TV Calibration Thread

[SebC]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

One thing I'm not sure about though, is when I watch actual 3D content (not upscaled 2D), I notice a lot of ghosting when seeing an image on a black background. I'm not really sure what's up with that. Changing the 3D perspective in the TV settings seems to lessen the amount of ghosting, but it's still obvious enough to notice it right away when the background of a scene is black.

Edit: I don't know if ghosting is the right word for what I'm seeing. Maybe it's more of a halo effect? Basically, when I see a 3D object on a black background, I can see what looks like another layer of the same object behind it...

Yeah, ghosting. Or cross-talk. It's a function of LCD response time, sync, and contrast ratio (for the glasses). Basically, the LCD panels in the glasses don't become completely opaque (or completely transparent). I know the XPand X103s (third party and universal) are 500:1 contrast, not sure what yours would be. The XPand cinema-quality glasses are 2000:1 or 3000:1. Some of the half-res 3D solutions (checkerboard DLP, interlaced polarized - i.e. LG Cinema 3D) may also be less susceptible to ghosting.

I have no idea why you only see it in natively 3D content. Could be a timing issue.

Is the "halo" crisp? Same shape as the bright parts of the image? If it's not, clean your glasses.

[mykalberta]

Big Brad from Florida I think is the name of the user?

If you search for the TV on RFD a few people mention him by username for which settings to use. I still have the printout, I will upload it tomorrow.

I have no desire to go through the settings manually

EDIT - found it - normal viewings page 83 of the avsforum thread. He also has uploaded the fancy graphs and such that go along with it.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Which post are you talking about? I can't find calibration settings, only info on how to get into the service menu.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...235720&page=70

I need to buy a Harmony Remote to enter the service menu?

Page 70ish

I stopped at post 83, it appears he might have changed them later on, I am just going through the rest of the thread now.

Alot of stuff I dont understand, I am not an audio/videophile and have no desire to test and tweak my own settings.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Page 70ish

I stopped at post 83, it appears he might have changed them later on, I am just going through the rest of the thread now.

Alot of stuff I dont understand, I am not an audio/videophile and have no desire to test and tweak my own settings.

Thank-you. If I ever get a remote that can get me into the service menu, I may give some of those a try but I am still not convinced of the worth of professional calibration.

Just a few posts down, there's a guy who says that "his guy" gave him completely different settings. This is all subjective.

I've done this sort of thing before on TVs and monitors and displays, going by recommendations by people on the net for their preferred gamma, color channels, etc. and I only end up finding them awful to my own eyes.

If you can do it for free, go ahead and play with everything until you are happy with it in the environment and lighting you use it in most. I wouldn't pay for calibration or spend too much time worrying about it though You don't need to understand anything, you just need to use your eyes and brain and stop when you are happy.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I need to buy a Harmony Remote to enter the service menu?

You don't already have one?

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by SebC

Yeah, ghosting. Or cross-talk. It's a function of LCD response time, sync, and contrast ratio (for the glasses). Basically, the LCD panels in the glasses don't become completely opaque (or completely transparent). I know the XPand X103s (third party and universal) are 500:1 contrast, not sure what yours would be. The XPand cinema-quality glasses are 2000:1 or 3000:1. Some of the half-res 3D solutions (checkerboard DLP, interlaced polarized - i.e. LG Cinema 3D) may also be less susceptible to ghosting.

I have no idea why you only see it in natively 3D content. Could be a timing issue.

Is the "halo" crisp? Same shape as the bright parts of the image? If it's not, clean your glasses.

Thanks for the response! This is starting to bug me a bit more now... The halo effect is crisp. As an example, I was watching a 3D IMAX space documentary last night, and they showed the Earth floating in space. The Earth was out in the middle of my living room and was very bright and clear, but there were dimmer versions of the Earth behind it on both the left and the right side. When there is a lot going on, I don't notice it at all. It's only prominent in a high-contrast scene (bright object, black background). Sometimes it's pretty ridiculous though, almost like I'm seeing 3 Earths.

This is my TV: http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/t...ype=prd_detail
These are the free glasses I got with it: http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/t...ype=3d-glasses

Maybe I should look into getting some better glasses?

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

You don't already have one?

Why would I? I'll use the one the TV comes with thanks.

Spending $200-$500 on a remote is almost as bad as buying Monster Cables. It'd be cheaper to hire an illegal immigrant to change my channels for me.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

This is my TV: http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/t...ype=prd_detail
These are the free glasses I got with it: http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/t...ype=3d-glasses

Maybe I should look into getting some better glasses?

Not sure how you would know what the better glasses would be, unless you can find the specs on your Samsungs. The "cinema" XPands are exactly that... they're sold to 3D Theaters (in Europe, NA uses RealD's frame-sequential polarization system). I don't think they're available to consumers. The X103s are nice because they're universal, but I wouldn't want to buy them without trying them first, as they may not produce any improvement. (Also, I only have nVidia's glasses, so my XPand knowledge is only what I've read.)

