HD TV calibration

[little wing]

Hi all,

I just bought my first hd tv. a 42" LG model. My question is, does the professional calibration that best buy tries to sell worth it??

The tv has many adjustment options, that I am experimenting with. I think it has a pretty good picture, but again, this is my first experience with an hd set.
Thanks

 

[agarwalro]

The Best Buy service is most likely a waste of time and money. Instead, pick up a calibration disc on Amazon. Look at Digital Video Essentials and Avia for starters.

 

[little wing]

Thanks a lot. I appreciate the response. After I posted this, it dawned on me that this has been brought up many times before, and all I had to do was search for this topic.
Thanks again

 

[Beatmatcher247]

Assuming you found a good calibrator, another factor to consider is what you laid out for the TV. $300-$400 for a quality calibration worth it on a <$1000 TV... to me it would not be budget appropriate at all.

 

[Beatmatcher247]

I'd probably do something quick and cheap with the Disney WOW calibration disc instead of pay for a calibrate.

 

[panteragstk]

Best buy "supposedly" has ISF certified calibrators, but as stated above, if the TV only costs around $1200 the $300 they charge is not worth it. You can download a calibration disc off of AVS forum that works just fine. The THX calibration discs can be good, but mine gave me some odd results. If you REALLY wanted you could get one of the spider units, but I haven't really heard all that great of things about those.

 

[little wing]

It is an LG 42 inch LED model. I paid about $850 for it. I am having some judder issues with it, as far as motion on the screen. I called LG support but they don't seem to be much help. The TV has Tru motion settings that I am playing around with. One statement in the user manual is completely confusing. It says Tru motion settings may not work with a 60hz signal. Isn't every signal 60hz and then up-converted by the TV, or I am missing something???

 

[Moutee]

I have had Avia II and DVE (the Blu Ray copy) for years. They work well, but are they still accepted as the go-to method for DIY calibration on the cheap? The aspect that I like best is that I can use it on every TV in the house, and I can bring it to my friends' houses to adjust their systems; some of us just can't afford to pay $300 per unit for a proper calibration.

 

[jostenmeat]

Isn't every signal 60hz and then up-converted by the TV, or I am missing something???

No, movies are at 24 fps.

The worst judder that I have seen (I say this because I don't know all of the causes for it) is with 3:2 pulldown, the method of making a 24p bluray "fit" into a 60hz display.

120hz can make it work, because 24 fits into 120 neatly.

However, some cheaper/older models out there pulled a fast one by implementing 3:2, then 2:2. Total BS. I know it's weird to think that 3:2 is cheaper than 5:5 but that's the way it was back then.

My guess is there won't be much you can do about actual 3:2 judder, just going by instinct. Not to knock your display, but LG is usually ranked kinda low, and at your size, performance is usually not of high priority (and so I won't be surprised if you can't bypass this issue). This goes with other brands too.

If you can display 24p properly, you need to enable it in both player AND display, in most cases.

 

[little wing]

Ok, thanks. I was just talking about cable TV viewing, not DVD viewing.

 

[roleydre]

does your lg have any Expert modes,if so it is really easy to navagate through the expert mode to get the video you want,i also have an lg ,and i have 2 expert modes,and i got them both to look almost as good as the THX cinema mode that the TV comes with...

also turn up your edge enhancer ,see if that helps with the judder from the trumotion...it helped mine out alittle..

 

[little wing]

Yes it does have expert modes. I was afraid to mess with them too much because I am not an expert I am getting to the point where I am thinking about returning the TV and getting recommendations on another model. I can't seem to find the edge enhancer. I really appreciate your help! I am starting to think I got the wrong TV.

 

[roleydre]

thats cool.if you decide to keep it ,the expert mode takes you through pictures and you adjust to get the picture the way you like ,it will start with color(you adjust setting to get color you want) ,then brightness(same here,just adjust till it looks good to you) ..etc,it takes prolly acouple of minutes,then its set ,but it took my awhile to get the hang of my tv,and the edge enhancer is ,if you got to menu,go to picture ,then go alll way down to advanced option,or expert controll (i think thats what its called),there you will find dynamic contrasrt,noise reduction,gamma level,alot of stuff ,so check that out and see if that helps...

some video modes you might not be able to access the advanced controll,but on most ovem you should be able to...

 

[roleydre]

i really ony use the trumotion when i watch dragon ball,even then with the edge enhancer on high,movement from side to side is almost judder free,but screen moving up and down ,lots of judders,so it helps but their is still judders...

 

[little wing]

Which Trumotion setting do you use?. I saw Clear, Smooth and User. With the user setting, I see you can adjust the number from 1 to 10. Thanks.

 

[roleydre]

Well my lg is alittle older,and they prolly changed the inerface,so its probably not the way i described it...

But when i do use it i put it on low(is has low and high),mine is a 240hz,so low is 120,high is 240,but i just keep it on low,and i put edge enhancer on high

,sry bout that i always forget stuff is evolving very quickly,and i just forget how old my stuff is,my lg is 2007,so your tv will be different

Sry bout that,it probly not gonna be the same at all,so i cant really help ya ,and their was a dude on the first page that was talking about lg being ranked low with the screen judder,hes right esspecially the one i have has the cheap trumotion he was talking about,but on low like i said i got it to ware the judder wasnt hardly noticable,but ull just have to play around,there should be a reset button someware so if u get things messed up just reset and try again....

 

[little wing]

thanks, I appreciate it

 

[psbfan9]

When I tell my customers that 'our' calibration service is $199.99 they say "No thanks". So, I recommend this...

Amazon.com: Disney WOW: World of Wonder [Blu-ray]: n/a: Movies & TV

It has decent reviews and people seem to be happy with the results.

Good luck

 

[little wing]

$199 is not bad actually. But I'll give the disc a try. Hopefully it can help clean up some of this motion blur I am experiencing.
Thanks,

 

[jostenmeat]

I would never use any edge enhancer, or noise reduction, for my video. In fact, if I'm helping someone out with a few quick settings on a TV, those are some of the very first things I look for, to disable. With many of the poorer settings (something other than film/cinema), they are often defaulted.

Wave your hand in front of your face. What do you see? That's right, it's called motion blur. It's natural and it's supposed to be there with fast movement.

If it were me, I would turn off Trumotion, or whatever the hell they call their version of frame interpolation. Put it at zero, lowest. Google F.I. to know more.

While I highly doubt they would try to interpolate each frame at 240hz (think about that, this would mean 216 faked out frames every second when watching a BD, or in other words 447,897,600 pixels every second), do you really think an $800 TV has such IMMENSE processing power that it's not going to totally F some of those up during fast movement, with all the colors too? Even if your processor nailed it 99% of the time with that huge number, it still would mean it could screw up 4.5 million pixels each second. The above #s are for discussion's sake, so that you understand what the meaning of FI is.