Look at my previous reply regarding calibration. The one important piece of information that I have as yet to see qouted on any of the forum website I belong to is the reccomendation that not only after your first 100-200 hrs. break-in time should you get a calibration but also on the 1 yr. anniversary after that cal you can determine how frequently you should have the service done(based on degradation) which depend mostly on 2 factors: Quality of Product and viewing hours per year. Take a Panny for instance under the same typical viewing circumstances will have less percentage of degradation than say a Magnavox or Olevia so the requirement could be much more frequent. After 1 yr. if you only expirience a 3 percent degradation on the panny if your viewing habits don't change dramatically you could in theory wait 5 yrs. for your next. I have a friend who owns an Olevia and after 1 yr. he's expirienced an 7% loss he should consider a cal every other yr. Remember the printout is of paramount importance so if a Calibrator can't provide that for you, you might want to look elsewhere.