Anyone Calibrated their HDTV?

[MXracer721]

Just got a 42" plasma a couple weeks ago and have been messing with calibration settings using Avia and also THX Optimizer you can find on any dvd with the THX logo. When watching movies and tv with it calibrated it's looks great, but it seems that with gaming the black level needs to be turned up a bit. Anyone mess with calibrating your TVs with your 360?

[Variation-XBA]

I havn't had to calibrate my TV, but when gaming, I definetly put ona gaming/brighter mode than usual since it's usually pretty darker than video for some reason.

[Ohsay]

i have three settings on my tv
one for telly and movies which i used the THX (yr welcome) Optimizer on terminator 2

i have one for gaming which is a bit brighter that for movies

and one for call of duty with the brightness way up :)
dont want nobody jumping out of a dark corner now do we.

[MXracer721]

i have three settings on my tv
one for telly and movies which i used the THX (yr welcome) Optimizer on terminator 2

i have one for gaming which is a bit brighter that for movies

and one for call of duty with the brightness way up :)
dont want nobody jumping out of a dark corner now do we.

yea, that's kind of where i'm at right now. After constantly messing with brightness/contrast settings I've found that calibrating using Avia or THX Optimizer causes the black level to be a bit too dark. Plus I gotta see the people hiding in those dark corners on CoD :) I still recommend calibrating and then adjusting from there while in game is a better way to go because the white level was way brighter than it needed to be.

[l Maximus l]

I definately turn up the brightness when the option is given on the game disc. But, I don't like messing with my perfectly calibrated TV. I used Avia and it worked great. If the game disc doesn't provide the option, I suffer with a slightly darker screen just because everything is set up so nicely. I just kill the lights in the room - problem solved!

[Steeps5]

I have settings on my new tv that really change the picture quality and brightness. I don't know if yours does but the settings are sports (ridiculously sharp quality), cinema (makes movies look real), and game (good for games of course). I haven't really tried calibrating the tv because the quality of those 3 modes is unbeatable.

Those are on a 52" Samsung LN52A650 (http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=lcdtv&model_cd=LN52A650A1FXZA).

[MXracer721]

The thing is, you have to watch the factory settings on a plasma (I know your is a LCD). I have a Samsung plasma and the white level is set at 95/100. After calibrating I dropped it to 60 for movies/tv and then 65 for gaming. Having the white level too high is what will wreak havoc on a plasma (burn ins are more common, lessens the life of the tv). The black level didn't need to be adjusted much though, I turned it up a little bit. What started annoying me after I calibrated, was while playing Dirt after each race is shows a view through the drivers door window and I couldn't see the driver or co-drivers face because the black level was set too low, even though it was calibrated correctly. That's when I started adjusting it in game after a calibration till I got a good setting I liked.

Heres a quesiton for those who have calibrated with a Plasma, especially using Avia....When adjusting the white level on my tv no matter how high I turn up the white level the the shifting white bars never dissappear? Same with on the THX Optimizer, no matter how high I turn up the white level, I still see all the boxes. So instead I just turned it up till I got a really bright white on the brightest box and called it good. This ended up being a setting of 65/100.

[Finely Tuned]

Hi there. As many of you have noticed when calibrating your displays using both AVIA and the THX Optimiser the detail in the black portion of the image is hard if not impossible to see. Their are two possible reasons for this. 1, the video signal that is being output from your game console is not conforming to industry standard levels or 2, the program on the disc was created on monitors that were not calibrated to industry standard. If you use either the AVIA and or the THX Optimiser disc to set up your display and find that black detail in regular movies is good then this should also be good for video games. If you find that you have to increase the black level (brightness control) to see the detail in the dark areas of the picture while using the setting set up for a regular movie then you can assume that the video game creator has not adhered to the standard. The only fix for this in the real world is to have two different presets for movies and gaming. Hope this helps.

[GothamXxX]

I really havent had to calibrate my tv yet i have a 28" samsung 720p. I think you might want to set the contrast more bright and the brightness a little more than it is on
that would be my best bet. hope that helps

[SkilledJR]

Just got a 42" plasma a couple weeks ago and have been messing with calibration settings using Avia and also THX Optimizer you can find on any dvd with the THX logo. When watching movies and tv with it calibrated it's looks great, but it seems that with gaming the black level needs to be turned up a bit. Anyone mess with calibrating your TVs with your 360?

I bought a 60" Plasma last year in February from Best Buy and had them come to the house about a month later to calibrate my Plasma. I have no idea what they did or how they did it but it made a HUGE Difference but it cost my $300 bucks and I guess it was worth it since I paid $3000 for the TV.

