HDTV Calibration for the Columbus Area [Archive] - HD Columbus Forum

nicholc2

02-07-2008, 01:34 AM

Professional calibration services for the Columbus area. I use an i1 Pro spectroradiometer and ColormetreHCFR calibration software. I keep a record of any settings that get changed and will provide a spreadsheet with the finalized settings as well.

Calibration is $150 for each HDTV. I have 75ohm 3db attenuators that I can use to eliminate red push from older RPTVs that are unable to do so from the service menu. Those are $5 a piece which is my cost to purchase them.

I'll do a full calibration for brightness, contrast, color, tint, grayscale, and gamma (service menu used if necessary). With this software I can calibrate any type of HDTV including CRT, RPTV, LCD, Plasma, and Front Projection. I will get as close as possible to 6500k for each IRE level. I will get the primary and secondary colors as close to defined values on the CIE chart without sacrificing saturation and luminance.

I have calibration discs for HDDVD, Blu-ray, and standard DVD which I will use to perform the calibration. I will calibrate each input used separately if required. I will also bring my HDDVD player or PS3 to any calibration in which there is no high definition playback device available to ensure the TV is calibrated to the HD spec.

I am very careful with any changes I make and will treat every set like it's my own. Satisfaction is guaranteed and I am always available post-calibration for any questions that might arise.

Please contact me for more information. :) calibrations@hdcolumbus.net (calibrations@hdcolumbus.net)

NOTE: I have had questions about some of the earlier reviews in this thread due to pricing. Since I initially started this service, I have increased my price. This is due to the fact that I have now done enough calibrations to consider myself a professional calibrator. Even at $150, this is still substantially lower than all other calibrators and Best Buy.

Scott

02-07-2008, 10:26 PM

Approved and stickied.

rlw

02-08-2008, 01:51 AM

Nicholc,

I have a Mitsu 55819 RPTV. I'm just west of Lancaster, so it's not very far from Columbus.

It seems to me that the image on the Mitsu is pushed to the RED. I've dinked around with the video settings, but haven't had much luck with them.

I also have been put off by the warnings about getting into the config screens on the TV.

The most noticeable visual problem is that when I watch a hockey game, the left third of the ice has a red tinge to it. I've been into the convergence screen, but haven't been able to get rid of it.

Please contact me at bob AT rlwcons DOT com -- perhaps I can use your service.

Thanks,

RLW

nicholc2

02-24-2008, 02:58 PM

Updated info

RayBaer

03-07-2008, 12:50 PM

::REVIEW::

I had Nicholc2 calibrate my HD set (Toshiba 62HM95 DLP). He had to use the service menus to correct the grayscale and gamma. Everything he did he tracked in a spreadsheet, I have the original settings as well as the finals.

Now that it is done, I notice the image is a lot sharper as well as crystal clear. The colors appear accurate, but the biggest thing is the color depth. Many of the dark colors are visible and brighter colors really pop out. I did not think my TV could look like this. Once again, I would like to do this with my TV -> :hdlove:

One thing I would suggest is, if you have HDNet, get a recording of the HDNet test pattern, they run it every Saturday morning at 6:30a.

I have the DirecTV HD/DVR (the silver one). Using the settings that were used on my HDDVD player, I noticed that the HD/DVR was considerably darker. By using the HDNet test pattern, he was able to dial in the brightness specific to the DirecTV box.

For only $75, I was amazed at the level of professionalism and meticulous detail that was provided.

Gimpy McFarlan

04-07-2008, 08:45 PM

NICOLC2 calibrated my TVs last weekend and the results were similar to those reported by RayBaer. The colors look much more real abd the picture is much sharper than before. I was really surprised by the amount of effort NICOLC2 put into the calibrations. He spent a little over 5 hours working on the TVs to get them just right. (The 4 year old DLP was particularly tricky to get dialed in.) The TVs were a Samsung HL-P4663W DLP and Samsung LN2653H LCD.

