Know how Picture Perfect

nicknack35

nicknack35

nicknack35

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Joined
5 Apr 2014
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Hey all. Has anybody seen this from curry's and actually tried this to see if actually works or is this disc a gimmick. We will be getting new TV this weekend and won't know the best settings for the best picture when we purchase just wondering if this disc will be worth the price
 
The AVS free-ware is limited to video picture set-up only. There's no audio test tones. You might be thinking that you don't need them when an amp has an auto calibration mic, however the wizards don't always get it right and there's some things such as rattle tests and lip sync timing that it's useful to be able to check. The other big limitation is that free-ware comes with no colour filters. You need these to set Tint and Colour. You can't adjust them correctly without at least a blue filter.

The Knowhow disc is a step in the right direction. It gets the idea of picture set-up out there to people who probably wouldn't normally read tech forums, so in this respect it's to be welcomed. The blurb says that Joe Kane has had a hand in the designing of the test patterns. That's no bad thing. He is very well respected in the industry. The disc also comes with filters, as it should for £20-£30. It would be handy to find out if there's any audio tones and tests on the disc.


For similar money (£25) there's the pukka Joe Kane disc called DVE HD Basics. It's available on Ebay. This disc and Spears & Munsil are two of the most useful set-up tools available. DVE HD Basics is easy to use and there's some useful (if a bit boring) tutorials to help understand what to look or listen for in the various tests. Personally, for the sake of a fiver I think this one is a no-brainer over the Knowhow disc.

Spears & Munsil is far more in-depth. It has some excellent tools and is very comprehensive, but it's not easy for a novice.


Don't forget to check your DVD and Blu-ray collection though. Some THX disc included test patterns for video set-up.
 
lucid said:
The other big limitation is that free-ware comes with no colour filters. You need these to set Tint and Colour. You can't adjust them correctly without at least a blue filter.

Don't forget to check your DVD and Blu-ray collection though. Some THX disc included test patterns for video set-up.
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You've obviously not read what Doug Blackburn and Michael Chen has said about these.
 
Thank you lucid and others for your replies. I am a novice when it comes to this sort of thing. So any advice on the best discs would be welcomed and what to do LOL
 
Does anyone know if it would be worth getting one of these for my ST30, I remember from reviews at the time the settings to adjust things were deemed a bit limited.
 
I was in Currys/PC World today returning a faulty laptop. While in there I had a quick look around at the usual array of over-priced accessories. HDMI cables we know about. What was a surprise was the 4m satellite cable with gold plated F connectors for the 'bargain' price of £22.99 They weren't even fitted with moisture gaskets for outdoor use.

Anyway, two points relevant to this thread... First, I asked about whether the Picture Perfect disc includes audio tones. It doesn't. Second, all the TVs bar one Sony had hideous looking pictures. Over sharpened, over saturated, terrible motion processing, and blue blue blue!!!.
 
Won't be getting TV from curry's will be getting richer sounds with there 5 year Guarantee. Only went to Currys to look at there displays. Was quite funny tho that one of there sales advisors that was in there. He was quite young and had Sony on his back and i asked him about cinavia and he didn't know what it was LOL
 
The point about the pictures on the TVs in Currys isn't that they'd done anything to them, other than perhaps leaving them on Dynamic or shop mode. The point is that the default settings in all the TVs I saw were incredibly blue. This would be the same if the TV was in Currys, Richers, John Lewis or any other retail store.
 
I got this thrown in free when I brought my TV when I asked for a discount due to it being a display model. Good disc, made the TV look a lot more natural.
 
Buy or borrow a Pixar movie on Bluray. There's a calibration tool included that gives you something to start with, and then tweak to your liking.
 
Well I had a go with the THX Tune Up app on my iphone/appletv last night (free) thoiugh considering how it said to have it set up I was almost there anyway based on judegment by eye alone.

The only part I thought was wrong was the colour set up; it looked way too saturated for me and unnatural.

