Bestbuy offering TV ISF calibration.

[Smokey]

ISF stand for Imaging Scienec Foundation whcih set the standard for TV calibration precedure. It will calibrate TV color to 6500k temperature which is the industry and studio stanadard for TV color temperature.

Cost is $299 which include:

Calibrate your TV to ISF standards by ISF-Certified Elite Service Specialists (Geek Squad)
Adjust the surround sound levels of the A/V receiver to ensure all the effect speakers are working optimally
Review and check the speaker system; verify that all speakers are properly positioned and working
Ensure that all wires and cables are neatly dressed, using wire ties as needed

I must admit that calibrating TV to ISF standard can make night and day difference in TV picture quality, but $299 sound kind of steep to me. I wonder how much they charge for TV calibration alone

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1190677437119

[Rich-n-Texas]

Festus,

The best resource for ISF calibration services is at the AVS forums:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...ysprune=&f=139

I'd trust this forum before any BB store... Or CC... or more to the point, B&M stores all around the world, ya know?

[Smokey]

Festus,

The best resource for ISF calibration services is at the AVS forums:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...ysprune=&f=139

I think most of independent calibrator charge about $400 and one have wait for them to come to your area, or buy them transportation ticked if they have to go out of their way to be in your area. I agree though that they probably do a better job.

Smokester, they use disc's for calibration, not things like a sencore color generator, analyzer, or snell and wilcox hot plates(exceptionally high quality color and pattern generator and extremely accurate analyer) to calibrate.

Do they access the TV's service menu at all?? I imagine with ISF certification, they are obligated to calibrate TV to 6500k standard no matter how elementary equipment they use.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I think most of independent calibrator charge about $400 and one have wait for them to come to your area, or buy them transportation ticked if they have to go out of their way to be in your area. I agree though that they probably do a better job.

Actually the price is a little closer to $500, but I have found the pricing in my area all over the map.

Do they access the TV's service menu at all?? I imagine with ISF certification, they are obligated to calibrate TV to 6500k standard no matter how elementary equipment they use.

The certification you get from ISF is a little less rigorous than certfification from CEDIA or THX. ISF covers the VERY basic, especially at this price. This I know for a fact because I have been CEDIA certified, and am still THX certified. Their ability to accurately calibrate is equivalent to the quality of the equipment they use to generate and analyze signals. At the price they are charging it is not likely(IMO) that they are going to have the equipment to do so, or that the person doing the calibration will have the know how to do it over a broad based amount of sets on the market and in the field.

[Smokey]

At the price they are charging it is not likely(IMO) that they are going to have the equipment to do so, or that the person doing the calibration will have the know how to do it over a broad based amount of sets on the market and in the field.

Hopefully they won’t send a kid to do a man’s job.

On BB web site, it said that it takes approximately two hours to do calibration which also include speaker/HT set up and tidy up everything. I imagine with that time frame, they won’t have time to set up sophisticated calibration and color measuring equipment, and do a run through TV’s menu.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

ISF stand for Imaging Scienec Foundation whcih set the standard for TV calibration precedure. It will calibrate TV color to 6500k temperature which is the industry and studio stanadard for TV color temperature.

Cost is $299 which include:

Calibrate your TV to ISF standards by ISF-Certified Elite Service Specialists (Geek Squad)
Adjust the surround sound levels of the A/V receiver to ensure all the effect speakers are working optimally
Review and check the speaker system; verify that all speakers are properly positioned and working
Ensure that all wires and cables are neatly dressed, using wire ties as needed

I must admit that calibrating TV to ISF standard can make night and day difference in TV picture quality, but $299 sound kind of steep to me. I wonder how much they charge for TV calibration alone

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1190677437119

Smokester, they use disc's for calibration, not things like a sencore color generator, analyzer, or snell and wilcox hot plates(exceptionally high quality color and pattern generator and extremely accurate analyer) to calibrate. What they do, you could do for a smaller investment

[pixelthis]

Smokester, they use disc's for calibration, not things like a sencore color generator, analyzer, or snell and wilcox hot plates(exceptionally high quality color and pattern generator and extremely accurate analyer) to calibrate. What they do, you could do for a smaller investment

my thoughts exactly.
Welcome back sir talky, finally get your meds stabilized?

