Quote:
Originally Posted by Buzzard
From within the link Vulcan posted:
http://www.lionav.com/services.php
Lot's of good info on the surprisingly named info page as well.
I'm not sure why some of you are in such denial of this service? It exists for a reason. Like FanIn80 posted, they don't show up with what you already have and charge you for them to do it. They have their own equipment they bring, and are trained and certified to do what they do, at least Michael Chen was. They also take ongoing courses to keep up with the changing technologies.
Kind of like...if you're happy with the car you just bought and the k&n you just threw in, fine. Enjoy it. Nothing else matters. But if you're curious to see how much more you can get out of it for better performance, you start messin' with electronics, pulley sprockets, cams and exhausts, and maybe throw a turbo or supecharger in  and...and...yeahhh...thats the ticket!
But anyway, I digress. If you're content with your tube out of the box with a couple menu tweaks and a sound and vision dvd, calibration isn't for you. |
I guess I am just a guy who never trusts aftermarket services because I believe that most of them are cons that don't really do anything that you can do yourself.
I don't know. When I read that list on that site, it all sounds like bunk to me, like what a guy would come up for his list of things he does to "optimize" your computer when I know it's mostly nonsense and stuff that's written to sound formal but that doesn't take a rocket scientist to do. Or maybe like a mechanic telling you that you need to do this and that to your car and presenting a bill and hoping that you don't understand that he really did nothing at all. 95% of that stuff is in your TV manual and you can do yourself from the menus that come with the TV. If they weren't accessible by menu or user accessible service panel, these calibration techs wouldn't be able to do it without voiding your warranty. I just feel like it is taking advantage of people who don't know better.
A car is very different from a piece of consumer electronics. With a TV and "calibration" it's just a guy playing with the menu and settings and a few accessible controls and service menus that come with all TVs according to what he feels is best. If it's your TV and your living space, why not set it up yourself to what you would prefer you viewing experience to be like? I know I am always changing my color temperature depending on what I am viewing and the samples he provides on the info page are settings that I sometimes purposely set depending on what I am watching. A lot of this stuff is digital as well and there is no need to fine tune everything.
Keep in mind, these TVs are all built by multimillion dollar corporations who have already spent a lot of money on real engineers designing the best image they could come up with for the price. What makes the default settings so bad that you have to spend another $250 for a guy to come and play with your remote on a $2500 TV? Aren't you the best judge of how a TV looks in your living room? Why not sit back on the couch and play with the settings until you are happy in your own time?
I still believe LCD calibration services as provided by these stores are a scam, just like how they push monster cables on unsuspecting folk. This is how they really make money you see. See this consumerist article:
http://consumerist.com/2008/03/circu...for-10474.html
Looking at that LionAV site, if you look at one of his services, the ISF C3 Calibration, this is a thing on Pioneer TVs where certified techs charge $200-$300 to do. They probably are paid or have some kind of kickback structure with Pioneer. They are given a code to access a hidden service manual to do this.
Alternatively, you could just google it for the service menu codes and software and do it yourself and save $300.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...php?t=1011896]