Recalibration

[Scott Zsori]

I recently had to move my Mitsubishi 48", which included tilting it at a 45" angle and driving it 5 miles over a bumpy road.   Needless to say, it needs recalibration.

My service contract has run out with the company I purchased it from, so I need a 3rd party company/individual that will do a decent job.  I know that guy (forgot his name.. sorry) comes around on his tour every so often, but I'd really like to get this done before football season starts.

What are some of the local companies that can do this?  I'm looking for the right mix of quality and affordability.  

[Matt Heebner]

I do believe that Flanners offers ISF calibrations. If you were to go with them, a money saving tip might be to just get the HD input calibrated.
Just an idea.

Matt

[gb4fan92]

If you don't mind, lst us know who you go with and how much $$$. Just for future refereces.

[Scott Zsori]

I'm going with Flanners.  They're going to be doing it for $100, which covers complete calibration (convergence, color, etc), but isn't nearly as in-depth as Eliab's work (no cleaning of internal parts, etc).  Flanner's is ISF certified, which is the same as Eliab.  Here's a list of all the ISF certified companies in WI:

A Perfect Image - Milwaukee
Audio Contractors - Oregon
Flanner's Audio & Video - New Berlin
HiTech Homes, Inc. - Cedarburg
Pristine Image - Slinger
Professional Audio Designs, Inc. - Wauwatosa
Projection Systems, Inc. - Weston
Salon One Audio - Wisconsin Rapids
Suess Electronics, Inc. - Appleton
True-Aspect, LLC - Madison
VanVreedes Service Center - Appleton
Video Tweak - Madison
Xtraav LLC - Oconomowoc

Couldn't get in touch with A Perfect Image for a price quote, and the Tosa company appears to do custom installations primarily.  If you call Flanners for calibration, you'll need to provide your model number and they'll set up a time approximately a week out for a home visit.

I'll keep you all posted on how it looks once they do the work.

[Paul S.]

ISF certification doesn't mean all that much.

Ask them what type of color analyzer they use for greyscale and what they use to generate an HD signal for convergence.

If they can't answer those, you might as well use a sledgehammer to calibrate.

Who is 'Eliel'??

[Todd Wiedemann]

Originally posted by Paul S.
Who is 'Eliel'??

I think he means Eliab, he had a calibration tour through here a while back.

[Scott Zsori]

Oops.  Changed my spelling error above.  

I'll ask them those questions.  However, they appear to be the only company that does calibrations in the Milwaukee Metro area.  So even if they can't answer that, it's still my best option.  $100 is well worth it if I don't have to wait 6 months for Eliab to do another local tour.

I could try fixing the convergence myself, but that'd probably be even worse than the sledgehammer idea.  

[Ralph Kramden]

Scott, $100 is way too low for a "complete calibration". Make sure you ask them everything they will do. The posts I've read on Avsforum and Hometheaterforum are at least $300. Have you tried to do the re-converge yourself? And then get a calibration disc such as Avia or Digital Video Essentials. They work pretty good.

[mrmike]

My guess is Flanner will do an menu cal, and do no mechanical or magnetics setup.  Depending on the set and how well it's set up in the first place this may be sufficient (and $100-150 isn't unreasonably low for a menu only cal).  If the focus and magnetics have never been done chances are fairly good that you'll not be able to get it as good as it could be with only electronic adjustments, though.

-MM

[PJFW8]

Eliab is a bargain.  Even my wife was impressed!  But since he won't be back before Packer season, Flanners should be a good interim measure.