[bfalls]

I'm willing to bet for a price of $299, they are only calibrating the DVD input and the sound system. I'm also willing to bet it doesn't include any adjustments within the service menu. This would be necessary if you want the customer's default settings to be the calibrated settings. The $500 price sound more like the cost of a full calibration, which usually runs approx. $165/input. To me BB calibration is better than nothing at all, but shouldn't be labeled an ISF calibration.
I've been through ISF calibration classes and own a Sencore P403 video signal generator. I've performed many calibrations and feel it's necessary to use the service menu. If the default setting are not the calibrated settings, the customer, their children, or friends can change the settings and unless they're recorded, will require reclaibration.
I'm not sure how they would be able to adjust to D6500 without a sensor to determine the correct proportions of RGB.
Probably for the general public, their calibration is of value as long as they include the satellite/cable input. What usually happens is people get so used to the "Torch Mode" set by the manufacturer, correct calibration tends to look dull, so they end up changing the setting anyway.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I'm willing to bet for a price of $299, they are only calibrating the DVD input and the sound system. I'm also willing to bet it doesn't include any adjustments within the service menu. This would be necessary if you want the customer's default settings to be the calibrated settings. The $500 price sound more like the cost of a full calibration, which usually runs approx. $165/input. To me BB calibration is better than nothing at all, but shouldn't be labeled an ISF calibration.
I've been through ISF calibration classes and own a Sencore P403 video signal generator. I've performed many calibrations and feel it's necessary to use the service menu. If the default setting are not the calibrated settings, the customer, their children, or friends can change the settings and unless they're recorded, will require reclaibration.
I'm not sure how they would be able to adjust to D6500 without a sensor to determine the correct proportions of RGB.
Probably for the general public, their calibration is of value as long as they include the satellite/cable input. What usually happens is people get so used to the "Torch Mode" set by the manufacturer, correct calibration tends to look dull, so they end up changing the setting anyway.

I think BB is counting on a couple of things. The folks who truely know about calibration will not call them, so ignorance is bliss for those who do. They know you are not going to pay a "REAL" technician to come out and check their results, and they know you DON'T have the equipment to check after they leave or you wouldn't have called them in the first place. They are going to calibrate one input, with a calibration disc that covers both audio and video. That is what you are getting for that price.

[Smokey]

I've been through ISF calibration classes and own a Sencore P403 video signal generator. I've performed many calibrations and feel it's necessary to use the service menu.

They don't have no choice but to enter the service menu If they want to change TV's color temperature or correct gray scaling. If they only use the disc and TV's onscreen menu, (as you said) then it shoudn't be called an ISF calibration.

[pixelthis]

They don't have no choice but to enter the service menu If they want to change TV's color temperature or correct gray scaling. If they only use the disc and TV's onscreen menu, (as you said) then it shoudn't be called an ISF calibration.

Agreed, but how long has it been since you've bought a TV?
My set has seperate (red, green, blue) color temp settings and a master setting.
As for the poster who mentioned "torch" mode, my sets default for bright and contrast is set at 50 as a default.
Of course for geometry and a few other setings you'd need the service
menu.
MY brothers plasma has a similar temp setup , BTW.

[Smithha]

Smokester, they use disc's for calibration, not things like a sencore color generator, analyzer, or snell and wilcox hot plates(exceptionally high quality color and pattern generator and extremely accurate analyer) to calibrate. What they do, you could do for a smaller investment

Hi Sir Terrence the Terrible,
I have a bone to pick with you!

