Lion Audio/Video Consultants

Robbie Carman,
Colorist And Author
Panasonic 50PZ800U Plasma
Toshiba 32RV530U LCD Panel
JVC DT-V1710CG Studio Reference CRT Monitor

"The thing that attracted me to Gregg and Lion AV was that he splits his time between consumer and professional calibrations so he has a much time on professional hi end CRTs as he does your Costco LCD."

"...I can finally rest assured that I'm accurate with each and every correction across multiple displays."

"... in the end it was money really well spent."

FULL REVIEW

"I can only sum up the fruits of (Gregg's) efforts by saying my TV picture looks friggin' awesome"

"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."

FULL REVIEW

Ron Epstein, Hometheaterforum.com Owner
Toshiba 57HX81 Owner

"... if you are looking to get your set done, I HIGHLY recommend his service, he gives you his "full meal deal" at a price which other ISF guys charge for doing a basic 30 minute calibration! "

"After Gregg left, my family and I watched A.I. and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I was smiling the entire time! Thanks Gregg!"

FULL REVIEW

Scott Greczkowski, DBSTalk.com Moderator
Toshiba TW40X81 Owner

Mike Knapp,
Owner, Hometheatertalk.com
Mitsubishi WS-65857 RPTV Owner

"...I asked if he would be kind enough to stop by on his vacation swing through Florida and hook me up with a better image. I'm glad I did!"

"My image already looked incredible before he began. Now it looks stupendous. Flesh tones are dead on and the color renditions across the spectrum are greatly improved. The best way to describe it is that the colors look pure now."

"Get this done, and use Gregg to do it."

FULL REVIEW

"... this exceptional calibration has taken what I felt was a very good RPTV and made it jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Colors are wonderfully saturated and I have never seen such accuracy from a consumer TV. Blacks are deep and velvety with no trace of residual color yet shadow detail is even better than before." "As more and more people bring the beauty of high definition video into their homes and home theaters, the quality of the display device becomes even more important. My experience with Gregg Loewen was 100% positive and I give both Gregg and his services my highest recommendation. Every TV I will own in the future will be professionally calibrated."

FULL REVIEW

Robert George "Obi"
Obi's Reviews, Enthusiast
Mitsubishi WS65411 Owner

Chris Smith,
Enthusiast
Runco 947 Owner

"WOW!!"

"You could see wrinkles in Willis's Tux Tie during the Opera scene and the flesh tones were great. Just absolutely stunning."

"Little things that I used to notice (a slight blue or red tinge to a white word or a slight bow to a straight line) were gone. And the detail that you could now see was amazing. If you have a big screen projection TV, you owe it to yourself and your TV to get it calibrated. And I can't recommend Gregg enough."

FULL REVIEW

"Gregg Loewen goes way beyond the average calibration. He basically tweaks your TV to the max, and achieves the maximum quality out of your Rear Projection Television. I immediately noticed differences between my first techs work, and Gregg's extensive calibration"

"Gregg's passion for doing the best possible job he can, just exudes out of him. After watching him in action for 6 hours, I can tell he is going to go far in this field. His expertise is unmatched, and his methodical approach to detail lends him well. Highly recommended.."
- Steven Simon, Hometheaterforum.com Moderator, Mitsubishi 46805 Owner

"I can only sum up the fruits of (Gregg's) efforts by saying my TV picture looks friggin' awesome"

"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."
- Ron Epstein, Hometheaterforum.com Owner, Toshiba 57HX81 Owner

Gregg Loewen from LionAV was here yesterday to calibrate my Pioneer Elite. The only thing I can really say about the calibration is "WOW". It is nearly impossible to explain the difference between pure with D-Nice settings and an ISFccc calibration. The picture is so much brighter and everything is spot on. Plus the picture is no longer yellow and washed out!

Highly recommend Gregg for any of your calibration needs. Also quite the educational experience - everything was explained in great detail! Anyone who doesnt think there is a difference between normal calibration and ISFccc professional calibration is blind!

