CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

betel

Equipment:
G70 (B & G tubes very recently replaced with new)
HDFury1
Eye-One Display
ColorHCFR
HD Video Essentials
PS3

Last weekend I finally got around to performing a greyscale/color calibration. I must say the image quality improvement after calibration is dramatic. However I'm having a problem; evidently I'm getting no information at 2% above black and very little at 4% above. If I crank the brightness & contrast up to max, I can barely see 4% above black. There is also the problem of having to significatley shift the image to center but I consider that trivial. I also calibrated my Panasonic plasma and didn't experience the black level problem but the plasma has HDMI inputs. I'm aware the HDFury1 D-->A conversion is limited and can't output the full visible color spectrum. I suppose it's possible I'm loosing the information in the cabling but haven't eliminated that yet. I'm not coming up with anyone else reporting this problem in a site search.

Question:
Is the Hdfury1's limitations the reason I can't see very low levels above black?

Maybe it is time to upgrade to the HDFury2.

Jimmy

ecrabb · Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 2:47 am Post subject:

That sounds like the problem I had when I tried "RGB Full Range" set to "Full." No matter how high I cranked the brightness, it's too dark. If it's set to "Limited", it's OK.

Check:
Settings -> Display Settings -> RGB Full Range (HDMI)

SC

betel · Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:01 am Post subject:

I know I have it set on full range. Sounds counter-intuitive but I'll give it a try. Thanks.

betel · Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:50 pm Post subject:

Here's what Sony says about this setting:
-------------------------------------------------------------
RGB Full Range (HDMI)
Adjust the output settings for TVs that support RGB full range. For RGB video signals, the range of color scale that is input varies depending on the TV in use. This setting is for use when the TV is connected to the PS3™ system using an HDMI cable.

Limited RGB output signal is output in the range from 16 to 235.
Full RGB output signal is output in the range from 0 to 255.

Hints
•If black sometimes appears bright and sometimes appears pale on the screen when [Limited] is selected, set this option to [Full].
•If black appears dull on the screen when [Full] is selected, set this option to [Limited].
-------------------------------------------------------------

Just a guess but it sounds like since the HdFury1 is only capable of 16 to 235 range, inputting a 0 to 255 signal may be causing the problem. If this is the case, anyone that has an HdFury1 and inputting a 0 to 255 signal is loosing detail in black.

So the solution to my problem is to either change this setting to limited or get a HdFury 2. I really haven't paid much attention to the 2nd generatiion of this device since I never realized it was causing a limitation for my G70.
I'll change to limited tonight and investigate the advantages of the HdFury2.

Jimmy

betel · Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 1:03 pm Post subject:

Changing the PS3's RGB Full Range (HDMI) setting from full to limited fixed the problem. Of course I wonder what I'm missing not having full range.

WTS · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1276 Location: Calgary

Does the HDFury1 require HDMI RGB input?

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1174

Quote "Of course I wonder what I'm missing not having full range."

For Video -> Nothing.

For games -- not much.

In terms of video if you could pass RGB full you would clip below black out during calibration anyway. That's how you would set you black level.

Games take advantage of RGB full but you won't be missing much by using limited.

Quote "Does the HDFury1 require HDMI RGB input?"

In later days with my G70 I was able to tell my PS3 to output YPbPr for Videos and it worked! I don't know why it didn't always work but at some point it started working and suddenly I had BTB which was useful and I had faith the video output was very true or accurate.

-Brian