I do have an eye-one display2 though I'm not sure how I can use this for TV calibration.
 
lucid said:
Chen and Blackburn have written quite a bit. Care to elaborate?
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They were discussing this with some people earlier in the year on AVS. Might have been end of last year, not entirely sure. I can't remember word for word as I'm sure you know. Doug's posts are very long and thorough.

Doug more or less said the filters were pointless and worked with some rare sets. He doesn't advise people using them as is was quite a long technical discussion on why this was. He even advised people not to rely on the built-in blue filters on the sets.


As for Michael. Again he spoke of this with some people on why these were outdated. Some people tried the THX patterns from the Terminator 2 disc. It ended up crushing the blacks and messing up the whites.


lucid said:
The point about the pictures on the TVs in Currys isn't that they'd done anything to them, other than perhaps leaving them on Dynamic or shop mode. The point is that the default settings in all the TVs I saw were incredibly blue. This would be the same if the TV was in Currys, Richers, John Lewis or any other retail store.
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The nasty mode. I'll never understand why Dynamic is even available in the "Home" mode. Dynamic should really have been kept for the Shop setup.

As some people I'm sure you're aware keep it like it is from the day they bought it and first powered it up.


feriso said:
Well I had a go with the THX Tune Up app on my iphone/appletv last night (free) thoiugh considering how it said to have it set up I was almost there anyway based on judegment by eye alone.

The only part I thought was wrong was the colour set up; it looked way too saturated for me and unnatural.

I do have an eye-one display2 though I'm not sure how I can use this for TV calibration.
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I think it may work with HCFR… http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-d...e-projector-display-calibration-software.html


____________

lucid, what Blu-Ray discs do you use after calibrating your clients setups? I hope you have Sam Raimi's, Oz the Great and Powerful. That is the most beautiful rich and vibrant film I've ever seen. It makes you just wow under calibration.
 
V F said:
They were discussing this with some people earlier in the year on AVS. Might have been end of last year, not entirely sure. I can't remember word for word as I'm sure you know. Doug's posts are very long and thorough.

Doug more or less said the filters were pointless and worked with some rare sets. He doesn't advise people using them as is was quite a long technical discussion on why this was. He even advised people not to rely on the built-in blue filters on the sets.
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Context is really important when reading posts, and especially so in technical fora. Those of us who are professional calibrators can have long and boring discussions about the minutiae of various aspects of methods. Most of it is completely irrelevant though to a typical end user with £30 or so to spend on a tool for making their picture better. The blue filter is a good case in point. It's a bit of a blunt instrument, but IMO and that of Joe Kane, Joel Silver, Stacey Spears, Don Munsil and other industry experts responsible for designing and manufacturing the calibration discs it still does a reasonable job where there's no access to professional calibration gear.

V F said:
As for Michael. Again he spoke of this with some people on why these were outdated. Some people tried the THX patterns from the Terminator 2 disc. It ended up crushing the blacks and messing up the whites.
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It's well known within the industry that the THX Optimizer patterns are only really good for the the setup of the film with which they're included. The pukka test discs are (mostly) reference standard accurate. It's funny though how folk dipping a toe in the water will happily spend hours and hours researching TVs but then baulk at spending £30 to get the best they can from their expensive purchase. "Free" (but wrong) seems to trump correct. :D

V F said:
lucid, what Blu-Ray discs do you use after calibrating your clients setups? I hope you have Sam Raimi's, Oz the Great and Powerful. That is the most beautiful rich and vibrant film I've ever seen. It makes you just wow under calibration.
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Actually, I don't want something over-saturated. Those films tend to look "impressive" on any TV. I much prefer something with a natural colour palette as much as is possible with BD releases. What I'm looking for is all the subtle colour shades to have the proper colour contrast. That's where the real detail of the picture is. Once that subtle shading is revealed then the image comes to life.

The test pattern discs I carry all have video sequences in them that challenge various aspects of the display. I also carry some films as standard stock. Currently it's The Art of Flight, Gravity (2D & 3D), Drive Angry (for 3D) and a couple of others. I do enjoy watching whatever the customer is most familiar with. It's good to see them spotting all the extra detail and improved depth on ordinary BDs. It's a real wow factor moment. :D
 
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