If you are simply using one of the built-in configurations in your TV then I would highly recommend having NICOLC2 come out for a calibration. For the price you simply cannot beat it! :hdlove:

CoolBreeze20

04-10-2008, 11:35 AM

Had Chad come out and do a Calibration on my 37" Vizio yesterday afternoon. Even though we couldnt get into the service menu, he was very thorough in getting everything set just right. After his settings, my HD-DVD/ 360 input looked simply amazing.....and the Blu-ray disc from my PC....WOW, it looked ridiculous. I had just switched to AT&T Uverse, so I didnt have the HDNet test pattern to do my TV input with, but he still made some changes that improved my picture a LOT, and even offered to help out with any questions I had once I do get the HDNet test pattern to work with. I would highly recommend his work. Best 75 bucks I have ever spent on electronics. Thanks Chad!!

Robbiee19

04-20-2008, 09:19 AM

NICOLC2 calibrated my Samsung 58" plasma yesturday and the results were similar to those reported by everyone. He spent a little over 2 hours working on the TV.

If you are simply using one of the built-in configurations in your TV then I would highly recommend having NICOLC2 come out for a calibration. For the price you simply cannot beat it!:) Thanks Chad!!

wiskeyguy

04-30-2008, 09:55 PM

Chad calibrated my sammy a650 tonight. WOW :hdlove: what a difference.. Spent a little over 2hrs. Showed me what was done. Great Job!!! i will recommend to anyone wanting calibration. Best $75 i ever spent.... Now i have to get a PS3!!!!!!!

siper66

05-04-2008, 01:37 PM

Chad came over friday afternoon to do my panasonic 50" Plasma, as well as my Sammy 32" and sharp 32" LCD's. He spent (incredibly)nearly 7 hours making sure everything was right! We have a pretty elaborate set-up and he took the time to make sure he understood the system and even offered advice on some connection issues. Thanks to Chad and his family for their patience. Even my wife notices the difference.. Thanks again Chad!!!

nicholc2

06-02-2008, 09:09 PM

Updated

nicholc2

07-15-2008, 05:34 PM

Bump

JayPSU

08-16-2008, 03:07 PM

PM sent.

SgtZeke

08-18-2008, 05:17 PM

Hey Chad can you send me your contact info again? My friend Lyn has seen the light and wants to get a real picture finally!

nicholc2

11-11-2008, 05:58 PM

Updated

spudohio

11-12-2008, 04:29 PM

Had Chad out to my house over the weekend to calibrate my 42" plasma. Like every other poster on these forums has noted, the results are outstanding. The colors seem to have a lot more "pop" and depth than I was able to achieve using the ol' eyeballs. I would recommend anyone with an HDTV to look into Chad's services.

Thanks, Chad. :cheers:

jpdublin

01-30-2009, 05:36 PM

Had Chad calibrate my 73 inch Mitsubishi DLP. I was extremely pleased with the amount of time and effort Chad puts into calibrating televisions. I am even more pleased about the result. What a difference it does make. I would recommend that anyone that honestly wants to get the most out of their HD TV, that you have it calibrated. It would be like owning a Bentley and never getting it serviced. Thanks Chad!

buckeye3d

03-25-2009, 01:13 PM

Are you able to correct overscan & geometry issues with older RPTV HDTVs?

nicholc2

03-25-2009, 02:50 PM

Are you able to correct overscan & geometry issues with older RPTV HDTVs?

Give me a make/model and I'll do some research to see what all is involved with your particular TV and then I will have a better answer.

buckeye3d

03-25-2009, 03:36 PM

Mitsubishi WS-5513

nicholc2

03-30-2009, 02:25 AM

Mitsubishi WS-5513
Are you sure that's the model #? Typically, Mits uses a 5 digit # after the WS.

buckeye3d

03-30-2009, 07:39 AM

Sorry...forgot a digit. WS-55413.

mikegodwin

03-31-2009, 09:27 PM

Hey Chad. I think I need to have you do my HDTV. It didn't seem as bright as I thought it was when we first got it so I got another bulb for it. When I put the bulb in I blew a lot of dust out of it. I'm not sure if I did something when blowing the dust out but the colors and blacks just don't seem right. I think it's looking a little green. I put the old bulb back in but it didn't help much. I'm hoping it just needs some recalibration. It's a Hitachi 50V710 LCD Rear Projection system about 3 years old I think. It always had a great picture but now it kinda sucks.
Let me know how to get a hold of you so I can get more info.

