Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Anyone paid a professional to calibrate their TV?

I'm not sure if AVE will get you 80% there. To me, the real issue is the importance of the image. If you are not overly picky about the accuracy, and generally enjoy your set now, get the disk and make it a bit better. If you really focus on the details of the monitor and accuracy is important, then from what I have read all these years, pro calibration is the way to go. $400 is either a big waste of money - if you don't care all that much - or a very well priced "upgrade" if you do care a great deal about the picture.

Fair enough.

Thanks for all the input, I e-mailed the two calibrators that you recommended Jack to get their input, unfortunately they don't take tour's in my area. Also I am using the settings recommended on the 550 forum (Home Theater Magazine), but those settings where set after professional calibration.

Sorry to hear that Cam. I'm a bit surprised. You're not that far from Toronto and I would've thought at least one of them toured there. Hopefully, you'll find someone compentent in your area.

Don't feel bad Cam, I had the same problem here in New Orleans, no pros around and travel cost were just too much. Maybe they washed away in the flood?

Also, ask them what equipment they bring to the job. A local 'so called pro' is charging people just because he has done enough internet research to know how to access the extra settings on some sets that the consumer normally doesn't even know is there.

This still doesn't mean he knows how to make it be 'correct'.

Great point. Many locals were willing tweak it for me for a price. When I asked one if he knew the codes for the service menu, he acted like I had asked him to explain the String Theory of the Universe. "Yeah, sure, I know where that panel is...right next to the flumater, sorry, it's technical sir."

Are all ISF certified techs supposed to have the requisite tools and knowledge? I know there are levels, but not sure if they are forced to follow a minimal set of methods.

That's what I've always said, how can you trust a "pro" to calibrate a set correctly, if you don't know what correct is. If you know what correct is, then it isn't much more work to learn to do it yourself. You can get a colormeter and software for $400.

Getting the black and white levels correct will get you to 80%, that can be done by eye (really those two things are the most important part in getting a quality picture with real depth). Color and tint gets you up to 90%, that just needs a blue filter. The last 10%, getting the color of white to 6500 K, and the gamma ramp smooth, are the hardest parts.

I think the point of the color of white and the grey scale not being accurate even today in a significant number of monitors right from the factory is a foregone conclusion. Most of the reviews of monitors I read in much of today's CE press refers to this. I have a neighbor who just took delivery of a large screen Sony Bravia LCD set and I immediately noticed that the set right out of the box was tinted far too much towards the blue. You can't get accurate colors until this imbalance is corrected. Unless you have access to the service menu and the internal workings within the set which ONLY technicians generally have , you can't make adjustments yourself that will correct these particular problems. A good calibrator will have the software AND a laptop which will enable that individual to do the necessary tweaking(and it can take awhile) to give you as accurate a reading as possible up and down the D6500 scale. The idea is to make sure the grey scale is as accurate as possible so colors will be the same or as close to the same no matter how bright or dark the picture is. It is amazing to see how some monitors will show a terrific picture during a bright scene yet, be way out of color balance when the scene is dark. A printout should be provided so you can see exactly where your monitor fits in terms of accuracy. Of course, it can never be 100%. If the calibrator can't do this, then look elsewhere.

Generally speaking, when I look at a television right out of the box, when you are watching a movie with the black bars and in a dark scene, if the blacks are black without a tinge of either blue, green or red in the black portions of the screen, you are probably in pretty good shape and the test discs should finish the job nicely.

Like I mentioned before if you have a noticeable leaning in either of the three colors in the picture, that is something only a technician with access to the internal service menu can fix.

Quick question ... if a TV set is professionally calibrated will a power failure affect the settings at all?