Very happy camper
- PSUFan5 - Pioneer Elite 111HD Plasma June 2009

"... if you are looking to get your set done, I HIGHLY recommend his service, he gives you his "full meal deal" at a price which other ISF guys charge for doing a basic 30 minute calibration! "

"After Gregg left, my family and I watched A.I. and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I was smiling the entire time! Thanks Gregg!"
- Scott Greczkowski, Owner of www.Satelliteguys.us, Toshiba TW40X81 Owner

"...I asked if he would be kind enough to stop by on his vacation swing through Florida and hook me up with a better image. I'm glad I did!"

"My image already looked incredible before he began. Now it looks stupendous. Flesh tones are dead on and the color renditions across the spectrum are greatly improved. The best way to describe it is that the colors look pure now."

"Get this done, and use Gregg to do it."
- Mike Knapp, Owner, Hometheatertalk.com, Mitsubishi WS-65857 RPTV Owner

"... this exceptional calibration has taken what I felt was a very good RPTV and made it jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Colors are wonderfully saturated and I have never seen such accuracy from a consumer TV. Blacks are deep and velvety with no trace of residual color yet shadow detail is even better than before."

"As more and more people bring the beauty of high definition video into their homes and home theaters, the quality of the display device becomes even more important. My experience with Gregg Loewen was 100% positive and I give both Gregg and his services my highest recommendation. Every TV I will own in the future will be professionally calibrated."
- Robert George "Obi" Obi's Reviews, Enthusiast, Mitsubishi WS65411 Owner

"WOW!!"

"You could see wrinkles in Willis's Tux Tie during the Opera scene and the flesh tones were great. Just absolutely stunning."

" Little things that I used to notice (a slight blue or red tinge to a white word or a slight bow to a straight line) were gone. And the detail that you could now see was amazing. If you have a big screen projection TV, you owe it to yourself and your TV to get it calibrated. And I can't recommend Gregg enough."
- Chris Smith, Enthusiast, Runco 947 Owner

Thanks Gregg, Amazing work. The results far exceeded my whole families expectations. We are truly enjoying movies more then before. I will never have a display again that will not have this work done. Major Wow. - Orlando Runco CL 700 DLP Front Projector, Sony 40xbr700 Tube
- Orlando G. in Long Island, NY Owner of Runco CL 700 DLP Front Projector

Can't tell you how impressed I am! The longer I look, the more I like! Very grateful! Thanks!!! (2/28/2005)
- Allen, NH: Toshiba 34HF84 HD Direct Tube Owner

It was a pleasure to finally meet you this past Saturday. The calibration process was very educational and as thorough as anyone could ask for. I can't say I was surprised, but it was nice to meet an A/V Professional who is actually professional without being condescending, and enjoys his work as opposed to being rude. I would recommend you without any hesitation whatsoever. The set came out better than I had anticipated. Truly alarming the differences that were made, particularly in the blacks and contrast. I laughed when my wife came home and turned on the TV and I heard "Wow!" from the other room. Good luck with the new house and many happy vacations with it. I'll definitely give you a buzz when it's time for a checkup, and next time you're in the Raleigh-Durham area, let me know so I can feed you some Italian food at the restaurant. Have a great day! (4/8/2005)
- Mark B., Raleigh, NC: Sony 57” CRT

Thanks, Greg Even my wife could tell the difference! (Jan 1 2005)

- Marc, Florida: Owner Of Sony LCD RPTV

It was a pleasure meeting you and having you work on my monitor. I must say
that as I watch more and more movies (2 thus far and a few short programs)
the difference is night and day. Detail, resolution, and clarity is up... I
just wish there was more brightness to the picture, but that will come in
time when I will finally replace the set with newer technology. Overall, I
am very pleased and it really awesome for a 5 year old set. (2/11/2005)
- Alex, CA: Toshiba RPTV Owner

The clarity, detail and color balance are so much better, its like watching a completely different set. (1/24/2005)

- Scott, MA: Owner NEC PX-42VP4A Plasma Panel

this was money WELL spent and I am extremely satisfied. I now feel I have the best possible picture.
- Jeff, North Carolina Samsung 6167 DLP Owner