Thanks

nicholc2

04-04-2009, 04:43 AM

Buckeye and Mike, I'll send you a PM with my info so we can chat and set something up.

rdorman

04-09-2009, 10:27 AM

Nicholc2, I would like to get my HL67A750 calibrated. I dropped you a PM over at the AVS formum with contact information or you can just send me an email from here.
Thanks!
Rick

rdorman

04-18-2009, 02:21 PM

My Samsung HL67A750 is being calibrated as I type by Nicholc2... can't wait to see the results! He has been at it for over three hours already. If you are in the Columbus Ohio area, contact him. Hopefully, he will post the results.

Scott

04-19-2009, 07:28 PM

rdorman

04-20-2009, 10:01 AM

What's the verdict? :hdlove:

Chad/Nicholc2 worked LONG and hard on the set and I must say it really shows. For years I have been tweaking sets in the User menu using various tune up DVDs.... no more. I thought I had it set up pretty darn good but it was obvious once he was finished that I was no where in the ball park. The picture just looks so real now. Comments from my family where along the lines of '... it is like we are there..' or '... it is like we are in the theatre..'. Money well spent.

Thanks Chad!

nicholc2

04-20-2009, 03:29 PM

You're quite welcome Rick. I'm glad you're happy with the results. Also, for Scott, here are some post calibration results that show how good it turned out.

Here is the post RGB levels for gray scale. Notice how accurate they are all the way from 10-100%.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lishbabe13/HT%20Pics/RDRGB.jpg

Here is the post gamma levels for the rise from black to white which is very important for shadow detail and what gives that 3D affect for HD content. You want this as linear as possible and this is very linear indeed.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lishbabe13/HT%20Pics/RDGamma.jpg

All in all, this turned out very well as evidenced by the data and also by the customer's satisfaction!!!

Scott

04-21-2009, 10:51 PM

As soon as I get my new set, I'm going to have you over. I'm looking at the Sony Bravia 52" series right now. Do I get a discount? :D

rdorman

04-22-2009, 09:19 AM

For what Chad charges and the amount of work he puts into getting a set correct, the discount is built in! A buddy of mine is having him over soon to do at least his new LaserVue. I say at least because between his business and home he has about 1.5 dozen CRT's, 12+ flat panels of all types and half a dozen front projections. That should keep him busy for a while!

Chad, aside from Nick, expect a call from Keith, Gary, Mike...

JayPSU

04-22-2009, 04:18 PM

Chad really is an incredibly patient and talented calibrator. Now that I have some electrical issues in the home fixed that were causing some problems to my tv, I'm going to have him over soon to calibrate my Sammy LN-T4065f. Hopefully the primary red problem is fixed!

Scott

04-24-2009, 01:52 AM

Thanks everyone for their input and feedback. Chad has received the first "Official Vendor" title on HDC :cheers:

rdorman

04-24-2009, 09:13 AM

:agree: Way to go Chad! :cheers:

Hope you are feeling better :)

JayPSU

06-06-2009, 12:37 AM

I had Chad out to work on my Samsung LN-T4065f LCD HDTV this week, and simply, the results were absolutely breathtaking! First, to understand the level of professionalism and patience that Chad exudes, I feel I must include some background information.

Chad was out to my house on two prior occasions trying to calibrate my tv that, for some inexplicable reason, was not able to produce an accurate red primary. None the less, he did a great job getting the tv to look very good despite this odd hardware shortcoming on the tv. On the suggestion of another LN-TXX65 owner on another forum, I was able to acquire a previous version of this tv’s firmware, and bang, it seemed to make all of his previous settings overly red (he had to overcompensate for the lack of red reproduction prior to this firmware).

