AVForums Podcast: Should you hire a professional TV calibrator and why? 18/11/19

Antec ones are decent, power from the usb on your tv. And less than £20 when i last bought one, or if you're feeling flush the Philips ambilight strips too.
Thank you. I don’t mind spending £100 on it as long as it has remote operation. Will search for Philips ambilight. I hope it is D65 white.
 
Thank you. I don’t mind spending £100 on it as long as it has remote operation. Will search for Philips ambilight. I hope it is D65 white.
Philips has an app you can use to change colours, the antec one is only d65 and turn on when your tv turns on, and turn off automatically when you turn the tv off. So no messing around needed.
 
Fascinating episode, and lots of eye opening stuff re calibration, thanks guys.

On the topic of lighting. I’d never realised that for TVs (not projectors) you are not supposed to watch in a pitch black room. I’ve been trying to watch movies with all lights off since getting an OLED and had found HDR content often quite fatiguing like that. My poor wife, who has been persuaded by me this was the way to do things was never a fan too. I should have listen to my wiser half! She will be pleased.

Regarding ambilight type bias lighting (ie coming from behind the TV), I’d always thought that would take away from shadow detail, one of the big advantages of OLED. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Finally @Phil Hinton I believe you said you put a link to the calibrators map in the show notes? Much appreciated if easy to dig the link out. I’m keen now to look at local options but having trouble finding a working link on the forums.
 
Fascinating episode, and lots of eye opening stuff re calibration, thanks guys.

On the topic of lighting. I’d never realised that for TVs (not projectors) you are not supposed to watch in a pitch black room. I’ve been trying to watch movies with all lights off since getting an OLED and had found HDR content often quite fatiguing like that. My poor wife, who has been persuaded by me this was the way to do things was never a fan too. I should have listen to my wiser half! She will be pleased.

Regarding ambilight type bias lighting (ie coming from behind the TV), I’d always thought that would take away from shadow detail, one of the big advantages of OLED. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Finally @Phil Hinton I believe you said you put a link to the calibrators map in the show notes? Much appreciated if easy to dig the link out. I’m keen now to look at local options but having trouble finding a working link on the forums.
Exactly same here. Been watching in dark room since my first OLED. now looking for a D65 Bias Light.
 
Today, I have kids and no time to tinker, so the thought of autocal for home and with the manufacturers builtin pattern generators (LG/Panny) had me intrigued as I could most likely follow the workflows.
I think I've mentioned this elsewhere but, the inbuilt generated patterns disable aspects of the TV's native video processing, so you'll not be measuring what you'll be actually seeing with content. Essentially, the use of them is not recommended if you're interested in accuracy. This is information I've gleaned from Ted Aspiotis (Displaycalibrations.com) and Steve Shaw (LightIllusion).

What would be a great test, as I know the AVForums TV reviewers, who calibrate the displays, have external TPG's and access to CalMAN, is to compare measurements from both approaches on an LG and Panasonic with this feature. Although I've been told the above, my natural curiousity partially poopoo's it until I see the proof with my own eyes. I aim to buy a license for CalMAN for Home for Panasonic myself this year so, will do so myself as I have access to a number of external, known bit perfect, TPGs.

That aside, there are a few options for very reasonably priced pattern generators, with bit perfect output out there. A Raspberry Pi for example.

Exactly same here. Been watching in dark room since my first OLED. now looking for a D65 Bias Light.
These are one of, if not the only ISF certified bias lights available. They were developed by the guys behind the Spears & Munsil disks, Scenic Labs.

Paul
 
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I have to admit that I skim a lot of the podcasts to find the bits that interest me most, but I listened to every minute of this one, interesting stuff.

It solved a mystery for me too... I always wondered why one "camera" (colorimeter etc.) was set up using another one right at the beginning of a calibration. Now I know!

I've had a few calibrations over the years and your comment about the cost being small against a high end TV is spot on.
 
Well. As odd places to listen to your podcast goes. This is up with them. Equally was not expecting gators. As such I am not listening to your content as keenly as I usually do.
 

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this is the first time I have listened to an entire podcast as well. Congrats on a very interesting and educational cast. I have had Jules calibrate both my plasma and oled and always been very happy with the result. Like others noted I have been watching the oled in pitch black for 4K hdr/dv/HLG content whereas with the plasma I did have bias light - george
 
Finally got to listen to this one. Another great podcast, with interesting guests to add their view and experience. Thanks guys. :smashin:

I've been endeavouring to get Jules round to profile my meter but, we've not managed to align our whereabouts quite yet. Probably for the best up until now though, as I've just changed TV.

Paul
 
A really interesting listen.

My only question would be : what happens if you spend £300, or whatever, on a calibration and you don’t like the results ?
 
A really interesting listen.

My only question would be : what happens if you spend £300, or whatever, on a calibration and you don’t like the results ?
A calibration will optimise the performance of your display, and ensure it matches the industry standards as closely as possible. What that basically means is that you're seeing exactly what you're supposed to be seeing. I guess if you don't like it, you should take it up with the filmmakers!
 
I think I've mentioned this elsewhere but, the inbuilt generated patterns disable aspects of the TV's native video processing, so you'll not be measuring what you'll be actually seeing with content. Essentially, the use of them is not recommended if you're interested in accuracy. This is information I've gleaned from Ted Aspiotis (Displaycalibrations.com) and Steve Shaw (LightIllusion).

What would be a great test, as I know the AVForums TV reviewers, who calibrate the displays, have external TPG's and access to CalMAN, is to compare measurements from both approaches on an LG and Panasonic with this feature. Although I've been told the above, my natural curiousity partially poopoo's it until I see the proof with my own eyes. I aim to buy a license for CalMAN for Home for Panasonic myself this year so, will do so myself as I have access to a number of external, known bit perfect, TPGs.
@steviedr Just in case you're interested, I bought a CalMAN Home for Panasonic license and performed a couple of measurement runs, using an external TPG, versus Panasonic's inbuilt TPG and the results were very promising. You can see the info and screen grabs here.

Paul
 

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