The picture is unbelievable! I didn't know my set was capable of such a great picture. Finally got CBS HD signed on so I was able to watch the Patriots destroy the Steelers yesterday in awesome HD. Thanks for a great job!(1/24/2005)
- Bill, NH: Owner of Mitsubishi WS-65813 CRT RPTV

I just wanted to thank you for the work on my new set. The detail is
overwhelming with the calibration, and it's a lot easier to watch without
the super bright whites and bloody reds. (1/24/2005)
- Casey, NY Owner: Sony 60xs955 LCD RPTV

Gregg - I'm really enjoying my calibrated display. I'm getting more used to "pro" mode every day. Thanks for coming down. I'm glad we got everything worked out. Regards. (6/4/2005)
- Matt: Sony KDE-50XS955 Plasma

I just had Gregg Loewen from Lion AV calibrate my Sony 50XS955 almost 2 weeks ago. He is a great ISF tech and did a wonderful, thorough job calibrating my display. (I don't hand out compliments lightly) (6/8/2005)
- Anonymous: Sony 50XS955 Plasma Display

Gregg has calibrated my 65" Toshiba and my Infocus 7200 projector and I have spectacular results! My 85 year old mother even had a Toshiba 57" RPTV done by Gregg. If she can see the results and afford the price of his service I don't know what's wrong with the rest of you cheap b******s!! (6/12/2004)
- Orlando in Long Island, NY

Thanks Gregg, Amazing work. The results far exceeded my whole families expectations. We are truly enjoying movies more then before. I will never have a display again that will not have this work done. Major Wow. (6/16/2005)
- Orlando: Runco CL 700 DLP FP, Sony 40XBR700

Hi Gregg, I want to say thank you for calibrating my Pioneer Plasma TV. The picture is really good! The one truly surprising difference is the fact that regular analog TV programs look so much better after the calibration (where still most of my actual TV program viewing resides). (6-24-05)
- Anonymous: Pioneer PDP-4340HD Plasma

I would again like to thank you. The whole family was most pleasantly surprised to see the improvement. My wife immediately commented on the improvement in brightness, and skin tones. My daughter noticed a vast improvement in sharpness. I have never seen the quality of picture I am now seeing on DVD's. We watched the Yankee game in HD Monday night after you left. It was like looking out a window to the field. Please let me know your your opinion of the new 1080p TV's. You had mentioned a place in California you deal with. I am looking for a bedroom TV. Please stay in touch. You are always welcome here when in the area. (6/29/2005)
- Michael in Florida: Pioneer Elite 720HD owner

I've been enjoying the professional ISF calibration on my Elite PRO-111FD for a few weeks now so I'm overdue in giving my report.

Gregg Loewen did my calibration and he did a great job. He arrived on time and was very professional and personable. He explained what he was doing and gladly answered all my questions.

The before and after results are stunning. The ISFccc Day/Night modes are a huge improvement. I use the ISF Night mode almost exclusively.

Everyone who has seen my TV is extremely impressed.

If anyone is on the fence about having their TV professionally calibrated -- just do it.

Gregg does not normally visit my area (San Antonio) so I feel honored to have had him do my calibration. I will use one of his affiliated partners (Doug Weil) who tours Texas when it comes time for a calibration tune-up.

Thanks Gregg!
- Spleen - San Antonio - Pioneer Elite 111 HD Plasma May 2009

Just had my calibration and black out done and it's now complete! Whoo hoo! Getting the black out (duvetyne) done to the inner cabinet feels like looking into a "black hole" while the screen is off. All you see are the three color guns in a sea of darkness that you can't even focus on - it just looks like empty nothingness. Black levels are extremly deep now, and contrast between light and dark looks much more solid and defined.
He also did some geometry and brought my overscan in quite a bit as well as the usual color, light and visual correcting items done. Getting this done again really shows how much the displays drift and need yearly tuneups to maintain overall good looking imaging. I mean, it looked good before, but there is always room for improvement, and it can clearly be seen. He also corrected a problem that I've been trying to overcome for a long time. I had a bit of uneven light intensity in one of the corners, that appeared almost like a shadow, confirmed with his measurment device. With the lens striping done, it is now balanced across the entire image and looks solid.
Overall, the entire calibration process was a fantastic job, and well worth the investment.
Thanks Gregg (7/30/2005)
- Anonymous: RPTV

