Hdtv calibration disk recommendations

[Rerun]

Lots of disks for sale out there.

Any recommendations on which is the best? Am looking for something that isn't too complicated to use but still does a good job of calibrating an hdtv.

Not looking to spend big $$$ on a professional, which is why I'm going to try doing it myself. Just bought a 65" Samsung which is in serious need of calibration.

Looking for a Blu-ray disk.

P.S. I'm leaning towards getting the Digital Video Essentials : HD Basics (Blu-ray) but not sure if that's too complicated for a newbie (Me)

[RW99]

Depending on your model you may be able to find other people who have calibrated their TV's and they post the corrections. I used ones found for my Viera plasma off of AVS forum: http://www.avsforum.com/f/ and I love the setting. Buy YMMV.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by RW99

Depending on your model you may be able to find other people who have calibrated their TV's and they post the corrections. I used ones found for my Viera plasma off of AVS forum: http://www.avsforum.com/f/ and I love the setting. Buy YMMV.

Yeah... I went on that site and there were a few settings listed for my tv model. Trouble is, they usually don't say they used an actual calibration disk to get the settings. For all I know they just screwed around with the tv settings, without using a disk and stopped when they liked what they saw.

What leads me to believe the latter is that I tried one set of numbers and the end result looked like crap.

One site that I would trust is CNet (they calibrate most TV's that they review) but unfortunately my model isn't listed

[Flaming Choy]

For a quick/free solution, all Sony blu-rays have a built in patterns you can use to help adjust your tv.

Press 7669 (spells SONY) to access.

http://www.highdefforum.com/high-def...libration.html

Similarly, THX certified movies will have an optimizer on the disc

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Rerun

Yeah... I went on that site and there were a few settings listed for my tv model. Trouble is, they usually don't say they used an actual calibration disk to get the settings. For all I know they just screwed around with the tv settings, without using a disk and stopped when they liked what they saw.

What leads me to believe the latter is that I tried one set of numbers and the end result looked like crap.

One site that I would trust is CNet (they calibrate most TV's that they review) but unfortunately my model isn't listed

Wouldn't you just fiddle with the settings until you got something that looked good? Settings wouldn't be universal because the tv would look different in your room vs someone elses room?

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Flaming Choy

For a quick/free solution, all Sony blu-rays have a built in patterns you can use to help adjust your tv.

Press 7669 (spells SONY) to access.

http://www.highdefforum.com/high-def...libration.html

Similarly, THX certified movies will have an optimizer on the disc

Are you talking about the actual Sony Blu-ray player? If yes... I own a Sony. When do I enter 7669?

Edit: Just read the article. To me it sounds like they are talking about calibrating the Sony Blu-ray player? Holy crap.. you mean I have to calibrate that too?
If I have to calibrate my player and have to calibrate the tv... which do I do first and isn't this kind of like the chicken and the egg scenario?

[PsYcNeT]

Make sure you're not a "TV Torch" settings kind of guy, most calibration systems will set up a not-super-bright image.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Make sure you're not a "TV Torch" settings kind of guy, most calibration systems will set up a not-super-bright image.

If by "TV Torch" I assume you mean the "Vivid" display? I usually have my tv set on "Standard".

[Flaming Choy]

Originally Posted by Rerun

Are you talking about the actual Sony Blu-ray player? If yes... I own a Sony. When do I enter 7669?

Edit: Just read the article. To me it sounds like they are talking about calibrating the Sony Blu-ray player? Holy crap.. you mean I have to calibrate that too?
If I have to calibrate my player and have to calibrate the tv... which do I do first and isn't this kind of like the chicken and the egg scenario?

Just what I read, but my understanding is that all sony blu movies have this easter egg. So you pop the movie into your bluray player, enter the code, and it'll bring up various calibration screens that you can use to adjust color, brightness, stuff like that.

EDIT: Found the screens from this post.

