By popular request I've started this thread with the purpose of discussing calibration of the Toshiba 42x3030D.
Note: While many of the concepts and principals discussed can be applied to calibrating any TV display please remember that we are merely enthusiasts with an interest in obtaining the best from our TVs and as such accept no liability for any damage that may arise as a result of the information contained in this thread.
Please also note that each TV display is different, composed of multiple parts with different tolerances. Together with other factors such as ambient lighting, source material and playback device, any settings published may not have much impact and in some cases may be detrimental. In other words, your mileage may vary.
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Update: zaxxon64 has kindly put together a PDF with the more useful posts in this thread, so it might be easier for you to read through this first, and then look for specific answers to questions in the thread. It's hosted on rapidshare over
here.
For the really impatient among you here are my final settings:
It's still worth reading through the thread to learn what these settings do, and how to determine the most optimum settings for your TV / environmental conditions.
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It might start with a little nagging question at the back of your mind: "I love my display, but am I getting the most out of it?" Or it might simply be a question of running into this thread and wondering why people are fussing over calibration. If you're not familiar with the concept of calibration and are perfectly happy with your display its probably best not to get involved with some of the advanced techniques discussed in this thread, however that shouldn't dissuade you from attempting basic calibration.
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Basic Calibration
You've just installed your set and are happy with the bright vivid colours but "argh its burning a hole in my retina!". Or you're over the moon with your set, but during some of those dark scenes you find yourself asking "is that jacket supposed to be a featureless black silhouette?".
Put your mind at rest by performing basic video calibration; the only tool you'll need is a video calibration DVD such as
Ovation's AVIA: Guide to Home Theater, or
Joe Kane Productions' Digital Video Essentials.
Its quite surprising, but many people don't really understand what brightness and contrast controls actually do. Could you confidently explain the effects of these controls to someone else? Using the calibration DVDs you learn that brightness controls the brightness of black, and contrast controls the maximum white level; and the issues of black crush and thresholding when brightness is too low and contrast is too high.
I've used AVIA DVD before and have found it to be a very helpful introduction to calibration. It provides a layman's explanation of calibration and explains each of the tests you'll use to optimize your display's contrast, brightness and colour saturation levels. Some of the tests involve the use of different colour filters which you hold up to your eye, making real-time adjustments to ensure the correct saturation is achieved.
You'll be able to perform many if not all of the optimizations covered in the DVD simply making adjustments to the
user settings on your TV display.
I imagine for many users their interest in calibration will stop at this point; sets which adhere closely to the recognised standards will output a beautiful well balanced image, and as such you might feel no real desire to go any further with calibration.
But how do we know how closely our TV display matches these standards? That's where advanced calibration comes in. In my next post I'll provide an introduction to advanced calibration.