Travel Technology - Best Buy tuneup for big-screen tv's

I was reading a review of the Samsung 61 inch tv I was leaning toward purchasing and the reviewer said it was always a good idea to pay for an in-home adjustment of any new tv. The reason was that when you see the tv in the store it is set up to look as great as possible with settings you would not want to use in your home. I asked the salesman at Best Buy about this today when I purchased the tv (I brought it up, he didn't). He said it costs about $300 and was a very good idea to get it. I asked him why I couldn't make the adjustments myself and he said the technician has lots of equipment and actually reprograms some of the cards' settings that I would have no way to get at to program.

Has anyone ever had this done or have any ideas if it sounds like something worth doing?

You can do it yourself if you want using the DVD program from Ovation Multimedia.

http://www.ovationmultimedia.com/

about a year ago, I bought a 61" samsung led dlp from buy.com. it was shipped from CA for $75, so it landed in MD for about $500 less than big box stores. i think it came from a samsung corporate front.

if it needs hand holding and adjustment, i cannot tell. i have a strong feeling the people telling you it needs lots of adj are the same people that say you MUST have monster wire to run your speakers.

regular dlp bulbs burn out in 1000 hrs, give or take, the last time I read. can be very expensive to replace. 1000 hrs is only about 6 weeks of continous operation(forget to turn the thing off). I have not seen any reviews on the samsung let dlp technology.

my tellie picture looks just like the samsung led dlp at CC and BB to me, and I just had my cataracts done. it sounds different. about 40 db less volume. when you go to watch the thing at BB/CC, do not forget to take your TVBGone. for good sound, go look at one in a BB with Magnolia.

Then you can also spring for a Klipsch reference surround sound system.

Unless they're ISF trained and have the appropriate equipment, I wouldn't consider Best Buy for any sort of in-home calibration.

DIY kits such as Avia are fine for the casual home theater user, but an ISF-trained technician with the proper equipment can provide you with a truly stunning picture on even modestly-priced sets.

Check the ISF database (http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm) for a professional in your area.

Unless they're ISF trained and have the appropriate equipment, I wouldn't consider Best Buy for any sort of in-home calibration.

DIY kits such as Avia are fine for the casual home theater user, but an ISF-trained technician with the proper equipment can provide you with a truly stunning picture on even modestly-priced sets.

Check the ISF database (http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm) for a professional in your area.

The Best Buy people are ISF certified, they are not your run of the mill installer. They do use the full assortment of ISF equipment. While the DVD will do a decent job, you will maximize your power savings and image quality with the ISF calibration. Someone mentioned DLP bulbs, and a calibration will also extend the life of the bulb.

The 61 inch Samsung led dlp is the set I bought yesterday. I bought the non-led Samsung 61 inch last week and I should have listened to the reviews. The reviews all said it had a bad case of the "smileys." That's when on the bottom of the picture both sides bow into the middle. They were right, it was very bad. So that's why I returned it and bought the led dlp. I went through 3 bulbs on my Panasonic 50 inch dlp in 4 years (at $400 per bulb. Luckily I had Best Buy's warranty). The Samsung led dlp, according to the reviews I've read, has a bulb life of 20,000 hours. The old dlp bulbs were only a couple of thousand hours.

The Best Buy technician is supposed to be specially trained. The service region my Best Buy is in covers Michigan and South Bend, Indiana. They have one technician for the entire region that does these alignments. I'll have to check that isf database and see if he is listed, or find another one that might be cheaper. I think that might be the best way to go rather than the Avia program.

For the audio portion I bought a Yamaha YSP-900 soundbar. It has about 24 speakers that can be individually aimed to where you will be sitting. It's supposed to eliminate the need for rear-speakers. It comes with a microphone you put where you will be sitting and then it automatically aims itself to that spot. I bought a 500 watt, 12 inch JBL Venue series subwoofer to go with it. And a couple of HD Tivo's with a TIVO extender for one of them. The new tv comes Wednesday and I can hardly wait.

I agree with the above - there are two options. First is self calibration with an Avia, Video Essentials, or similar. This can get a picture that's much better than the out-of-the-box setup for <$50. I went with Option 2 on my last set and, honestly, don't know if it was that much of an improvement over what I did with my Avia disk.

Second is a trained calibrator. ISF has no "certification" program, so just attending a class and paying some money gets you training and listed on the site. It's a good indicator, but look for references.

I have Eliab, from Avical, coming to calibrate my unit on his Midwest tour in early February. About the same price as you mentioned, and he has dozens and dozens of references from places like avsforum. See http://www.avical.com/calibration.html for a list of the equipment used and what's involved in the calibration.

It's possible Best Buy has someone with the same qualifications, or has contracted with someone like this, so you just need to ask some questions, get references, etc.

Thanks for the reminder about the Avia product. I was hesitant to purchase it, but just checked and it is available on Netflix along with Digital Video Essentials, so what the heck, I'll play around and see if I can fine tune my 42" LCD myself. ^

I have used the AVIA and DVD Essentials products for years, they have recently come out with HD versions (although, I think there was a ship delay) that do a pretty decent job of getting the basics right. Brightness, contrast, color levels, etc. I think the DVDE one includes a set of color filters. I recently about two years ago bought an EYE calibration tool, that hooks up to a computer and runs signals and caputres the minut images from the actual screen. I think I got another 15% better with that calibration. I was only 100$ for the tool, and I shared the use with a gang of other plasma owners. It works pretty darn well.

If you don't have time, skill, patience of interest and buy a very nice tv and have a very good signal, paying 175-225$ for an ISF calibration is a good investment. They usually do just ONE input for that amount, so figure out how many you want to do, or how you are going to setup you set. One video signal to the TV maybe, and everything running through an AV receiver?

You should be able to find a qualified ISF calibrator over at the AVSFORUMS, they have a list of qualified ISF C's and reports on who did a good job.