What will AVIA do for me? (RP LCD)

[sgupta]

Heya,

Okay, so I've heard about AVIA and calibrating the display, etc., for best picture. So I'm wondering, on a RP LCD, what exactly will it do for me?

Right now, I'm running the set in the default Pro setting for all modes. Looks pretty good to me - my only real issue (besides source quality occasionally) is black levels/contrast.

If I were to buy AVIA and give it a shot, do you really think I'd find a noticeable improvement over what I'm already running at?

Thanks,
Shaun

[Matt27]

Sure, they have test patterns to show where they should be at.

[LeeS]

Avia specifically shows a LCD test pattern for Contrast.

[57U]

Some people find these DVDs useful simply for the information they provide verbally and visually about the various parameters, setups, etc, before even getting to the setup patterns for video and audio.

[zepman]

I used the Digital Video Essentials DVD on my RP LCD and it helped some, although not a lot. I had adjusted my new TV when I first got by just adjusting the settings how they looked best and most realistic to me. It turns out that after calibrating with the DVD my settings didn't change much.

Black levels were improved somewhat, although with LCD it will never be perfect.

The DVD is helpful I found mostly for color adjustment since it is impossible without the filters to know what is "true" color. I paid only about $15 for my DVD and since that is all I paid I guess it was worth it.

I think it is more important for CRT tv's in general.

[sgupta]

Still waiting for AVIA, but found the THX Optimizer and ran through it today. MUCH improvement on black levels, so I'm happy about that. Hoping AVIA will get me that much better.

The chainges I mainly made (in Pro mode) were upping the "Picture" setting (to max actually) and then upping the Brightness just a few notches. Big difference.

The few problems I ran into when doing the THX optimizer were with color, tint, and sharpness. In all three examples, I just really had a hard time figuring out what they wanted. For example, color wanted me to prevent red from bleeding while keeping it red using "color" and make magenta and cyan look magenta and cyan (which they already did to me), so I didn't change those settings. Didn't change sharpness either as I really couldn't see much of a difference.

The only change I'm finding a hard time getting used to is the Warm color temperature setting (which I know should be closest to accurate). I may end up going back to neutral. Warm just makes everything look a little too pink to my eyes.

[LeeS]

On your black levels. Check the setup menus of your DVD player. Look for something like Black Level Expansion and PLUGE.

On my player the BLE sets black levels to 0 (zero) IRE instead of the normal 7.5 IRE. And the PLUGE is for 'blacker than blacks' as my manual says.

Try playing around with those, check the Brightness pattern on the THX Optimizer. You can check PLUGE with that.

Zero IRE would be the blackest black and 100 IRE would be the whitest white. You'll see what that means when you get your AVIA.

I've got to do some more reading on what the PLUGE setting in my DVD player setup menu means. Here's a link on what a PLUGE pattern is: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/test-patterns/pluge.html

Lee

[Matt27]

Yeah normaly you would use warm color temperature, i did at first but then went back to a neutral color temp.

The warm setting by default is really offset, which is why it looks too yellowish and pinkish.

Go with whatever color temp has the best white and grey levels without being too blue or reddish a tint.

[sgupta]

Thanks. Think I may go back to neutral. From what some people say, I feel guilty like it's a cardinal sin or something, but I do think it looks a bit better to me than warm. Cool is too cool, and warm just feels too warm, but maybe when I'll try calibrating in warm to see if that's improved. If not, back to neutral it is!

Thanks for the advice!