Good calibration tool for HDTVs?

[p4gs]

I was wondering what a good calibration tool would be for HDTVs? I've seen the Spyder3 TV on Amazon for ~$100 and felt like that was not a bad price for a calibration tool I would be able to use well into the future and on friends'/family members' TVs. Then I started to read things about calibrators upwards of $1000 and felt like that it would be 1.) too complicated to dive right into and 2.) probably wouldn't be worth the money considering it's almost as much as the new plasma I just purchased. I don't want to opt for a calibration service because it's a 1 time thing and I'll be moving the TV in 8 months anyway. Also, I'd like to have another skill under my belt.

Any thoughts on this? I'd rather not spend $380 on a "calibrated" Spyder3 TV calibrator packaged with CalMAN if I can spend $100 and still get a nice calibrated picture on my Samsung PN50B850 and other TVs.

Thanks!

 

[the_b_man]

- bump since I'm interested too, plan to get a plasma in the next 6 months.
I have a Spyder 3 for PCs, wonder if it can be used on TVs somehow. I've also looked at high-end calibrating kits, some of it is clearly aimed at people who do this for a living.

 

[albovin]

I was wondering what a good calibration tool would be for HDTVs? I've seen the Spyder3 TV on Amazon for ~$100 and felt like that was not a bad price for a calibration tool I would be able to use well into the future and on friends'/family members' TVs. Then I started to read things about calibrators upwards of $1000 and felt like that it would be 1.) too complicated to dive right into and 2.) probably wouldn't be worth the money considering it's almost as much as the new plasma I just purchased. I don't want to opt for a calibration service because it's a 1 time thing and I'll be moving the TV in 8 months anyway. Also, I'd like to have another skill under my belt.

Any thoughts on this? I'd rather not spend $380 on a "calibrated" Spyder3 TV calibrator packaged with CalMAN if I can spend $100 and still get a nice calibrated picture on my Samsung PN50B850 and other TVs.

Thanks!

Please visit AVS forum.
To calibrate your TV properly you'll need:
1. Equipment that professional calibrators use.
2. Skills that professional calibrators have.
That simple.


Don't rush, read.
Your TV is worth professional calibration.
Get it.
See what it is. Get info from the first hand.

 

[albovin]

- bump since I'm interested too, plan to get a plasma in the next 6 months.
I have a Spyder 3 for PCs, wonder if it can be used on TVs somehow. I've also looked at high-end calibrating kits, some of it is clearly aimed at people who do this for a living.

Spyders have not been recommended for TV calibration.
Calibration kits for PC are useless for TVs.
Spyder3 for PC is not the best even for PCs.

A TV has to be calibrated as a TV first.
Then you can calibrate it with a PC kit if you use the TV as a PC monitor. Actually your PC video card LUT will be calibrated.