[Pecker]

Last Wednesday Iain Gibson (formerly Illuminant AV - now just Iain Gibson) calibrated my projector – a 720p Optoma HD73 – to ISF standards. After a week of viewing I thought I’d post a few comments.

First a little on the tech results. In Iain’s own words, he “…was able to get accurate greyscale tracking with dEs below 2 all the way…Gamma came out well at close to 2.2 except for small blips…”

Unfortunately a technical before/after comparison is not possible. After watching a film a couple of evening’s before the calibration I tried to demonstrate to Me Julie what Iain would be doing. The easiest way to demonstrate differences was to flick through the three colour temperature options (0, 1 and 2). I usually have this set to ‘0’ which gives a fairly neutral-looking greyscale on a grey ramps test card. To show how different it could look I’d flicked between ‘0’ and ‘2’ the latter giving the image a horrible green tinge. Having done this I turned the projector off, and it didn’t go on again until I turned it in for Iain. His ‘before’ readings were subsequently read with Colour Temperature at ‘2’, which took the readings off the chart.

If I have Iain over again for more work I’ll try to get a correct reading, with Colour Temperature set to ‘0’.

Over the last week I’ve watched several films all the way through on the system: the SD DVD of Jungle Book, and Blu-ray Discs of Layer Cake, Sleeping Beauty, WALL•E, The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II. I also spent an evening demoing set scenes from the HD DVDs of Atonement, The Matrix, and U2: Rattle and Hum, and Blu-ray Discs of The Dark Knight, Cloverfield, Dogma, Gattaca, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Three Days of the Condor.

These are my findings.

My general impression for most scenes in most films is that there was very little immediate difference in the look of the film, colour-wise. Switching between the before and after settings on several still shots, from a variety of material, did not reveal any great change in most instances, despite some pretty meticulous examination. Famous ‘tinted’ cinematography, such as that used to suggest the difference between the ‘real’ world and the ‘matrix’ in The Matrix showed their original intent (a green tint for the matrix world to simulate viewing on a PC monitor, no tint for the rest) fully intact and unambiguous, whether on the calibrated settings or my old ones.

I spent a long time performing particularly extensive viewing on Three Days of the Condor - Chapter 2, the shot at 0:11:48–0:12:00. In this shot Pollack places Max von Sydow in focus in the foreground before pulling focus to the opposite side of the street to view his approaching colleagues. On the other side we see three cars parked coloured red, green and blue. Switching between before and after settings showed very little difference indeed between the two, despite switching back and forth several times.

However, there was an improvement in colour reproduction elsewhere. My viewing of Kevin Smith’s Dogma has always been hindered by the scene at Chapter 13 beginning 1:23:50 where the characters are suddenly transported to the high brow restaurant. The skin tones have always looked poor and un-natural to me, and I have always suspected that the scene had to be shot and lit in a hurry. However, using the post-calibration settings they looked fine.

Furthermore, there was quite a nice surprise in The Godfather, towards the end of C.5 at c.0:39:30. At the end of a particularly dimly-lit and colour-muted scene where the family discuss Sollozzo’s offer of a share in his drugs business, a gift of flowers arrives, sent by Johnny Fontane as thanks for the Don’s efforts in securing him a film role. Using the calibrated settings the flowers stand out brightly in the dimply lit room, only without looking artificially blown out or garish. I’ve never seen this amount of clarity before – either the flowers look dim, or the muted colours of the rest of the scene look a little too hot.

However, whilst much discussion about ISF calibration circles around colour, I found much greater improvements with visible detail, presumably due to improved gamma.

A good example was the opening shot to The Godfather – a long pull out lasting a full 3 minutes, beginning with a tight close up of Bonasera, and pulling out to an over the shoulder two shot of Bonasera and Vito Corleone. The scene is a very dimly lit interior, and under my own settings it is very difficult to see any detail in dark areas against the dark background – for example Bonasera’s jacket virtually disappears into the black background of the room. Viewing under the newly calibrated settings the jacket and other detail becomes noticeable.

