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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 13 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Not worth the money May 22, 2007
By M. Jacobson
Used on Sony Bravia LCD and got same results as factory default settings except for tint which was badly biased to red. Managed to get a better picture using trial and error (by varying things like backllight and sharpness which are not evaluated by spydertv). Tech support is a joke. Don't waste your money!
17 of 20 found the following review helpful:
 Make Sure You're Smarter Than The TV Feb 25, 2008
By P. Perry
I bought this puppy a few days ago and have run it a few times to get a feel for the calibration qualities of the Sensor.
Now let me say that I've tried it in a room with only modest light as well as a room with no other Ambient Light Source and both proved to be identical values so as long as it isn't broad daylight with the blinds open it is pretty reliable.
Let me add that the device is a Colorimeter which is for calibrating color and it is actually very good at it! Much better than you could eyeball regardless of who you are.
So with all that said, let's address some of the complaints, or should I say misconceptions with the device.
1st, all the Device knows are absolutes that are pre-programmed into the software and it is designed to achieve accuracy within a certain degree (often lower than .05% Deviation) and your eyes will never be that accurate.
2nd, Skin Tones Change based on the light source used and unfortunately Hollywood knows that the lighting creates atmosphere so the skin tones will never be 100% reliable in any movie; So let's take the movie "The Guardian" for example this movie had no less than 7 different light sources depending on the scene and this would make calibrating your screen based on skin tones as tough a target as trying to pinpoint a Democrats Morals (After all, truth is relative right?). In Reality Skin tones can only truly be used to judge Calibration based on a Daylight Scene and ONLY if You Know the Skin Tone To Begin With.
So if you're going to judge the devices capabilities then you should use known quantities to judge. Good sources are Whites Lines, Known Black Items and Blue Skies or use a modern Animated Feature like Finding Nemo or Shrek where light temperature is never really a factor.
Now as for Brightness and Contrast, these characteristics are designed to work within a defined range as well and the Colorimeter is doing what it's told to do...
Basically, the software measures the top value and the bottom value for each setting and then takes a few calculated readings from in between to determine range while setting the appropriate mid-point for Range. Keep in Mind, that isn't arbitrary and as such the device will not know if part of a scene is too dark, it is just trying to keep everything operating within a certain range without letting parts of the scene get blown out (the more range your TV has the better this will work but at 700:1 or 1500:1 it will require some user intervention).
My advice for setting up a TV, that is less than 2000:1 contrast ratio, with the SpyderTV is to go through the whole setup and then tweak the brightness and contrast with a THX Video Test from a Pixar Disk like Finding Nemo or using DVE for these settings.
So, with all that said this device is every bit as accurate as higher priced calibration tools but does require a little bit of knowledge to operate properly within spec.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
It takes a drak room to do correctly! Aug 02, 2007
By John C. Robson
I have calibrated about a dozen TVs with mine.
Ambient light WILL affect the finial out come of the procedure!
The only other thing is to make sure you follow the steps carefully,
If you zig when you should of zaged you get to start from the beginning. John
11 of 13 found the following review helpful:
Color Blind Apr 24, 2007
By Christophe
I'm in the midst of auditioning LCD panels and the local ISF certified guy wants $350 per panel to calibrate them. I like TV and everything, but there's just no way that I am going to spend $350 on TV that I might possibly keep.
Still, the store settings on any two panels have two problems. First, they are amped up beyond compare as the TV vendors compete to be "who's the brightest" on the lit showroom floor. Sitting in my living room, they are far far too bright to watch. Second, they display colors totally differently. It's just hard to compare to 2 sets that are calibrated so differently.
Now the TVs that we are looking at cost a pretty penny, and it seemed that a couple of hundred dollars to inform the decision was a good idea, just like the hundred dollars for an HDMI splitter seemed like a good idea. The splitter was a good idea, the Spyder TV Colormeter not so much.
I calibrated 2 panels with this product. Two things are true about the calibrations. First, they do not look at all the same. The Sony panel has red shifted flesh tones while the Sharp looks cold and sterile. Second, they look way way worse than before the calibration. After 20 minutes of watching Casino Royale, it was time to revert back to a toned down version of the factory defaults for each.
At first I thought that I had not followed the instructions right. Maybe it was not dark enough. Maybe the sensor was not positioned right. Having done the process several times, I can state categorically that while the colorvision Spyder TV may not deliver good results, it is consistent in its delivery of bad results.
I simply cannot recommend this product.
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Like a brand new TV Oct 02, 2007
By R. Nichols
I used the SpyderTV to calibrate my 2 yr old Panasonic plasma (which I had originally calibrated with the Avia DVD) and I thought I was watching a brand new TV when I was finished. The software is easy to use. I strongly recommend calibrating in a dark room as indicated in the manual. I does make a big difference.
See all 13 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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