The nice thing about the Aquos is that it remembers the picture settings for each input individually, and it is a good idea to use the "user" setting to customize the settings for each input. You'll notice that there is a number after the "User" setting indicating which user input setting that is.

Get a hold of any Sony Pictures Blu Ray Disk (e.g. Spiderman 3, Surf's Up, Resident Evil Extinction etc) and start up the Blu Ray. When you get to the main menu, press 7669 (i.e. spelling SONY using the numbers like you do on the phone) and you get into the 4 calibration screens.

The first screen is the SMPTE color bar screen that looks something this:


You have to adjust your contrast/brightness settings until you can see the three small vertical pluge bars (dark grey bars) below the red bar, then adjust the brightness so that the 3rd (right) pluge bar is just barely visible (the #1 and #2 bars should look black at that point).

This is what mine looks like after I calibrate it on the first screen:


Next adjust the color so that the red looks normal and doesnt bleed into the magenta and blue bars, and adjust the hue so that the red looks red and the blue looks blue.


The 2nd screen lets you adjust your sharpness settings. Set it so that the lines look clear and you minimize the oval shaped artifacts in the round patterns. To confirm, you'll notice the vertical and horizontal bars with the fine lines look like they are almost the same tone of grey when viewed from a distance.


The 3rd screen is the brighness ramp. You can fine tune your contrast settings here a little more so that the ramp looks smooth and the extreme ends transition gradually to black or white. If the black and white ends smear into the gradient, reduce the contrast. You may want to go back and forth between screens #1 and #3 to set the contrast/brightness settings optimally.


The 4th screen is a grid screen - this should not matter on an LCD - it's really meant for adjusting geometry/linearity/convergence on CRT and projectors.


....that's a quick way to do it without any specialized equipment. For better results get the blue filter glasses from THX.com (a paltry $1.99 investment) to better tune your color/hue settings.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/858065/son...#post_17076965

[cKy]

I would think you would need to calibrate each source individually. If you have your Cable/Sat in HDMI 1, PS3/xbox/Blu-Ray in HDMI 2, you would have to do each of those.

If you use a receiver, and your TV is just stuck on HDMI 1, and the stereo does all the switching, you would be ok.

There is much smarter people on here though, im sure they could correct me.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Flaming Choy

Just what I read, but my understanding is that all sony blu movies have this easter egg. So you pop the movie into your bluray player, enter the code, and it'll bring up various calibration screens that you can use to adjust color, brightness, stuff like that.

Did a search for 7669 Blu ray and found this :

http://www.avsforum.com/t/858065/son...-test-patterns

And found this too...

http://www.thx.com/consumer/home-ent...thx-optimizer/

[J Diddy]

I have the Disney WOW disc and highly recommend it:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/...43f99c0ae3en02

[TorqueDog]

I used this: http://www.avsforum.com/t/948496/avs...p4-calibration

Comes with instructions, it's free, and works quite well.

[Flaming Choy]

THX has an android app for TV calibration now.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...hx.tuneup.free

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I have the Disney WOW disc and highly recommend it:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/...43f99c0ae3en02

The Disney WOW disc is the easiest to use I've seen to date. It's lacks some stuff you will get with Video Essentials but it's easier for a beginner to set up a solid picture on their TV. Make sure you set your TV's back light down to the bottom 1/3 before beginning.

Biggest thing with using these discs is to understand that after calibrating your TV you may think at first that the picture looks worse than before. That's because you will end up with a less vibrant, darker screen and you are used to a bright vibrant screen that was setup by the manufacturer to get people's attention in a big store when placed next to other TV's. These settings are not optimal for TV and movies. The key is to give the new calibration at least a week to let your eyes adjust even if you think it initially looks worse. Most people will realize after the adjustment period that the new settings are in fact far superior once their eyes are trained.

[J Diddy]

THX audio and video calibration app is currently free for Android. I think it goes to 1.99 after the superbowl. https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...hx.tuneup.free