[RICKYJ]

Well as the old VPL-HW10 thread seems to cover all manor of things to do with the HW10, I thought it best to open a thread for owners to discuss calibration settings etc (especially as the thread has over 600 replies, and they are locked when they reach 1000).

I would also ask that general queries are posted in the old thread, to keep this one on topic...

General information

Here is a list of dealers (if people are finding it hard to find stock of this proj).

The sony information on the projector can be found here

A link to the redemption scheme can be found here. Please note that the promotion ended 31 December 2008, with applications needing to be sent in by the 31 January 2009. There is no indication (yet) that this has been extended.

Information on the 3 year prime support warranty the HW10 comes with....

A link to some recommended wall brackets for the HW10

How to access the service menu (at your own risk)

Pictures of the HW10

You can find some pictures of the HW10 in these threads:

1 & 2 & 3


Screenshots

I have yet to get any decent screenshots, but in the mean time here are a list of some screensheets from the old thread, and some from the new.

Ozdick screenshots, Ozdick 2, Ozdick 3 - comparisons to HS20 included

Mat306, Mat306 2, Mat306 3

latipper

Digicon 1, Digicon 2

My pics Part 1, part 2, & part 3(inc comparions of manual/auto iris).

Andrewfee, Andrewfees Pics pre & post calibration

Miniholic

Calibration settings

I have still got to run up a few hours on my projector before I get Calman etc out to calibrate properly, but in the mean time, here are some other settings that fellow members have had success with:

Bytehoven - iris value changes, & revised suggestions

northrob settings (inc RCP)

Halo Man settings

A closer look at the panel alignment function by Andrewfee

My calibration attempt 1

Reviews of the HW10

AVForums video review

AVForums

Projector Reviews

Projector Central

Trusted Reviews



I will be adding to this thread, as much as I can in the future, as a place of reference, so if there is anything that people think should be added let me know

[dfdd]

excellent synopsis of thread info-

thank-you rickyj

[Nuwidol]

Originally Posted by RICKYJ

Calibration settings

I have still got to run up a few hours on my projector before I get Calman etc out to calibrate properly

Looking forward to this mate.

[northrob]

My setup: HW10 projecting to a DIY grey screen.
My settings:

Picture mode User 1
Advanced Iris Auto 1
Lamp Control High
Contrast 89
Brightness 50
Colour 50
Hue 50
Color Temp Custom 3

Gain
R -1
G -4
B -2

Bias
R 3
G 0
B 3

Sharpness 0
Black level adj off
Gamma correction Gamma 2
Color space Normal

RCP User 1
.. C H
R 0 0
Y 0 8
G 12 5
C 0 0
B 6 35
M 0 -2

Service mode settings (default):

Iris/Close Reg 340 (372)
Iris/Open Reg 725 (699)


I prefer slightly colder picture so I set the colour temperature around 6700K. The service mode setting Iris/Close Reg deepens the black quite a bit and Iris/Open Reg smoothess the gamma at higher APL level. In my setup Iris/Close Reg 360 offers the optimum gamma setting 2.2, but I opted for deeper black.

[RICKYJ]

Thanks northrob,

Have added a link to the first post

[RICKYJ]

Link to wall brackets added.

[Shangt_tnf]

Hi, Im from spain and as you can see new in this forum.

I want to share with you guys some photos of my HW10, I will post the settings later, the screen is a DIY grey with some gain (I will explain later how I add the gain in the screen).


MOD EDIT... Images removed due to unsuitable content on the hosting site. Please repost them using a hosting site such as imageshack or upload them onto the forum.

[kayomani]

Moved up to this projector at the start of the year and I am well chuffed by it (mind you I moved up from a Benq 720mp data projector so thats quite a jump!). Pretty happy to have gotten it with the free bulb esp looking at how much the price is going up

I am wondering if its better for the projector to be left on standby all the time rather than turning it off at the plug. I know mine seems to make several clicks when its turned off the at plug but I guess it doesnt really matter much either way.

Granted I only sent my free bulb request in 2 weeks ago - what's peoples experience in how long it takes?

[Digicon]

Here's some shot's not the best but what do you expect from a point and click camera

[Digicon]

and a few more

[indus]

I'm very disappointed with the out of the box picture.

Yesterday was the first day I had my screen up and I put on the Iron Man DVD. The picture was really poor imho. In the cave scenes (when he is captured by the Afghans) the blacks are completely washed out, actually they aren't blacks at all they are all just grey.

Then sometimes on someones black coat I could see 'noise', in the form of coloured pixels being visible

Also the whole picture just seemed to have an unneccessary white glow to it.

