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Re: Calibration.

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David Aiken

In Reply to: Calibration. posted by jimbill on August 7, 2006 at 13:31:37:

You may already have a DVD. A number of THX mastered DVDs include a "THX Optimiser" in the DVD extras. That includes the test patterns for setting brightness, contrast, colour and sharpness. You need a blue filter for the colour tests and they can be obtained cheaply from THX. A website address is provided. I think any of the Star Wars or Alien series of DVDs has the Optimiser in the extras, and some other titles do also
I own a copy of Digital Video Essentials and it worked fine with my previous TV which had a CRT. I recently purchased an LCD set and while it works OK with it, I actually find it easier to set the brightness and contrast using the tests for them in the THX optimiser. Digital Video Essentials includes the blue filter required for the colour setup. Navigating the menus in Digital Video Essentials is a real pain.
There are at least 2 other options out there, neither of which I've tried. There's AVIA which is a commercial product. There's also a 'shareware' product called GetGray intended purely for digital displays. You have to download the files and burn your own disc. It obviously doesn't come with the necessary blue filter but their website has instructions on how to get one including from THX.
I'd check if you already have a copy of the THX Optimiser on one of your DVDs and go with that first. It does a reasonable job. The others all have a lot more tests but you need test equipment to use most of those other tests.
Calibrating the basic 4 settings is easy and the results look good. How much better they look than your set's default settings will depend on how good a job your manufacturer did in choosing those defaults. Some are definitely better than others so you may or may not notice a big difference.
David Aiken

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agreed. 1 nice feature of the dvd essentials is the - snkby 15:19:20 08/07/06 (12)
narrative that explains the hows and whys for a better overall understanding of what is happening.
1 of the most important things you can do is to turn that --sharpness-- control down to minimum or --off--.
the added --sharpness-- is video noise defining the pixel edges which at first might look better but is actually obscuring detail and ultimately artificial as we do not --see-- like that.
if you have photoshop or another program that lets you edit images you can see this by loading an image and repeatedly using the --sharpen-- tool.
the best audio and video systems do not knock you down and dazzle you but instead pull you in slowly without you really being aware of it.
- Thanks for the help guys...Another question.... - jimbill 17:25:04 08/07/06 (11)
  Ran all the tests except the one requiring the glasses. I've ordered those.
  The geometry test has me confused. I have a 50" Panasonic plasma. When I run the test with the circle, it is kind of a flattened circle. What is this telling me and do I need to fix it? How?
  - Re: Thanks for the help guys...Another question.... - David Aiken 01:44:56 08/08/06 (0)
    I'm running from memory here.
    I think you have to set screen aspect to 4:3 for this test so the image is in a standard screen format with black borders at the side. The image should look circular then. If you look at it in wide screen 16:9 format, it is stretched sideways and will give you a flattened circle.
    David Aiken
  - sounds like you might still need to - snkby 20:02:02 08/07/06 (9)
    set your display and/or dvd for 16:9 or your display is currently set for something other than --native--.
    you might not get a perfect circle but it should definitely not look flattened as you describe.
    did you run the tests from a thx optimizer movie disc ?
    is that disc maybe fullscreen 4:3 instead of widescreen ?
    with 16:9 displays you have to be careful to get the --widescreen-- version of the movie.
    - Please explain. - jimbill 22:05:16 08/07/06 (8)
      I used "Finding Nemo".
      Where would I find the native setting?
      Using the aspect button on my TV remote, I get the options of 4:3, full, zoom, h-fill, and just.
      Totally new to this stuff.
      - what is the aspect ratio of your display wrt - snkby 23:29:36 08/07/06 (7)
        
        In Reply to: Please explain. posted by jimbill on August 7, 2006 at 22:05:16:
        
        the actual screen shape ?
        if the screen shape is 4:3(1.3:1) then the remote option would be 4:3 and the dvd player set to output 4:3.
        if the screen shape is 16:9(1.7:1) then the dvd player needs to be setup to output 16:9.
        most widescreen movies are 1.85:1 which is like 16.65:9 or 2.35:1 which is like 21:9.
        what is --just-- ?
        
