That could cause me a problem, our soil is so bad grass struggles to grow so turning grass on the TV to a muddy brown to match my pitiful lawn may make all the other colours a bit off.
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I would post mine but iâm far too embarrassed
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Yeah, but itâs arguably preference (within reason). I use airplay to send stuff from my laptop to the TV. When a look at both, theyâre quite different, but after 3 seconds either one looks just fine to me. Iâm lucky that Iâm not hyper-sesitive to colour/contrast, I guess. Now frame-ratesâŚthatâs an entirely different issueâŚ
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Having one of the store techs do a colour calibration on a new TV is essential. Maany people seem to think itâs a gimmick to suck another $2-300 out of us though.
When I had it done, the difference was quite astounding as far as realism is concerned, and they tone down the blues drastically which allows the TV to run a lot cooler and last longer. For the showrooms they always push the blues at the factory so that their TVs look as vivid as all the others, but itâs very unnatural. And the tech does it in your room to integrate with the room colours/brightness etcetera.
I know that you know this Simon, I just wanted to let others know that itâs a good thing to do. When I mention it to people I know, they usually just scoff and say itâs a rip-off.
Cheers
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Indeed, albeit most higher end TVs have different profiles, and my OLED TV and my plasma before has profiles that are designed to be calibrated (ICC profiles). In addition my LG would you believe has a âshow roomâ setting, where saturation and brightness are un naturally pushed to make look initially impressive, but not intended for actual use.
With regard to calibration, my suggestion is wait a few months before you do so, to just let the phosphors settle down a bit, or repeat the calibration 6 months later. Also it is advisable to calibrate in situ where the display is to be used so the typical ambient light levels are factored in. Some TVs will have a daytime (bright) and nighttime (dark) ICC profile to cater for the different ambient light levels. I donât bother with this, I just stick to ICC bright.
I find some of the best content that initially really demonstrates the benefit of calibration is 4K/ UHD football. The grass looks real and graduated, shadows and contrast look great, team shirts look real and graduated, the colours just looks real and natural.
Obviously with calibration you disable auto picture level processing options if you wish to enjoy calibrated content. Some times you find these options disabled when you select an ICC display option anyway.
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Calibration is a must if you are spending 4K+ on an OLED.
I have had 2 OLEDâs so far. The first in 2016 which i had calibrated professionally by Vincent Teoh, it took over half a day and was worth every penny spent. My current 77" LG G2 was calibrated by Steve Kemp. The G2, being a more modern OLED like the C3, is a much more complicated beast to calibrate than my earlier OLED. What most people donât realize is that apart from all the settings you can see in the menu, there are 1000âs of other settings that you canât see and have no access to. When Steve calibrated my G2 it took over 3/4 of an hour for his laptop to upload the settings to the tv. The end result though is absolutely stunning, in standard def, HD, HDR and Dolby Vision.
If a tv is fully calibrated in this way though, the down side is that if for any reason a factory reset is ever done, ALL the settings will be lost.
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Weâve had a 65 inch LG OLED for five years. Great picture and viewing angles are excellent. No sign of burn in - I think this is was likely a ânew techâ concern - or negative marketing from LED panel companies.
Wall mounting (at the correct height) seems to make the screen much less obtrusive; odd effect but very welcome.
We also had Vincent calibrate ours and what a difference it made. Ours is one of the last 3D tvâs that they made. Before he calibrated it we couldnât get the 3D to work but after it was amazing with the full dynamic range. Well worth having it done, I think the price was 10% of the tv at the time.
Thanks for the more in-depth information on the calibration process Simon. You always seem to have such a solid understanding of these intricate things.
Good idea about waiting a few months before having it done, Iâll do that next time.
One of the other things that I find looks so much better is skin tone. Especially facial close-ups and such.
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Yes, the process is much more involved in most people realize. When he did our TV, the tech was here for at least 3 hours.
Yes spot on - that is a superb demonstration of a good calibration.
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Ive had a LG C2 in my study for the last 2 years with my second hifi/AV system (stereo only).
Very impressed with the picture quality from all sources; regular broadcast TV, streaming and from the Bluray player.
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OLEDs benefit from regular retuning (as do all TVs), but more so than plasma (once every year and a half), and LCD (two years), OLEDs like retuning annuallyâŚ
Iâd hazard that every six months or so I could technially alter a âpoint or twoâ on the red and green channels for âperfectionâ, and the aforementioned timetables are of course based on usage.