I decided to do a search in Google for ISF Calibration
and I ran across this Thread.
You State, BestBuy Geek Squad Calibration doesn't use a ISF Calibration certified Tools like the SENCORE. You go on to say they just use a Calibration Disk.
And this is where you couldn't be more wrong.
The Fact of the matter is, Best Buy uses the VP40x VideoPro Multimedia Video Generator.
This is the Sencore model they came out to my house and Calibrated our Panasonic G20 with.
Infact I have a Before and After HD Video and about 4 min of the BB Guy calibrating the TV, till he found out about it and told me to shut it off... He would've never known if he wouldn't have moved it and then me saying, Oh I'm recording... To bad though, I wouldn't had a great little video of the whole thing. But I do have him putting the Sencore Eye suction cup eye on the screen...

So sorry to say you are wrong Sir.

[bfalls]

Hi Sir Terrence the Terrible,
I have a bone to pick with you!

I decided to do a search in Google for ISF Calibration
and I ran across this Thread.
You State, BestBuy Geek Squad Calibration doesn't use a ISF Calibration certified Tools like the SENCORE. You go on to say they just use a Calibration Disk.
And this is where you couldn't be more wrong.
The Fact of the matter is, Best Buy uses the VP40x VideoPro Multimedia Video Generator.
This is the Sencore model they came out to my house and Calibrated our Panasonic G20 with.
Infact I have a Before and After HD Video and about 4 min of the BB Guy calibrating the TV, till he found out about it and told me to shut it off... He would've never known if he wouldn't have moved it and then me saying, Oh I'm recording... To bad though, I wouldn't had a great little video of the whole thing. But I do have him putting the Sencore Eye suction cup eye on the screen...

So sorry to say you are wrong Sir.

I spoke with the guys at Best Buy here in Terre Haute IN. They use the Spyder Pro. So it appears Best Buy isn't consistent on their hardware or procedures. At least three different methods have been posted here (Spyder Pro, DVDs, VP40x). It may be they advertise for and hire contractors for calibration.

After calibrating my TV's inputs, I also like to use calibration discs to calibrate the player and cable. With many players having internal settings/adjustments, it only make sense to calibrate the entire signal path.

I'm not sure I like the idea of them spending time cleaning up my cables. I'd rather they discount the price, or spend the time calibrating. With a two or three hour limit, they may not get to the TV .

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Hi Sir Terrence the Terrible,
I have a bone to pick with you!

I decided to do a search in Google for ISF Calibration
and I ran across this Thread.
You State, BestBuy Geek Squad Calibration doesn't use a ISF Calibration certified Tools like the SENCORE. You go on to say they just use a Calibration Disk.
And this is where you couldn't be more wrong.
The Fact of the matter is, Best Buy uses the VP40x VideoPro Multimedia Video Generator.
This is the Sencore model they came out to my house and Calibrated our Panasonic G20 with.
Infact I have a Before and After HD Video and about 4 min of the BB Guy calibrating the TV, till he found out about it and told me to shut it off... He would've never known if he wouldn't have moved it and then me saying, Oh I'm recording... To bad though, I wouldn't had a great little video of the whole thing. But I do have him putting the Sencore Eye suction cup eye on the screen...

So sorry to say you are wrong Sir.

First, your single experience is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. All calibrations boil down to the experience and knowleidge of the individual calibrator regardless of the equipment he uses. You may have had a good technician, but that is not consistent across the board. When the post was made, they were not using anything more that Video essentials as a calibration tool. I never said they would use them forever did I.

Secondly, your experience may have been great, but not everyone is satisfied with the quality of BB's technicians.

Thirdly, did he calibrate your set in a darkened room? Did he have dark clothes on? I would bet your rooms color would probably keep any technician from acheiving a totally accurate calibration.

When my buddy who does calibrations came to my house, he covered everything in the room with a black cloth(my room was already dark grey) to keep any light colored objects from contaminating the measurement. The calibration took hours to do(not minutes), and the results could not be repeated by any BB technician. That's what I call a calibration

I would say the bone has already been picked.

[Smithha]

First, your single experience is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. All calibrations boil down to the experience and knowleidge of the individual calibrator regardless of the equipment he uses. You may have had a good technician, but that is not consistent across the board. When the post was made, they were not using anything more that Video essentials as a calibration tool. I never said they would use them forever did I.

