Tv calibration question

[taters]

Just bought a Panasonic 65" vt30.

Would I see a big difference if I got it professionally

Calibrated after a couple of hundred hours of breakin?

Or is it just hype?

[BerndM]

I had the same question when I got my Sharp 70" Aquos 3d TV a few months ago. Soooo much depends on your room and your personal likes/dislikes.

Play with it yourself and remember, you can quickly restore the default factory settings if you get it really out of whack.

Don't pay for it if you don't have to.

 

[taylor1]

When you go to the store and see all the TV,s turned on side by side and say, hey, that one has a really good pic. it is most likely that it is the calibration and not the quality of the set.I bought my Samsung years back and wanted to get the best pic. I could so I did a little research and found a home calibration system. It is called Spyder T.V. It made a big difference in my pic. quality and was fun to do. I lent it to a few friends and they all said it also improved their set.If you snoop around the different forums, you can probably find someone who has posted the optimum settings for your set.

[OoPEZoO]

You can buy the calibration DVD's just about anywhere. You can easily do it yourself. It takes about 30 minutes and in my personal opinion isn't worth the time.

 

This was a bigger deal on the older rear projection CRT TV's. They used to have 3 individual CRT's that made up the screen and needed to be calibrated once a year or so to make sure all of the pixels lined up with each other. The new direct view LCD and LED TV's don't have this issue. As pointed out above, your room, lighting, and personal preference for brightness will trump anything a calibration will get you. Plug it in, fiddle with the settings, and enjoy.

[George S.]

The stores calibrate the brand that gives them the largest profit margin.

[Mike]

I've never actually calibrated any of my TVs, but I do play around with all of the settings once they're installed. It's amazing how much you can improve the appearance of your video image with a few minutes of effort. As Keith noted, room conditions and personal preference really dictate how to do it.

 

Along these lines, I'll just add a personal observation. I have yet to buy a really cheap brand of television, but I have a heck of a time discerning between the quality of the mainstream televisions and the high-end offerings. What I've come to look for are things like the number of HDMI inputs, adjustability of the picture, etc. I'd opine that spending a huge amount for a "premium" TV is a waste of money for most people.

[Nice n Easy Rider]

I'm guessing that the reasons that the majority of replies thus far to the OP are from northern states is because you have to find something else to entertain yourselves with for 4-6 months of the year. Our sympathies.

[Mike]

I'm guessing that the reasons that the majority of replies thus far to the OP are from northern states is because you have to find something else to entertain yourselves with for 4-6 months of the year. Our sympathies.

 

True, but we won the war.

 

Not too bad this time of year, though:

 

[Quinn]

An observation from back in my days of repairing color printers: American customers always prefer the more saturated image. Japaneese manufactorers like machines that reproduce delicate colors. Whenever I'd set up a machine to spec., the customer would go in and crank the settings back up to where the toner would crack if the paper were bent.

 

 

 

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[Ken H.]

You can buy the calibration DVD's just about anywhere. You can easily do it yourself. It takes about 30 minutes and in my personal opinion isn't worth the time.

I think it’s worth the effort, but it really is a personal thing. I’m fussy about colours being accurate to real life. Real life is not as colour saturated as TV’s would make you believe. (The trend these days toward over-saturated still photography drives me crazy too.) I go into people’s houses and 80% of the TVs on I can see how the people can stand to watch.

 

BISFA ‘pro’ tuning I’d say it’s a waste of $$. If you like it the way it is – just watch it. If you want to get it more accurate to what’s outside the window, the calibration DVDs can be a help.

 

[Husker Red]

I bought a blu-ray calibration disk to set up my HDTV and HD projector and was completely dissapointed in the process on both. I couldn't get the grey and black levels anywhere near what the instructions suggested and overall it just didn't work out. I ended up reseting to factory default and making a few changes based on my personal taste just by looking at it and I'm very happy with the picture.

[Albert]

Just bought a Panasonic 65" vt30.

Would I see a big difference if I got it professionally

Calibrated after a couple of hundred hours of breakin?

 

No you'll still find the same useless drivel on 95% of the channels that are out there. The picture will just be sharper.