OK, you likely got a yourself a new screen at some point in the last five years. Maybe even a new receiver, and probably a bluray player.

Each of these devices probably has a video adjustment menu. So short of hiring an ISF calibrator, how do you, the hobbyist videophile, go about tweaking your video output?

Do you use the menu of the screen only and leave well enough alone with the other devices, or do you experiment with all of the options available to you? What gave the best results? In your experience, what isn't worth messing with?

And what, if anything, are you using for calibration material? I have the old Avia DVD, but clearly things have changed a lot since it was produced. I've read good things about the Spears & Munsil disc, but haven't seen it mentioned here, iirc.

Hopefully the player if left untouched will output untouched video. Unfortunately that's not always true, and the only way to find out if the player needs its setting changed is check with the ultra-picky folk at AVS. But yeah, assuming your player is doing the right thing, it's best to leave it alone (unless it has a really good scaler, than allow it to upscale video).

The same goes for the receiver. Just let it pass the video through untouched (the exception being scaling, if the receiver has a better scaler than that built into the player or display).

So all the adjustments should be done in the display. There's no reason for the display to get the settings wrong out of the box for digital inputs, but TV makers, like some speaker makers, like to "color" things a bit to make their set more appealing to certain groups when set next to another manufacturer on the showroom floor.

The Spear & Munsil disc is very good. There it's been mentioned here.

Personally, I've been happy with the Medium out of the box settings for Samsung. I think it's called Standard.

But was the set on Standard right out of the box? Or did you have to change it from an "enhanced" mode?

By out of the box, I mean one of the 3 modes that it comes boxed with, without any other modifications. I forget the names, but there's #1: The most enhanced and too bright one, #2: The standard and (I think) good one, then #3: The movie mode, or too dim and washed out looking one.

I like some color to pop out at me, so that's why I don't like the movie mode. Perhaps with a much bigger screen, I'd change my mind about that one.

I mean take it out, turn it on the first time, and look at the picture. It was on #1, right? So many people never even touch the picture mode button, and just leave the set that way that it turned on the first time.

What you said. I had to manually change it to #2. With my first couple of LCD's I must of played around with it forever, I've got AVIA Blu-ray (which is the same as the DVD), and tweaked it according to their instructions, but I was never pleased with the results. The #2 standard setting, unchanged, always looked better.

I'll give people a little leeway with color saturation. But black- and white-levels need to be spot on, along with tint.

Also color temp should not be above 7200K, but really should use the 6500K standard. Yeah, it'll look red when switching from the 9600K that most sets ship with. But looking away from the screen for a minute and then back, everything will appear fine.

How do you measure/set color temp?

Maybe a pointer to a link if it's too involved.

You need a colormeter to measure it, and access to the service menu to fine tune it. Most of the time a set will get close when set to "Warm", if it doesn't spell out 6500K directly.

about adjusting the b/w, a good way can be found here:
http://gellidius.deviantart.com/journal/

check out this journal:Monitor Calibration for a few Dollars or Euros.

the quality of the results depend on you; i think the adjustments can be precise within 1 or 2 clicks of an excellent calibration done with pro equipment.
the only 6500K source that can be found in nature is on a winter day when there is complete cloud cover and snow everywhere on the ground, about 2 hours before noon, and 3 hours after noon; but this way is much more tricky than using the lamp.

the lamp can afterwards be used as a bias light behind the tv.

If you go at the above address, why don't you take some time to have a look at the image gallery from the same person:
http://gellidius.deviantart.com/gallery/
just click on each thumbnail and then on each image to see them large size.

I use a Radiance XS for the HT and a DVDO Edge for the second system. I make sure the sources are set to source direct or as close to that as possible and they feed the VP's. I then use the VP's to tweak the output to the display. If I did not have the VP's, I would still set the source components to direct and use the display to tweak the image. The best test disk you can get is AVS, and it's free. I have not been very impressed with any of the "new" HD test disk for sale.

Even with a video processor, I'd still try to get the displays as close as possible, rather than trying to make huge corrections. Then use the processor to clean up.

Just wondering, in the case of the most current versions of the Lumagen models XS and XE which along with 3D compatibility and complete multi-point gray scale and Color Management calibration systems built-in, from what I have read, doesn't the XS have the feature of generating its own test patterns so you wouldn't have to worry about an external test disc? Of course all of this would still require a meter and software to do all these adjustments properly.

Popcorn, power, play...

Its been a while, but I used DVE and adjusted black and white levels, tint and ?? maybe some other stuff.

I started with the display's 65k setting rather than the torchmode it was set on.

Once flipped to the 65k setting, the TV was close out of the box, but I made it noticeably better. My display still has a slight red push I can't adjust for, but its pretty good.

I recently bought the Disney WOW bluray calibration disc. Reviews on it were good and I am happy with it.

Yes, the XS has internal test patterns. I still use the AVS disk to check the source components. None of my source components need tweaking though.

With a VP that has complete Grey Scale, Gamma, and 3-D CMS, you leave the display as neutral as possible and make all calibrations with the VP. If you use the display, you'll be chasing your tail all day long. I just use the display to set grey scale gain to make sure I have enough room to move it with the XS.

That presumes your display is neutral out of the box. While it may be close, even an amateur, with a little dedicated effort, can make a visible improvement. I sure did.

One thing to note, take down your original settings and make small changes. That way you can always get back to the original settings if you mess things up.

