Spears & Munsil Bluray disc calibration for Sony Bravia 46XBR9

[murthyvs]

Hi - I've recently bought Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray Edition from Amazon to calibrate my Sony Bravia 46XBR9. I am playing this disc using PS3-60GB - the PS3 HDMI out goes into my Denon 4308CI which then outputs to Bravia 46XBR9 HDMI.

I am not sure where the contrast setting (the menu lists a picture setting) and RGB, scale settings, chroma level etc. as described in the disc.

Has anyone did this calibration before? Can someone help?

Thanks

 

[bandphan]

some adjustments may be in the service menu

 

[j_garcia]

Contrast won't be in the service menu, but it very well could be called something else such as "picture" as mentioned. It should be pretty obvious which control it is based on the adjustment it controls.

 

[murthyvs]

some adjustments may be in the service menu

What is "service menu" by the way?

 

[bandphan]

What is "service menu" by the way?

All displays have "service menus" that allow for diagnostics and advanced picture adjustments (some more adjustments than others). These adjustments are usually accessed by a repair tech or an ISF tech. You will not find access to them in the owners manual as making wrong adjustments can result in the display bricking.

 

[Stacey Spears]

I am not sure where the contrast setting (the menu lists a picture setting) and RGB, scale settings, chroma level etc. as described in the disc.

The Picture control is Contrast. Have you read the more indepth articels on our website for setting brightness, contrast, color, and tint?

 

[murthyvs]

The Picture control is Contrast. Have you read the more indepth articels on our website for setting brightness, contrast, color, and tint?

Thanks. Thats what I thought but wanted to check with senior members.

Can you please provide me some links for the picture adjustment articles that you mentioned?

 

[zhimbo]

I want to know who the genius was who decided that "Picture" would be a helpful and informative name for a setting. Don't ALL the settings adjust the "picture"?

 

[BruZZi]

The Picture control is Contrast. Have you read the more indepth articels on our website for setting brightness, contrast, color, and tint?

Nice, SS is in da house !!!

Can you please provide me some links for the picture adjustment articles that you mentioned?

Here:

http://www.spearsandmunsil.com/articles.html


.

 

[Stacey Spears]

I want to know who the genius was who decided that "Picture" would be a helpful and informative name for a setting.

Brightnes is not a great name either since it changes the black level, not really the brightness. On many computer LCDs, the brightness only changes the backlight. I have one display that treats brightness as backlight on the DVI input and as a real brightness control on the HDMI input.

I would recommend you calibrate in the following order.

1. Set picture mode (Usually movie, cinema, or custom)
2. Set brightness -> PLUGE Low pattern
3. Set contrast -> Contrast pattern
4. Set color -> Color Bars pattern
5. Set tint -> Color Bars pattern
6. Set sharpness -> Sharpness pattern
7. Color Temp -> 11-step gray scale pattern (This is the user mode option, not the RGB bias/gain controls)
8. Gamma -> Use Image Cropping pattern. You want the mode where the center blends into the background. At least the gamma that gets you the closest. Stand back as far as possible on this one.

If you want to compare different color space output options (422, 444, or RGB), you may need to re-adjust all of the above for each color space.

 

[murthyvs]

Brightnes is not a great name either since it changes the black level, not really the brightness. On many computer LCDs, the brightness only changes the backlight. I have one display that treats brightness as backlight on the DVI input and as a real brightness control on the HDMI input.

I would recommend you calibrate in the following order.

1. Set picture mode (Usually movie, cinema, or custom)
2. Set brightness -> PLUGE Low pattern
3. Set contrast -> Contrast pattern
4. Set color -> Color Bars pattern
5. Set tint -> Color Bars pattern
6. Set sharpness -> Sharpness pattern
7. Color Temp -> 11-step gray scale pattern (This is the user mode option, not the RGB bias/gain controls)
8. Gamma -> Use Image Cropping pattern. You want the mode where the center blends into the background. At least the gamma that gets you the closest. Stand back as far as possible on this one.

If you want to compare different color space output options (422, 444, or RGB), you may need to re-adjust all of the above for each color space.

