 input and my Xbox One which is my primarily video player for my TV.

[John Schuermann]

[william newell]

Hey John, I know this question is only marginally on topic, but I wanted to ask...I've been wanting to get a replacement bulb for my projector(just to have as a back up, I still have over a thousand hours left on the current bulb)and I've been seeing a lot that are described as "compatible with" my model. Are they a straight replacement or would modifications be needed? And would performance be on par with a bulb from the manufacturer of my projector? Seeing as your an expert on these, I would value your opinion...

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

I know I turned off digital noise enhancements off so I might have to turn off the motion enhancement. I'll check that later this week.

[John Schuermann]

[jellydonut25]

So I went and downloaded the AVS forum calibration disc, since I had never calibrated my projector and just wanted to make sure that everything on it was fine.

I don't have any blue glass to do the color settings, but I played around with the brightness/contrast stuff for like 45 minutes and wound up realizing that the out-of-the-box settings were basically fine. I think I bumped the brightness down by 1, and the contrast up by 1.