Just my 2 cents, normally I'll try to find out the display deficiency in which color. That would be your cap. For example, majority of the UHP lamp is red deficient. You will see that it will run out of red when approaching 100% White. In this case as an example, if +512 is the highest number, I'll cap red at +512 and adjust Green and Blue to match D65. This would ensure you have the smoothest D65 greyscale tracking. Another option is just ignore the red deficiency issue as long as 90% white is D65. This is to get good greyscale up to 90% white but give you a bit more brightness at 100% white (You seldom have movies with lots of 100% white on screen).

This post has been edited by pierreye: Mar 28 2010, 05:26 PM

If you look for perfect display, it must have the following ingredient.

1. Meet or exceed 100% for CIE gamut.
2. 11 point gamma correction.
3. greyscale colour temperature control (RGB gain/cut)
4. full working 3D CMS.
5. Very low black level.

Then with a good probe, you can adjust it to the BT.709 colorspace standard. Unless you are still watching DVD, you need to recheck BT.601 colorspace too.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Apr 2 2010, 11:05 AM

If your projector had blue only mode (which turn off red and green) then you don't need the filter. Even the tint/color control is not accurate based on the Calman reading. If you have CMS, just leave tint/color at default. It's very easy to screw up the color using tint/saturation control.

Wow bro. I didn't know you are so extreme into video calibration. Anyway, congrats on the certification. I think kind of hard to get anyone certified in THX Video Calibration in Penang. I previously met a self proclaim THX certified calibrator but when I see him setting up the video projector, I really doubt he know how to set even the basic contrast and brightness setting as he just eye ball it using movie material. Not even a simple test pattern to set the correct video level .

Anyway, hope you can share with us some tips for self learn calibrator. The calibration that I always struggle is CMS. Need lots of iteration between CMS and greyscale to nail it perfectly.

I got a replacement P42X30K for my 4 years old PV60H which develop a black strip on the panel. Below is the calibration chart using the following setting:

Viewing Mode: Cinema
Contrast:67 (to get 40ft/L for 100% White)
Brightness: 0
Colour:48
Sharpness: 0
Tint: 0
Colour Balance: Warm
Vivid Colour: Off
Eco Mode: Off
P-NR: Off

Before Calibration:





Cinema with Warm profile Calibration:





True Cinema Calibration:
Greyscale is similar with Cinema mode. Color is much better and conform to THX. Need to dial down color by 2 clicks to pull down the luminance. Gamma slightly improve.




Black Level measure at 0.0305 ft/L
White Level measure at 40.78 ft/L
On/Off Contrast Ratio: 1337


Summary: No CMS and gamma selection limit the tuning option. This is expected for low end unit. Color is oversaturated for Green and you can see that the green grass doesn't look natural. Red luminance is too high. Overall picture quality is OK for non critical viewing and some people prefer over saturated color. I would prefer BENQ W6000 projector compare to P42X30K plasma TV for Hollywood movie.

Second Update: Using True Cinema give me a much better color. THX color is achieved with very good result with some color luminance slightly higher. Green grass is natural compare to Cinema mode + warm temp.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Aug 21 2011, 12:05 AM

I check both true cinema and cinema with warm temp and both is slightly too red. Problem with True Cinema mode is I can't tune the color temp in the service menu.

I see. I'll try out True Cinema again. Thanks for info. As for color temp, do I select warm in the service menu?

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Added on August 20, 2011, 5:26 pmManaged to do the second calibration with True Cinema mode. Anfieldude is right, it give me accurate THX color and need to slightly turn down the color control to pull down the luminance a bit.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Aug 20 2011, 05:26 PM

Can I profile my i1 Pro with your calibrated i1 Pro with Calman 4.0 spectrometer license? I see during the initial measurement, the software had an option to profile against another meter.

Also, how much for hardware calibration? My i1 Pro already 3 years and I think it's time for recalibration. Will download i1diagnostics to check first.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Aug 26 2011, 11:15 AM

I'll call you next week. I'm thinking to get CalPC too for ICC profiling.

I'm using custom mount holder for i1 Pro with Mic boom. I feel that mic boom is more flexible than camera tripod. Mic boom is more flexible for audyssey tuning too.

http://www.amazon.com/Stage-Stands-7701B-T...e/dp/B000978D58

Spectracal sell the custom holder but I DIY my own holder. I'll show you the photo later + using the mic boom.

Here you go. Mic boom is more flexible to get reading from screen, direct from projector using difussor and using it for Audyssey mic. It allow multiple tilting angle and won't interfere with your seat.

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Added on September 14, 2011, 11:41 pmI would go for this.
http://www.chromapure.com/products-d3pro.asp

It seems to be very accurate probe that had been calibrated to an accurate meter.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Sep 14 2011, 11:41 PM


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I just got the Lumagen Radiance Mini from Anfieldude. I haven't calibrate my Panny Plasma yet but a quick try on few of the functions that I'm looking for does fulfill my requirement.