Gregg Loewen calibrated my new Sony LCD panel yesterday. Terrific job. It looked great before, but now, it looks much more realistic, life-like. Well worth it to me. (7/31/2005)
- Anonymous: Sony KDL-32XBR950 LCD Panel

I had Gregg calibrate my 151 last night and I was very impressed with his professionalism and explanation of all the procedures he conducted. The results are fantastic. He calibrated Pure mode and added/calibrated ISF day and ISF night. He was able to double my contrast and walked me through each setting he made with a clear and thorough explanation of everything he did. Highly recommended for those looking to improve an already excellent Pioneer display. Thanks Gregg!

- BlueMark81 on AVS - Fredericton NB Pioneer Elite 151 Plasma July 2009

I had my Samsung HLP5063 calibrated by Gregg on Friday evening. He used component inputs and a test DVD to set the primary and secondary colors using the CCA method (unique to Samsung) in the service menu. Although SD was much improved the HD programming in certain lighted situations displayed a yellowish cast.

Gregg offered to come back last night and work on it some more. He also consulted with Seth Schnaible, a professional colleague and consultant to Samsung in Southern California. Gregg decided to recalibrate the primary and secondary colors using a HD signal generator through my DVI/Inputs. It took him several tries on each primary and secondary color to get them right on. The result was an essentially perfect CIE diagram. Prior to this second calibration the primary green and secondary yellow was still quite a bit off and presumably the cause of the yellowish cast I was getting on some HD images. Now my HD images are excellent and SD is still as good as SD gets.

Gregg certainly went the extra mile by consulting with other ISF calibrators and coming back and redoing the primary and secondary colors. If anyone is interested in having their set calibrated Gregg is considering coming back in August. I strongly recommend him. (8/1/2005)
- Anonymous: Samsung HLP5063

I have been meaning for some time to thank you for doing such a superb job of calibrating my flat screen! After a brief period of getting used to the lower light levels on screen, the picture is fantastic and the richness of reds and the blacks are noticably much better.(8/22/05)
- Robert in NH: Panasonic 42” Plasma

The picture on my Sony looks great! (9/4/05)
- Anonymous: Sony 60WF655

I used Gregg Loewen last Fall as well. he actually calibrated my Sammy HLP4663 twice -- once with his old gear and the 2nd time w/ his new $30k color spectrometer that he had just got. I think I was the 1st for that Probably spent 80-90 mins at my place. The picture is stunning. (9/26/05)
- Tem in Chicago: Samsung HLP 4663 DLP RPTV

To follow-up on my post that Gregg Loewen was coming to calibrate my Samsung 6167 RPTV Tuesday, I provide some feedback below.

My appointment was at 2pm, Gregg was early, how's that for a service call! Compared to my experiences with D*, Best Buy, etc, Gregg put them to shame for promptness.

Gregg had a couple of fully packed equipment bags and other items he brought into the house. I had the windows covered w/black trash bags and some dark towels. I usually do this anyways when watching NFL on Sunday afternoons to maximize my viewing pleasure, my wife thinks I'm nuts but that's another subject.

Gregg set-up his equipment and fully explained, step by step of what he was and would be doing. He said some of his clients could care less of his process. To each his own but why bother, plus he is educating you on an expensive hobby.

Gregg used a software program to measure my set's current output of the color spectrum and grayscale. Most of my colors were pretty far off with blue being the closest to what it should be per ISF standards. My grayscale was way off, too hot!

Gregg went through the service menu many times, tweaking each color...blue, green and red. Once those were precise, he did the secondary colors...cyan, yellow, and magenta. He got all either dead on or within fractions. He also got the grayscale within fractions of 6500k. He copied to settings for all my inputs, I have HDMI and component 1 now but it's good to know if I add in the future, I'm set.

Once he was done (about 2 1/2 hours), we viewed some HD from D* and then we looked at the Fifth Element on DVD and he pointed out the contrast and colors, especially the flesh tones. I noticed differences right away but it wasn't the apparent night and day...not yet anyway.

