During Gregg's recent Pacific Northwest Calibration Tour, my wife and I recently had the pleasure of having Gregg Loewen stop over here at our new apartment, to do a calibration/tweak session on our new HD Ready TV, the Sony KP-57HW40.

Gregg sounded pretty beat when I heard from him via telephone late on Saturday afternoon...he explained to me that he was on his way to do his 3rd...Yes...3rd!!! ... video calibration session of the day in the Seattle/Tacoma area, and he wanted to know if it was okay for him to swing by that night to get some rest (and some Diet Coke). I had previously made arrangements with Gregg to calibrate my Sony on Sunday evening...and had also welcomed him to stay over Sunday night in our guest bedroom, even though it was on a air mattress, so him coming over earlier was no problem whatsoever. I was ready!!!

Gregg arrived that evening and then we took a few hours getting to know each other, discussing what Gregg would be able to tweak out of my Sony, watching some of the Olympics from Salt Lake City, and other whatnots.

After hydrating Gregg with a few 12 oz. Diet Coke's, we all decided to call it a night and finally settled in for the evening. However, I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep - not with Home Theater Forum Moderator and Video Calibrationist Gregg Loewen in my house.... and boy was I right! I wanted my tweaking session to begin right away. I then realized that Gregg was probably pretty tuckered out from his busy day (and the entire tour for that matter!), so I let him sleep through the night.

Let me first say that I was pretty happy with my Sony 57HW40 right out of the box...I previously had owned the Toshiba 57HX81 for a couple weeks and replaced it with this Sony. I thought I was getting a great picture, especially while watching Progressive Scan DVD's via my Panasonic RP-91. BOY WAS I WRONG!

THE TWEAKING/CALIBRATION BEGINS!!!
DISABLE of SVM & PROTECTIVE SCREEN REMOVAL/RE-STACK:

Gregg immediately sprung into action after awaking that morning and we had my Sony opened up in no time. Gregg pointed out to me the SVM wires inside my set as he was disconnecting them from the guns. Gregg had the front screen off my Sony a few minutes later - ready to do the "re-stack" that I originally had so many questions on. You see, when I first decided to have a calibration done on my new set, I didn't think I wanted to have the protective screen removed or "re-stacked". I'm in the military, so we do move around quite a bit, and wanted to have that extra protection "just in case". Gregg assured me that I once I viewed the set with the protective screen "re-stacked" that I wouldn't want to go back. And he was 100% dead-on with his assessment!!! My wife can even tell a huge difference (for the better - of course!) with this procedure = Reflections and glare on my Sony are pretty much non-existent now!!! - A HUGE improvement!!!

Everything Else: Geometry, Overscan, Grey Scale Adjustments, Convergence, Lens Hood Cover

Gregg spent the next few hours tweaking anything and everything on my set. Using both the Video Essentials and the Avia test DVD's, Gregg reduced my Overscan to 4%, adjusted my Grey Scale to it's proper parameter, adjusted my Geometry, and did a superb job on Convergence for my set. He also recommended for me to make a run to pick up some black spray paint, so that I could paint the service entry panel, that's inside the set that was originally a brownish wood color. Why Sony puts this brown piece of material inside the set is beyond me (and Gregg!), but he told me that sometimes they put them in wrong or they aren't black - so there is a chance that light from the guns would be able to be reflected back on to the screen, which is definitely a bad thing!!! He recommended I also pick up some black material so that we could make a Lens Hood. The goal of the lens hood is to prevent light reflected from the screen from re-entering the lens system, while still letting the light from the lenses reach the mirror. I picked up the paint and the material and headed back home. Gregg was still tweaking my set when I arrived and was almost ready for the two items I had bought for him on my trip to town. All this work was extra work, Gregg didn't have to do any of this.... but he truly cares! And he wants everyone out there with a nice HD set to get the best picture possible. What a professional!!!

I don't want to make this too long of a read, so I'll sum up by saying...

Gregg did some outstanding work on my set!!

Unfortunately, I have only had the opportunity to watch one DVD since his calibration. It was far and away the most pleased I have ever been with the picture quality ever. Hands down!!!

And, using an excerpt from Ron Epstein's thread on the Calibration work done by Gregg Loewen on Ron's Toshiba HD set:

" There is absolutely no question that anyone who
has invested good money in the purchase of a large
screen television, has wasted their investment if
they don't have their picture and audio properly
calibrated. It's amazing to see that what your eyes
tend to believe is the best picture you can get from
self-calibration, can often be proven deceiving when
you see how much BETTER that picture can be after
a professional calibration." -- Ronald Epstein

Thank You so much Gregg !!!

My wife can finally get through an entire movie without me messing with the picture settings or just being upset with picture quality in general. This is something she was looking forward to after your calibration - me not complaining!!! And you sure did deliver her wish

What I thought I was experiencing before your professional calibration and what I'm experiencing now is like NIGHT and DAY!!!

I can't recommend Gregg highly enough...there are pretty much no words that can describe his work!

Thanks again Gregg!!!