So, I got in touch with Chad having a good hunch that my tv might be operating properly now. He happily came back out to take a look. Now, keep in mind, the guy spent about 7 hours on two combined trips to my house previous to this. When he took new measurements of my tv this week we were both astonished at how the red primary was now functioning perfectly on my tv and he could now make the tv look like it should. After ANOTHER 3 hours of work on my tv, I am proud to say that my tv looks absolutely amazing. Colors are absolutely beautiful, and really pop. The picture is crystal clear, and it has tremendous 3 dimensional depth to it.

Honestly, once you have a tv that looks like this, there is really no going back. I think it is absolutely ESSENTIAL that anyone who is willing to throw down several hundred to several thousand dollars on a tv, MUST get their tv calibrated. I can also say that Chad is absolutely 100% the guy that I would pick to have my tv calibrated if I were all of you. He is very professional, incredibly patient, is very happy to answer any and all questions even though I’m sure he gets the same questions all the time. He’s just a great person who loves to calibrate tv’s, and he’s VERY good at it. Seriously, this guy charges about a third of the price that Best Buy charges and Best Buy is mostly atrocious. Honestly, you’ll never get a better deal for how good this guy is.

P.S. Chad, if you ever have the guts to take on my Sony XBR970 CRT HDTV, please let me know! I’d love to get that baby calibrated!

nicholc2

06-27-2009, 01:17 PM

Thanks to Scott, I now have an address that anyone on this forum will easily recognize and remember. You can now reach me at calibrations@hdcolumbus.net (calibrations@hdcolumbus.net)

Thanks Scott!!

pummill49

08-02-2009, 01:32 PM

I'm new here, and I have a problem. I took delivery of a 73837 yesterday and watched my first BD last night and it was awesome!! The problem I am having is with my HDMI DVR.

I originally had both the BD player and DVR going to my Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH AVR with one HDMI going from AVR to the TV. But when I switch to the HDMI input on the AVR for the DVR, I get a good quality picture on the Mits, but also a very, very loud squeal from rear of the TV. And I just tried hooking the DVR up using component cable directly to the TV and get the same results. What am I doing wrong? Help, please!!

pummill49

08-02-2009, 02:02 PM

SeanH

08-10-2009, 11:20 PM

Just had Chad out to calibrate my Samsung. He showed up on time and was very personable and knowledgeable. He has no problems talking about what he was doing, and why; some can treat this level of knowledge as private, but Chad was willing to share what he knew while he worked. I was VERY pleased with the results, and with Chad. He spent about 2 hours working on the TV- and we spent another 30 minutes watching snippets of DVD's and TV.

As others have said, he has professional equipment and does a professional job, at much less of a cost than a "professional" calibrator charges. At $125, I felt I really got my money's worth.

I was much more comfortable having Chad in my home than many of the other options out there. If you need your TV calibrated, don't hesitate to contact Chad- he'll do it right!

Sean

wiltshp

10-28-2009, 05:16 PM

Are you ISF Certified?

rdorman

10-29-2009, 10:05 AM

I don't know if Chad is ISF certified or not but I could not be happier with the work he did on my 67" Samsung. For as long and hard as he worked on the set compaired to what he charges I almost fealt guilty! He also did my buddies LaserVue, he to was pleased. And just the end of last week he worked on my friends Sony and discovered a major problem with the set. The light engine (or something like that) is going out. Thanks to Chad Sony is fixing it under warranty because Chad found there was a recall on that set for that item. That is saving my friend the $1500 it would have cost him had Chad not worked on his set. Once Sony makes the repair, Chad will come back out and calibrate the set. With service like this, personally I could care less if he is ISF certified or not! :cheers:

wiltshp

10-29-2009, 10:21 AM

With all the comments in this thread, I'm sure the customer service is great, I was just more curious than anything.

nicholc2

10-29-2009, 02:14 PM

Actually, no I'm not. Not because I couldn't be, but since I mostly do this for fun and in my spare time, I didn't really see any reason to. Now if I did this for a living, that might be a different story. ;-)

That also keeps my costs down. That's my main thing. I wanted to make it so folks that can't spent $400+ for a calibration can still get one.

wiltshp

10-29-2009, 04:39 PM

Robbiee19

10-29-2009, 06:49 PM

nicholc2

10-29-2009, 09:30 PM

So do you use different calibration methods or tools than someone with a certification? I'm asking this out of ignorance because I don't understand, not because I am trying to be critical. What would be the differernce between you and someone with an ISF certification.

