Getgray Calibration Dvd Review

Writen by Kyle Kolbe

GetGray is a hobbyist produced home theater calibration DVD. You can only buy it through internet download, as it's a VIDEO_TS folder you burn to a DVD-R. As implied by the title, the DVD's primary purpose is to track your digital display device's underlying gray scale with the aid of a color measuring device like the Colorvision Spyder2 or Gretag Macbeth Eye One Pro.

GetGray has some caveats. First, it can only be used (by itself, without the aid of additional calibration discs like Avia Guide to Home Theater and Digital Video Essentials) with digital displays like LCD, DLP, LCOS, etc. It does not have the proper test screens to evaluate CRT displays (tube TVs and old and/or high-end front projectors) like needle pulse and blooming patterns. Second, since The DVD is an internet download it cannot include any color filters for primary color evaluation. The disc's author assumes you already own a calibration disc with the included filters and even offers a photography supply to buy your own filter. Animated de-interlacing tests are the last big omission (I never like these de-interlacing torture tests, they just reveal your DVD player's short comings, making you feel bad about your investment while your very likely not going to see any of the defects in real entertainment only viewing). (Plus, many times it is the source DVD's fault. Last week we rented curb your enthusiasm and it has massive distracting jaggies in all the backgrounds, I believe a short coming of the source video resolution.) (Despite this aversion to these 3:2-2:2-bad-edit-low-frame-rate-anime-euro-PAL revealing test DVDs, I check the "Special Interest" shelf every time I'm in a video store for the HQV Benchmark DVD.) Oh and no audio evaluations except for a Tron Master Control-like face for lip-synch control.

GetGray's main drive is to create a disc that is easy to navigate when compared to both Avia and DVE (Avia's navigation is adequate but its gray patterns have slight color casts; DVE navigation is terrible: it makes you use the Title button on your DVD remote, torture). Get Gray has two levels of menus: big categories (Brightness and Contrast, Grayscale) and their logical test pattern groups (5% Gray Ramp, 20/80% Gray Windows). Highlight the menu item to drop into the test pattern loop, press Next Chapter and Last Chapter Skip to move within the loop and hit menu to drop back to the main navigation. Simple.

This simplicity allowed me to calibrate my Sanyo PLV-Z3 over and over again until 2:30 in the morning Sunday night (I can't get rid of a green/yellow cast in the 90% and 100% gray windows, I'll be back at it again tonight, I know the correct setting combo for flat grayscale and high contrast is hidden in the projector) with very few button presses on my universal remote. I found the following test signals super useful and convenient:

* 5% Gray Ramp: This test pattern is great for setting your contrast and brightness, just adjust each until the third to last bar from each end blends into the last two bars. This chart will also give you a good idea of what your display device's grayscale controls (like RGB GAin and Offset in the Sanyo Z3) alter.

* 20/80% Gray Windows: Use these high-low gray window loops to quickly adjust the grayscale controls. You'll be flipping between the two often tweaking the grayscale to perfection.

* 10% Gray Windows: After getting your RGB grayscale in the ballpark with the 20/80 windows, sample each 10% increment—from 0–100%—and enter them into AVS Forum member Radar's Colorimeter spread sheet to track your D65 gray target across your 2.2 target gamma.

GetGray includes brief instructions covering each of the included signals plus some advice on calibrating and additional sources for blue filters and supplemental test discs.

Whether you're new or experienced to calibration the following instruction manuals contain great tutorials/overviews of the process for the hobbyist or professional (with or without the software): Accucal, Smart III, Colorfacts 6 (PDF direct download).

If you own a digital front projector and have a Spyder2 or Eye One Pro you should definitely buy GetGray. It costs an affordable $25 which guarantees upgrades to all 1.0 patches (current version is 1.1 NTSC, PAL is in late beta). Show your support for the calibration hobbyist little guy and get an accurate and easy calibration too.

Father, Husband and Geek. My geeky interests have not changed since I was a kid. I still love comic books, anime, role-playing games, console video games, indie rock, imported toys and mecha models, bad American and great British sitcoms, and all the tech that let's me experience these hobbies to their fullest. Now that I'm married with children, I've had to strike a balance between supporting and pleasing my family and feeding my geekery hunger. Lucky for me, my wife is very accomodating and even geeks out with me on occasion (the ladies love Joss Whedon's "Firefly"). My two year old likes anything that moves on the front projection screen and makes noise, so far she is easy to please. Geekwithfamily.com exists to enrich the lives of fellow geeks and the friends and family who put up with them.

Eye Candy Which Wins 1080i Vs 720p And What About 1080p

Writen by Bob Wood

The latest great thing in home theater displays is the emergence of 1080p resolution displays. p stands for progressive, which means the screen fills all at once at 1/60th of a second, versus i for interlaced, which means every other line, then the other half of the full picture, each field displaying at 1/30th of a second.