I am a casual TV screen user at most⌠TV on for a few hours daily on averageâŚ
if I go eight months sans retune, the âpopâ of the screen does lessen a little⌠(not noticable, but if âretunedâ the improved picture POPS much more naturally and is noticeably better)
All TVs benefit from a good calibration.
HDR sets have proved hard for many digital systems autotunes, simply due to things like Black Frame Insertion (effectively halving picture brightness during the testing that the calibration equipment can get caught up on).
I do recommend HDV Basics (bluray) or any media that assists with a quick recalibrate.
(Many THX films such as Star Wars and Pirates of the Carribean etc have some theatre setup steps on their first pressings that are invaluable to home theatre setup)âŚ
Tuning a TV is something we want to do after the first five hundred hours, and DURING the typical time of day the set will be used (night time brightness is different to daytime brightness that a 9-5 system tweaker might not see)
$40 on HDV Basics (comes with THX blue filter âcardâ) is a minimum for good system maintenance and improved picture quality (over time)âŚ
Every retuning I give makes me go anohter couple of years sans need for an upgrade. (and has me only buy sets with good tuning controls).
OLED is fantastic, but, the colour channels do not wear out at equal speed, and do greatly benefit from a little due dilligence on the end users behalf.
Remember each âmodeâ on the TV will need its profile setup (HDR/SDR), and generally most users also need a day/night profile.
A professional calibration SHOULD set a user back a pretty penny as it is time involvingâŚ
A quick user retune is a quick affair if the tools are handy.
At the very least, use your eyes and a THX blue filter card with a colour bar test and that is the lionshare of the maintenance done
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Iâve never calibrated a TV before, but a quick search found the following link, with a downloadable JPeG that you display on your TV (via usb stick), then follow the instruction. May have a go when I get the chance
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Samsung has a process using a phone app, but it only applies to selected models from 2022 onwards:
The grass on my tv is as green as the neighborsâ grass.
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Careful, you shouldnât put any form of plants on your TV as watering them can cause catastrophic events to follow
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I loved yhe old joke from tube/CRT daysâŚ
âI was on yhe tele last nightâŚâ
(âreally/wowâ)
ââŚyeah; when Iâm drunk I will sleep anywhere.â
-----------------:â
with any calibration, I recommend taking a photo of the final settings (AND copying the âpresetâ across ALL inputs etc).
----------------------------:â
Disney TV firmware updated my TV -no not THEIR shitty TV app, but my actual TV firmware, in a Disney TV update.;
my OLED now turns on daily to do the once every blue moon âpanel serviceâ, made the toslink output surround only (no longer PCM I can feed to a DAC) AND, this is the biggest annoyance- they removed my colour calibrations. (making Disney practically unwatchable on that set).
Of course I only advocate firmware updates when they solve an actual problem a user is experiencing (and never just for the âsake of itâ)âŚ
That TV, just like the $1000 soundbar I had paired with it two years ago, are on their way to the scrap pile due to forced and sneaky firmware updates.
(the laptop I bought earlier this year had a forced firmware update to a battery and stopped recharging-also scrap heap junk now)
evil companies seem to use firmware updates to resell us shyteâŚ
sure I could retune the TV from scratch, but the insidious power on and panel maintenance daily means that the sets lifespan is comprimised. (playing with rollback firmwares is a timesink and many consumers will simply pay money to save time/hassle when experiencing issues)
Save a photo of your TV calibration after any changes, might just save ye time down the track.
All TVs benefit from an occaisional recalibrate of the primary colour channels.
OLEDs, with reds that perish at a rate quite different to blue and green, just slightly more frequent with the timetable to recalibrate.
If I used my TV daily for eight hours, Iâd recalibrate yearly, ideally bi-annually.
if two years has passed, worth getting done (or doing yourself), the improvement often will feel like experiencing a WHOLE NEW PANEL.
3D pop from TVs is quite natural when the colour and contrast are well set.
as previously mentioned-a couple of points on two primary chanels is all a âretuneâ generally requires to be back to (pristine) basicsâŚ
first calibrate can take a while but subsequent updating calibrations can be an easy affair with a blue THX filter ($1) on hand. (and a JPEG/photo of a colour bar test pattern)
DVE Essentials (bluray) includes the THX filter (it has an RGB âsetâ).
Best bluray Oâve ever bought as it makes every other disc (and UHD/DVD/Playstation and Switch games etc) look much better.
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Good idea - perhaps also take a photo before in case you screw them up
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