No, we use the same tools and the same process. The only difference is the certification. Does that mean someone that is ISF certified will do a better job? Probably not. I'm sure there are guys out there that have equipment 10x expensive as mine, but will you ever notice the difference in real world viewing? Probably not.

Most ISF'rs actually use the exact same spectrometer as I do (i1Pro). Some that have been doing it longer and do it for a living pay 10's of thousands of dollars on more expensive spectrometers, but I have performed calibrations for customers that in the past had calibrations done by ISF calibrators and they couldn't see any difference in the finished product.

As long as your calibrator knows what they are doing and have the right experience, that's what's most important.

I definitely recommend getting references no matter whom you choose to do your calibration. Do some research and make sure you know what you're getting.

Also, ask lots of questions just like you're doing now. The more you know, the more satisfied you'll be with the calibration. :D

wiltshp

11-02-2009, 10:44 AM

No, we use the same tools and the same process. The only difference is the certification. Does that mean someone that is ISF certified will do a better job? Probably not. I'm sure there are guys out there that have equipment 10x expensive as mine, but will you ever notice the difference in real world viewing? Probably not.

Most ISF'rs actually use the exact same spectrometer as I do (i1Pro). Some that have been doing it longer and do it for a living pay 10's of thousands of dollars on more expensive spectrometers, but I have performed calibrations for customers that in the past had calibrations done by ISF calibrators and they couldn't see any difference in the finished product.

As long as your calibrator knows what they are doing and have the right experience, that's what's most important.

I definitely recommend getting references no matter whom you choose to do your calibration. Do some research and make sure you know what you're getting.

Also, ask lots of questions just like you're doing now. The more you know, the more satisfied you'll be with the calibration. :D

Thanks for answering my questions Chad. Do you have any experience with U-verse? Also, I am running everything (U-verse, PS3, Camera, Video Camera) through my reciever; Onkyo TX-SR705. Would there be different calibration settings between my two main devices (U-verse/PS3) since they are both running through my receiver, or would they be the same? Also, do you have any experience with audio calibration?

nicholc2

11-02-2009, 07:41 PM

Thanks for answering my questions Chad. Do you have any experience with U-verse? Also, I am running everything (U-verse, PS3, Camera, Video Camera) through my reciever; Onkyo TX-SR705. Would there be different calibration settings between my two main devices (U-verse/PS3) since they are both running through my receiver, or would they be the same? Also, do you have any experience with audio calibration?

Yes, I have experience with Uverse. What I typically do in this case is calibrate to the PS3 since it is known to be the most accurate non-hardware pattern generator. We would then watch some recorded and live shows on UVerse to ensure it looks ok there. In my experience, that method does the trick. There has only been one case in which the TV feed (DTV in this case) was off enough that I had to adjust to it instead. But this also, wasn't a PS3, so ...

This is also how I have my own setup. Everything runs through my receiver as well and it works very well.

As far as the audio stuff, I can definitely offer advice (which is always free), but I don't have the right equipment to do a real professional setup with audio. I myself used an SPL meter to adjust the speaker levels and then used the built-in audio system/mic to do the fine tuning of the eq, reverb, etc.

rdorman

11-03-2009, 09:34 AM

Chad, check out Pocket RTA for your iphone... you can thank me later! ;) There is also an app called speaker pop for polarity.

nicholc2

11-03-2009, 10:39 AM

Chad, check out Pocket RTA for your iphone... you can thank me later! ;) There is also an app called speaker pop for polarity.

But you have to know what to do with it! HA! :ecstatic:

rdorman

11-03-2009, 11:08 AM

But you have to know what to do with it! HA! :ecstatic:

It is pretty cool! I know some one with a high dollar rta, calibrated mic's, etc and we where both suprised how close it was. Great for setting speaker levels, EQ'ing with pink noise, setting crossover frequencies, seeking out standing waves, etc. Not as accurate in the sub bass as the high dollar setup but that is OK. For $30, worth the price of admission!

