DIsplayport crushing blacks w/ panasonic plasma tv

Question

Level 1

30 points

DIsplayport crushing blacks w/ panasonic plasma tv

I'm trying to properly calibrate a panasonic plasma for use with my mbp's displayport output. No matter how many times I run the apple calibration tool and turn up the brightness on the tv, the black levels are absolutely crushed (no detail in blacks).

If you are familiar with it, I am using the calibration disc made by the folks over at AVSForum, and am unable to get any of moving bars visible in the black level calibration screen.

Has anyone experienced this same issue and figured a way around it?

Macbook Pro 5,2, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Nov 10, 2009 9:38 PM

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Answer 1

Think7

Level 1

15 points

Nov 11, 2009 12:21 AM in response to Devo 6273

My main display is an HDTV. I set all my color settings on it, not the MBP.

If you're using a DVI > HDMI cable along with the DVI > MiniDisplay you should have no problems adjusting the colors on the TV itself.

My Sony XBR6 has different profiles for each input. My MBP and my 360 both require different settings. Yours should do the same.

I have had issues with newer nvidia cards (GTX295) and HDCP. They wold put out an HDCP compliant signal which would disallow me the ability to change any color/brightness settings on my TV. (Made my beyond furious)

I would suggest making sure that the color settings on the TV are actually being changed, and that something is actually happening as you move the slider or increase the numbers, however its set up. Play with the white/black levels as well. Try turning down the backlight...

Calibration discs can be very misleading. Your best bet is to put in a DVD and play a dark scene, adjust the brightness, then move to an outdoor scene. I still to this day need to fiddle with mine very occasionally.

One other thing to check is your TV's features. For example, mine has some stuff called "Gamma" and another called "Advanced CE" These solved my problem with contrast the second i enabled them.

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Answer 2

Devo 6273 Author

Level 1

30 points

Nov 11, 2009 6:29 AM in response to Think7

Yeah, I've been adjusting settings on both the laptop and the TV. The issue is that the colors and black levels are so far off when I first plug in the laptop that the tv's controls can't compensate.

As for the calibration dvd, I used the exact same one to calibrate for my blu-ray deck and had absolutely no issues.

With the laptop, the colors/black level are so far off that even dark purple looks black.

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Answer 3

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Nov 11, 2009 7:28 PM in response to Devo 6273

When using the Apple calibration tool, turn on expert mode by putting a check mark in the related box. Then when you get to the gamma setting page, try moving the slider down to the left and see if you can put detail back into black.

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