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Calibrate the HDR-FOX T2

Roksan Caspian

Roksan Caspian

Member
Is there some way to calibrate the Humax?

I was thinking along the lines of a free calibration tool which could be put onto a usb stick, stuck into the Humax, to be able to calibrate your tv to show the correct contrast/brightness/colour etc.

Is this possible or can someone have a go at doing it themselves?

Thanks
 
We have no access to the video buffer directly. It would be easy enough to create a test card as a JPG and display that though.
 
Black Hole said:
We have no access to the video buffer directly. It would be easy enough to create a test card as a JPG and display that though.
Click to expand...
Could you do this if there is enough interest (would the JPG have to be in HD or SD or does it not matter?), or do you know where I could download what I (or anyone else for that matter) would need to be able to calibrate the Humax.

I thought about this because over the last few days I've been calibrating my tv for my Blu-ray player, using a free calibration tool from the AVSforum, called: AVS HD 709
 
I should think if you calibrate it for one source you have calibrated it for all - the material is digital after all, and the Humax only puts out what it gets in.

Calibration is only a case of preference - the way you like to see a picture is not necessarily the same as somebody else. A TV is a source of light rather than a reflector of light, and it cannot cover the entire colour gamut with only red green and blue light sources. The way I set up a TV picture is to turn the colour saturation right down so it is as close to monochrome as possible, then set the brightness and contrast so that whites are white and blacks are black, and there is a full range of grey in between. A test card usually has areas of graduated greys, and lines of varying contrast, so you can set it to best reveal the detail.

Once the monochrome picture is good, all that is left is to bring up the colour until skin tones are natural (in your opinion). Some people like more saturation.

Test cards are easily downloadable from the Web, find one that's 16:9 with 1080 resolution and put it in your My Pictures folder.

By the way, there's no calibration you can do to the Humax, you will be setting up the TV.
 
You have to calibrate your TV on the input used by the Humax. There's no way to alter the Humax nor I suspect the blu-ray player mentioned above. Most TV's let you use different settings for different inputs. There's a HD testcard on the BBC-HD preview loop which you could record. Using a jpeg image would be pointless, it's a lossy compression system which would destroy the fine detail you need for the calibration process.
 
It depends how much compression is used in the jpg. They're good enough for government work.

PS: can you really set a different configuration for HDMI1 as opposed to HDMI2?
 
I used the settings for my Blu ray player and used them for the Humax, but the colours were too strong.

It looks like whatever is connected to each input has to be calibrated.
 
Black Hole said:
It depends how much compression is used in the jpg. They're good enough for government work.
Click to expand...

Why would the government use a lossy compression system, there's loads of alternatives that aren't lossy. They can't be short of hdd space :)

What better method is there than using a real transmitted test card, using an imported image you have no idea if the image matches a real broadcast in loads of ways, colour temperature, gamma being just two. Sounds like a waste of effort to me.
 
Black Hole said:
I should think if you calibrate it for one source you have calibrated it for all - the material is digital after all, and the Humax only puts out what it gets in.

Calibration is only a case of preference - the way you like to see a picture is not necessarily the same as somebody else. A TV is a source of light rather than a reflector of light, and it cannot cover the entire colour gamut with only red green and blue light sources. The way I set up a TV picture is to turn the colour saturation right down so it is as close to monochrome as possible, then set the brightness and contrast so that whites are white and blacks are black, and there is a full range of grey in between. A test card usually has areas of graduated greys, and lines of varying contrast, so you can set it to best reveal the detail.

Once the monochrome picture is good, all that is left is to bring up the colour until skin tones are natural (in your opinion). Some people like more saturation.

Test cards are easily downloadable from the Web, find one that's 16:9 with 1080 resolution and put it in your My Pictures folder.

By the way, there's no calibration you can do to the Humax, you will be setting up the TV.
Click to expand...
Is there a link you would recommend for a test card?
I have done a search but am not 100% sure which one to choose.
Perhaps it would be best to look out for a test card on the BBC HD channel?
 
Roksan Caspian said:
I used the settings for my Blu ray player and used them for the Humax, but the colours were too strong.

It looks like whatever is connected to each input has to be calibrated.
Click to expand...

Of course you do. That's why using an imported jpeg image is a total waste of time. You have to calibrate against the real source.

This may help.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/12/a_christmas_present_from_the_h.html

It's still broadcast and for those with 5.1 systems includes a audio channel location and audio check.

There is also a 5.1 lip synch test seperately in the BBC-HD preview loop, to adjust audio sync.
 
If you record the BBC HD Test Card, THIS PAGE gives useful information on how to use it to set up your TV.

Edit: graham just beat me to it.:)
 
I'm not arguing, a broadcast test card is a valid source even if less available these days. For the purposes of debate though, I will point out that h.261 is also a lossy compressed format and I see no reason the data comprising a jpg test card should be any less valid. It depends how it is originated.

Although it's got no flesh tones, this looks pretty good: http://data-flow.org.uk/IMG/MISC/fullHD.jpg
 
I used the free tools from AVS HD 709 to calibrate my sets as you have already mentioned.

I used the MP4 versions and threw some of the more useful test videos onto the HDR HDD.
The videos will complain about there being no audio, but they play just fine.

The most useful I found were the clipping tests & the Sharpness & Overscan test.
The manual is here for anyone else interested in these.
 
Could pointers to the test card information be put somewhere sticky, like in the Wiki ??
It would be useful to be able to come back to it when (if?) I get a new TV.
 
Ezra Pound said:
There used to be a hidden testcard' W' behind the BBCi channel but not sure it's still available
Click to expand...

I notice the hidden testcard 'W' is still there (SD only)
CH200 >> wait for graphics >> Yellow >> CH1 >> CH200 >> wait for graphics >> Green >> Green
 
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