        "just.". - jimbill 08:44:56 08/08/06 (6)
        
        In Reply to: what is the aspect ratio of your display wrt posted by snkby on August 7, 2006 at 23:29:36:
        
        "justified".
        I have the Panasonic TH-50PX60U. 16:9
        So the DVD player, which I've been using on my 15 year old CRT, has to be reset? It doesn't do it automatically?
        
        nope. you have to get into the setup menu and - snkby 11:42:46 08/08/06 (5)
        
        In Reply to: "just.". posted by jimbill on August 8, 2006 at 08:44:56:
        
        set the aspect ratio to 16:9.
        and also maybe set the output reslution and type of cable used hdmi/component/s-video/composite/dvi/etc.
        
        See my post above� - David Aiken 17:29:56 08/08/06 (4)
        
        In Reply to: nope. you have to get into the setup menu and posted by snkby on August 8, 2006 at 11:42:46:
        
        If I remember correctly, you have to get this test to display in 4:3 format, but all other tests are in 16:6. The instructions say to reset the screen to a 4:3 input, not the output of the DVD. The test is of how the anamorphic projection is done so you want the player ouputting to a 16:9 screen and the screen set for 4:3. That gives you a circle which becomes flattened when you reset the screen to widescreen.
        David Aiken
        
        you need to have the test material going - snkby 20:43:56 08/08/06 (3)
        
        In Reply to: See my post above� posted by David Aiken on August 8, 2006 at 17:29:56:
        
        out in the same aspect ratio as your display.
        set the dvd menu to output 16:9.
        set your display menu to --native-- or whatever they call it where you are not squishing/stretching the image.
        this will give you a round circle from the dvd player no matter what aspect ratio you have the screen set to.
        if the movie is 4:3 then you will have sidebars on your screen.
        if the movie is 16:9 then it will completely fill the screen.
        if the movie is 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 or 2.4:1 or 2.5:1 then you will get full width but top/bottom letterboxing.
        but most importantly you will always have a circle that is round.
        
        You're mistaken� - David Aiken 00:48:01 08/09/06 (2)
        
        In Reply to: you need to have the test material going posted by snkby on August 8, 2006 at 20:43:56:
        
        I just dug out my copy of the Optimiser and ran through the tests. My player is set for 16:9 playback, as is the screen.
        The 4 tests prior to 4:3 Aspect Test all display perfectly this way, as do the instructions for the circle test. Those instructions start with the following paragraph:
        "This test checks the display ability of your monitor. If you have a 16:9 monitor, set it to 4:3 mode for this test."
        So the instruction is to set the MONITOR to 4:3. There is no instruction to set the player to that format. Setting the screen to 4:3 produces the correct result on my screen.
        This test is followed by a 16:9 Aspect Test which only produces the correct result when both screen and player are set to 16:9.
        The 16:9 test starts with the following instructions:
        "If you see a perfect circle while playing back this test, your DVD player is correctly set to display a 16:9 anamorphic movie.
        If you have a 4:3 television and you see a tall thin oval, you must stop the DVD player and change the Aspect Ratio setting to 4:3."
        So basically what they're doing is checking the TV's aspect setting with the first test and the DVD player setting with the second test. The instructions for both are quite explicit as to which device's settings need to be modified.
        Try the 4:3 test with the player set to 16:9 and change the screen setting and see what I mean. I simply followed the test instructions and they appear accurate�things work as intended in this test if you simply change the screen setting for the 4:3 test.
        David Aiken
        
        Additional comment� - David Aiken 01:00:55 08/09/06 (1)
        
        In Reply to: You're mistaken� posted by David Aiken on August 9, 2006 at 00:48:01:
        
        Remember:
        If you have a wide screen display, you don't have to change your DVD player's setting to 4:3 when you play a 4:3 movie. The player transmits the 4:3 data correctly without needing to be reset. You do have to reset your screen to 4:3 to get it to display correctly.
        That's what's going on in the 4:3 test. The signal is in 4:3 and the player sends it correctly to the display. The display has to be set to the 4:3 format to display the pattern correctly.
        David Aiken
        
        sounds like you have it under control. nt - snkby 00:42:24 08/11/06 (0)
        
        In Reply to: Additional comment� posted by David Aiken on August 9, 2006 at 01:00:55:
        
        x

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