Thanks. I will try these tonight.

 

[murthyvs]

I think Spears and Munsil is too advanced for me and thinking to order Avia II. Can someone share their thoughts on Avia II?

 

[j_garcia]

The adjustments are the same and they are going to give you more or less the similar patterns to adjust with.

 

[Stacey Spears]

I think Spears and Munsil is too advanced for me

What kind of trouble are you having?

 

[PearlcorderS701]

I would recommend you calibrate in the following order.

1. Set picture mode (Usually movie, cinema, or custom)

Stacey,

I own a Sony KDS-50A2020 rear projection SXRD, which offers Standard, Vivid and Custom modes. While the manual states to choose Standard for "home entertainment use," do you recommend I calibrate in Custom?

 

[Stacey Spears]

do you recommend I calibrate in Custom?

Sometimes the picture controls are disabled in all modes but custom. It is really up to that display.

Take a look at the color bars and switch between the modes. Does green become "neon like" in any of the modes? On some displays, the color decoder changes when you change modes. If the mode only changes the default positions of the user controls, then it does not matter which mode you calibrate in.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

Sometimes the picture controls are disabled in all modes but custom. It is really up to that display.

On my Sony, the "Advanced Settings" menu to calibrate intricately does not appear in Standard mode, and there is no access to the Warm color temps in the Vivid or Standard modes. This is why many recommend "Custom" for my model, but I just wanted to confirm with you because you did mention Custom, Cinema, etc.

The reason I specifically chose Standard in which to begin calibration is because there is no access to the "Advanced" menu -- it just makes things easier for me without needing to adjust all those parameters like Edge Enhancement, Detail Enhancer, Black Corrector, etc.

Take a look at the color bars and switch between the modes. Does green become "neon like" in any of the modes? On some displays, the color decoder changes when you change modes. If the mode only changes the default positions of the user controls, then it does not matter which mode you calibrate in.

I do notice a cool/blue push to the image in Standard, even using its "Neutral" color temp, but that's common in this mode from what I understand.

I just wanted to really learn the logic behind using the modes you suggested, such as Cinema, Custom, etc. over modes like Standard.

 

[Stacey Spears]

it just makes things easier for me without needing to adjust all those parameters like Edge Enhancement, Detail Enhancer, Black Corrector, etc.

If those are only exposed in the custom mode, I would use custom. Set all of those controls to off, by default. If you want to send me a list of all the controls, I can provide a recommended starting point.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

If those are only exposed in the custom mode, I would use custom. Set all of those controls to off, by default. If you want to send me a list of all the controls, I can provide a recommended starting point.

Okay, thank you.

Off the top of my head, I believe these are available in Custom (in addition to the usual controls such as Color, Contrast, Sharpness, etc.):

Advanced Settings:

Black Corrector (from what I understand, useless, because this just crushes the blacks even more)
Gamma (I've heard this should be either on OFF or LOW)
Clear White (heard this is usless as well as it brings out the blues in the whites)
Live Color
Edge Enhancer (useless and not recommended, from what I understand)
Detail Enhancer (I've heard so many theories on this one; many use it on HIGH or even on MAX because they say it adds "3-D pop" to Blu-ray material, while others say leave it OFF)
White Balance (I don't have the tools to set this properly, but I DEFINITELY have used it before to dial out the horrible cool/blue push this set exhibits even with Warm color temps in Custom mode...is there a setting you can recommend to dial out the blue hue at certain ends of the range here?)

 

[Stacey Spears]

-Black Corrector - Off
-Clear White - Off
-Live Color - Off
-Edge Enhancer - Off
-Detail Enhancer - Off

-White Balance - Leave at default. This is what a pro calibrator will adjust. You can use the color temp setting in the user menu to adjust. In that case, look at the 11-step grayscale and select the mode that produces the most neutral gray. ie not tinted red or blue.
-Gamma - Try the Image Cropping pattern. Stand back as far as possible and select the mode that makes the center blend in with the background. There might not be any mode, in which case, turn it off.