Tweaks A Plenty With Spears & Munsil

[ttocs]

Don't know why I waited so long to get the Spears And Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark disc. It's such a great help to dial-in a tv panel using the supplied very complex and comprehensive test patterns, and well produced videos. I’m really amazed at how many parameters can be checked concurrently with one test pattern.

My suggestion, do what I did and start slow. There is so much to learn, where does one begin? Well, start with the basic instructions on the S/M web site under Articles: Ultra HD Edition Articles and then select Getting started with the Ultra HD Benchmark.

For me it was the terminology that was challenging at first. “What do they mean?” But after some searches on the web for examples with my tv and some S/M tutorials I was on my way. The instructions said it would probably take about 30 minutes to do the basic stuff. Nope. It was hours before I felt I had a grasp of what was happening. There were some settings on the blu-ray player that had to be checked, like color space output, and auto this and that which needed to be turned off, etc. Same for the tv. I went through the entire menu finding all the automatic stuff that needed to be disabled, otherwise they would interfere with some of the settings. So there was quite a bit of back and forth going on.

After the blu-ray player was setup things smoothed out and I was more confident with the process. Then it was down to change some settings, watch some videos from the disc, then watch some tv. Rinse/repeat.

I won’t be posting any screenshots of the Spears And Munsil imagery. All of the important ones are already on their web site with detailed info on the interpretation of each test pattern. Really, the biggest challenge was getting started. After that I just kept referring to the S/M web site for what it all meant. Then it was up to me to figure out which setting to alter to get closer to the goal.

One thing that I had to discover on my own is that when I followed the S/M instructions exactly when setting Brightness, it didn’t work. On my Sony 85X950G I had to use Black Level in order to expose the “below black” bars. Once I saw that my tv could produce them, I then could go between Brightness and Black Level to get proper brightness without washing out too much. So in my case I had to set the desired Brightness, then use Black Level to get the below black bars set. Otherwise, the brightness just wasn’t high enough for daytime viewing. And once again, after changing settings, I watched tv to check the newer settings. This is jus to point out that we need to be creative thinkers for some of this to make sense and workout. And then after watching more tv shows I tweak a little more.

Here’s what I went through.
Read a lot.
Decided to order the Spears & Munsil disc.
While waiting for delivery, I read a lot more.
Received the disc, popped it in, looked around, opened the saved web sites I needed to reference.
Then began to climb a long ladder to get over the tall brick wall in front of me.
After about a half hour of setting up the player, then referring to some test patterns to watch for changes in color space, I felt I had a better handle on how things were going and I got to the top of the brick wall and could see the other side.

So the question at hand is, does the picture look better? You betcha! The tweaks amount to subtle changes for the most part. The test patterns help a lot to know what is clipping and what isn't. And I'm surprised at how good the default settings are.

But what about color? I'm not touching the color settings, well, except for Saturation, which I bumped up a little. But without a colorimeter there is no sense in messing with color. On the Calman web site it states that my tv is not compatible with any of their software, but it was pointed out that some info on that site is out of date and maybe there is compatible software, so I'll contact them to find out. Maybe. I'm pretty happy at the moment.

I'm keeping track of all settings in a spreadsheet. Without it I'm lost.

[ttocs]

Before I received the S/M disc I was able to ad two more presets to my tv's menu called Pro 1 and Pro 2. I love this because I'm already using both, and will need at least one more, for which I'll use the Custom preset.

Here's the video for how to do this. When is comes to the format of the address that needs to be typed into the Calman app that you'll need to install, it's xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxxx   The guy isn't real clear about this, but it's what seemed appropriate when I looked at my options at the time. This worked for my model, and I guess it'll work for the other models listed.

[KeithL]

I find it kind of annoying that TV manufacturers still haven't caught up with computer vendors on this stuff.

With a computer you simply install the calibration software, connect the colorimeter, slap it on the screen, and run the program.

The colorimeter runs all the tests, creates all of the calibration files, and basically engages them for you.

A calibration LUT is loaded into your graphics card which delivers a calibrated picture to the monitor with everything you run on that computer.

In addition to that a more precise color profile is saved as a file - which is used by programs that support "color management" to fine tune things even more.

But the last two high-end Dell monitors I purchased were so close out-of-the-box that it didn't make any difference anyway.

[marcl]

Jun 6, 2022 9:28:12 GMT -5 KeithL said:

I find it kind of annoying that TV manufacturers still haven't caught up with computer vendors on this stuff.

With a computer you simply install the calibration software, connect the colorimeter, slap it on the screen, and run the program.

The colorimeter runs all the tests, creates all of the calibration files, and basically engages them for you.

A calibration LUT is loaded into your graphics card which delivers a calibrated picture to the monitor with everything you run on that computer.

In addition to that a more precise color profile is saved as a file - which is used by programs that support "color management" to fine tune things even more.

But the last two high-end Dell monitors I purchased were so close out-of-the-box that it didn't make any difference anyway.

The Calman software - one year license $145 - works a lot like the monitor calibration software we're used to, at least in the sense of connecting the computer and colorimeter and letting it automatically run and download the LUT.  Well, it took about 3hrs to run SDR, HDR and DV on my LG TV (vs Spyder taking just a few minutes on a computer monitor) but the Calman software did work great ... once I got the X-Rite colorimeter.