My TV programs, Blu-ray movies and video games look so sweet in 1080p, once you go HDTV in full 1080 you'll never wanna watch anything less again!

[Hurr0]

I've got a 37" Plasma LCD and for me the graphics are good enough. I really would love to have a 1080p, but unfortunately i'm stuck in the 720p world until I save enough scratch to buy a new one. :midget:

[Symmetric-XBA]

I have found that using the THX method to optomize your television is not good. First off THX means absolutly nothing, its a stamp that Lucas gives products that they feel can display the best picture quality, nothing more. Use your eyes to judge the color levels (too much brightness will cause a wash in the color tint no matter what you set your color levels to, and too little light and you won't be able to see anything). One of the best ways that I have found to calibrate this is to use a movie that has a lot of light and dark scenes. This way you can visually compare and contrast what settings work best for you instead of trusting your new TV to a disc. Also with an up in your brightness you are going to be causing more stress on your lamp of the TV and in doing so will also shorten the lifespan of your TV. I would personally reccommend that if you are completly sold on calibrating your TV to search out your model on AVS forums where you will find information on how to properly calibrate your TV (and I assume save you some $$$ so you don't have to have someone come out and look at it). To put it bluntly, there is absolutly NOTHING Best Buy can do that you can't. You can do everything they do FOR FREE, all it takes is a little bit of research and then you will have the information you need. Also with plasma gently break in the TV to avoid screen issues down the road such as burn in and more.

I have a Sharp Aquos 50" LCD now and 1080P looks absolutly stunning. I have manually set my brightness down so that when the lights are on in the room the picture still produces some of the deepest and richest colors I have seen on any TV that is priced between 2-3,000. Granted there are some games that make the brightness a pain sometimes (Fallout 3) and thats simply b/c the light from the Pip Boy doesn't go that far, but in essence, it does provide a more realistic experience for gaming.

Case in point, take Dead Space. If you were standing in a lit hallway and looking into darkness you normally wouldn't be able to see b/c of your eyesight not adjusting due to the light levels, so instead of making your tv or the game settings brighter, just enjoy a more realistic experience.

Bottom line, THX is worthless, its just a stamp of approval, nothing more. Sorry if that upsets some of you who worship THX but you can thank Lucas for doing nothing more than saying "yep thats a good picture quality" and then applying the stamp to the product.

Do some research on your TV and use the information you find to manually adjust for a comfortable medium range and then enjoy some amazing tv, movies, and games. Please dear god though, do not calibrate your 3,000 TV soley based off what a disc tells you.

[SkilledJR]

I've got a 37" Plasma LCD and for me the graphics are good enough. I really would love to have a 1080p, but unfortunately i'm stuck in the 720p world until I save enough scratch to buy a new one. :midget:

Well think of it this way so you don't feel like your missing out, There really is only a handful selection of games that are in 1080p. Most 360 titles are just 720p.

So you really aren't behind, hell there are a lot of peeps I know that still have a CRT or way too small tv to see anything. Try reading some of the 360 games in-game text on a 13" screen. For a year my neighbor's 360 was bigger than his TV.

[MXracer721]

I have found that using the THX method to optomize your television is not good. First off THX means absolutly nothing, its a stamp that Lucas gives products that they feel can display the best picture quality, nothing more. Use your eyes to judge the color levels (too much brightness will cause a wash in the color tint no matter what you set your color levels to, and too little light and you won't be able to see anything). One of the best ways that I have found to calibrate this is to use a movie that has a lot of light and dark scenes. This way you can visually compare and contrast what settings work best for you instead of trusting your new TV to a disc. Also with an up in your brightness you are going to be causing more stress on your lamp of the TV and in doing so will also shorten the lifespan of your TV. I would personally reccommend that if you are completly sold on calibrating your TV to search out your model on AVS forums where you will find information on how to properly calibrate your TV (and I assume save you some $$$ so you don't have to have someone come out and look at it). To put it bluntly, there is absolutly NOTHING Best Buy can do that you can't. You can do everything they do FOR FREE, all it takes is a little bit of research and then you will have the information you need. Also with plasma gently break in the TV to avoid screen issues down the road such as burn in and more.

I have a Sharp Aquos 50" LCD now and 1080P looks absolutly stunning. I have manually set my brightness down so that when the lights are on in the room the picture still produces some of the deepest and richest colors I have seen on any TV that is priced between 2-3,000. Granted there are some games that make the brightness a pain sometimes (Fallout 3) and thats simply b/c the light from the Pip Boy doesn't go that far, but in essence, it does provide a more realistic experience for gaming.