FYI, Keith is having his Sony fixed probably this week. Thanks to you looking up the problem, the $1500 repair is being paid for by Sony. He didn't even realize anything was wrong with his set until you told him so. Ignorance is bliss;)

nicholc2

11-03-2009, 08:42 PM

It is pretty cool! I know some one with a high dollar rta, calibrated mic's, etc and we where both suprised how close it was. Great for setting speaker levels, EQ'ing with pink noise, setting crossover frequencies, seeking out standing waves, etc. Not as accurate in the sub bass as the high dollar setup but that is OK. For $30, worth the price of admission!

FYI, Keith is having his Sony fixed probably this week. Thanks to you looking up the problem, the $1500 repair is being paid for by Sony. He didn't even realize anything was wrong with his set until you told him so. Ignorance is bliss;)

Exactly!!! He'll be shocked to see how good it looks when it's fixed. I'm going back out there when it's fixed to re-calibrate on the house since the TV was jacked up the first time.

bucknut43210

12-19-2009, 03:08 AM

nicholc2

12-20-2009, 02:54 PM

Hey, I'm new to this site and had a question for you as I also own a PN50A550, and I understand if you don't want to answer as you could potentially be losing a prospective customer, but when you calibrated your own PN50A550 did you find that you needed to access the service menu to get a proper calibration? I have attempted to calibrate it myself, but for obvious reason am staying clear of the service menu (and have gotten a pretty decent picture IMO.) Also do you get that sort of "3D" look out of say...Blu-ray video that some televisions get? My friend has a sony LCD and when I see his Blu-Ray (also does it with DVD) it looks as though its a documentary the way that the characters stick out from the background (it's quite a good look although might not be optimal.) Mine simply looks like a typical video.

Sorry for the length of my post and thankyou.

If it's one thing I don't mind, it's questions. :D

In my opinion, an LCD can't really hold a candle to a properly calibrated plasma. The 550 is no exception. The calibrated pic is pretty sweet. You definitely get the 3D look. As far as the "documentary" look, that's strictly an LCD thing. That's dejudder processing. I personally do not like that at all. I think it makes movies look like a documentary. If I had an LCD, I'd turn that off immediately, but that's just me. Some people like it and it's a personal preference.

As far as the SM goes, you shouldn't need to do anything in the service menu in theory. It will depend on just how far off your set is with the gray scale. If it's so off that the UM controls won't fix it, then I would go into the SM to fix it. I usually stick to the UM controls unless I need to enter the SM to make things better. Now one thing with this model TV is you can enable "expert" mode in the SM and do the entire calibration there and then that disables the UM controls. I did this on my TV for the simple reason that I didn't want my kids to mess things up. But it isn't necessary at all.

What are you using to do your calibration?

bucknut43210

12-20-2009, 07:32 PM

Thankyou for the reply. For the time being all I used was Digital Video Essentials on one of the HDMI inputs for Blu-ray (however, I had to use the DVD version of the program) and then my eye on the rest of the inputs. I was not going to pay around $400 for a calibration of the tv when I've never had a properly calibrated tv so at this point don't know what I'm missing. Also from the DVD I actually wasn't really happy with the result. To me the pic looked dull, or maybe murky I should call it, and lacked vibrant color. I also usually tend to dislike warm color mode and prefer a higher color temperature and higher contrast than is probably recommended, so given all that I'm positive my TV is not close to properly calibrated, I should have used the phrase "just changed the settings myself."

It was more of a two part question being mixed into one. I was curious about the getting the 3D look but at the same time did NOT want to be in the service menu to get to any of the settings for it. I'm going to be buying another plasma soon as well, so at that point I would probably just drop the cash to get them both properly calibrated.
If it's one thing I don't mind, it's questions. :D

In my opinion, an LCD can't really hold a candle to a properly calibrated plasma. The 550 is no exception. The calibrated pic is pretty sweet. You definitely get the 3D look. As far as the "documentary" look, that's strictly an LCD thing. That's dejudder processing. I personally do not like that at all. I think it makes movies look like a documentary. If I had an LCD, I'd turn that off immediately, but that's just me. Some people like it and it's a personal preference.

