[steven123]

As the title might suggest I am looking for a good guide with images for getting the optimal settings on the TV in terms of brightness, contrast, backlighting, colour etc. Ideally, would be looking for a test disc that has a series of test images that I can use to adjust the TV for optimal image quality.

Are any available for (free) download e.g. as a burnable disc image I could use in my Bluray, DVD or HD DVD player?

Whilst I am generally happy with the image quality on my main TV, I would like to take the time to ensure that it is producing the best picture possible to get the most out of HD movies and games.

[Darthchaffinch]

I was wondering if I could use a photo, as my laptops are calibrated specifically for photography?

[Deacon1972]

Originally Posted by steven123

As the title might suggest I am looking for a good guide with images for getting the optimal settings on the TV in terms of brightness, contrast, backlighting, colour etc. Ideally, would be looking for a test disc that has a series of test images that I can use to adjust the TV for optimal image quality.

Are any available for (free) download e.g. as a burnable disc image I could use in my Bluray, DVD or HD DVD player?

Whilst I am generally happy with the image quality on my main TV, I would like to take the time to ensure that it is producing the best picture possible to get the most out of HD movies and games.

Have you looked at DVE (Digital Video Essentials)?

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/12181...2bc%7b57%7d%2b


They even do a HD version, one for Blu ray and one for HD DVD.

http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/3...s/Product.html


http://www.play.com/DVD/HD%20DVD/4-/...2bc%7b57%7d%2b

Pretty sure you could get them cheaper elsewhere.

For the freebie stuff there's THX Optimiser which is found on THX DVD's and Blu ray's though this only does the basics like contrast, colour and brightness.

If you're feeling flush you could get it calibrated professionally, costs are around £200-£300.

[steven123]

Originally Posted by Deacon1972

Have you looked at DVE (Digital Video Essentials)?

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/12181...2bc%7b57%7d%2b


They even do a HD version, one for Blu ray and one for HD DVD.

http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/3...s/Product.html


http://www.play.com/DVD/HD%20DVD/4-/...2bc%7b57%7d%2b

Pretty sure you could get them cheaper elsewhere.

For the freebie stuff there's THX Optimiser which is found on THX DVD's and Blu ray's though this only does the basics like contrast, colour and brightness.

If you're feeling flush you could get it calibrated professionally, costs are around £200-£300.

Thankls, I forgot about DVE though I have to admit I don't really want to spend the best part of £15 on it. TBH I thought there was a program similar to DVE you could download for free as a disc image and just burn to disc though unfortunately the name of it escapes me. Other than that I guess I just need to shop around for DVE, if I could find it at £10 or less for the HD one, I might be tempted.

The main problem I have with my picture currently is that on HD content whilst it generally looks fantastic on some programmes and films (or sometimes just certain scenes of) it can look very grainy, a sort of background grain that can vary between a mild annoyance and nearly spoiling the picture quality at worst.

I was wondering if it could be a problem with the sharpness control being too high? but I did try reducing it but then lost definition on text and the picture looked soft.

I do have a large screen TV (42 inch LG model 42LH3000 I think) so maybe the large screen and small distance I sit from it (~2m) emphasises any imperfections of the image?, i'm not sure

[Sue_Aitch]

THX optimiser should be able to help.

Or have a play with the HD Testcard http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=942385 -it's on terrestrial and cable too, natch.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by Sue_Aitch

THX optimiser should be able to help.

Or have a play with the HD Testcard http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=942385 -it's on terrestrial and cable too, natch.

Details here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcintern...rom_the_h.html

Jpeg frame capture

http://www.4shared.com/photo/gU8ArOEc/file.html

Lossless png

http://www.4shared.com/photo/39YN2P-B/file.html

[-GONZO-]

I highly recommend using AVSHD 709 which is an excellent free tool and is so much easier to follow than DVE HD Basics.
You'll find all you need HERE

[Darthchaffinch]

So could I use a calibrated photo to do this? (sorta..)

[evil c]

mistake plse ignore

[Somerset Boy]

Originally Posted by -GONZO-

I highly recommend using AVSHD 709 which is an excellent free tool and is so much easier to follow than DVE HD Basics.
You'll find all you need HERE

I agree the AVSHD 709 is really good.

Greyscale Calibration for Dummies is also good if you don't mind paying out for an Eye-One.

http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457

[Chris Frost]

Originally Posted by steven123

Thankls, I forgot about DVE though I have to admit I don't really want to spend the best part of £15 on it.

It beggars belief that someone will spend £500 - £1000 - £1500 or more on a new TV, yet begrudge spending £10 - £15 to get it working properly Shortsighted or what!

[zandar]

I took ages to set my Samsung D6530 to get the best pics.

What you may find helpful is the BBC HD test card. On BBC HD throughout the day, they run a "reel" of sample HD programme snippets. (Goodness knows how much longer they will do this as this channel will become BBC 2 HD). Anyway, as part of this "reel", they show a HD testcard. If you can record the length of time this test card is on air, so much the better. Then play it back and do your settings.

Now, if you have set the contrast/brightness & backlight to optimum, you should see 2 little circles within the top & bottom contrast boxes. (Even so, I would still test the settings with real pictures).

On my Samsung, the set has 3 settings = Dynamic (for brightly lit rooms), Standard (for averagely lit rooms) and Natural (for dimly lit rooms). Having set the contrast/brightness & backlight for each of these categories under the corresponding room (ambient) light conditions, I simply switch between Dynamic/Standard or Natural according to the ambient light. I therefore do not have to change any of the other picture settings.

