I have 3 HDTV's. A 52 inch, 40 inch and 32 inch. I had the 52 inch calibrated by the Geek Squad of Best Buy for $199. There is a distinct difference between an HDTV that is calibrated and one that is not if they are 120 Hz. It is particularly noticeable when watching movies, particularly blu-ray. I've had people come over to the house not knowing that the TV is calibrated but actually ask because they comment "I've never seen an HDTV so smooth, clear and sharp as that one". BTW, they are all Samsung and basically in the same series, so they are not different brands which would be like comparing apples and oranges.
Best Buy scams HDTV customers into paying for calibration with stretched-out standard def feed
Utterly shameful. According to a Consumerist reader, Best Buy sells its already sketchy $300 HDTV calibration service by putting two HDTVs next to one another: a "calibrated" HDTV and a "non-calibrated" one, both showing ESPN. The scam? The non-calibrated HDTV is actually just pumping out standard-def ESPN, which had also been set to stretch the picture out. The Consumerist' comments is filled with other gems of Best Buy deception, including the fact that cheaper televisions are set up for display with RCA cables, while the more expensive televisions are fitted with HDMI.
This is just outright deception. There's certainly some calibration fiddling that can go down when you buy a new HDTV, but for 99% of all people, it will display just fine out of the box, with the pre-programmed picture settings being perfectly sufficient for most people (including me). If not, a $10 calibration DVD will do you. Granted, there's a certain sort of person who gives their money to Geek Squad — I will charitably call them "idiots" — and I sometimes wonder when the U.N. is going to confiscate Antarctica from the King Penguins and gift it back to them as their Holy Land. But this still makes my blood boil.
How can Best Buy possibly think this is going to fly? If it really took $300 to make your expensive new television not look like smegma-smeared pixel ass, you wouldn't be worrying about calibration... you'd be worrying about filing a class-action lawsuit.
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/11/04/best-buy-scams-hdtv.html
Utterly shameful. According to a Consumerist reader, Best Buy sells its already sketchy $300 HDTV calibration service by putting two HDTVs next to one another: a "calibrated" HDTV and a "non-calibrated" one, both showing ESPN. The scam? The non-calibrated HDTV is actually just pumping out standard-def ESPN, which had also been set to stretch the picture out. The Consumerist' comments is filled with other gems of Best Buy deception, including the fact that cheaper televisions are set up for display with RCA cables, while the more expensive televisions are fitted with HDMI.
This is just outright deception. There's certainly some calibration fiddling that can go down when you buy a new HDTV, but for 99% of all people, it will display just fine out of the box, with the pre-programmed picture settings being perfectly sufficient for most people (including me). If not, a $10 calibration DVD will do you. Granted, there's a certain sort of person who gives their money to Geek Squad — I will charitably call them "idiots" — and I sometimes wonder when the U.N. is going to confiscate Antarctica from the King Penguins and gift it back to them as their Holy Land. But this still makes my blood boil.
How can Best Buy possibly think this is going to fly? If it really took $300 to make your expensive new television not look like smegma-smeared pixel ass, you wouldn't be worrying about calibration... you'd be worrying about filing a class-action lawsuit.
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/11/04/best-buy-scams-hdtv.html
Correct!
The HDTV comes with general calibration. When you have it professionally calibrated for the varying daily light in the room where it will be, there is definitely a visual difference. Whether you want to pay for it or not is a personal decision. I watched the guy closely as he calibrated my TV and you could see the distinct sharpness in the line by line tightening and clarity difference from before and after. To each his own! I'm very glad I had it done and would do it again, but only for an HDTV larger then 50 inches. The smaller the TV, the more difficult to see any distinction when calibrated.