After Gregg left, I sat down for some critical viewing. It became apparent rather quickly of the differences from before and after. The colors were so much truer to the subject. I had used DVE before to set everything and thought I had done a good job. Gregg's calibration but all that to shame. I really noticed my hot colors, red and oranges were very refined, not bleeding over or screaming 'look at me'! The flesh tones were so real. My 9-year-old immediately noticed a difference on the Discovery HD channel in the detail of the animals. The feathers on the birds were amazing. We were so engrossed in the HD viewing, we never got to a DVD. That will come later.

To sum it up....

- Gregg was great!
- I didn't have the instant 'holy mother of crap' experience some have right away.
- BUT...once I viewed subject matter I was familiar with and did some constructive viewing, this was money WELL spent and I am extremely satisfied. I now feel I have the best possible picture, not the one that came screaming off the showroom.

Thanks - Jeff
(9-28-05)
- Jeff: Samsung HLR 6167 DLP RPTV

OK Guys

Sorry for the delay in the review.

First off, Gregg is a great guy. He was here exactly when he said he would be. Funny thing-I was still obsessing about the garbage bags, and had covered the slider completely, and shut the blinds on all other windows, and then realized that I could no longer look outside to see when Gregg arrived I heard some noise a peeked out and he was here.

I guess I can not continue without discussing the said garbage bags. I left work an hour early to find then and put them up. I went to Wal-Mart and the only black bags they had was indeed industrial bags, but they were compacter bags, with a very small width. However they came all tied together so I was able to make the length as long as I needed. It took about 11 side by side to cover the slider completely. But they did the job. Then I was obsessing that the shades would not cut off enough light and started to cover them, and I got 2 strips done when Gregg arrived.

As soon as he walked in, he said "Oh this is plenty dark" So all that obsessing for nothing. Now I have a lifetime supply of compacter bags, but I don't even have a trash compacter.

Next as Gregg was starting to set up his awesome equipment, he asked for the original remotes. I knew I had them so I wasn't concerned, but suddenly I could not locate the most important TV remote. Seeing that our house is a total disaster, clutter and messy wise, I couldn't find the remote anywhere. Gregg told me to calm down he had faith I would find it. Well I did, but it took like 20 minutes, I was sweating bullets. (Thank you Gregg for not mentioning what bad shape the condo was). I asked him if it was the messiest he had seen, he said no then hesitated, so I think yes.

OK on to the calibration portion of our show.
Gregg set up his laptop in front of him in a position so I had an easy view of it. Then he set up some type of instrument panel devise on his left. Then he attached a suction cup stethoscope type thing directly in the center on the TV. He turned on the laptop and some incredible graphics came up. He thoroughly explained what everything stood for, and gave me some key definitions so I could attempt to understand what he was doing.

He showed me what the industry standards were and what my TV was showing. It was pretty far away from where is was supposed to be. Then he had to do some experimentation with the hidden menu selections, since it was his first A10. He took time to make sure he found all the menu items he was looking for. Even if it took going through the menu several times. He was diligent in his efforts to do and adjust everything he could.

With ever adjustment Gregg made he would show me exactly what he was doing and explained the end result of each. I was able to watch the monitor and watch the graphs, it was very cool and very informative. Of course the only thing I knew about was grayscale. I knew that the standard was 6500 degrees Kelvin. I believe we came very close.

Then he went through all advance settings on the regular TV menus. Again explaining everything as he went along. He mentioned that he could have left or been done, but he went back over every setting and even went and made some other changes. He made sure I was happy with the results and I assured him I was. We went through all the different TV inputs and the DVD player as well.

He was getting ready to leave and I reminded him quietly that he said he would help me make sure that my surround settings were correct on my A/V. Of course they were way off, and within a few minutes he fixed that for me. Calibration done, Gregg left, Mark was happy.

Now onto the big part of the review. How does it look? Well that is the reason I waited until now to do the review. Since most of the shows I watch are SD, I did not think it was fair to do a review of that, yet at the same time, I could not turn off the non-HD NESN (the Red Sox) network.

