best buy tv calibration....is it worth it??

[Brandon Charlsen]

im needing/wanting to get my tv calibrated . ive bought a disk from amazon and just cant seem to nail down a good picture. i was thinking about getting geek squad to come and do a calibration. should i or should i try to get another company to come do it? i also live in the Wichita, Kansas area

 

[lovinthehd]

I wouldn't trust them to do a true calibration myself. From what I've read the quality of work very much depends on the individual you get and what his training/background is but the general consensus isn't so hot and the time may be limited. OTOH the cost may be better than hiring someone like DNice (a pretty well known calibrator on the forums, do a search).

I saw this on AH, altho a bit old, http://www.audioholics.com/editorials/best-buy-tricking-customers-hdtv-calibration and this one http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/TV-Home-Theater/DO-NOT-GET-TV-CALIBRATION/td-p/451951

ps What tv is it?

 

[Brandon Charlsen]

so who is this DNice??? and how do i ask or get ahold of him/her?

 

[lovinthehd]

Don't know, sorry. I remember he's very popular and he operates on tours and it could take a while to get his particular attention or being in your area. This thread could have some ideas for you perhaps.

Any interest in doing your own? This site would be a good place to start down that road.

Does your tv have a suitable/tweakable color management system to enable the adjustments for such a calibration effort?

 

[Alex2507]

This is what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/Spears-Munsil-Benchmark-Calibration-Disc/dp/B00CKWI13O

 

[Brandon Charlsen]

thats what i have. and well im going to say is that its confusing as truck and it didnt help

 

[j_garcia]

That is pretty much the best calibration disc on the market. I used the first edition and that one now. You normally have to disable ALL of the automatic settings on the TV too (auto contrast, motion modes, etc...) before calibrating. Pretty much most of them should be good at setting contrast, brightness and hue. The advanced stuff less useful for most, such as the 3D calibration which I didn't find beneficial.

 

[Brandon Charlsen]

is there a video on net or better detailed instructions i could find??

 

[BMXTRIX]

While AVS has some pointers, the big things are going to be you discussing what you aren't happy with, or what more you are hoping to achieve out of your display. You will also want to ask and research more about calibration settings with your TV to see if there are any known issues like color shift, black crush, white crush, clipping, etc.

I like the Disney WOW! calibration disc because it has very good tutorials that go along with it which can help you get things setup, but I'm not sure I would go to Best Buy for one of their guys. I would much rather dig through the (rather deep) posts at AVS and start looking for some better calibration tools and information from that site, which I don't typically recommend. But, we are a bit video limited here.

 

[Brandon Charlsen]

well i was wanting better blacks, as of right now ,in dark TV and movie scenes its way to dark. can hardly make out the picture or the actors. so sometimes it appears to be pixelly when its bright on white colors and grays. and the reds also kind of have a some what of a ring around it

 

[Brandon Charlsen]

plus its not very sharp

 

[lovinthehd]

Again, what tv do you have?

What settings are you employing?

 

[Brandon Charlsen]

Philips 55PFL5601/F7 it was a black friday special. im thinking about going to return it and getting a TCL or LG .

i tried to do my calibration from a calibration disk. i bought a spears & munsil disk. its confusing to me

 

[lovinthehd]

TVs at that level often don't have a lot of control over color management for a detailed calibration. I didn't look thru the manual, tho. Are you using movie mode? What other settings are you using? You may be able to turn off some of the settings that some tvs default to (usually for showroom display purposes) for better results. What setting choices do you have and what are they set at?

 

[Brandon Charlsen]

it has some decent adjustments on it. i was suprised on that. actually i am in movie mode now. but i can't remember all the adjustments that i made. i might just start back to square one and start over

 

[Alex2507]

thats what i have. and well im going to say is that its confusing as truck and it didnt help

Then the BB calibration might just be the answer for you.

 

[panteragstk]

BB calibrators are only as good as their training. It will be hit or miss. I'd ask for some sort of satisfaction guarantee if they have it. I believe they use ISF tools (at least they used too) and are supposedly trained for "official" ISF calibrations. Each store will be different.

You could always call a few of the home theater custom installers in your area and get quotes from them. They might be more expensive, but I would trust them over some random guy that works for BB. If you have a Magnolia BB then you'll prolly have better luck, but the same issues remain. You just never know.

Also, what I normally do with my TVs is go to AVS and find the "official" thread. Those usually have calibration numbers from some good pros. I've gotten great results this way.

 

[Brandon Charlsen]

what disk is that?? the BB ?

 

[j_garcia]

BB = Best Buy

Budget TVs cannot be calibrated to be better than they are. Rather than spending $$ on calibration, I'd look at a better TV.

 

[BMXTRIX]

IMO - This is a huge issue with the TV. Philips just isn't that good of a brand overall. They have extremely poor engineers and don't seem to read or care about the reviews of any of their products. The issues you most likely have are all related to the inability of the TV itself to do what you want.

When I get the good Black Friday deals, I tend to expect that I am still getting what I paid for and the image will be reflected as such. Cheap TVs just don't do it. Certainly they aren't worth a penny of professional calibration time.

But, I would still pick up the Disney WOW! calibration disc to add to what you own. It's cheap and really walks you through things nicely in regards to brightness and contrast settings. It will help you see if you are having black or white crush issues.