1. As I'm using HTPC for my plasma, Panny TV had a problem with Full RGB where it can't output BTB. Anything below 16 is crush. Also setting the HTPC output to YCbCr do solved the BTB problem but due to double conversion (due to all video card need to process in RGB), there are some minor banding in smooth gradient. I try out RGB Full from PC and use Lumagen to force YCbCr 4:2:2 10bit output to Panny TV. Looks like this solve the crushing issue plus smoother gradient.

2. 21 point gamma correction solved the ATI and Panny combo where the gamma average around 1.9 - 2.1. No longer need settings in ATI control panel and set the gamma at 0.9 to pull the average closer to 2.2.

3. CMS to solve the oversaturated green in Panny TV.

4. Vertical Shift for 2D and 3D format. Good for my projector where I need to shift widescreen to the bottom and use top masking only.

Question: Is the build in test pattern for Lumagen as good as AV Foundry VideoForge pattern generator?

Still waiting for OEM i1Display Pro from Spectracal for 3D projector tuning due to better low light measurement. Going to profile against the i1Pro. The dark reading in i1Pro every few minutes is a pain in the ass for 3D calibration. I need to take the glasses off, put on the cap and redo the dark reading then put back the glasses again.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Oct 10 2011, 01:33 PM

BENQ W6k is around 18ft/L brand new. I feel it is slightly too bright to my taste and I mod a fix iris to bring down to around 12ft/L. I feel it's just nice around that figure.

Just spend around 2hrs. calibrating with Lumagen and Panny plasma. Using Calman 4 in interactive mode, I can use Lumagen as pattern generator and also tune directly through Calman without going through Lumagen interface. Try out the 21 point greyscale and gamma which help me to nail a perfect 2.22 gamma plus it solved the slightly pinkish greyscale at 95% white. Also, gamut is almost perfect except blue which is slightly undersaturated.

A quick test with few movies show quite a drastic improvement. The 3D pop is improve and edges seems to be more refine. Skin tone is realistic and the grass looks very natural (using LOTR: The Two Towers). Overall this unit is a keeper. Haven't test out the scaler. I'll try to input 720p from PS3 and scale to 1080p to compare.

Yes. You can set the value manually through Calman 4.3.2. The auto tuning is not as good as manual tuning. 21 points is really superb to solve the gamma and imbalance greyscale that can't be solved with 2 points cut/gain control.

Before I forgot, please send me your maybank a/c no.

Better to go for slightly higher gain screen, say 1.3 gain. Nowadays, I seldom recommend grey screen if you can control your ambient light. Previously I had a Da-Lite Cinema Vision High Contrast Grey Screen (very slight grey) and I feel the POP is not so good.

If you have a man cave, go for 1.3 gain. It helps for 3D projector too as the output is around 25%-30% of 2D mode. In fact, some of users go for 2.4 gain screen for side ambient rejection plus much brighter for 3D. Only problem with 2.4 gain screen is narrow viewing angle plus your projector need to mount as close to the center of the screen as possible to get the max gain.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Oct 11 2011, 11:59 AM

Yesterday after calibration with Lumagen Radiance, I forgot to go into the menu and save the settings. Today, I retest the same scene and my first impression is why it doesn't have the 3D pop and sharpness I get yesterday. Then I check the menu and found out the settings is back to default. Well, at least it confirm the unit is working and not placebo effect.

I remember someone in the forum own a JVC HD250. I believe this is a must have item for you.

Anfieldude, need your advice on taking measurement for Plasma TV using off screen method. I read in other forum that mention the dark calibration for every few minutes for i1Pro is due to the temperature fluatuation. I'm thinking to put the probe on a tripod 6 inches from the screen and mod a hood to block out ambient light that will cover the probe to the TV. As plasma panel is quite hot, if I can further distance the probe from the panel, it should not drift too fast.

Also there is another issue with i1Pro too near to plasma panel. I think the FOV is too narrow and for low light reading, the sub pixel dithering might cause inconsistency in the reading. I had post in Spectracal forum regarding the distance for i1Pro from the screen to match i1Display Pro 35 degree FOV but haven't got an answer yet.

Thanks for the advice. Doing 21 point color balance and gamma is difficult especially on lower IRE. Pratically I had to redo dark reading for every step to ensure repeatability.

With OEMi1D, the reading is quite consistent and repeatable after profile against the i1Pro. I found out for Panasonic plasma for test pattern at 10 IRE and below, the ABL will auto kick in. You can see that the test pattern after few seconds will automatically dim down. With OEMi1D, I can read the value before it dim now which i1Pro can't due to longer time needed to get the avg reading. At 5% IRE, it measure 0.06 and can drop down to 0.02 after ABL kick in. It's kind of annoying as it is difficult to calibrate for an accurate gamma. ABL also kick in for 85% IRE. I believe that is the reason why previously I can get consistent gamma reading when the contrast is at 60 but once I increase it to 80 to boost light output, ABL will kick in. Only way to get a consistent reading is to use APL test pattern but the AVS 709 test patterrn only had 11 steps.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Oct 13 2011, 09:47 PM