I had to wait to Sunday and the NFL. Since I don't have the D* NFL Sunday Ticket, I went to my basic cable which now picks up the HD signal and OMG. The picture and color are too awesome to even describe. I don't know what else to say except money well spent.

I can't give it the old Night and Day because of very crappy SD PQ with D*. But when HD is on (even on D*) it is a beautiful sight to behold.

Thank you Gregg and everybody else who helped me with the decision. Absolutely no regrets.
- Tase, Sony 50A10 LCD RPTV Owner in CT

I too own an HL-R5067W. I had it calibrated by Greg at Lion AV. The difference is nothing short of phenomenal. I new it was fabulous but I had it confirmed last week. My brother in law just got the same tv. We are both connected to Time Warner cable via HDMI in the same neighborhood. Now I can really see the diiference. My PQ is much clearer. There is no noise in comparison. Colors are much better and noise is vastly reduced, He keeps asking why my TV looks better. I finally broke down and told him about the ISF calibration. Now he is going to get his done. I'll let you know if he gets the same results! jim
- Jim Samsung DLP Owner in Maine

I would like to say it was great to meet you yesterday and thanks. I thought that my set played great before, but after your callibration I think it's better.

Since I have plenty of time with no one around I've seen a couple of movies and the pitcure from the dvd is much better than before. If you ever need a reference please don't hesitate to call. Again, thanks for the great work
- Mitch, Hartford Mitsubishi WD-52725 DLP rear projector

Just a comment..I was sorta wondering if having my 52XBR5 would really make a difference..the answer was..yes indeed..I thought it "looked good" before....but I think there's a difference between just looking good..and looking realistic..I had my Sony LCD calibrated by Gregg Loewen this past Wednesday..and I really gotta say..it make's a big difference!..The stuff look's "real" now..like looking thru a window..I was watching the show NCIS..and when a car went into the Potomac River (yuk!)..the underwater scenes looked real, murkiness & all..alomg with the fine sediment that was in the water. The actors faces looked "real" too..not like I was watching a brilliant TV screen with brilliant fleshtone colors...so..is it worth it?...if you want to see the real deal..yes it is..worth every penny! Again..just an opinion from a satisfied customer!
- Mr Logs - Baltimore Sony 52XBR5 LCD Flat Panel - November 2007

Gregg:
As you know I am very demanding, and as you may tell by the audio and video equipment I own I want the best picture and audio I can afford, to enjoy them to the fullest. You have calibrated my plasmas before, but now that two of them are three years old I assumed it would be much more difficult to achieve a “good picture.”
The calibrations you did this week on my two plasmas that are three years old, up to the newest Kuros from Pioneer, produced outstanding results. Not only are my new Pioneer Kuro and Elite plasmas depicting an outstanding picture, even my two older plasmas are showing an astonishing picture. Even my wife noticed the difference, she asked me if I had replaced the master bedroom plasma with a new one.
Thanks for your help, you did an outstanding job in these calibrations. I think the results are truly unsurpassable.
Thanks again, and have safe travels and happy holidays.
Al

- Alfredo - Madison AL Runco 5000 DLP, Multiple Pioneer Elite Panels December 2008

I really love the TV now. I watched Pirates 3 on Blu-ray and definitely can tell it looks better than when I bought it. Even standard TV looks better. After you left I watched a few movies and liked what you did, but the second day made me realize just what a great job you did. I dont know, for some reason I appreciated it much more the second day. I will say that DVD's look a hell of a lot better. I really think between the DVD's, the Blu-ray's and cable, DVD bennifited the most. They really look HD now. Thanks again for bringing out the best of my TV.
- Joe H - Tampa Mitsubishi DLP Owner - WD73734 - December 2007

ISF Guy: Gregg Loewen (LionAV)
TV: Panny 58PZ700
Arrival: On time at 3pm (coming in from Philly to Baltimore no less!)

I have been reading these boards for about 5 years as I have purchased a CRT RPTV, LCD RPTV, and my current 37'' LCD and 58'' plasma panels. During that time I have always planned on getting my TVs calibrated once I got a TV I really wanted to keep. I decided to get my plasma calibrated.