Case in point, take Dead Space. If you were standing in a lit hallway and looking into darkness you normally wouldn't be able to see b/c of your eyesight not adjusting due to the light levels, so instead of making your tv or the game settings brighter, just enjoy a more realistic experience.

Bottom line, THX is worthless, its just a stamp of approval, nothing more. Sorry if that upsets some of you who worship THX but you can thank Lucas for doing nothing more than saying "yep thats a good picture quality" and then applying the stamp to the product.

Do some research on your TV and use the information you find to manually adjust for a comfortable medium range and then enjoy some amazing tv, movies, and games. Please dear god though, do not calibrate your 3,000 TV soley based off what a disc tells you.

The THX Optimizer is used to get the best picture quality while watching a THX certified movie. It's a good starting point when messing with calibrations. It shows what is how dark black is going to be and how bright white is going to be, then shows a test pattern to adjust color. This is just an easy, quick, and cheap way to calibrate a tv because it's included in any THX certified movie. The optimizer is also MUCH easier than just picking up a movie and guessing what the color of someones skin should look like. A calibration dvd or the THX optimizer simply says, black should be this dark, white should be this bright. Have you messed with using Avia? It's similar to Optimizer but much more in depth. You also should have two settings, one for daytime and one for night time lighting. I don't have two settings but that is because I don't feel like switching settings all the time.

I do agree you can probably do whatever Best Buy does to your tv as far as calibration IF they only use a dvd to do so. If you go to a specialized home theater store, or look for a home theater company to calibrate your tv they will be more likely to have the ability to calibrate your tv with specialized equipment and change settings in your tv menus. Best Buy may do that, I have no clue what they do so I'm not going to guess.

[MXracer721]

I've got a 37" Plasma LCD and for me the graphics are good enough. I really would love to have a 1080p, but unfortunately i'm stuck in the 720p world until I save enough scratch to buy a new one. :midget:

Any tv less than 50" don't worry about not having 1080p, you won't notice the difference. Over 50" and you will. For 50" TVs, I say take your pick 1080 or 720 but you prolly won't notice the difference. But at 37" you aren't missing out.

[SkilledJR]

Any tv less than 50" don't worry about not having 1080p, you won't notice the difference. Over 50" and you will. For 50" TVs, I say take your pick 1080 or 720 but you prolly won't notice the difference. But at 37" you aren't missing out.

I have to agree.

[Symmetric-XBA]

The THX Optimizer is used to get the best picture quality while watching a THX certified movie. It's a good starting point when messing with calibrations. It shows what is how dark black is going to be and how bright white is going to be, then shows a test pattern to adjust color. This is just an easy, quick, and cheap way to calibrate a tv because it's included in any THX certified movie. The optimizer is also MUCH easier than just picking up a movie and guessing what the color of someones skin should look like. A calibration dvd or the THX optimizer simply says, black should be this dark, white should be this bright. Have you messed with using Avia? It's similar to Optimizer but much more in depth. You also should have two settings, one for daytime and one for night time lighting. I don't have two settings but that is because I don't feel like switching settings all the time.

I do agree you can probably do whatever Best Buy does to your tv as far as calibration IF they only use a dvd to do so. If you go to a specialized home theater store, or look for a home theater company to calibrate your tv they will be more likely to have the ability to calibrate your tv with specialized equipment and change settings in your tv menus. Best Buy may do that, I have no clue what they do so I'm not going to guess.

I have used Avia before in setting up friends hdtv's, however, over years of doing this I've found Avia to be more of a hinderance as not only have I used it a lot, but the routine was getting way too boring. I used what I learned about color control, brightness and contrast levels, and more from Avia throughout the years and now I no longer need it. What I personally use is the TV remote, a blu ray copy of Cosmic Voyage/Destiny in Space and my eyes. The quality of detailing against the blackness of space w/ the stars shining makes a great balance point to adjust your color, brightness, etc.. Using the TV's controls to make the neccessary adjustments at proper distances while balanced against the light in the room and the natural light outside. I find that a comfortable medium is the best option that way you still get phenominal quality picture w/o having to constantly adjust your hdtv, and space is the perfect calibration for it b/c you have the light of the planet, plus the blackness of space lol it doesn't get darker than space lol.

