Official Aus 'sony Bravia X Series' Calibration Thread

[michaelp2005]

Hi all

I have an XBR, which I've been playing with for about a month and half now. I have tried many (most ) of the settings from here and AVS. I find the picture excellent with one exception, and I'd like to know if it's just me!

That exception is on darker material, where the blacks have a grey fleck to them e.g. a black jumper, or the overall screen has a distinctly grainy look, rather than a crisp look. In ordinary, daylight type scenes it is fantastic, but the dark scenes are really annoying.

I also have a plasma which doesn't have this issue, so I was also wondering if this was the classic LCD v plasma problem.

Rgds

Michael

[Stalker1503561887]

Hi all

I have an XBR, which I've been playing with for about a month and half now. I have tried many (most ) of the settings from here and AVS. I find the picture excellent with one exception, and I'd like to know if it's just me!

That exception is on darker material, where the blacks have a grey fleck to them e.g. a black jumper, or the overall screen has a distinctly grainy look, rather than a crisp look. In ordinary, daylight type scenes it is fantastic, but the dark scenes are really annoying.

I also have a plasma which doesn't have this issue, so I was also wondering if this was the classic LCD v plasma problem.

Rgds

Michael

I know exactly what you mean, and I reckon it is just due to the limitations of LCD. I don't find it that annoying though, and the TV is near on perfect in every other way!

[heyskip]

I know DVE is putting out a calibration HD-DVD/DVD hybrid, just want to know if there will be something similar for us Blu-Ray owners in the near future. Also did they take the DVE Calibration DVD out of the market? can't seem to find it anywhere in the shops.

The Blu-ray DVE disc will be available online sometime in March I think. I've just ordered the HD-DVD version and it comes with the SD DVD version on the other side.

Hi all

I have an XBR, which I've been playing with for about a month and half now. I have tried many (most ) of the settings from here and AVS. I find the picture excellent with one exception, and I'd like to know if it's just me!

That exception is on darker material, where the blacks have a grey fleck to them e.g. a black jumper, or the overall screen has a distinctly grainy look, rather than a crisp look. In ordinary, daylight type scenes it is fantastic, but the dark scenes are really annoying.

I also have a plasma which doesn't have this issue, so I was also wondering if this was the classic LCD v plasma problem.

Rgds

Michael

I have mine set at Backlight 3, Powersaving Low and the blacks are great. These settings might be a bit dark for some people though. You could try Backlight 5-6 with Powersaving Low this might be spot on for you.

[michaelp2005]

I have mine set at Backlight 3, Powersaving Low and the blacks are great. These settings might be a bit dark for some people though. You could try Backlight 5-6 with Powersaving Low this might be spot on for you.

I've tried the lower backlight, and I have the powersaving set to off, as I read somewhere that was best for blacks

[heyskip]

I've tried the lower backlight, and I have the powersaving set to off, as I read somewhere that was best for blacks

I've read somewhere that Powersaving Low improves blacks, can't remember where though, probably here or at DTVforum. Either way powersaving low reduces the backlight by ~40% so allowing you to reduce the backlight below the Backlight Min, Powersaving Off setting.

Works well for me.

[Mark1308]

can anyone suggest a good calabration for DVD via Component cable, i am having lots of trouble with this

cheers

[heyskip]

can anyone suggest a good calabration for DVD via Component cable, i am having lots of trouble with this

cheers

Digital Video Essentials is the one I use. There's another good one called AVIA or something like that.

[Mark1308]

is there anyway i can get a good picture for my DVD player via Component cable by just customizing the seting on the tv?

Edited February 21, 2008 by Mark1308

[heyskip]

is there anyway i can get a good picture for my DVD player via Component cable by just customizing the seting on the tv?

There is plenty you can do. Start with some of the settings listed in this thread or in the AVS forum and then tweak them to your personal taste. Your other options are to use a calibration DVD or have the set professionaly calibrated. This model tv has a huge amount of settings available, some with obvious effects, some more subtle.

