Quote:
Originally Posted by etype2
Pete,
I owned that RCA set. Most televisions out the box are poorly calibrated including that RCA model. Back then and to a great extent today, sets are adjusted to give over saturated colors and contrast. (pop in the stores get more attention) The grey scale is way off (crushed black's) and the color temperature is way to high (blue) which makes the image look brighter but throws off the color accuracy. The sets user controls cannot fix the errors.
With professional calibration, the technician sets up a camera directly in front of the screen. It is incredibly sensitive. The room lighting in the environment around the set is evaluated. Together with proprietary software, the set will be adjusted as close as possible (to the limits of the given set) to a known standard set by the professional broadcast industry. The grey scale will be adjusted as close as possible to the D65 standard. (more shadow detail in dark scenes) The tracking will be adjusted for 16 brightness levels and for the primary colors, so that the colors will be as linear from top to bottom. Overscan will be eliminated. The set will be adjusted to display its best resolution. The color, tint, sharpness (no ringing) and white levels will be adjusted to the known standard.
After a set is professionally calibrated, most users report a dimmer, laid back image, but over time, they begin to appreciate the differences. They are no longer viewing retina burning images. They see more detail in dark scenes as well as in the skin tones and the entire color spectrum. Everything looks more balanced and natural.
Today's televisions and this particular RCA set have service menus which can be accessed by professionals like many of the VK members here. (I am not a professional). With the proper equipment, a much improved image can be obtained, but it will always be subjective, that's where calibrating to a known standard with proprietary software will remove some of the subjectivity.
I had my RCA F38310 professionally calibrated by an ISF technician and all subsequent sets including my flat panels. Once my eyes were "educated" to what a properly calibrated image looks like, I can never go back to an un-calibrated set. I was seeing movies the way the movie producer intended me to see them.
This is why I asked you the question and how it relates to your comment about color and subjectivity.
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Thanks for your ISF-type pro setup summary. As mentioned, I did not attempt a similar calibration of the f38310; although, I did tweak the user controls, which includes resetting a wide-open contrast control as received from the factory.
However, I do try to set up a CT-100 based upon its design specifications as defined by the 1953NTSC standard. Back in the 2007 ETF convention an attempt was made to reproduce exactly what a viewer of a 15GP22 would experience watching a 1950s NTSC color broadcast.
At the end of the convention, the 15GP22-based set (a CT-100) was subjected to a series of tests.
Here is a link to a page from 2007 documenting the effort; the pertinant section is located at the bottom and begins with 'After the Accomplishment.'
For example, a modern colorimeter determined luminance and CIE x, y coordinate points to accurately measure gray-scale performance, which tracked well throughout its approximately 20- to 80-percent operating range.
http://www.earlytelevision.org/Deksnis/Dsite.htm
Pete