First thing I would do is check if your glasses work better with another (Samsung) TV - preferably, compare your TV to another copy of the same model and also to a different model. I assume you've already checked that the two pairs of glasses that are equally bad, so it's not the glasses, but it could be a problem with the TV. Typically plasmas are better than LCDs for crosstalk. It is, however, normal, that bright against dark suffers the worst ghosting.

I know for my (PC driven) system I can play around with the "monitor" timings (which I should probably do, seeing a bit of ghosting in the right eye only, which tells me it's timing), and driver updates also improve the timing sometimes. Not sure if there's anything equivalent you can do, and if there is, it might be buried in a service menu.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Why would I? I'll use the one the TV comes with thanks.

Spending $200-$500 on a remote is almost as bad as buying Monster Cables. It'd be cheaper to hire an illegal immigrant to change my channels for me.

Where'd you get the idea that you can't buy a Harmony for less than $200? Mine was $60 new. And I've had it for 4 years. It costs me $15/yr. Immigrants cost that much per month.

I like pressing one button to power on my TV, amp, source, and set inputs on my TV & amp.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Where'd you get the idea that you can't buy a Harmony for less than $200? Mine was $60 new. And I've had it for 4 years. It costs me $15/yr. Immigrants cost that much per month.

I like pressing one button to power on my TV, amp, source, and set inputs on my TV & amp.

Well to get a Harmony remote that will operate my Bell PVR from a different room would cost over $200. As it is my Bell remote turns on my Sony TV, PVR and Onkyo receiver (Sony TV and Onkyo receiver link up through the ARC HDMI cable) with two button pushes and controls the volume also. I'll need more of an impetus to switch to a Harmony.

and for those who plan on going into the Service Menu, be very careful. Research what you want to do and write down any changes you make. People have bricked their TVs when not knowing what they are doing.

and from what I've read (last years reviews) Panasonic makes the best 3D TVs with very little crosstalk. My Sony is also pretty good. LG 3DTVs in 3D mode, are awful and Samsung's are poor.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Where'd you get the idea that you can't buy a Harmony for less than $200? Mine was $60 new. And I've had it for 4 years. It costs me $15/yr. Immigrants cost that much per month.

I like pressing one button to power on my TV, amp, source, and set inputs on my TV & amp.

Instead of spending $60, I press 3 buttons on one remote (the Shaw one) instead of 1 button on one remote to turn on my devices because I'd rather spend the $60 on massages from illegal immigrants.

[MickMcGeough]

Haha - Logitech Harmony or illegal immigrant massage: the age old question.

I was just pointing out that they don't start at $200.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Instead of spending $60, I press 3 buttons on one remote (the Shaw one) instead of 1 button on one remote to turn on my devices because I'd rather spend the $60 on massages from illegal immigrants.

I tried all the different codes that came with that Shaw remote and it couldn't do power to the TV and volume at the same time. So I was stuck with two remotes. Then I got an HDMI switch and I needed another remote, plus Apple TV (not sure if that works with Shaw remote). Love my Harmony Remote, plus the keys lights up which is great in a dark room. Is it needed? Nope. But it sure is worth the money for me.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I tried all the different codes that came with that Shaw remote and it couldn't do power to the TV and volume at the same time. So I was stuck with two remotes. Then I got an HDMI switch and I needed another remote, plus Apple TV (not sure if that works with Shaw remote). Love my Harmony Remote, plus the keys lights up which is great in a dark room. Is it needed? Nope. But it sure is worth the money for me.

I actually didn't mind using the universal remote that came with the Shaw box but I get waaay less calls from my girlfriend saying the TV won't turn on with the Harmony

[fundmark19]

Ya my wife hates the harmony. I had to go back to shaw in the living room but put the extra harmony in bedroom since it controls xbox and now the wife likes it

[Hack&Lube]

So the moral of the story is, if you have a wife, get a harmony remote? If not, get massages?

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

and from what I've read (last years reviews) Panasonic makes the best 3D TVs with very little crosstalk. My Sony is also pretty good. LG 3DTVs in 3D mode, are awful and Samsung's are poor.

That's LG active, I assume? Their "Cinema 3D" line is passive... they claim it's good, I haven't looked for reviews.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by SebC

That's LG active, I assume? Their "Cinema 3D" line is passive... they claim it's good, I haven't looked for reviews.

Yeah, I haven't looked into their Cinema 3D. I heard about it a few months ago but haven't been looking for recent news. I wasn't slamming LG TVs in general, I've had good luck with them, just last years 3D got panned.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Yeah, I haven't looked into their Cinema 3D. I heard about it a few months ago but haven't been looking for recent news. I wasn't slamming LG TVs in general, I've had good luck with them, just last years 3D got panned.

Yeah their active 3d system really blew.

I'm picking up a new passive 3d set today. Reviews have been pretty good. It comes with 4 pair of glasses and i "borrowed" 5 pairs from the theaters.

[TorqueDog]

I ran the AVS 709 HD calibration disc (Used the AVCHD version) and I am very pleased with the results. My set was within a couple notches of the appropriate setting every time, but it made a world of difference once those little discrepancies were corrected.

Took me about 15 minutes, my set has a built-in Blue-Only Filter.