But the results were a big leap past what I could do with the S&M disk and basic TV settings - at least according to the measurements - though there is really no practical way to A/B test.  If I was a trained calibrator with knowledge of the secret service menus and settings in the TV, S&M and a meter would be all I'd need.  The S&M disk was really helpful in evaluating whether the Calman calibration worked properly, which in my initial attempts with a Spyder X colorimeter, it did not.

It is a shame Calman doesn't support more TV's, and what makes it harder is not all TV's have the pattern generator built in. I was lucky with the LG. Sony owners have a tougher time.

S&M disc is definitely essential equipment if you want to optimize your TV without spending hundreds of dollars on gear, or rolling the dice with a pro calibrator.

[KeithL]

I blame the TV manufacturers...

The software is nothing magical... and modern smart TVs already include a computer... and there are standards for colorimeters.

The TV manufacturers COULD say: buy this colorimeter, plug it into the USB port, stick it on the "X" on the screen, and hit the button.

They could even charge extra for it as a premium feature (or make you pay double for a rebranded colorimeter).

And they could offer all sorts of fancy fiddly customization options on their expensive models.

And, to be blunt, I don't believe that the TV manufacturers these days are "protecting the ability of calibrators to sell their services" anymore either.

I don't believe that enough people who buy a Sony TV at Best Buy are going to pay them for a professional calibration to matter much.

To me it's just plain lack of interest... or the legitimate fact that most customers really don't know or care.

It's also possible that some TVs don't internally support being calibrated in the way it's normally done on computers... by loading a LUT into the graphics hardware.

If so then it may take significant effort to adapt the software to enter its results into the TV in the format it uses for internal adjustments.

There's also the fact that many TV manufacturers place great value on their added "picture enhancements"... and there could be conflicts there.

(What if the color calibration that looks perfect with "motion smoothing" off looks horrible with it on?)

This could make what I'm suggesting a bigger project than it first seems.

You can usually find the proper access codes for most models of TV online these days.

(And you can even buy "service remotes" for many models really cheap... )

However you will often find that the way you enter adjustments is not always compatible with the results you get from calibration.

With computers you essentially linearize the ramp for each of the three colors and you're done... because the three primaries don't interact on modern displays.

However, once you start doing things like frame interpolation, and motion smoothing, everything gets far more complicated.

For example, you may end up having to deliberately exaggerate a certain color because, when flashed too quickly, "it doesn't look right when it measures right".

And, even worse, that adjustment may depend on the colors in adjoining pixels, or what color was on that pixel a few milliseconds before that one.

And, if those adjustments are all being done by the same software, it may be complicated to "separate the level where color calibration occurs".

(With computers those two things are already being handled by different parts of the software.)

Jun 6, 2022 9:50:40 GMT -5 marcl said:

Jun 6, 2022 9:28:12 GMT -5 KeithL said:

I find it kind of annoying that TV manufacturers still haven't caught up with computer vendors on this stuff.

With a computer you simply install the calibration software, connect the colorimeter, slap it on the screen, and run the program.

The colorimeter runs all the tests, creates all of the calibration files, and basically engages them for you.

A calibration LUT is loaded into your graphics card which delivers a calibrated picture to the monitor with everything you run on that computer.

In addition to that a more precise color profile is saved as a file - which is used by programs that support "color management" to fine tune things even more.

But the last two high-end Dell monitors I purchased were so close out-of-the-box that it didn't make any difference anyway.

The Calman software - one year license $145 - works a lot like the monitor calibration software we're used to, at least in the sense of connecting the computer and colorimeter and letting it automatically run and download the LUT.  Well, it took about 3hrs to run SDR, HDR and DV on my LG TV (vs Spyder taking just a few minutes on a computer monitor) but the Calman software did work great ... once I got the X-Rite colorimeter.

But the results were a big leap past what I could do with the S&M disk and basic TV settings - at least according to the measurements - though there is really no practical way to A/B test.  If I was a trained calibrator with knowledge of the secret service menus and settings in the TV, S&M and a meter would be all I'd need.  The S&M disk was really helpful in evaluating whether the Calman calibration worked properly, which in my initial attempts with a Spyder X colorimeter, it did not.

It is a shame Calman doesn't support more TV's, and what makes it harder is not all TV's have the pattern generator built in. I was lucky with the LG. Sony owners have a tougher time.

S&M disc is definitely essential equipment if you want to optimize your TV without spending hundreds of dollars on gear, or rolling the dice with a pro calibrator.

[ttocs]

With the few adjustments I've done, the picture is a lot more comfortable to view and seems more real.

The attachment shows the changes I've made highlighted in dark blue. The last changes are from last night in the Night section, Column 6: Changed To. The changes resulted in a good improvement, but when looking at the test patterns the changes seem tiny.


The S/M disc also has some moving targets for adjusting the Motion settings to one's liking. I used to use the Formula One race in Monaco for adjusting. There's a camera angle where a banner over the race course will stutter or be smooth depending on the Motion settings. Now, it's really simple with the disc.