A similar effect can be seen on U2: Rattle and Hum, where there are several stage performances with understandable varying lighting, ranging from areas on stage of almost pitch black through to extremely brightly lit spots. The calibrated image never fails to impress and detail is apparent throughout, both in the grainy black & white indoor concerts and the colourful, cinematic performances from Sun Devil Stadium.

And on all of these clips there’s an almost complete absence of video noise in darker areas. It is possible to see (for example) Bonasera’s jacket by altering the contrast and brightness levels slightly on my own settings, but only by introducing a little video noise, which is distractingly noticeable in scenes such as this with large areas of black.

But hopefully we don’t spend (too much of) our time watching demo clips – we’re here for the films.

Overall I’ve found that my picture now appears far more natural. In comparison my old settings look just a little ‘synthetic’. It’s quite hard to quantify, but the picture now looks more comfortable and film-like. Like a very good claret, the image feels extremely well balanced.

I was literally gobsmacked at the standard of the first two Godfather films, which I’d never seen looking so good. Certainly that is partly down to the new restoration, but watching the films over three nights was a complete joy, with the picture looking very much like film rather than video.

My experience was the same with every film I’ve watched in the past week. Strange as it may seem, the ISF calibration doesn’t so much ‘add’ anything to the projector, as make it ‘invisible’ – that is to say the projector seems to become more transparent and simply delivers the picture it’s fed without colouring it – pardon the pun. I’ve seen some people comment on what they’ve seen after calibration (and I’ve noted some of that above), but for me the most striking thing isn’t what I now see, but the problems I no longer see, and which used to distract my viewing.

Since I mentioned that I was ‘getting ISF’d’ I’ve been asked several times whether or not it’s been worth it.

My answer is that is has definitely been worth it for me. It would probably have been worth it purely for the peace-of-mind factor of knowing my projector looks pretty much as good as it can, given the limitations of my room, etc. It’s been worth it for the slight but noticeable increase in detail and image depth in darker scenes, and it’s been worth it for the more natural image I’m now getting.

For anyone thinking of getting an ISF calibration, the first thing I’d suggest is to ignore the hype, and ignore the artificially ‘nobbled’ comparison shots you sometimes see online. If you have a decent display, a DVE disc and you’re not blind enough to be watching a ridiculous picture, you will not see the sort of difference often promised.

But if you’re even considering having an ISF calibration then you doubtless want the very best picture you can get, and I feel that the work Iain has done has given me just that.

Hunting around, the average price for an ISF calibration appears to be approximately £300, give or take. Iain did me a very good price indeed, but even if it’d have cost me a lot more I’d have been happy with the results. I’d say that I’ve got a greater improvement in performance than I’ve seen between any two projectors priced £500 apart.

A final word on Iain. You meet all sorts in the AV game, including some real prats. It’s a real pleasure to say that Iain came across as one of the nicest and most genuine blokes I’ve met in the industry. He clearly knew exactly what he was doing, but never came across as arrogant or dismissive. Not only was he a meticulous and professional calibrator, it was a pleasure to have him as a guest in our family home for the day.

I’ve looked at the performance of my calibrated projector, as represented in the ‘after’ CalMAN™ graphs and figures Iain has provided, and compared these to the graphs posted by Phil and David in their reviews of equipment here at AVF, as well as a number of online reviews of my PJ. From these it seems that Iain has done as good a job as anyone possibly could have.

As a result, Iain comes highly recommended. Anyone in the north of England seeking an ISF calibration should not hesitate to avail themselves of his services.

I hope that this review has been helpful, honest and thorough. There’s a lot of talk about ISF calibration on the internet, and it’s nice to being a position to offer a few, hopefully balanced comments.

Those who know me will be aware that I don’t unquestioningly listen to hyperbole, nor accept overblown and unsupportable claims for gimmicks, tricks, devices, developments, or ‘the latest thing’.

