[Orcin]

I just purchased a Sony 52" XBR4 LCD TV from Best Buy (delivery in a couple of weeks). They gave me free home calibration service in the deal. My question: Is it really beneficial or is it likely to be no better, just different?

I understand that the TV's are shipped from the factory to look good on the sales floor. If that is the case, why wouldn't I want that "best possible picture" in my home also?

My fear is that some witch doctor will come in and tweak some non-user settings that I cannot reset to the factory defaults in case I don't like the end result of this "calibration".

Maybe someone who has experience with this process can explain it to me?

 

[Troyhoot]

More then likely the only setting he will adjust are settings you can easily get too yourself. But the main advantage to having him/her calibrate the set is they have all the equipment. Test screens, filter glasses, measuring devices ect. It is really worth it to have it done. Just make sure you have the Lighting (in your room) set how it will be when you watch tv/movies. It makes a huge difference. A good professional calibration will run you a few hundred dollars usually.

You can check out AVS forums for all the info your would ever want and more. I would deffinatly have it calibrated for free. You can always have them make a list of everything they changed for future use.

 

[Davesrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orcin /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand that the TV's are shipped from the factory to look good on the sales floor. If that is the case, why wouldn't I want that "best possible picture" in my home also?

Depends on what "best" means to you. Floor models tend to be set to high saturation and contrast to lure people into catching detail. Setting the contrast down is more demanding on the TV, as you then can see all the subtle gradations in tone. There are various calibration DVDs you can purchase for yourself, or you could pay someone to calibrate for you. They're just guides to get the most dynamic range of contrast and color range....some people like it, others don't.

 

[Fang]

If its free, why not just calibrate it, but I understand that you should wait for a month or two before calibrating it.

 

[Orcin]

Thanks for the explanations. I will definitely have it calibrated.

Yes, the store said that you should wait until it has 100 hours on it before doing the calibration. That would be a month at 2-3 hours per day, or one long weekend in football season.

P.S. I did check AVS forums. There is a lot of good info there.

 

[Redo]

AVS forum is THE place for all TV calibration info. I don't know what type of calibration Best Buy offers, but there's only one way to find out.

Gorgeous set you chose. Some LCD's look iffy, but the Sony XBR line of LCD's are always stunning.

 

[Marc303]

if its a full calibration they will go into the "hidden" tech settings and adjust all the colours, gamma, black settings etc for a perfect picture.

people pay good money to have it done to their sets and can make an average tv into an great tv.

 

[JadeEast]

Toy story 2 has a THX optimizer set up on the disk thats pretty good.
Having some else do it is even nicer.