At this time, there is no source for broadcast 1080p programming. Instead, we have 1080i: two interlaced fields make a frame, at 1/30th second for each field.

Finger it out!

Take your fingers and spread them apart. That's a crude example of interlaced. When you bring the hands together, you combine both fields and you get the whole picture (one frame). It happens fast enough that you don't notice the effect unless there's motion on the screen, then you might see a difference in the smoothness of the motion.

Progressive is all the fingers at once. 720p is fewer pixels, faster: 1/60th second per frame.

1080 = 1920 x 1080 pixels | 720 = 1280 x 720 pixels

Till recently, HDTVs were either 720p or 1080i. Most TV transmissions were 1080i. I believe ABC adopted 720p because it would have shown sports with better pictures. I also remember back when Panasonic Broadcast underwrote ABC (as 720p) – or at least Monday Night Football. Fox and ESPN now also do 720P. The others are 1080i.

The new 1080p sets don't have the front end circuitry to actually receive that resolution. But, again, nothing is transmitting that res anyway. What the advantage is, is how these sets show 1080i – they have the pixel count to do it without trouble. They deinterlace the transmission and present it full frame without throwing away any detail. A 720p set has to downconvert a 1080i signal. In that downconversion you can lose some detail.

(BUT) OH SAY CAN YOU SEE?

But there's a more important issue – can you really see the difference in resolution between 1080i and 1080p? Tests of visual acuity to determine the resolution required of a television transmission system by the BBC's J.O. Drewery and R. Salmon determined that at 9 feet, a 50 inch screen at 720p's resolution will give you all the resolution you can see! At 9 feet, a 56 incher needs 1080i to avoid seeing the pixel structure. If you sit farther or closer, you may need more resolution.

1080i vs 720p: MOTION CHANGES EVERYTHING

Motion is different issue. If you want to see motion clearly, then live action 720p is what looks best, compared to 1080i. Here's why: the information content of 720p is about the same as 1080i, though what it lacks in spatial resolution, it makes up for in temporal resolution (because the picture is at 1/60th of a second, not 1/30th x 2.) On 1080i, this would show as flickered or jagged edges on bright horizontal objects (like in the background of a camera pan.)

The good news? As the retailers hawk 1080p, you might find a killer deal on a 720p set and not give up anything in what I'll call 'effective' picture quality to get it.

Bob Wood cuts through confusion and technical detail to offer a clear guide: what you need to know to shop wisely; how to then maximize the performance of your Home Theater system. His website, http://www.GreatHomeTheater.com has been called "refreshingly easy to understand!"

Lcd Television The Television Of The Future

Writen by John Gibb

Today we have the Televisions based on the LCD technology and it is one of the biggest technologies in Television at the moment. These new LCD Televisions are all set to go head-to-head against plasma screens for the future of TVs.

The conventional CRT based TVs are fast vanishing and LCD televisions are replacing their place. People like to go in for the LCD TVs without even minding the price difference because of the picture clarity and the quality which is not available on the conventional TVs. The Pictures you get are very sharp and clear. Now the Computer Monitors are being replaced with the LCD Monitors for the sake of clarity and quality of images and the LCD TVs are also trying to do the same thing on the Television front.

The other emerging technologies like High Definition Television are also adding to the fast growth of the LCD TV technology. The High Definition Television broadcasting and the reproduction have reached good levels and these latest improvements are being adopted by the LCD TV Companies to enhance the product utility by these Companies.

Moreover the price of the LCD TV is falling every day in spite of the increasing of the size of Screen Size as well other facilities. This also is the reason for the impressive growth of the LCD TV Companies and they are fast becoming better competitors against other Screen technologies in the Television market.

While buying a LCD TV, we have to see a lot of things to select a completely satisfactory Product. The main things one has to see are the size of the LCD Television and the price of the TV. These are the two main considerations for any one who wants to buy a LCD TV. But seeing these two alone will not be enough to have all your wishes satisfied in a LCD TV. It is very much necessary to look at various other technical matters also.

You have to see the factor called the higher Color depth, of the LCD Screen the ability of the Screen to show more number of Colors, shorter response times by which the LCD Television is able to show even fast moving objects with out blurring the fast movements. Another important factor is the dot pitch that indicates how sharp the Picture produced by the Television will be. For a better TV the dot pitch must be as small as possible.

So, apply your mind, see around and ask for a live demo and see how the LCD TV handles various types Pictures, colors etc before you spend your hard earned money.

John Gibb is the owner of LCD Television guidance For more information on LCD Televisions check out http://www.LCD-Televisions-Intelligence.Info