I hear your points on the THX, however, THX does mean absolutly nothing. Its my fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews former roommate. Its pointless b/c its just a stamp that lucasarts gives. A company (we'll use pioneer for this example) builds an audio reciever, and b4 the model is introduced to the public a model gets sent to lucasarts for testing (how sweet of a job would that be), if the unit passes inspection the unit is issued a THX stamp indicating that its "certified". That is the ONLY way that a product will EVER be issued a THX stamp is that if lucasarts tests it. The ONLY reason I can fathom for anyone to produce a THX product is.... well... all of you. The public is a herd waiting to be rounded up by the companies. How many 360s have you gone through? TV's? Audio equipment? It all boils down to money. If Pioneer made one tv that wasn't THX stamped and set the price point at 8,000 and they made another tv that WAS THX stamped and sold it for 10,000, more people will flock to the 10,000 one b/c of the stamp, so thats why companies do it. Its not about quality b/c I've seen tv's and heard audio systems that were not THX and sound SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER, so once again it boils down to money. Company slaps a sticker on it and we will all want it. Just something to remember when you are out looking for A/V products. I really don't think people understand how good ol' Georgy boy has literally cornered the market on the latest in audio and video quality.

[MXracer721]

I have used Avia before in setting up friends hdtv's, however, over years of doing this I've found Avia to be more of a hinderance as not only have I used it a lot, but the routine was getting way too boring. I used what I learned about color control, brightness and contrast levels, and more from Avia throughout the years and now I no longer need it. What I personally use is the TV remote, a blu ray copy of Cosmic Voyage/Destiny in Space and my eyes. The quality of detailing against the blackness of space w/ the stars shining makes a great balance point to adjust your color, brightness, etc.. Using the TV's controls to make the neccessary adjustments at proper distances while balanced against the light in the room and the natural light outside. I find that a comfortable medium is the best option that way you still get phenominal quality picture w/o having to constantly adjust your hdtv, and space is the perfect calibration for it b/c you have the light of the planet, plus the blackness of space lol it doesn't get darker than space lol.

I hear your points on the THX, however, THX does mean absolutly nothing. Its my fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews former roommate. Its pointless b/c its just a stamp that lucasarts gives. A company (we'll use pioneer for this example) builds an audio reciever, and b4 the model is introduced to the public a model gets sent to lucasarts for testing (how sweet of a job would that be), if the unit passes inspection the unit is issued a THX stamp indicating that its "certified". That is the ONLY way that a product will EVER be issued a THX stamp is that if lucasarts tests it. The ONLY reason I can fathom for anyone to produce a THX product is.... well... all of you. The public is a herd waiting to be rounded up by the companies. How many 360s have you gone through? TV's? Audio equipment? It all boils down to money. If Pioneer made one tv that wasn't THX stamped and set the price point at 8,000 and they made another tv that WAS THX stamped and sold it for 10,000, more people will flock to the 10,000 one b/c of the stamp, so thats why companies do it. Its not about quality b/c I've seen tv's and heard audio systems that were not THX and sound SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER, so once again it boils down to money. Company slaps a sticker on it and we will all want it. Just something to remember when you are out looking for A/V products. I really don't think people understand how good ol' Georgy boy has literally cornered the market on the latest in audio and video quality.

A few things on this one......Basically you don't use Avia's test patterns because you've taken what you've learned from test patterns from other dvds and found another source (that blu ray movie) as your "test pattern" to calibrate a tv. Thats great, however, I don't see how Avia's test patterns hinder your ability to calibrate your tv. It may be boring, but once you find the test patterns you need on the dvd you can be done in less than 5 minutes. I like test patterns because there is no guessing game. Black should look like "this", White should be like "this", throw the glasses or a blue filter on, and color and tint should be "this".

On the THX deal. I understand what you mean about THX certification. I could care less whether any tv or sound system has the certification or not. The only reason I brought it up is because the Optimizer has VERY simple test patterns that you can use that is INCLUDED in a movie with a THX logo (many people have Star Wars). Why go buy Avia or DVE if you are just a novice wanting to get a better picture.....THX Optimizer is a cheap (free..kinda) way to calibrate. If there are any other test patterns included in other movies, let me know. But I only know of the Optimizer.

[Misky]

Calibration settings for Sony P, T and S series (Thanks to Nielo TM)

Picture Adjustment:

* Mode: Custom/Standard
* Backlight: 5
* Contrast: 80-90
* Brightness: 50
* Color: 45-50
* Sharpness: MIN
* Color Temperature/Tone: Warm
* Color Space: Standard
* Noise Reduction: Off



Sound Adjustment:

* Sound Effect/Mode: BBE Viva
* Treble: MAX/100
* Bass: 50
* Auto Volume: Off (user preference)



Features:

* Power Saving: Reduce
* Advanced Contrast Enhancement (Backlight Dimming): Off