Paducah Home Theater Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Been doing all I can to pay attention to nothing but audio stuff but I need some help with video. Basically my projector is not very pleasant on the dark earth tone colors. I don't think its natural, and I can't find a preset that gets rid of it. Certain material bypasses it such as bright animation but some things are painful to watch. Watched Leverage on Netflix tonight for example, there was a black guy, in a black suit, in the shadows. It was a nasty unpleasant dark blur, looked nothing like what I'm used to seeing on the TV. Is this a common phenomenon? Easy fix, or is the only way to fix it to get $10K worth of calibration tools in the room? It seems that cranking up the color temperature then running the bulbs on high is the only way to make it pleasant on some material. I do have one of the calibration discs but outside of setting the black level it was pretty worthless, didn't really do anything for colors, plus the white levels could not be set, I'm just not sure why. Ideal white could not be distinguished from a shade that is supposed to be brighter. I have seen people blame this on playstations but I have a hard time believing that a PS4 is the reason for that. Anyway, any ideas or tips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyrc Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 (edited) Don't bother with a calibration disc unless you feel you need it after several weeks of viewing. We have a Panasonic projector that produces marvelous results; the 130 wide image is very sharp and detailed, with natural color (although it will produce very intense color, with the same settings, when the film demands it, as with some animation). The picture quality is far better than on our very good flatscreen TV. We always run the bulb on high, the sharpness on maximum, the dynamic iris on "OFF," and we set all else by hand to taste, based on my nearly lifelong experience as a photographer. We selected what we thought would be a fairly typical movie to try it with, and adjusted contrast, brightness, etc. subjectively. Over the next few weeks we fine tuned it with other movies, and found settings that have worked well on nearly all movies since. The projector is fed by a HDMI cable directly from the Oppo player. We bypassed the pre/pro on the advice of our dealer who feels the projector gives all the control needed, and who generally advises bypassing AVRs or pre/pros for video. A totally seperate HDMI connects the player to the pre/pro to provide audio. The reason we don't use the dynamic iris is that it drove us crazy lightening or darkening the image. It did that quite grossly during the numinious opening titles of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and we never gave it another chance. We project in total darkness; the ambient light spilling off the screen provides all the room light necessary, unless the image is totally black. Edited April 13, 2015 by garyrc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agile1966 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 When I had my JVC projector, and every other display that I have had in recent years, I would follow the owners thread on AVS and normally someone would have their projector/display professionally calibrated. They post the settings and I would use those settings as the starting point and then adjust to personal preferences as Gary does. Has usually gotten rid of the type of anamolies like you are describing above. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadgtfreek Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Highly recommend Chad B if you start looking into pro's. I used to own my own meters but it was just time consuming... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiva Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Has it always been this way or more so now. What is the a make and model? How many hours on your bulb? It could have become too dim over time and it's crushing the blacks. Are you using a matte white screen or grey. Also, some shows are just shot dark and do not have good black levels and pop to begin with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Go to AVS forums and type in the make and model of projector in the search engine . There's a good chance someone there has some practical experience with whatever projector you have . You never told us what projector you have . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cradeldorf Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I had a sanyo z5 that was horrible looking like that, upgraded to a new optoma HD 131xe and wow just like a LCD tv but bigger and nicer. Colors are awesome on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Almost new jvc dla-x700rb with a few hundred hours on the bulbs. Elunevision reference audio weave screen. PlayStation 4 blu ray player, marantz sr-7009 receiver, completely black room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadgtfreek Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) JVC's are really nice, but as with most video devices need a proper cal. The test disc will get you there for black, contrast, sharpness, etc... But even if colors are accurate in design they will be off because of poor grayscale tracking. Grayscale and color temp are two large factors. All color tv is is colors layed down over black and white (grayscale). If that base color is wrong, everything esle will be. Also need to set proper light output. Not sure if it is an option, but most cal's are around $425, and you can get touchups (new bulb) for half that. Chad B does my VT50 every 6 months. Edited April 14, 2015 by gadgtfreek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agile1966 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 That should be an excellent project. Huge fan of JVC. Take a look at this thread. http://tinyurl.com/qddswbj Didn't have time to dig through it, but if you haven't looked here, there is probably some excellent calibration advice. Let us know how it turns out! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) Some of the worst scenes are in my favorite pirate movies. Pirates of the Caribbean, such as inside the brown dungeons just doesn't look good. Night Crawlers where he is walking around in the dark at a crime scene. Previously mentioned Leverage, where the black guy in a black suit is walking around in the shadows. The Maze Runner, fighting the monster in the dark was pretty bad. The black levels and contrast is great though. The tiger and penguins on Madagascar 3 have gorgeous blacks, zero complaints on that. Flesh tones and urban or natural landscape earth tones in the dark is just an eye strain. Combine that with 3D such as in Wreck It Ralph 3D and even animation is uncomfortable but it usually is not. Edited April 14, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) Not sure if it is an option, but most cal's are around $425, and you can get touchups (new bulb) for half that. Chad B does my VT50 every 6 months. Who is this Chad B? I don't know of anybody in this area who I would trust. I know there are guys who travel and do several while on a tour though. Maybe need to call this guy. http://www.accucalhd.com/ Edited April 15, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadgtfreek Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) Well known ISF/THX calibrator on AVS and other forums, also does audio cal's. Been doing stuff for me for 2.5 years now. I spent $425 up front and then around $220 for touchups. http://hdtvbychadb.com/ He travels a lot of places. I used Jeff Meier at Accucal a few years ago. Also well respected and smart. Edited April 15, 2015 by gadgtfreek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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