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They also have a TV calibration service where they send a technician to your house, place an optical sensor with a suction cup on the screen, connect up some calibration equipment to the TV and run a series of tests and claim to optimally configure your TV.

Most posts I've seen on the topic seem to be woefully uninformed and focus on the setup in the stores that is intended to show the difference between a calibrated and uncalibrated TV, which some reports claim is deceptive.

I've only seen one post that has a comment that mentions Imaging Science Certification and hints at what they're doing and why it's not something you can do yourself.

Does anybody out there have any better information on this service?

I just got a new Samsung 50" Plasma. I've used almost nothing but my 360. There are always little health bars in the corner. I was very worried about burn in, but I think burn-in has been completely debunked arround here. There is no such problem in modern plasma screens. My model isn't even the latest and greatest with the "dedicated game mode". It just works.

Burn-in is a potential problem in CRTs and Plasma displays because they ultimately use the same technology to represent colors -- phosphors. The two display types use different technologies to excite the phosphors, but plasma is still a phosphor-based display. Compare that to LCD or DLP, where color is generated by light (via filters on the subpixels in an LCD, or a color wheel in a DLP). Phosphors wear out with use, and burn-in happens when they wear out unevently. There are ways to combat this, but you cannot totally eliminate it in phosphor-based displays:

• Turn down your contrast. Brighter pixels will wear out the phosphor more quickly. Most TVs ship in a "torch" mode, which looks good in the store but is way too bright for normal usage. It's a good idea to have your set calibrated after a break-in period. (This is a good idea for LCD and DLP displays as well, but CRTs and Plasmas need it to tweak colors as the phosphors age.)
• Get a set that shifts pixels. By occasionally shifting the image around by a few pixels, you'll spread the image out across more phosphors. This makes it less likely for static images to burn in (or more precisely, it will cause surrounding pixels to wear out at around the same frequency, which makes any burn-in you might suffer seem less by smoothing out the sharp edges).
• Always use the set in full-screen mode (on widescreen sets). If you don't like everything looking shorter and fatter, use a sidebar mode with a ~50% gray color rather than black, and that periodically adjusts the position of the interior picture. The gray sidebars will keep the unused phosphors in the sidebars wearing out about the same as the interior phosphors, and shifting the interior image position will help smooth out any sharp edges on the under-burn.

So how much for a HDTV projector? Shouldn't that be a bit cheaper, and ultimately a better buy?

I assume you're referring to front projection, as most HDTVs are projection in some form (DLP and CRT rear-projection). Anyway, front projection has its pros and cons, and you still have the same hoops to jump through. Do you go CRT, which is cheaper, but also bulkier and requires periodic calibration? Do you go with DLP and risk rainbow effects from color wheels? Do you go LCD and risk screendoor effects? Prices aren't too bad, in line with rear projection TVs (generally a bit cheaper), but you're not done once you've bought the projector.

Before you even consider front projection, you need to look at your viewing area. Is it sufficiently dark? Front projectors wash out very easily with very little ambient lighting. If your viewing area isn't dark enough (or can't be made dark enough), don't bother with front projection. Do you have the room for a projector? Theoretically, the size of the image is limitless (within the bounds of the projector's focusing ability and your ability to ignore huge pixels), but if you don't have enough space you're not going to get any larger size that what you could get with a cheaper rear-projection CRT. Did you budget for a good screen? A flat, white wall is a start, but most walls aren't that flat (go look at your walls -- chances are they have some amount of texture, which will cause weird shadowing) and a wall will never be as good as a purpose-built screen. How do you plan to mount everything? If you mount the projector to the ceiling it's no longer easily portable, but if you don't then it's susceptible to vibrations and the image can easily be blocked depending on where you place it.

When it's all said and done, unless you're really hardcore and plan on building a full home theater or portability is a huge priority and you don't care about sacrificing image quality to get it, you're better off with something else. What that something else might be will depend on your budget and the research you do (e.g. even if you can afford it, you probably don't want to buy a plasma TV since plasma is very susceptible to burn-in and has a relatively short lifespan compared to other technologies and can't be extended with a simple bulb change).