As far as the SM goes, you shouldn't need to do anything in the service menu in theory. It will depend on just how far off your set is with the gray scale. If it's so off that the UM controls won't fix it, then I would go into the SM to fix it. I usually stick to the UM controls unless I need to enter the SM to make things better. Now one thing with this model TV is you can enable "expert" mode in the SM and do the entire calibration there and then that disables the UM controls. I did this on my TV for the simple reason that I didn't want my kids to mess things up. But it isn't necessary at all.

What are you using to do your calibration?

nicholc2

12-20-2009, 08:06 PM

Thankyou for the reply. For the time being all I used was Digital Video Essentials on one of the HDMI inputs for Blu-ray (however, I had to use the DVD version of the program) and then my eye on the rest of the inputs. I was not going to pay around $400 for a calibration of the tv when I've never had a properly calibrated tv so at this point don't know what I'm missing. Also from the DVD I actually wasn't really happy with the result. To me the pic looked dull, or maybe murky I should call it, and lacked vibrant color. I also usually tend to dislike warm color mode and prefer a higher color temperature and higher contrast than is probably recommended, so given all that I'm positive my TV is not close to properly calibrated, I should have used the phrase "just changed the settings myself."

It was more of a two part question being mixed into one. I was curious about the getting the 3D look but at the same time did NOT want to be in the service menu to get to any of the settings for it. I'm going to be buying another plasma soon as well, so at that point I would probably just drop the cash to get them both properly calibrated.

As you probably saw in my initial post, I don't charge $400, I charge only $125. I don't want my cost to be prohibitive to someone getting the best their TV can do. I want as many people to benefit as possible without my wife complaining that I'm not charging enough. LOL

I do think you'll see the 3D look you're looking for with a proper calibration. DVE is a great start (that's how I got into this in the first place), but there's only so much the eye can do. With my tools, I not only setup gray scale, brightness, contrast, and gamma, but with the one thing Sammy does great is also include a full color management system. I can get the colors to almost exactly where they need to be. When all of that is set up correctly, it's truly an amazing pic.

I could always come out and do your current TV and then come out again when your new one gets broken in. Or I can do them both at the same time. That's completely up to you.

Either way, I guarantee you'll be very happy with the results. I would expect that you would even recommend your friend get my services too since most of my clients do recommend me to their friends after they see what a real calibration can do. :D

Scott

12-23-2009, 06:44 PM

New Year's resolution is to get my shit calibrated. Chad, I'll be in touch :D

nicholc2

12-24-2009, 10:59 AM

New Year's resolution is to get my shit calibrated. Chad, I'll be in touch :D

LOL! I've heard that before!

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!!!

snikt01

12-27-2009, 02:22 AM

I just wanted to heap some more praise on nicholc2. He came out this week and calibrated my 61" Samsung. The difference in the picture falls under the 'have to see to believe' category. If you are on the fence, about having your set calibrated, get off now. Call Chad and you can thank me after. It is the best value for my money I've spend on my home theater by a mile. If you have the $3,000 to $5,000 invested in your setup like most people, you'd be a fool not to spend the pittance he charges to make your picture look the very best that your TV can look. It's a drop in the bucket compared to what you've already spent and it's exactly what you have to have if you want that perfect picture. I can't say enough about how crisp, clear, and rich my picture is now. Chad, thanks again. And once more, thanks.

vegasviolators

01-25-2010, 03:21 PM

Thanks nicholc2 for the TV calibration. He calibrated my TV and it looked great. I then noticed three distinct lines on the panel where the color of screen image went from light to dark. The TV was only 2 months old; I would have never noticed this unless it had been calibrated. Sony service came out within a week and replaced the LCD panel, looks good now - except it will need to be calibrated again, can't wait for Chad to come back out. I'll post an update after it is calibrated gain......Thanks Chad!!