Secondly, your experience may have been great, but not everyone is satisfied with the quality of BB's technicians.

Thirdly, did he calibrate your set in a darkened room? Did he have dark clothes on? I would bet your rooms color would probably keep any technician from acheiving a totally accurate calibration.

When my buddy who does calibrations came to my house, he covered everything in the room with a black cloth(my room was already dark grey) to keep any light colored objects from contaminating the measurement. The calibration took hours to do(not minutes), and the results could not be repeated by any BB technician. That's what I call a calibration

I would say the bone has already been picked.

When we bought the TV at BB, which BB isn't my first choice of buying anything... But we only have a Three (3) Home theater stores that are privately owned. Two of the stores I wouldn't purchase anything from and the third, which is above the other two and in comparison a True High End Home Theater Store but they don't sell Panasonic and they don't recommend TV Calibration. (Atleast that's what one of the sells techs said to me...) I was floored when he said that and I don't think I've been back since... But mainly more due to one of the guys that worked there, which I worked with at a fourth home theater store which has closed for good, Jonathan found a new job in a completely different field I believe.
He was probably the most Knowledgeable of all the people at this company. Thats more of the reason I haven't been back.. Anyways.


When the Best Buy Tech walked in, the first thing he said was, Ahh! you have a black back drop over your windows. (I had him walk in through the Garage instead of the front door due to having it blacked out in the living room.) And my Eyes had already adjusted and didn't want to restart that process again.
Are walls are a Dark Green, our furniture is a Dark burgundy with Red Oak hardwood floors with an area rug over 90% of the living room.
The TV is mounted to an articulating wall mount which sits in a "Fake Fire Place I built especially for a Rear proj. Tv."

Prior to BB coming I had ran Color Slides to do a proper burn in.

All lights in the front room where off during Cal. except the LED Light behind the TV in the Cut out.
The Tech was wearing a Black Geek Squad polo shirt and black shorts.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

When we bought the TV at BB, which BB isn't my first choice of buying anything... But we only have a Three (3) Home theater stores that are privately owned. Two of the stores I wouldn't purchase anything from and the third, which is above the other two and in comparison a True High End Home Theater Store but they don't sell Panasonic and they don't recommend TV Calibration. (Atleast that's what one of the sells techs said to me...) I was floored when he said that and I don't think I've been back since... But mainly more due to one of the guys that worked there, which I worked with at a fourth home theater store which has closed for good, Jonathan found a new job in a completely different field I believe.
He was probably the most Knowledgeable of all the people at this company. Thats more of the reason I haven't been back.. Anyways.


When the Best Buy Tech walked in, the first thing he said was, Ahh! you have a black back drop over your windows. (I had him walk in through the Garage instead of the front door due to having it blacked out in the living room.) And my Eyes had already adjusted and didn't want to restart that process again.
Are walls are a Dark Green, our furniture is a Dark burgundy with Red Oak hardwood floors with an area rug over 90% of the living room.
The TV is mounted to an articulating wall mount which sits in a "Fake Fire Place I built especially for a Rear proj. Tv."

Prior to BB coming I had ran Color Slides to do a proper burn in.

All lights in the front room where off during Cal. except the LED Light behind the TV in the Cut out.
The Tech was wearing a Black Geek Squad polo shirt and black shorts.

Dark green, and dark burgundy are colors that will subtly add light to the room as the light from the screen splashes off of the walls and reflects back to the screen. This is why dark flat grey or black walls are recommended for dedicated HT set ups. This is also why my friend turned off all of the lights, and covered every colored surface with black cloth before calibration. Your LED light should have been turned off as well, as should all light sources except the television. It will raise the ambient light level, if even a little bit.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Just the thought of having a car that says "Geek Squad" on it parked in front of my house would be embarrasing.

[GMichael]

Just the thought of having a car that says "Geek Squad" on it parked in front of my house would be embarrasing.

Will Chuck himself be coming out to set up my system?

[pixelthis]

Just the thought of having a car that says "Geek Squad" on it parked in front of my house would be embarrasing.