Ignoring all of that, front projection isn't any better or less hassle-free than rear-projection or flat-panel technologies. You're still going to have to do your homework on display technology (LCD, CRT, DLP, or plasma), you're still going to have to deal with idiot manufacturers configuring their sets to push red because it's more eye catching in the showroom (good sets let you calibrate that out, bad sets don't), and you'll still want to have your set professionally calibrated after a break-in period (I'd give it about 6 months based on my own viewing habits), and every year or two thereafter.

CRT projection isn't going to burn-in on you if you're even the least bit aware that it can happen

I worked in a high-end consumer electronics store at one point, and given the choice between any TV set I would definitely go with a 5 lens CRT

You should be well-familiar with the shady tactics manufacturers use to sell their sets, then. Most (all) sets on display are set to "torch mode" contrast, and often have varying degrees of "red push" (the red component is stronger, because it makes the display look more vibrant, thus drawing the consumer's eye away from competing models without). Nevermind the fact that such a jacked up contrast is the main factor in burn-in, and red push just looks awful outside of a showroom. Unfortunately, the display models are exactly the same as the for-sale models, so if the set has red push and a high contrast in the store, you can bet the set you bring home will have the same.

However, you can do something about it. Get your set professionally calibrated. For a CRT-based set, you really should let it wear in for a couple hundred hours before calibration. For non-CRTs, I'm unfamiliar with the process but that site and others like Home Theater Spot can help you determine what your set needs. Frankly, I'm surprised that salespeople don't push calibration during a sale, since any competent high-end shop will have at least one ISF-certified technician on staff, and the fee is pure labor ($300 for ~4 hours of work, not too shabby). That said, for the price you're going to pay for a good set, the calibration cost is a drop in the bucket, and will really make a difference.

Finally, so long as you live in a well-controlled home (ie, no crazy dogs, children, or drunken friends), you really should consider removing the protective screen on a RPTV set. It just adds glare, and is not really a filter of any sort (they exist for protection, nothing more). You'll get a better picture without it, at the cost of a higher chance of damage. That's where the "well-controlled home" comes in. If you have people or pets that will damage the screen, leave it on. Otherwise, take it off, throw it away, and enjoy a superior picture.

That might be great for CRT-based rear-projection TV's, but what about RPTV's that use a single light source, such as the ones with DLP, LCD and LCOS elements? I think these have to be calibrated quite a bit differently....

The ISF folks should know how to calibrate those, as well. Call a local calibrator and ask, if you don't know. Alternatively, check out the forums at Home Theater Spot or AVS Forum.

Perhaps you need a better TV. Newer HDTVs fix almost all of the issues you mention. Better refresh rates and higher resolutions are the only real benefits of a monitor now.

My computer monitor is sharper than my TV.

My computer monitor has more accurate color than my TV.

Perhaps your TV needs a calibration? Unfortunately, most HDTVs are setup out of the box to be used in a display room and not a home. The contrast is cranked up into torch mode, red colors are more emphasized, etc, because all of that makes the TV more appealing when alongside other sets at a shop. I'm of the opinion that all TVs should be sold with a free initial ISF calibration, but the calibration fee is cheap enough that you should still do it anyway (give yourself 6 months or so to break in the TV before calibrating, or you'll just find you have to do it again shortly).

My computer monitor has fewer visual artifacts than my TV (shadowing, faint snow).

My computer monitor uses a better interface to talk to my computer (using a monitor cable running a VGA signal) than my TV (which uses NTSC).

Composite connections and even S-Video suck. You should use component (YPrPb) or RGBHV, or better yet DVI if your TV supports it. No more snow, and a much more vibrant picture. Oh, and NTSC is not an interface but a signal format. Snow and other artifacts you're seeing are more often caused by the interface rather than the signal format (of course, compression artifacting is the signal, and not the interface, but that's not what you were complaining about). The interface is RF coax (cable), composite (single RCA jack for video), S-Video (DIN connector), component (three separate RCA jacks for different channels of the video), RGBHV (red, green, blue, horizontal, and vertical all on separate RCA jacks), DVI (duh), and S-CART (for the rest of the world). These interfaces can carry different signal formats like NTSC, ATSC (the format for HD feeds), PAL60, PAL50, etc.

