re: "Professional" TV Calibration: Is it worth it?

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I've looked up a few of the recommended calibration settings before and didn't really like the picture they suggested at all.

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Two things:

1. What you are used to may not conform to the standard target of calibration. I think it's pretty common for people to be accustomed to a too-cool color temperature and oversaturated colors.

2. It is highly likely that plugging in settings for someone else's TV doesn't improve your TV due to sample variation, and this is especially true for the advanced settings like CMS and multipoint grayscale and gamma. It's not just me saying that; it's people with the meter and software who can run the experiment who say that. (Which is also me. )

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I'll just keep tinkering with the settings on my own for now.

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A test disc like Disney's WoW comes with a blue filter that will help you adjust Color and Tint. It will also have patterns for setting Brightness, Contrast, and Sharpness. That's basically all you can do without a meter and software or paying for a pro calibration. Turn off all the extraneous crap like "Reality Creation", dynamic contrast, etc. If you have or can get a blue filter, or your TV has a blue-only mode, then AVS HD 709 is free and all you need.

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I'm also going to look into buying a large plasma whenever they stop making them.

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Panasonic is out after this year. Samsung will have a line next year AFAIK, but their plasmas are known for floating black levels, which is one defect Panasonic plasmas don't exhibit.