AVForums Podcast: Should you hire a professional TV calibrator and why? 18/11/19

Phil Hinton

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In this week's edition of the podcast, we cover the world of TV calibration and what a professional calibrator actually does. Should you hire a professional calibrator? What does the calibrator actually do? Why does it cost so much? Is it worthwhile?

Presented by Phil Hinton with Steve Withers and Julian Scott

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Time: 01:08:12 | File Size: 124mb | Direct Link
 
This is so like a conversation amongst Peers in my History in Live Sound Reinforcement.
Use the Calibration tools
Play several pieces of music that you know well & are accurate & relevant to the Band's style
Walk around the Venue
Yep, Tools fix some deep down problems
But they don't have Human eyes or ears!
 
@Steve Withers @Phil Hinton

Excellent podcast and as a budding videophile I concur with all the things said but as a matured and veteran audiophile I would like to pickup on the audio side of things you picked.

Even audio has got a certain set of standards that are very basic and should be met when you are asking a consumer for decent chunk of monies. And these products have to meet certain specifications in terms of digital stage and then analogue stage. Speakers, I understand. You go by how your room modes are and how the room's been treated for absolute acoustics etc. But for AVRs, DACs, Amps there's no excuse, you have to get it right and should present the objective data. Hence I am not in agreement with you saying audio equipment is judged more subjectively in comparison. Coming back to your analogy, it's like saying Spielberg's 'War Of The Worlds' is an accurate presentation for a panel.
 
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Agree with the above, excellent podcast.

I've been an enthusiast for many years, via this forum I actually went on the THX calibration course in 2011/12 back in my single/no kids days and it was fantastic.
This was purely to allow me to understand how to get the best out of my plasma - of course, I couldn't afford the pattern generator/professional meters at the time, but it was more for the fun of tinkering and end results. You do get rusty very quickly though.

Today, I have kids and no time to tinker, so the thought of autocal for home and with the manufacturers builtin pattern generators (LG/Panny) had me intrigued as I could most likely follow the workflows.
It is disappointing to hear HDR is not covered (assuming this may eventually come), was also annoying that you cant get the good old before/after comparison. Anyone with UHD tv is going to want HDR/DV/HDR10+ calibrated, while SDR content is plentiful, lets be honest, its HDR that puts a smile on the face.

So while I do like to tinker, your Podcast has swayed me back as I want a full calibration, the full chain and I don't have the time anymore.
Hopefully as part of the service, one could ask to get their old meter profiled again as part of the service, just in case those firmware updates do a little damage ;)

Also interesting there is still no one doing this in Scotland to save English pro's traveling (this was the case back in 2012 too)...maybe I should re-certify and do a job I'd actually love!
 
Brilliant podcast. Even better than the last one on calibration. I have learnt so much. Just a shame that so many of us men have certain degrees of colour blindness, as mentioned around the 20:15 Min. mark onwards. Big thanks, though !
 
should be a link to the calibrators
 
What a brilliant listen, Jules has calibrated my Panasonic OLED and Projector and he is a superb calibrator, the results are simply stunning. As an AV enthusiast and a someone with a real interest in calibration it was fascinating to see a professional at work
 
Hi @Phil Hinton
were is the usual list of contents cant seem to find it?
 
Jules has calibrated a few tv's for me, and I'm talking to him about coming to do my panny oled and panny dx902, if you're a tinkerer then knowing that the image is as accurate as can be is worth the few hundred quid alone.
The difference in image quality after was amazing too, he's a very knowledgeable guy jules and is both isf and thx certified i beleive, where as most are one or the other.
Once you're used to a calibrated image it's hard to watch anything else imo.
 
It's one long conversation, so I saw no point to break it up as it needs to be listened to in order.

Thanks Phil just settling the family down before i listen, i was one of the competition winners this week, so i'm made up on the win (Scarface 4k) so thank you avforums :)
 
In this week's edition of the podcast, we cover the world of TV calibration and what a professional calibrator actually does. Should you hire a professional calibrator? What does the calibrator actually do? Why does it cost so much? Is it worthwhile?

Presented by Phil Hinton with Steve Withers and Julian Scott

Another excellent podcast. Really interesting conversion with Jules, Steve & Phil.

Surprised to hear that THX are no longer running the video calibration training courses or offering certification (THX seem to have drifted so far away from what they used do). I did the THX course at JVC London in 2012 with Gregg Loewen of Lion AV.

I’m in the interested and informed enthusiast camp. I currently have CalMan Home Enthusiast edition, with an i1 DisplayPro Meter, but support is ending for CalMan Home Enthusiast edition soon :-(

I only calibrate my own Panasonic OLED TV and JVC Projector, but I may now have to think about getting my meter re-calibrated...

Regards,
James.
 
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Excellent Podcast. Very educational.
One point that may not have been covered - should you get your TV calibrated again as the TV ages and if so after how long?
 
I knew nothing about calibration until listening to this podcast.

Thank you all for really expanding my knowledge in what I considered a dark art in a really easy to understand podcast in a subject and to need to be honest I would off been sold "snake oil" on the matter.

A great listen and hope there are more podcast like this when your all away in the future, a true education.

I just need to buy a TV that is worth calibration, a long conversation with the other half will now follow....
 
If a TV changes over usage/age does it mean you have to get it calibrated every year? If so then that is quite expensive depending on how often it should be calibrated.
 
If a TV changes over usage/age does it mean you have to get it calibrated every year? If so then that is quite expensive depending on how often it should be calibrated.
Once calibrated you shouldn't need to have it done again, projectors need doing more often as their bulb dims
 
Plasmas did benefit from a recal after many years of use due to the way the technology ages (I'm sure it was mentioned in a podcast, or maybe a YT video I watched).
LCDs shouldn't need this.
OLEDs shouldn't either these days, but I've not really checked into it.
I thought it was an interesting remark from Jules and Phil about having some light or backlight on even in dark room.
I might invest in a backlight with D65 white as recommended by Steve. Will be shopping for one that is a good fit for a wallmounted 65inch Sony AF9.
 
I searched for TV Backlight reviews on AVForums, but nothing found. I do recall a TV Backlight was reviewed or given in a competition last year.
 
I searched for TV Backlight reviews on AVForums, but nothing found. I do recall a TV Backlight was reviewed or given in a competition last year.
Antec ones are decent, power from the usb on your tv. And less than £20 when i last bought one, or if you're feeling flush the Philips ambilight strips too.
 

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