My computer monitor can run at multiple resolutions, unlike my TV.

This is true, but HD sets do support several resolutions, from standard 480i/p, to 720p and 1080i (and in some cases even 1080p, though you'll rarely find that outside of high-end projectors). At 1080i widescreen, you're still talking about pushing quite a lot of pixels. In many cases, I'd rather have a widescreen 480p signal and dedicate the hardware to making what pixels I have available look better, rather than try to push as many pixels as possible. You'd be surprised how amazing visuals can look even at such a "low" resolution (see Project: Gotham Racing 2 on XBox, for example)

Finally, it's not hard to get a sound card and video card that have TV out and audio out from the computer

While that's true, I've not found any that can give the same visual or audio quality as an XBox. Sound cards that have S/PDIF output are still quite expensive. Video cards that output component signals are almost non-existant (ATI has a component dongle, but no other manufacturer does -- you'll have to get a VGA transcoder for anything else, and in either case you'll have to play with resolutions and refresh rates to get a good picture with little or no overscan).

Adjust the TV properly - turn the sharpness the whole way down, go through all the test patterns and balance the colors.

One note, for a proper viewing experience you should also schedule an after the set has aged for 6 months or a year. Do it too soon, and you'll just have to recalibrate again as the set breaks in. Adjusting down the contrast is a good step since most TVs come out of the box in "torch" mode, but unless the color is just really off there's not much point in screwing with it until the set has had time to wear a bit.

As another poster said: You get what you pay for. Meanwhile, your TV is burnt.

Runco rear-projection sets, for example, use neutral grey bars on each side, to help equalize burn-in across the width of the screen.

I'm pretty sure Extron makes a box that does the same thing, with justabout any monitor.

With any monitor, make sure you're not operating your next set in Torch Mode. That's usually how they're set up out of the box - it's a sick, cold war-like race to look brighter (and bluer) than everything else in the showroom. Simple to test, and fix: Pause a DVD during a very bright scene. Turn down the contrast control (sometimes labeled "picture"), until you notice the brightest subjects becoming a bit less so.

Your picture is now somewhat darker than it was before. This is a Good Thing(tm).

Resume watching the DVD. You'll notice an additional spectrum of detail and shades of grey that your TV couldn't display before, and everything from the power supply to the CRT(s) will last longer. Now, go do the same to your computer monitor, and keep it around for a few more years, too.

For more do-it-yourself action, buy/borrow/rent the Video Essentials DVD. You'll be enlightened.

Other fun stuff:

Pay an ISF-certified shop to use a color analyzer to calibrate your set to standard. It's not very expensive, and generally makes what was once a pretty decent TV into something approaching the view from a window.

It's usually cheaper and better to calibrate things properly, than to spend more money on a what the salesgeek/price tag indicates is a "better" model.

I picked up an incredibly cheap 19" Sanyo TV at Christmas time, for the bedroom. After a bit of basic work, using a calibrated Sony as a reference, I've got it displaying a more accurate picture than anything you'll find displayed on a store shelf. Big hint: The service menu is your friend, and all current TVs have one hidden somewhere in their firmware.

VHS playback always uses only two heads. Four head VCR's generally use their extra heads for still frame/slow motion effects, six+ head VCR's have specialized heads that are used for different purposes (e.g. different heads for recording than for playback, or for EP(SLP)/SP modes.) Perhaps you are thinking of SVHS.

IIRC, VHS has approx. 240 lines horiz. but it's been awhile I could be wrong. VHS color fidelity is horrible, nothing compared to Laserdisc or DVD. VHS quality is much inferior to broadcast NTSC. I think most people don't realize how good broadcast NTSC can look, they never see it, most people have cable with is usually worse than VHS. Oh well...

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