Sony KDS-60A3000 Calibration

History is replete with examples of products that were discontinued just when the manufacturer got them right. The latest victim of this injustice is Sony’s SXRD line of rear-projection TVs. These displays have always had benchmark status starting back with the Qualia series and its lower-priced successors, A2000, A2020 and A3000. Only the A3000 really got everything right. All the aspects of a quality TV are there; stable black levels, accurate color, good optics, 1080p/24 capability and correct gamma. Previous sets had most of these qualities but the A3000 finally had something I’d not seen since the last XBR960 I calibrated: accurate primary and secondary colors. This was the first Sony display, in my experience, with correct color out of the box.

My client was running his sources through an Anthem Statement D2 processor. This unit has Gennum VXP video processing so I ran my patterns through it to be sure of accurate results. As with most Sony TVs, all the controls needed are in the user menu. I started by setting the iris to a fixed aperture so it wouldn’t affect gamma and black level measurements. All enhancements were turned off. Black levels remained stable throughout the complete luminance range. Color space was left on standard. This set like many others supports an extended gamut (xvYCC) but no content is encoded with this colorspace. Engaging the wider gamut results in a cartoon-like picture with overblown color saturation. I did find use for the Live Color control. With the control set on medium, the CIE points were almost perfect and color separation seemed better. Since it had a positive effect, I left it on. Previous Sony products with this control do not benefit from its use.

Grayscale was easy to dial in with user menu controls as well. Tracking was within 100k of D65 after calibration, excellent performance. Gamma improved greatly from 1.7 to 2.1 after calibration. The gamma control did not have a positive effect so I left it off. Using it served only to raise the bottom of the curve. All adjustments were made with the Iris set on minimum. This ultimately hurt peak light output so I set in on Auto 2. Shadow detail was still excellent but peak luminance doubled to over 21 foot-lamberts. A 0 IRE field measured .008 fl for a contrast ratio of 2725:1. This was an ideal range for the room the TV was in. This TV is capable of prodigious light output but in a darkened room, anything over 20 fl will result in viewing fatigue. If ambient light had been an issue in this case, I would have opened up the iris to a larger, fixed aperture. I am a fan of automatic irises when you don’t see their operation. This is the case with the A3000. You don’t see the iris doing its thing when viewing content. Black level quality and shadow detail are excellent and you only notice the iris if you turn it off.

Once all adjustments to the Sony were complete, I dialed in the different sources using the Anthem’s adjustments. The Gennum VXP video processor has controls for everything except color management and grayscale. Small tweaks were made to brightness and some of the edge enhancement controls. DVD from the clients Oppo player was excellent and HDDVD played from an Xbox 360 looked stunning. Once you’ve experienced Blu-ray or HDDVD, you won’t want to watch any other format! For anyone considering a big TV like this, please hurry. Since Sony has ceased manufacturing this model, they won’t last long. I’ve seen them selling for under $2000. Imagine a 60-inch TV for under 2 grand! This has to be the video bargain of the century. As of today (March 9), Circuit City no longer has them in stock. If you already have one of these excellent displays, grab an extra bulb and consider a professional calibration. You should have no problem getting many years out of this TV.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the view!

Hitachi 51F500 Calibration

Though requests for CRT calibrations are less frequent these days, I always enjoy the unique qualities these TVs possess. I also enjoy the before and after effect. A CRT can really be transformed into a superb and accurate display capable of very high image quality. This TV is very similar to the F510 model but with a more limited user menu. The service menu however has all the same controls available in its extensive ISF mode to achieve a spectacular image.

When I arrived on site, this TV really need some work. Color was quite flat and the image was very soft. I began with a full manual convergence. I displayed the set’s internal grid and worked my way from the center spiraling outwards. This can be tricky because the guns are defocused during this operation. You really have to get up close and personal with the screen to see what you’re doing. It’s a painstaking process but quite necessary. After about 45 minutes, I was finished. The results were immediately apparent. Clarity was greatly improved and some color had returned to the image.

Moving on to the calibration portion; primaries measured very accurately as with most quality CRTs. The service menu allows turning off the individual guns so aligning the decoder was a breeze. Turning off several options in service eliminated the red and green push inherent in these TVs. Black levels were also very stable at all light levels. This TV has an excellent power supply. This is the most important component in any CRT or plasma display. An inferior power supply will allow black levels to change as light output or APL increases. Grayscale unfortunately was nowhere close, even on the Warm color temp setting. It was so blue, several IREs measured beyond the limit of my metering software (18,000K!). Fortunately, this was easy to fix in service. There are 3 color temp memories, high, medium and standard. I adjusted the standard one to D65.

Once the grayscale and decoder were dialed in a final tweak of brightness and contrast brought the image up to a very high standard. One small surprise: the Scan Velocity Modulation control actually made a positive improvement in image clarity. With Sharpness set to 0, the SVM did improve the picture without introducing any ringing. I usually leave these sorts of options turned off but in this case, Hitachi got it right.

We checked out the results with some hi-def satellite and Blu-ray from a Panasonic BD30. Both sources did a super job at rendering 1080i, the set’s native resolution. Blu-ray content was artifact-free and looked simply stunning. Color depth and dynamic range were every bit the equal of the best plasma panels out there. For those wondering, this TV had not been modified in any way. I have encountered some of these units where clients had lined the cabinet with light-absorbing Duvetyne and or removed the screen cover to cut glare. These mods can show an improvement but in the right viewing environment, they are not necessary. My client’s room had good light control so there were no issues with reflections on the screen or stray light entering the cabinet.

My client has owned this TV for 4 years and plans to hang on to it for a few more. With proper maintenance and adjustment, this is a totally reasonable goal. The image quality is top-notch and the TV is well-constructed. I would recommend adjusting convergence every 6 months and follow-up calibrations every 12-18 months to anyone looking to get a few more miles out of one of these TVs. The DVI (HDMI on the 510) connection is HDCP compliant so current HDMI sources will work. If you have one of these displays in good working order, consider an ISF calibration before you toss it out. You might be pleasantly surprised at the results!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the view!