This from a guy who owns a 9 year old firebird.

[Rich-n-Texas]

This from a guy who owns a 9 year old firebird.

It still hauls azz.

Smokey, bottom line... DON'T call the friggin' Geek Squad to cal your TV. OKAY? I don't agree that it takes extreme measures to get a cal technician out to your house. The AVS thread I pointed you to lists techs from many regions and I'm sure you can find one locally. And remember, without exception... you get what you pay for.

[lucasskywalker1]

Just the thought of having a car that says "Geek Squad" on it parked in front of my house would be embarrasing.

For those who are fortunate to live in the greater Boston area you have a GOD of HT amongst you at the DEDHAM BB location His background is as Follows ISF Certified, Electronics engineering Degree for Michigan State, 18 yrs. prior employment with Hewlett Packard in California, he comes with Sencore Equipment and gives a computer print out when he's completed his calibration displaying your prior factory settings and reccomended settings and finally your post settings. He was the first Calibration Expert in Southern NE for BB and with phone calls that I made directly to Sencore engineering regarding BB inability to access calibration for both Day and Night Setting (exclusive at the time to Elite Displays only) they supplied him with the $1,200.00 interface tool so he could do both. While here he calibrated the TV, the receiver, the Bluray, CD and Speakers. He has been here on 3 separate occasions and on his final trip with interface tool in hand he found for Sencore 2 bugs in there system of which immediately contacted the engineering people at Sencore and corrected the problems with them. I can't speak for the rest of the countrries BB locations but I have and will always Genuflect (that's bow to my knees and worship his presence) James White of the Dedham BB. By the way my Pioneer Elite 60" Plasma out of the box was factory set at 8100K which translates into premature burn out. Everyone do yourself a big favor do your homework and get a proper calibration done.

[Rich-n-Texas]

You take Chuck, I'll take the hot blondie!

[BradH]

ISF stand for Imaging Scienec Foundation whcih set the standard for TV calibration precedure. It will calibrate TV color to 6500k temperature which is the industry and studio stanadard for TV color temperature.

Actually, the standard is D65, not 6500K. What's the difference? You could measure 6500K at each 10% step and it still wouldn't look right. Here's why: there are many combinations of color levels that would arrive at 6500K but only one proportion is the right one and it needs to be at every level. If you look closely you'll see D65 and 6500K are two separate points on the curve in the CIE chart. (Also, the D65 target is 6504K but what's a few Kelvin among friends?) This is why there's no such thing as "D6500" and other such terms.

What they do, you could do for a smaller investment.

Absolutely. For about $140 you could get an EyeOne sensor, download HCFR Colorimetre for free and read these instructions:

http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457

Keeping in mind that Geek Squad is only using a Spider to do the same thing. This is all assuming your service menu gives you full access like the Color Management Systems in the Samsung and others. There's a list of models at AVS.

Hope this helps.

[mbbuchanan]

If you spend 3K on a new LCD or plasma set then I guess $299.99 isn't a bad deal when you consider how much people will spend for Monster Cable HDMI and and other accessories that will probably yield less impact on performance than this calibration.

[hermanv]

I'm probably one of the last holdouts. I find the idea that a brand new state of the art TV needs calibration before use offensive. I've bought exotic test equipment including $35,000 oscilloscopes that came "gasp" calibrated from the factory (the cheap ones come that way too).

Setting gray scale is nice, but more and more sets now get decent gray scale accuracy ratings from reviewers. I recommend you buy a set that's close as built. Besides both plasma and LCD suffer a color accuracy that can't be calibrated out (native colors do not align with HDTV color triangle). I find this more noticeable than a mediocre grey scale.

I bought an LED DLP (again I'm probably one of the last hold outs). Better blacks, better color accuracy and reviewers gave the set an OK for factory grey scale calibration. Suddenly reds are very deep in color and exhibit a great variety of shades of red I've never seen on plasma or LCD. The LED DLP is also cheap. It just isn't slim enough to hang on a wall (but neither is any home theater equipment, so who cares?)