It might be worth considering an upscaling and HDMI output DVD player as the picure can look much better IMO. I picked up my Sony DVD 1080p upscale/HDMI player for $130.

[Mark1308]

that is wat i have been doing for a couple of hours now and noticing that a main problem is that the picture looks very pixelated, and blacks are a problem aswell, just cant seem to get it right, any further suggestions?

this is all much appreciated

[heyskip]

that is wat i have been doing for a couple of hours now and noticing that a main problem is that the picture looks very pixelated, and blacks are a problem aswell, just cant seem to get it right, any further suggestions?

this is all much appreciated

Sending 576i or 480p to a 1080p tv will probably result in a pixelated image. An upscaling DVD may help there, mine did.

Regarding the black level try Powersaving Low, Backlight between 4-6, Picture 77-70, Brightness 48-53.

[Hosko]

The bravias do a terrible job of deinterlacing 576i. If you can feed the display HD sources.

[Hosko]

Sending 576i or 480p to a 1080p tv will probably result in a pixelated image. An upscaling DVD may help there, mine did.

Regarding the black level try Powersaving Low, Backlight between 4-6, Picture 77-70, Brightness 48-53.

And in the picture settings turn everything in the Advanced Settings to off.

[Mark1308]

would all of this make black levels in assassins creed wen eg. wen go into water, the water is almost completly black

Edited February 22, 2008 by Mark1308

[shonin]

awesome info! thanks to all who posted!

[Guest neilk1503562102]

Thank you to all who have contributed here. The KDL46X3100 looked great out of the box, but with this information it is now even better.

[darkrider]

does anybody know braviaX series support "Full RGB HDMI" on ps3? i put it on "Full range" with my 46x3100 and it makes the picture darker and in some ps3 games really dark. i had to turn on the brightness to 54+ to see more details. is it recommended to turn it on full range or limited?

[JFS]

I recently upgraded from a 68cm 4:3 CRT to an 46" X3100 Bravia.

When I watch tv on the inbuilt tuner (HD or even SD), or play DVDs or Blueray discs through the PS3 it looks fine.

However, I also have an SD PVR (Arion, which outputs at 576i and connects via component) and also watch the occasional xvid file on the PS3 (which connects via HDMI), both of which take up the full screen, look 'fuzzy' or at least not clear. I was wondering what options most people use for watching lower resolution sources. Do you still expand them to the full screen or do you reduce the size they take up to make the picture sharper.

Eg. For the PVR, if I put it into 4:3 Letterbox mode and use the "Normal" wide-screen setting on the TV, it take up about 75% of the screen size and looks more clear.

For the xvid files, if I manually change the PS3 to 576P resolution and play the files with the 'original' size option again they take about 75% of the screen and look clear. The only slight inconvenience is I need to change the resolution if I watch a Blueray disc.

Apologies if this is better asked in a more "general" topic but I thought it may be related to calibration and/or widescreen settings etc.

[MrMan]

^Everything u need to know & more... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=893076

Edited April 28, 2008 by MrMan

[hui]

Hi all,

FWIW, here's my current KDL-46XBR settings (they can vary a little depending on the source/room lighting):

PICTURE

Picture Mode: Standard

Backlight: 6 (TV) or Min (DVD/PS3 BD)

Picture: 85

Brightness: 50

Colour: 60

Colour Temp: Neutral

Sharpness: 50

NR: Low (TV) or Off (PS3 BD)

MPEG NR: Off

DRC Mode: Mode 1

DRC Palette: Reality 40/Clarity 60

Black Corrector: Off

Adv Contrast Enhancer: Low or Off (PS3 BD)

Gamma: Low

Clear White: Low

Colour Space: Standard

Live Colour: Low

White Bal: All zeroed

Detail Enhancer: Off

Edge Enhancer: Low

VIDEO SETTINGS

Motion Enhancer: Standard

Cinema Drive: Usually Off or Auto 1, occasionally Auto 2 (depending on source)