I went with LionAV because I always felt Gregg took the time to answer some questions on these boards in a friendly way. Since Day 1 of my time reading AVS I knew Gregg would be the guy to hire when the time came.

His website is easy to use and Gregg responded quickly to my questions and set a date/time and stuck to it. The entire process was smooth.

The calibration itself was a barrage of info; and I mean that in a good way. Gregg could have sat there and only responded when spoken to but he took the time to explain what he was doing. He explained:

1) How my set was initially setup and what was wrong with the settings

2) What his equipment was telling him and what all those graphs meant

3) How he was going to get my TV looking like it should. This also included explaining and demonstrating terms like "Black crush" which I have seen thrown around a lot but never really explained.

4) Finally after the settings he showed me again what his equipment was telling him. This was nice but I already saw the difference on the TV.

Also he explained some various techniques directors use when using colors in certain movie scenes.

Overall I could not be happier with the results or Gregg as a calibrator.

Highly recommended.

Burgertime

- Burgertime - Panasonic Plasma 58PZ700U April 2008

That was definitely money well spent. A fraction of the money I've spent on any tweak I've ever had the misfortune to purchase and an improvement that is palpable.

Thanks for it and please send me the reminder each year so I can have you come back. I will happily pass your info around to anyone I know.

Best Regards,
Russ (July 2008)
- Russ from Long Island - JVC RS-2 Projector and Samsung PN-58A550 LCD Flat Panel

I want to thank you again I am now truly satisfied with my set and it looks remarkable. Looking forward working together in the future. Want to thank you for taking the time to explain things ,give some history on TV and also letting me be part of the calibration !
- Jason, New England November 2008 Pioneer Elite 151 HD Plasma

Gregg,
Thank you for the excellent work. The TV looks fantastic. I will certainly pass your name around.
Trav
- Trav. Los Angeles Pioneer Elite Pro 150 Plasma. Enabling ISF Modes Nov 2008

It only gets better. We were extremely pleased with its image quality after adjusting by eye for what I thought was proper skin tones, etc. and I couldn’t disagree with my wife that we might be crazy to have it professionally calibrated.

Earlier today Gregg Loewen of Lion Audio Video (lionav.com) unpacked and setup two travel cases of equipment and showed me that my settings were actually quite bad. He spent a couple of hours getting it well within THX calibration spec. While there were a couple of results that were not perfect, they were quite good, within THX spec and if better not anything that would be visible to the eye. Gregg’s comments included; “it had more calibration settings than most sets” and included the words “gorgeous” and “jealous”. You’ll have to check with Gregg for any comparison to other TV’s that he’s calibrated.

While the picture was great before calibration, it’s fabulous now. No question that colors are as they should be, whites are brighter, blacks are dead black (with room lights turned off blacks are totally black as with the TV turned OFF), etc. I don’t have another calibrated TV to compare it to, but as far as I am concerned, it’s perfect. Best of all, my wife says that she can easily see the improvement on both HD and SD programs and that it was worth getting it calibrated.

It’s too bad the TV’s can’t be properly calibrated as received from the manufacturer and the stores can’t have a level playing field with all display TV’s properly set up for an honest comparison.

My advice to anyone that spends the $ for a high end TV is that no matter how good you think it is, you’ll never know if it is as good as it can be without the services of someone with the equipment, knowledge and time to get it right. It’s also nice to no longer think that it could be better with additional tweaking by eye to correct for what might simply be poor quality program material.
- OhhAhh - AVS - Sharp LC-65XS1U New England - December 2008

Gregg
Awesome is all I can say.
Been watching some Blu-Rays and its such an improvement.
The greatest thing is how great Football looks now - WOW - the difference is dramatic.
Have a safe and great Christmas!!
Dave

