…what is ISF Calibration & why should my new TV be calibrated?

Spencer Sight & Sound

· Your television, whether in your living room or in a dedicated home theater, is the last link in a chain that began on a movie set or in a TV production studio. Directors and cinematographers spend millions of dollars getting the “look” just right for their movies (or other content). In order to experience a program as those who produced it intended, your display device must be calibrated to the same standards! Fortunately both the NTSC (current) and HDTV (currently rolling out) systems have both set forward the exact same standards when it comes to something called “color temperature.”

Plasma TV = $350

LCD Flat Panel = $350

LCD / DLP Projection $350

Front Projection = $375

Additional Input Calibration = $35

call 215-721-9800

· Television and other display device manufacturers are forced by typical retail environments to set up their products to catch your eye on what they know is going to be a very brightly (read “harshly”) lit showroom floor. This means that controls like brightness, contrast, sharpness, and color temperature are set much higher than they should be for accurate content “re-production.” A good example is color temperature; NTSC and HDTV systems both specify a display color temperature of D6500 Kelvin. Typical color temperatures out of the box range from 8000 Kelvin to over 16,000 Kelvin (occasionally we have even seen color temperatures out of the measurement range of even very sophisticated test instruments)!

Calibration Equipment BY Sencore

VP-403C / ACP6500 / CP5000 / Color Pro III / IV

Ed Spencer

Certifications / Qualifications

Imaging Science Foundation - ISF Certification

Sencore Factory Training  /  Cedia Installer

28 years in Audio Video Service and Installation

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· What is the Imaging Science Foundation and why is its certification important? ISF is the premiere display standards organization and is exclusively focused on the end product, what the viewer sees! They consult with manufacturers, train dealers like Spencer Sight & Sound, generate media communications promoting picture quality in magazines like Audio Video Interiors, Home Theater, Stereophile's Guide to Home Theater, and license products that meet its strict standards for “high fidelity video.” The ISF even consults with and licenses the manufacturers of the sophisticated test instrumentation used by [Spencer Sight & Sound] and required perform proper video display calibration.

…to learn more about the Imaging Science Foundation and its mission, please visit http://www.imagingscience.com/ … we also recommend you do your own research (if you are so inclined). A visit to the Internet search engine http://www.google.com will reveal nearly 1,500 results by simply typing the phrase “ISF calibration.”