The sharpness was also really really poor.

I did some quick changes by turning the black level adjustment up to max and the sharpness (which is 0 by default) to 50%, contrast to 80, brightness to 65 and colour 60. I've switched the NR to low (from off default)

Advanced iris to Auto1, lamp control left to high

This has helped with the really washed out blacks and the sharpness, but the shadow/black detail is poor. For example if someone is wearing a black coat, it just looks like a solid lump of black, I can't see the lapels, the folds etc.

This is my first pj and the room was very dark, walls are off white.

I never demoed this pj, but did demo the IN80 which was very impressive, and assumed this would be as good give or take. My first impressions are a little disappointing. Maybe I expected too much from a £1500 pj?

Thanks

[emporer]

I think you need to give it more time and play about with the settings more, when I first turned mine on it didn't strike me at all, the pic looked bland and just not nice, however since then i've used the DVE bluray disc and set up as best I can and have now doen 17 hours and its just getting better all the time for me, maybe it needs slight run in time or its just my eyes getting used to it (coming from dlp), but every time now is just superb. My room is magnolia with white ceilings and am using a Sim2 0.9 grain screen.

[indus]

Thanks. I've just read through the stickies on this thread regarding adjustment. Can anybody explain what the rcp adjustment is please?

Has anybody else tried the iris adjustment that Bytehoven suggests?

Thanks

[stainless-steel]

Originally Posted by indus

I'm very disappointed with the out of the box picture.

I did some quick changes by turning the black level adjustment up to max and the sharpness (which is 0 by default) to 50%, contrast to 80, brightness to 65 and colour 60. I've switched the NR to low (from off default)

This has helped with the really washed out blacks and the sharpness, but the shadow/black detail is poor. For example if someone is wearing a black coat, it just looks like a solid lump of black, I can't see the lapels, the folds etc.

I'd be inclined to do a reset back to the the original settings, a brightness setting of 65, colour at 60 and black level at max sounds a little excessive to me.

Do you have a set-up disk or any DVDs with the THX optimizer?

Be aware that you should be aiming for a set up that allows you to see black (as a video signal) but not below black. There will be scenes where you're not supposed to see details in the dark regions - if the director intended, ramping the picture controls up to max in order too see details that you're not supposed to is likely to result in a washed out and unsatisfying picture.
The majority of people have found that the default settings tie in pretty well with the calibration disks, brightness at 50, contrast at 90, colour at 50.
You may find that you need to tweak by one or two either way due to room effects, unless there's something wrong with the display chain.

I don't want to sound patronising, but if you're new to PJs and calibration it might be an idea to do some reading up on how you should approach the setting up of black levels and contrast, and how it relates to the way the picture is supposed to look.
Most problems with calibration probably stem from people trying to get the picture to look how they think it should, rather than accurate, and neutral, which will then allow different films to show the different inflections in colour and shadow detail/black that they are supposed to.

As for sharpness, the HW10 is renowned for sharpness amongst LCoS pjs, and is right up there with the other technologies. I always use the menu (as it's independent of the picture quality of the source or film) to set the focus on mine each time I turn it on, if you're using the dust cover on the lens (as I do) you always end up shifting the focus when you take it off.

[RICKYJ]

Originally Posted by indus

I'm very disappointed with the out of the box picture.

Yesterday was the first day I had my screen up and I put on the Iron Man DVD. The picture was really poor imho. In the cave scenes (when he is captured by the Afghans) the blacks are completely washed out, actually they aren't blacks at all they are all just grey.

Then sometimes on someones black coat I could see 'noise', in the form of coloured pixels being visible

Also the whole picture just seemed to have an unneccessary white glow to it.

The sharpness was also really really poor.

I did some quick changes by turning the black level adjustment up to max and the sharpness (which is 0 by default) to 50%, contrast to 80, brightness to 65 and colour 60. I've switched the NR to low (from off default)

Advanced iris to Auto1, lamp control left to high

This has helped with the really washed out blacks and the sharpness, but the shadow/black detail is poor. For example if someone is wearing a black coat, it just looks like a solid lump of black, I can't see the lapels, the folds etc.

This is my first pj and the room was very dark, walls are off white.

I never demoed this pj, but did demo the IN80 which was very impressive, and assumed this would be as good give or take. My first impressions are a little disappointing. Maybe I expected too much from a £1500 pj?

Thanks

Agreed that you need to calibrate the projector using dve etc.

