TV calibration question

I am using Digita Video Essentials disk to calibrate my TV, a Samsung LN-S4095D (40", LCD).

The DVD player is Oppo 980H, feeding the Sammy in 1080p.

The settings I get to, following the instructions, seems not to be good for both the DVD and cablebox feed, although the STB ( a Motorola from Comcast) is connected to the TV via HDMI as well and is delivering 1080i.

The picture seems a bit too dark when the same settings are used for the STB feed in high def ( and even darker for 4:3 programs, but I think that's OK, given the reduced light output associated with the 3:4 aspect ratio).

Could it be that the DVD player or the STB are not following the standards or, most probably, I'm doing something wrong...

All Oppo settings are on default or off, same for the TV (no DNIe or Digital NR filter).

Any ideas?

Thank you,
Alex

Does your LCD allow you to calibrate for each input or is it a global setting?

The box can be very different from the oppo. In the end - go w/ what is more pleasing to your eye's.

I have no experience w/ the Oppo ... there are many gun slingers who have Oppo who can jump in......

Thank you for your input. I have the ability to assign different settings to different inputs, thus this is not the issue.

I'm more puzzled as to why the difference and what should I use to calibrate the cablebox, if it's so different from the player?

This is the first time in my life when I'm trying to calibrate a display other than "by the eye" and I'm almost sure I might do something wrong.

Serves me well, if I'm trying to go "by the book". ;-)

A M,
After you play w/ the setup disc, put it away and come back in a month or so and run it again. during the month - you will be watching your TV w/ a little more critical eye. when you come back after a month - the adjustments will start to make more sense. Especial as you wath other TV at friends homes or at stores - you will notices brightness - blacks - colors , etc...


difference would be in the way each 'box' handles the video. I would lean toward the Oppo - since it has received good reviews for its processing of images.

Later....

As tmdlp points out, each source can behave differently. I'd trust the calibration disc for the 980H to start with. Calibrating for the cable box can be a bit tricky - for example, some broadcasts can be simply wrong (as I discovered the first time I calibrated my old 27" Mitsubishi using Video Essentials and switched over to the local news to find the "on location" reporter looked like he'd been on the beach without sunscreen all day). I'd suggest getting the DVD source right first and then looking for some good cable content to see how your cable box is doing at the moment. If you have Discovery HD, see how Sunrise Earth looks. Darker than you are used to may actually be the result of good calibration, as most TV's start out way too bright and are often left that way.

Mystery solved. Oppo was set for RGB color space whereas the cable box was in YCbCr. Both standards convey the same information, but in a different way. The TV set doesn't have any setting referring to the color space, it accepts them both, but requires different settings accordingly.

Once I switched Oppo for YCbCr, the same settings work beautifully for both sources. Some TV channels may go astray, but not by very much, and I was always taking Discovery HD Theater as a reference for HD.

It's all the way it should be now, thank you, gentlemen, for your input. I sincerely believe that this forum is a true "feature" of Outlaw, they should print it in the user's manual.

Alex