So, what I am saying is that no one setting will suit all ambient lighting conditions. It could be that you would only need to + or - the backlight according to how much light is in the room. You can't just "fix" it on one setting*.

If you are getting "fizziness", go through the picture menus & look for "edge sharpening". If your set has this adjustment, switch it OFF. Then go to the picture sharpness settings and try setting it to 80% strength. Hopefully, this should give optimum sharpness without any fizziness on close patterns.

*Check whether or not your set has a light sensor. If this is switched on, it will adjust the screen output according to the ambient room light. However, not all of these work well. (My Samsung was not good at this). You may like to switch this control off.

The settings for using the TV via on on board tuner could well be different from say using via a Virgin or satellite tuner fed via a HDMI.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally Posted by zandar

*Check whether or not your set has a light sensor. If this is switched on, it will adjust the screen output according to the ambient room light. However, not all of these work well. (My Samsung was not good at this). You may like to switch this control off.

I always turn it OFF when installing TV's, it was a crap idea back in the 50's, and it's been a crap idea every time it's been reintroduced ever since.

[rob1973]

Originally Posted by Chris Frost

It beggars belief that someone will spend £500 - £1000 - £1500 or more on a new TV, yet begrudge spending £10 - £15 to get it working properly Shortsighted or what!

It beggars belief that a manufacturer will charge 500-1500 quid for a telly and it doesn't work right straight out of the box...most folk reading this a reasonably tech savvy but we're a minority.

[Orbitalzone]

I've never really had a problem getting the best results buy adjusting the TV for a variety of live tv - start with the BBC news reader, check the HD test card, get the pics looking how you like them and then go watch dark dreary Eastenders and wonder why the pics look so crap!

Seriously though, the BBC testcard is pretty good and then go from there.

[steven123]

Originally Posted by Chris Frost

It beggars belief that someone will spend £500 - £1000 - £1500 or more on a new TV, yet begrudge spending £10 - £15 to get it working properly Shortsighted or what!

Not at all, I don't begrudge it if it is necessary but wouldn't want to spend it when there is a freely available program that works just as well, which in this case, there is.

Besides, I am perfectly happy with the way my TV works, it is only occassionally and on a few scenes as I have mentioned that I have questioned whether it's settings are completely optimal, and it is perfectly possible that in these cases the broadcast or mastering of the programme was at fault, I just wanted to make sure my settings were good, I am not in anyway unhappy with my TV.

[Deacon1972]

Originally Posted by steven123

Not at all, I don't begrudge it if it is necessary but wouldn't want to spend it when there is a freely available program that works just as well, which in this case, there is.

Besides, I am perfectly happy with the way my TV works, it is only occassionally and on a few scenes as I have mentioned that I have questioned whether it's settings are completely optimal, and it is perfectly possible that in these cases the broadcast or mastering of the programme was at fault, I just wanted to make sure my settings were good, I am not in anyway unhappy with my TV.

If you are referring to the grain you see on some programmes/films as you were in post #4, then I'm afraid there's no calibration programme/disc that will get rid of it, it's deliberately put there. You will notice this more on HD content than you would on SD. A calibrated TV will ensure you have optimum settings for what ever is viewed, the overall quality will depend on other factors like transfer quality, bitrate etc for which you have no control.

[steven123]

Originally Posted by Deacon1972

If you are referring to the grain you see on some programmes/films as you were in post #4, then I'm afraid there's no calibration programme/disc that will get rid of it, it's deliberately put there. You will notice this more on HD content than you would on SD. A calibrated TV will ensure you have optimum settings for what ever is viewed, the overall quality will depend on other factors like transfer quality, bitrate etc for which you have no control.

Yes, the grain is my main bugbear, and as you state it is most apparent in HD broadcasts and sources, in fact I have barely ever seen it at all on SD.

A little grain doesn't bother me at all, and can lend a nice filmic quality in some cases, but I do find that sometimes it is used more excessively and in worst cases just serves to make the picture look poor and compromise the detail, at its worst the effect reminds me a little of analogue TV with a poor aerial feed.

At first I thought it was a sharpness issue i.e. that reducing the sharpness would eliminate grain but as you said that wasn't the case.

Of course, I will still try the calibration (with AVSHD 709) to make sure my settings are as good as they can be but I guess I will just have to get used to the grain, at least it is a pretty small proportion of programmes that have it to a distracting extent.

[steven123]

Sorry to restart an old thread, but I have only recently got around to calibrating my TV with the AVSHD 709 disc in my PS3. I have been impressed with the results as just making some tweaks to the brightness and contrast settings according to the basic black / white steps images already seems to have boosted the image quality on the TV, HD pictures seem more dynamic though I also suspect my colour settings are a bit high as certain colours now have that glaring, flourescent look.

I have been following the calibration steps in the same order they do in the HD Nation video included on the AVS HD disc, I really like the way they explain all the settings in simple terms. Anyway I have got as far as the part where they show you how to do colour and colour tint but I can't do it because I don't have a set of colour filters, to be honest I'm not even sure what they are?

Are you supposed to put the filter over the screen, hold it up to the screen or are they like glasses or an eye piece like those awful old 3D glasses?

Looking on eBay there seem to be loads of results but most are listed as being for photography, which type of filter would I need for calibrating the TV?