As one who spends a considerable amount of time playing around with this stuff, I can state with reasonable confidence that unless there is a color decoder problem in the set itself, red push is generally caused by an inaccurate Gray Scale which would require either a trained ISF technician to do a calibration for you(which would require access to the internal controls of the monitor and proper measuring software) OR purchasing one of these newer outboard units such as a Lumagen(most expensive) DVDO Iscan Duo or Spectracal Video EQPro to do your own monitor calibrations.

Gray scale is STILL an issue with the majority of monitors purchased today, however, we tend to think the picture is good strictly by our own visual observation, which without the proper measuring devices or something else to compare to, our eye is generally not a good method of determining accuracy. Of course, all this depends how serious one is in getting the most out of their monitor purchase especially when interacting with high-performance source devices like BR players. Obviously, your acknowledging the "red push" is one which is showing that the monitor is still not where it could be. I would suspect, even when you turn off the color, there still would be a noticeable predominance of red overlaying the "colorless" picture.

The whole idea of these relatively new consumer oriented video processing/grayscale,color management models, is that the average enthusiast can NOW do their own calibrations especially in a much more detailed manner and accuracy than even an ISF technician who doesn't have access to these outboard units. Also, unless you are in to 3D, you can buy a significantly less costly monitor, take some extra money, buy one of these processors and with a little learning curve, in the end, have a considerably superior picture to the top-of the-line set on its own.

It may be somewhat hard to believe, but it is true.

It is entirely possible that it is a greyscale issue. There was some suggestion that it was a problem with the technology itself (color decoder I guess) for my model.

I looked at the alternatives and the picture and decided further expendigures were just not worth it.

Casey,

Lumagen has a new machine out now called the Mini. Still a little expensive, but it works with Calman V4, so 'even a caveman can calibrate'.

I'm still using Calman V3.5 and haven't moved to V4 yet. I use a Eye 1 Pro meter.

There is an upfront cost for doing your own calibration and a pretty steep learning curve, but it does come in handy when you consider just how much drift you get with both grey scale and gamma on projectors as the bulb ages. I recalibrate about every 200 hours and end up making changed each time.

If you adjust so that it looks good / accurate to your eyes, does anything else really matter?

It was tempting, however, I decided, for the moment to pass on the "Mini". By the way, I have both the latest Calman software packages including the 4.1 version and prior to that the 3.7. If you already had the 3.7 the 4.1 upgrade was free. I have a Video EQ Pro which is "suppose" to work interactively with the latest 4.1, however, it has been an exercise in frustration and along with still having some issues, I have given up on it.

The software that I am NOW using which has been rated the best of all of them is "Chromapure" developed by a well known calibrator Tom Huffman. It is MUCH easier to learn and use, even calibrating manually. What I have learned is there is a difference with software developed by computer "geeks" as opposed to that developed by an actual calibrator. Although the 4.1 "looks" very impressive it is hard to use especially for a novice with as you say, a steep learning curve. This latest version of Calman is not really designed for a first-timer. The ironic thing is that the Video EQ was developed by AV Foundry, a subsidiary of Spectracal that developed the Calman software, however, I find it works just as well or not better with the Chromapure software! Where I find the ease of use and effectiveness superiority of the Chromapure over the Calman is especially in the CMS calibrating tables and their function. MUCH easier.

You can be assured that I have tried all of them and I come back to Chromapure because it is just easier to use and more effective. It also has a superior detailed help section in the software and should you have issues, Tom Huffman himself is at the other end of the E-Mail to help you. Early on I had a question about something and E-Mailed Chromapure support on a Sunday night, of course, not expecting a response until the next day. Believe it or not, Tom Huffman replied personally, that same evening within the hour to answer my question. (The guy must be there 24/7)!

Oh, and by the way, it is a fraction of the price of Calman with, when required, more free upgrades.

You are right, as long as you are happy, it doesn't really matter. However, for some, who are interested in greater video accuracy and getting the most out of their viewing experience, it really is not much different than wanting to upgrade your speakers or electronics.

a calibrated monitor, or tv, means that whatever you see is shown the way the director wants it to be seen.

if this is not done, and done right, it's similar to going to the cinema wearing a pair of red tinted sunglasses.

for some, it's ok and i got nothing against it; to each his own choice

I spent an excessive amount of time on AVS before I bought my TV and have seen all these points debated, redebated and then debated again. In the end, I used DVD essentials or something like that and am continually amazed at the jaw dropping clarity and color of my TV. I am glad I didn't drop the coin on a pro to come in and access my service menu to tweak color, temp and grayscale.

Thanks for that info Casey! I did not want to pay for a new version of Calman as I can get around 3.5 pretty quick. I'll check out Tom's software before I move to another version of Calman. I've been using Calman since it was in an Excell format.

Argon - If you like what you see, stick with it. I like accurate colors, flat grey scale and a progressive gamma. It's no different that audio really. If you like tone controls, use them, if you want accuracy, well I don't to preach to the choir.

Good idea and I am sure you will be impressed with the Chromapure software. If I might make a recommendation, I would say along with the Chromapure website itself, it would be advantageous to check out the CurtPalme.com site. Click on the "Products For Sale" heading at the top of the page and scan down the page till it shows the Chromapure heading. This particular site has a substantially greater variety of permutations and combinations for this particular product and in some cases the prices are actually a little less than the Chromapure website itself. For eg: the Standard software is actually $20.00 less than the main website($180 as opposed to $200). The Standard software includes the license for one meter.

Since you have an EyeOne Pro meter, which is already supported, all you have to do is give them the serial number of the meter, download the software(of course, after paying) and then you will be good to go. Very simple.