SET-UP

Power Saving: Off or Low (for lowering black levels in a dimly lit room)

Light Sensor: On (again, for lower black levels) or Off (for boosting the picture brightness - Power Saving should also be off)

Logo Illumination: Off

No doubt I'll continue to tweak settings, but these have worked well for me for the past few months

[CHADIM]

I recently purchased a 52X3100 and would greatly appreciate any suggestions on the best settings for watching the Channel 7 and 10 HD footy telecasts. I have definately noticed some motion blurring, particularly during the fast moving action. I find this a little puzzling since I cannot detect any significant amount of blurring when watching fast paced action scenes on DVD.

[hui]

I recently purchased a 52X3100 and would greatly appreciate any suggestions on the best settings for watching the Channel 7 and 10 HD footy telecasts. I have definately noticed some motion blurring, particularly during the fast moving action. I find this a little puzzling since I cannot detect any significant amount of blurring when watching fast paced action scenes on DVD.

I've noticed compression artifacts around players, particularly during fast passages. Maybe that's what you're seeing? (Both stations really need to up the bitrate on their HD footy broadcasts - they can get quite pixellated when cameras start panning)

If Motion Enhancer (Video Settings menu) is High, it can also add some edge artifacts - try Standard instead.

[cellrsx]

does anybody know braviaX series support "Full RGB HDMI" on ps3? i put it on "Full range" with my 46x3100 and it makes the picture darker and in some ps3 games really dark. i had to turn on the brightness to 54+ to see more details. is it recommended to turn it on full range or limited?

Is your PS3 connected directly to the Bravia or does it go through a receiver?

All the new Yamahas (RX-V1800, 663 etc.) limit their HDMI YCbCr/RGB inputs to levels 16-235 so you don't see "black blacks" and "white whites". If you have one of these receivers and use a PS3 you should set the PS3 RGB setting to "limited" and calibrate from that.

There's a whole thread on the HDMI clipping issue here...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1010178

Hope that helps!

Edited May 2, 2008 by cellrsx

[sp3ctrum]

I have made many adjustments over the months I’ve owned the set. As time went by I found myself turning more and more unnecessary crap off. As of now EVERYTHING is off, bar the DRC mode for regular TV watching, and detail enhancer on medium for gaming.

Picture Mode: Custom (should always use custom or movie mode, as others result in decreased motion resolution)

Backlight: 6

Picture: 98 (I normally don’t max things out, but there are zero effects in doing so on this set)

Brightness: 53

Colour: 58

Colour Temp: Warm 2

Sharpness: 40

DRC Mode: Mode 1

DRC Palette: Reality 25/Clarity 75

White Balance: Didn’t need to touch this.

Detail enhancer: Off / On medium for gaming

Everything else is off. Light sensor is also on.

This gives near perfect D65 colours, and still has plenty of “pop”. Most people will find Warm 2 too “yellow” at first, as did I. But I promise you after a week of watching it the cooler colour temps will seem fake. If you want realistic colours and want to view movies the way they were meant to be seen, stick to Warm 2.

[Alicia]

Hi All

I have had my 46X3100 for around a week now. I have a ps3 connected via HDMI. Now I have noticed when playing blu-ray movies, whenever there is movement, mainly when somebody is turning their head then there is a slight blur / ghosting. I have no idea what is causing this, could it be because I haven't calibrated the screen or should I be worried that I have a dud tv? It was really really bad when I was watching Saw 4 on blu-ray, in fact all the Saw blu-ray movies were the same but not as bad as 4 I have been using the factory vivid settings. I haven't noticed any issues playing any ps3 games and I haven't tried any dvd's yet. I have noticed though HD tv isn't as clear as it was using a HD Set top box with my Sony 40V300A.

I don't think it is a problem with my ps3 as there were no problems when it was connected to my 40V300A. I was going to try using some of the custom settings in this thread if it would make a difference.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!