Guide: GREYSCALE & COLOUR CALIBRATION FOR DUMMIES

[kalW]

Hi everyone!

I'd like to announce a new extensive guide I've put together: GREYSCALE & COLOUR CALIBRATION FOR DUMMIES



Link: GREYSCALE & COLOUR CALIBRATION FOR DUMMIES »

Over 250 hours of research and writing have gone into this guide.

This guide came about as the do-it-yourself (DIY) crowd has been asking more and more about greyscale calibration over the years. With reliable colorimeters now under $150 USD and excellent free software like ColorHCFR available, it's a no-brainer that all DIY enthusiasts have some sort of colorimeter in their toolbox.

Countless number of calibration guides have been published prior to this one. Some of them quite good. The problem we found is that most assume that the reader already has the required equipment and knows exactly how to set it up properly. Most guides also assume that the reader has a good understanding of terms like D65, stimulus, CIE, etc. Some even provide links to highly technical documents as "required reading". Yes, many of these documents are very informative, but not everyone wants to earn a doctorate in colorimetry so that they can set their greyscale properly.

My guide takes a step backwards and makes the assumption that the reader has absolutely no knowledge of colour calibration. In fact, this guide assumes that the reader doesn't even *know* what "greyscale calibration" is! We explain what it is, why it's important, list the tools needed, where to get them, and walk you through the process from start to finish.

I hope you find it useful.

Disclaimer: Those not comfortable with a DIY approach should consider hiring a pro. For those that would never consider hiring a pro or simply want to learn a bit more, this guide is for you. Whether you attempt to perform the calibration yourself or hire a professional, please consider having your display calibrated. You will be astounded by the resulting difference in picture quality.

Comments and feedback are appreciated!

Kal

[Arkadin]

looks like an informative read for sure.
thanks for posting!
we need all the help we can get in this forum for sure.
HDD being still a young'un after all

[kalW]

You're welcome! Hope you find it useful! I got so frustrated doing it myself and having to pull information in from dozens of different guides to get things to work right.... so I wrote my own!

Kal

[comixguru]

Amazing.

-comix

[james]

Wow. How long did it take you to put that together? It's impressive.

[Arkadin]

I'm sure this could be made a sticky KalW.
maybe pm a mod.

[JU1CYFRU1T]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

I'm sure this could be made a sticky KalW.
maybe pm a mod.

I was already sticking it before I read the 'entire' thread.

[YOUR HOVA]

This is a great sticky for us newbies that are just getting into home theater and are trying to maximize our picture quality. Unfortunately i'm still too green to attempt any of this stuff myself and apparently i can't get a pro calibration either because my diplays service menu is supposedly unaccessable. Good reading though very helpful and informative.

[pat00139]

I got my projector literally 4 days ago and have been holding off calibrating it. Your guide is perfect! Awesome!

[cre8sbeats]

Holy 61-page printout, Batman!

This is a very informative guide, though I could see some ways to separate parts of it to fit both pros in one guide and amateurs in another.

Thanks!

[cre8sbeats]

Originally Posted by cre8sbeats

This is a very informative guide, though I could see some ways to separate parts of it to fit both pros in one guide and amateurs in another.

I take that back. This guide is GREAT for amateurs and pros alike. Trust me: Follow the steps and you'll be AMAZED, even if you only do the gray scale calibration.

[HD 335]

Thanks Kal! I'll be reading up on this when I get home tonight.

[kalW]

Originally Posted by james

Wow. How long did it take you to put that together? It's impressive.

Far far too long. I figured about a couple of days tops (12-16 hours) when I started but like everything else I do I completely underestimated and it ended up taking me around 250 hours.

I'm still constantly tweaking it here and there to make things clearer as questions come up. I just added a bunch of tips yesterday.

Glad you guys like it and thanks for making it sticky!

Kal

[zapper]

Hi Guy's newbie here and thinking om getting the GREYSCALE & COLOUR CALIBRATION FOR dummies my question have just about every calibration disk that are available and wondering how this software compares to the other besides a higher cost??

[kalW]

Originally Posted by zapper

Hi Guy's newbie here and thinking om getting the GREYSCALE & COLOUR CALIBRATION FOR dummies my question have just about every calibration disk that are available and wondering how this software compares to the other besides a higher cost??

GREYSCALE & COLOUR CALIBRATION FOR DUMMIES is not a calibration disk. It's a guide to using the free ColorHCFR software together with a couple of the least expensive sensors together with the $18 Digital Video Essentials:HD Basics.

Digital Video Essentials:HD Basics was picked as it's the absolute cheapest commercial calibration disc out there.

Kal