With regard to sharpness, you mention dvd and not blu-ray. I would suggest the lack of sharpness is due to the source not the projector. Try bluray (or hd-dvd) and you will instantly notice a difference. Can you connect a pc to the projector? If so download some hd demos to test...

With regard to the grey blacks, the room will not be helping too much, as i bet you are getting alot of reflections. Can you see alot of the room when the projector is on?

[indus]

Thanks.

I've bought a BD player today as I couldn't be bothered to wait for the freebie Hopefully that will solve any source issues

I don't have a THX optimiser but will invest in one asap. Could somebidy remind me which discs contain this?

I will as suggested do a reset, connect a HD source and try the THX optimiser.

Though I'm new to pjs I stick by my earlier statement though that the out of the box settings seem poor to me

[jacko5]

STAR WARS A New Hope has the THX optimizer. If you go in to HMV, or similar, and look for any DVD which has the THX logo on it I assume it will have the optimizer.

[stainless-steel]

Originally Posted by indus

Though I'm new to pjs I stick by my earlier statement though that the out of the box settings seem poor to me

As it's your pj you're quite entitled to set it up however you choose.

But there are specific standards and guidelines available that will help you to set up any display device so you're seeing the colours and greyscale exactly (or as close as your display allows) as the film was mastered.
To some people this may result in a picture that's quite a long way from what they preferred in the past, it's no crime if you want to deviate from it, but the guidelines are there.

When I first got a pj I spent ages fiddling with it trying to get what I though was the 'right' picture, I was quite happy with the results but I'm sure I'd drifted from the ideal.
When I first fired up my HW10 the colour accuracy was one of the first things that struck me - simple things like house bricks and the colour of the sky looked far more natural, but quite different to how I would have set them had I been guesstimating.

If you're really unhappy with the set up you could get it ISF calibrated by a pro, I think it'll set you back around £250-300, but it may set your mind at rest.
There's also good advice to be had in the calibration forum, maybe some if the experts in there can help you out?

[jacko5]

The colours are quite natural in the cinema mode and skin tones are outstanding. Someone coming from an uncalibrated tv, however, would probably consider the colours to be under saturated.

[stainless-steel]

Originally Posted by jacko5

The colours are quite natural in the cinema mode and skin tones are outstanding. Someone coming from an uncalibrated tv, however, would probably consider the colours to be under saturated.

Yup, thing is you either have faith in the factory set up of the HW10, calibrate it using the right kit (or ISF pro), or fiddle around 'till it suits you.

Some films have a deliberate cast to them, The Martix for example, the green tint gives the Matrix a slightly unsettling 'something aint right' feel to the film that ties in perfectly with the artificial reality of the matrix.
The more you mess with colours and greyscale in an attempt to get things how you like them, the less likely the use of colour and shadow will have the same effect as the director intended.
Sometimes you're not suposed to see the monster lurking in the shadows 'till it jumps out with a bang. Get the brightness and contrast out of kilter and you can see there's something there before you're supposed to - again loosing the intent and shock of the scene.

[indus]

Ok, I may have been a little hasty

Firstly I reset the pj as suggested. Then I watched the cave scene from IMan DVD on my Panny plasma and realised that it looked the same on that as it did initially on the pj ie thats how the film had been shot!

Then I hooked up the new BD player and fired up a BD version of IM and it looked much, much better.

I think there was a combination of problems

1) standard def source

2) I tried to compensate for a 'funnily' shot scene by messing around with the calibration and as I didn't know what I was doing probably made things worse.

Anyway for know I will leave things as they are until I read a little more about the calibration process

Thanks to all for their help

[indus]

Ok, I'm going to have to do a 180 degrees. I'm just watching TDK on BD and what can I say but wow!!!!!!!

The picture is just fantastic, I'm really impressed. The pj now justifies everything I read about it.

You will all have to excuse my moment of blind panic earlier, I'm not quite sure what was going on

[stainless-steel]

Originally Posted by indus

The picture is just fantastic, I'm really impressed. The pj now justifies everything I read about it.

You will all have to excuse my moment of blind panic earlier, I'm not quite sure what was going on

Nothing to appologise for mate!

Settle back and enjoy, safe in the knowledge that you've got (one of, if not the) the best pj available for £2000, or less.

I've had a go with Bytehoven's iris tweak, I'm now happy enough with my HW10 that I no longer consider it the intermediate upgrade I planned it to be. I think there's going to have to be quite a jump in performance to get me to part with it.
It's a keeper, for a few years at least, I may even go 'scope with it once I move house.

[indus]

Hi stainless. How much difference did you notice with the iris tweak?