Having your projector ISF calibrated will not suddenly make your projector produce an image likely to make you ‘have an accident’ with the amount of improvement it delivers. The image won’t suddenly be seared into your retinas, nor will you see too much more of what the director intended for most scenes.

However, from my experience, it will improve performance in the ways I’ve described, and deliver a picture better enough to easily warrant the cost.

If you don’t have the money spare, I wouldn’t worry too much that you’re watching an abomination of a picture. But if you do, then I’d say go for it.

The next time I replace my projector, Iain will be getting a phone call to see when he can come over and calibrate it.

Steve W

[albriscoe]

Hi Steve

what a very good detailed review that was mate, excellent.

The only thing I can say that I don`t agree with is the fact that I wasn`t there to see the before and after results.

When I also change my pj then I could well give Ian a call

cheers Al

[pixelpidgeon]

yeah nice and interesting review. thanks

[Iain Gibson]

Thanks for your very kind words Steve, and I'm glad you're enjoying the results of the ISF treatment. I will just add for clarity that while the North of England is my ideal territory, I have calibrated systems as far as Glasgow and Brighton so am not restricted to one region

BTW if any of you ever get the chance to dine at Steve's he is no mean cook!

Cheers,
Iain

[crimsoneagle]

Really great review
Only thing that put me off conventional PJs calibration is that bulb ages as do the lumens and I feel this has to have a negative effect on the calibration over time, but when LED or whatever replacement comes along that gives a constant output I would be very very interested in full calibration.
By then we would have 3D smellovision and its all turned on its head, I love AV

[Pecker]

Originally Posted by crimsoneagle

Really great review
Only thing that put me off conventional PJs calibration is that bulb ages as do the lumens and I feel this has to have a negative effect on the calibration over time, but when LED or whatever replacement comes along that gives a constant output I would be very very interested in full calibration.
By then we would have 3D smellovision and its all turned on its head, I love AV

This is also one of my fears.

I'll let you know if things change as the lamp ages.

Steve W

[Basil Plumley]

I have the HD73 also, and whilst I can't afford the luxury of ISF calibration, I have had a good go myself...got near enough perfect Delta E's below 2 from 20 upwards on the greyscale - but to get a correct gamma reading, I had to sacrifiice correct black and white levels as the projector doesn't have a seperate gamma setting.

[Iain Gibson]

With a PJ, the ideal would be to have a regular "service call" (say annually) from your calibrator to correct any drift due to aging. Most calibrators would be happy to negotiate reduced rates for this, given that less work should be involved and you are providing repeat business.

In Pecker's case, I suspect he may be onto a new PJ by this time next year

Iain

Originally Posted by crimsoneagle

Really great review
Only thing that put me off conventional PJs calibration is that bulb ages as do the lumens and I feel this has to have a negative effect on the calibration over time, but when LED or whatever replacement comes along that gives a constant output I would be very very interested in full calibration.
By then we would have 3D smellovision and its all turned on its head, I love AV

[Iain Gibson]

Originally Posted by Basil Plumley

I have the HD73 also, and whilst I can't afford the luxury of ISF calibration, I have had a good go myself...got near enough perfect Delta E's below 2 from 20 upwards on the greyscale - but to get a correct gamma reading, I had to sacrifiice correct black and white levels as the projector doesn't have a seperate gamma setting.

There is a degamma option with four presets in the Image / Advanced menu, IIRC. Measure each preset to find which is best. I have to say I would be wary of sacrificing correct black level to improve gamma unless it is a very substantial improvement.

Cheers,
Iain

[Timbo21]

Who'd have thought ol' Pecker singing the praises of ISF calibration, lol.

[Pecker]

Originally Posted by Timbo21

Who'd have thought ol' Pecker singing the praises of ISF calibration, lol.

Timbo, the results of the calibration fitted in with both my previous experience and my previous comments.



Steve W