I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
svx94 said:
It seems most people dissagree with my comment, and I am not supprised. I just want to put this thing in a practical perspective.
1. The calibrated set in my local store is a top-of-line Diamond Mits, and I dislike the color;
2. There is a very practical reason for the commercial art designers to calibrate their monitors, because OTHER people will be the viewers of their work, and likely viewing through different type of monitors. Calibrated monitor make their work fit most of their customers. Your TV is for you only.
3. If you can see the adjustment result grayscale, colortemp, contrast, etc from your favorite DVDs, you are almost good enough to calibrate by yourself. If you can't, likely your eye is not that picky anyhow. I heard people got ISF calibration service "over the phone", what is the point?
Certainly, if you are used to the "accurate" color, you may very well need a calibration; If you don't know how to do it, pay someone is not a bad idea; If you have money to burn, contribute to the economy... My advice to the average Joe, is not to dump $400-500 if you don't really need it.
Cheers!
I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I have no idea who performed the ISF calibrated Mits set you are referring to, but I bet they did a poor job or adjusted the color, tint, etc. and said that it is now calibrated.
There is some people that go into people's home every day carrying a Avia DVD disc, adjust a few things and charge them a couple hundred bucks and say their set is now ISF calibrated. I own a Avia disc and it did make a difference in my picture quality, but and ISF calibration is in a totally different world.
I am a serious audio/video enthusiast, and I always do thorough research before buying any equipment or services. I have viewed several different ISF calibrated sets by at least five different calibrators. All of their results were a little different, but every set looked night and day difference better than before the ISF calibration.
Now even though technically the ISF calibration is to adjust the grayscale of the set, a lot more tweaks go into this service, at least with Gregg Loewen at
www.lionav.com . In addition to the grayscale calibration he performs the following:
1. Pre evaluation of the viewing environment Pre evaluation of the display device, projector, and cabling
2. Removal of the protective screen (where applicable)
3. Mechanical disconnection of SVM circuit
4. Image centering
5. Minimization of overscan
6. Correction of major geometry errors
7. Convergence touch up of all NTSC modes
8. Electronic focus adjustments
9. Mechanical focus adjustments
10. Cleaning of optics
11. Herman TLV Maneuver for applicable Toshiba sets
12. Grayscale adjustment to 6500 D Kelvin
13. Centering of front panel controls when ever possible
14. Adjustment of front panel controls from within the service menu
15. Color decoder adjustment where possible, either via service menu adjustment, EEPROM Reflashing (I2C Fix), or installation of a red push attenuator.
16. Lens striping, when required, to achieve a color temperature variation of less than 500 Kelvin.
17. Computer generated report showing pre and post calibration settings
You mentioned the Mits in a local store. The Mits eeprom has to reprogrammed due to the amount of red push the set produces. I doubt the calibrator at that store performed that along with the above mods.
My Mits is on Gregg's list in mid June to be calibrated. I will post a thread on the results. If my set turns out half as good as I have seen the other sets I have seen done by Gregg, I am in for a real treat.