[jacko5]

Originally Posted by stainless-steel

Nothing to appologise for mate!

Settle back and enjoy, safe in the knowledge that you've got (one of, if not the) the best pj available for £2000, or less.

I've had a go with Bytehoven's iris tweak, I'm now happy enough with my HW10 that I no longer consider it the intermediate upgrade I planned it to be. I think there's going to have to be quite a jump in performance to get me to part with it.
It's a keeper, for a few years at least, I may even go 'scope with it once I move house.

That's interesting, so what iris figures did you use? I've been a bit scared so far to dabble in the service menu, but I might give it a go.

[stainless-steel]

indus, jacko5,

It does make a difference, at first I took 'close reg' all the way down to around 265 (from memory) as Bytehoven suggested. But I found it caused pretty obvious brightness pumping, the subtitles in Hellboy II were really bad! It'd dim down so much it took all the punch out of the image. I ramped it back up to around the 300 mark -again I'll have to check, I can't really remember where I left it.
That seemed a pretty good compromise, I'm doing pretty well at my new year's resolution (watching the Picture not the picture) and can't really say the iris bothers me at all now. The last few dark films I've watched, Bladerunner, The Dark Knight, T2, have all left me very satisfied, most of the time I only notice the picture because it looks so darn good.
I notice that Byte has recomended upping the close reg value from his original figure and reducing the open reg, sometime I'll give it a go, but to be honest I'm happy enough now just to sit back and watch the movie.

I've no idea whether playing with the Service menu invalidates the warranty, do so at your own risk, take note of your original settings - and don't play with any of the other settings.

[jacko5]

Stainless, or anyone else who can help, I am having trouble getting into the service menu.
In the 'setup' menu the status is 'on'. With no menu displayed I press, enter, enter, left, enter. I select 'yes' to enter the service mode and nothing is displayed both when displaying an image or blue screen.
I press enter, enter, left, enter again and am asked if I want to return to the user mode, 'yes' or 'no'. I have repeated this process several times, but no service menu is displayed. Any ideas?

[stainless-steel]

Originally Posted by jacko5

Stainless, or anyone else who can help, I am having trouble getting into the service menu.
In the 'setup' menu the status is 'on'. With no menu displayed I press, enter, enter, left, enter. I select 'yes' to enter the service mode and nothing is displayed both when displaying an image or blue screen.
I press enter, enter, left, enter again and am asked if I want to return to the user mode, 'yes' or 'no'. I have repeated this process several times, but no service menu is displayed. Any ideas?

No new menu appears, but a new tab 'Device' will now be visible at the bottom of the menu tabs when you go into 'Menu'.

[jacko5]

Originally Posted by stainless-steel

No new menu appears, but a new tab 'Device' will now be visible at the bottom of the menu tabs when you go into 'Menu'.

Thanks Stainless. I have just made my adjustment. My default settings are; Open reg 709, Close Reg 389 copared to Bytehovens of open Reg 725, Close Reg 347. So there is quite a variation from PJ to PJ.
I have set my Close Reg to 340 for now and see how it goes.

[RICKYJ]

Originally Posted by stainless-steel

indus, jacko5,

It does make a difference, at first I took 'close reg' all the way down to around 265 (from memory) as Bytehoven suggested. But I found it caused pretty obvious brightness pumping, the subtitles in Hellboy II were really bad! It'd dim down so much it took all the punch out of the image. I ramped it back up to around the 300 mark -again I'll have to check, I can't really remember where I left it.
That seemed a pretty good compromise, I'm doing pretty well at my new year's resolution (watching the Picture not the picture) and can't really say the iris bothers me at all now. The last few dark films I've watched, Bladerunner, The Dark Knight, T2, have all left me very satisfied, most of the time I only notice the picture because it looks so darn good.
I notice that Byte has recomended upping the close reg value from his original figure and reducing the open reg, sometime I'll give it a go, but to be honest I'm happy enough now just to sit back and watch the movie.

I've no idea whether playing with the Service menu invalidates the warranty, do so at your own risk, take note of your original settings - and don't play with any of the other settings.

That is good to know Stainless, thanks...

Originally Posted by jacko5

Thanks Stainless. I have just made my adjustment. My default settings are; Open reg 709, Close Reg 389 copared to Bytehovens of open Reg 725, Close Reg 347. So there is quite a variation from PJ to PJ.
I have set my Close Reg to 340 for now and see how it goes.

Would also be grateful of your feedback here Jacko. Haven't had a chance to use my projector for the last couple of weeks But will do soon, and will probably will be looking to put the iris adjustment through...