Avia II Help

[morch]

I just calibrated my panasonic th42pz77u with the sep up disk. My wife and myself both agreed that the picture appeared to be "dull" and not what we expected. The following were the settings I arrived at...........

Picture mode: Normal
Picture: +14
Brightness: +8
Color: -1
Tint: -2
Sharpness: -14
Color Temp: Warm
Color Managment: Off
Black Level: Light

I found that the picture adjustment was very subjective because I could see the "steps" no matter what setting I adjusted the control to and the top two shades of white never blended together to look as one.

The brightness was easy and non subjective; either the moving bar on the left hand side was there or it was not.

As far as the sharpness adjustment, I adjusted this to where the circular spiral pattern in the center almost appeared 3-D, with the same amount of white and black.

Any help/suggestions with the picture (white) adjustment would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Dull maybe you actually seeing a TV properly calibrated for the first time. Did you cal it in the light settings that most of the viewing will occur in? I calibrated in the Cinema mode and then when I am watching normal daytime TV or TV with more light than normal movie viewing, I swith it to a scond mode which is calibrated a little hotter and brighter.

Bottom line, it's your TV so set it on what looks good to you. I would view it the way you calibrated it for a couple of days and see what what you think after some time with it.

 

[mtrycrafts]

It is hard to know what a properly set up TV is when your whole life we have been looking at improperly calibrated TV.
So, live with this setup for a while and see how it goes. Remember, this calibration is usually best with minimal lighting in the room.

 

[morch]

Reply

First and foremost, thank you for the responces.

I often wondered myself if I should have two different calibration modes, one for daytime viewing and the other for night. My reasoning is simple, the calibration instructions stated that ambient light affects the picture, and the only way to get around this is to watch tv in a room with no windows. Therefore I will set up the picture with two different modes.

A follow up question is in regards to the TDX optimizer for calibration. I found that the black setting when using the TDX optimizer compaired to the Avia II disk was completely different. I was dumbfounded that the setting would be that far off. For example, using the TDX optimizer, the brightness setting was set for -8, compaired to +8 with Avia. Has anyone else found this to be the case?

 

[fmw]

My TV came with 4 or 5 different "calibrations." I set one of them up with Avia and it is fairly close to one of the original ones. I still keep going back to one of the original ones. It's way too subjective to worry about in my opinion.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

TDX optimizer isnt that good of a calibration tool. Like I said earlier, give it a few days and see how you like it. 2 calibration settings would work out great and is what I use. To tell you the truth my actual cinema calibration seems a little dull to me too and I usually end up watch everything on my brighter, second calibration.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I just calibrated my panasonic th42pz77u with the sep up disk. My wife and myself both agreed that the picture appeared to be "dull" and not what we expected.

That's funny because I thought the exact same thing when I calibrated my Mitsubishi using Video Essentials!

After all the calibrating, I ended up saying, "Screw it, I'm just going to Max the Contrast, Min the Sharpness, and keep everything else factory setting. The calibration is just a guideline, but in the end it has to look great to you. What's the point of buying an awesome HDTV and watching some DULL picture?

 

[mtrycrafts]

Therefore I will set up the picture with two different modes.

By all means, use the two modes. See how you like them.

 

[The Chukker]

I also own the AVIA calibration disc. I just bought a new Samsung LED tv and according to what many are saying on the interwebs [sic], these sets need quite a lot of calibration out the box so to speak. I am hesitant to hire someone to do something that with a little research (and beer) I can figure out on my own. Are there any HD calibration discs on the horizon, or are the SD calibration tools sufficient to achieve great results with new 1080p panels?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I also own the AVIA calibration disc. I just bought a new Samsung LED tv and according to what many are saying on the interwebs [sic], these sets need quite a lot of calibration out the box so to speak. I am hesitant to hire someone to do something that with a little research (and beer) I can figure out on my own. Are there any HD calibration discs on the horizon, or are the SD calibration tools sufficient to achieve great results with new 1080p panels?

There is an HD version of Video Essentials out there.

 

[The Chukker]

There is an HD version of Video Essentials out there.

Is it a complete waste of time to use the SD AVIA disc I have until I can get my hands on the HD version, or could I do some good in the interim time?

 

[Johnd]

Is it a complete waste of time to use the SD AVIA disc I have until I can get my hands on the HD version, or could I do some good in the interim time?

Not at all. The difference between formats is a playability issue...some sd calibration discs could not be played in an hd player. So use you Avia disc as a guideline, and tweak from there for what looks best on your display in your environment. This cannot be stated enough (it's already been written in this thread a couple of times).

And count your blessings chukker. You've got a rather simple setup with your system. I've got a 768p projector that I'm just getting around to calibrating for hd: I have the calibrations you mentioned, and so much more: IRE, RGB Gain and Bias, Complements, etc, etc, etc. It was set up perfectly for sd with my 2900...but hd with the A3 has thrown everything off kilter. And the service and factory mode has to be entered for some of these settings. Right now the picture is perfect (for this pj), but the color is off. Just some time in the next few days.

Makes me almost want to go get a 1080 projector with hdmi...much simpler.