- Dave in Philly - December 2008 - Toshiba 57LX177 LCD Flat Panel

Yesterday I had my 2 year old Samsung HPS5053 professionally calibrated by Gregg Loewen of Lion AV. WOW!!!! My plasma has almost 5000 hrs on it and it looks like he hung a brand new tv on my wall, well better than brand new because I have never seen picture detail like this anywhere. He was done around 5:30 and after he left I stayed up until 2am watching all of my favorites because it was like I was seeing them for the first time. No house is too far out of the way and no display is too far gone for him to work his magic on. The best part of it all is that it is like you are just hanging out with one of your good friends.He also explained everything he was doing to where one of my kids could understand. Great guy and awesome calibrator. I officially have the best looking display in Toney Alabama. Eight thumbs up from the Sipps family.
- Moose - Toney Alabama Dec 2008 Samsung HPS5053 Plasma

I really enjoy the job you did calibrating this TV, along with the almost 3D appearance and spot on color I think it is the more subtle things like shadow detail and the wide color gradients are what standout. (with good source material of course. ) If only everything could be like a well done Blu-Ray disc. Is there as much difference in quality between HD stations on DIRECTV as there is on cable? Palladia the music channel that rotates between rock, country and hip hop seems to consistently be the best. Anyway one of the station promos shows a bunch of black birds flying, before you came I had black birds and white background, now the detail that shows in the birds is amazing. Thanks again.
- Chris - Maine Jan 2009 Samsung LN55A950 (LCD LED back light panel)

I recently had my 141 professionally calibrated by Gregg Loewen. This was after the 100 hour factory break-in, 150 hours with the break-in disc, and another 50 hours or so regular viewing.

I was able to notice a marked improvement right away, especially with the deepness of the blacks. IMHO, Gregg did a fantastic job, and I would recommend him and Lion A/V without hesitation.

- BuckNaked - Connecticut - Elite 141 Plasma - ISF Day and Night Modes Feb 2009 -AVS Poster

I bought my RS20 last month and since then I wasn't able to tweak it to my satisfaction. To my eyes THX mode image look very flat, so I experimented with the popular settings posted around here.
Last night, Gregg Loewen came to calibrate my RS20. He examined my settings and took some measurements.
As you can see in my attachment, D65 wasn't that off, color gammut was right on spot with REC709, and gamma was almost perfect at 2.2.
The first thing he did, was to set the iris properly such that the black levels were accurate. Then he continued doing the contrast and brightness settings. Afterwards, he adjusted the greyscale in such away that it could reduce the DE's below 1, and he succeded in doing so. Finally, adjusted the color and hue. We then took measurements (as post it in the attachment).
We then adjusted the pioneer 51fd, since it was clipping wtw. Then we moved on to watching some demo material, and explained to me about the
different CMS presets and how the THX works properly.
The image now looks flipping great... It really looks very closely to what you actually see in the movie theater, with the exception that it has by far more detailed...
To everyone that ones to have the most of their RS20 I recommend you have Gregg Loewen calibrate it...

- Gonzalez in Washington DC - JVC RS20 THX Certified Projector - February 2009

I have had my 141 calibrated by Gregg Loewen and it looks incredible. It is amazing how much detail this panel can display with a properly calibrated grayscale. Control Cal was used to unlock the day and night ISF settings. Since I can control the amount of light entering my room, I plan on using night mode almost exclusively.
- "The Whip" Wayne PA Pioneer Elite 141 Plasma - Feb 2009

Your calibration is wonderful. I didn't expect such a noticeable improvement in the ISF Day/Night as compared with Pure or the other modes. Specifically, brighter while increasing the "pop" (retaining vividness) and yet improving on blacks and shadow detail. I use ISF Day most of the time, with Night only when the room's really dark (even at night, I usually have a reading lamp on). Very satisfied.
- Rod in Boston Pioneer Elite 151 HD Plasma ISF Day and Night Modes Activated May 2009

On Wednesday afternoon I had the pleasure of having Gregg Loewen visit my apartment. He worked on my all Pioneer Elite setup which has a Kuro 111FD, a 05FD BD player and a 01THX AV receiver. Gregg calibrated my Kuro 111FD for Pure, ISF Day and ISF Night modes. He also did a 5400K Movie mode for me to view old black & white movies (my request). I have a funny feeling that I will be leaving the Kuro on the ISF Night mode the majority of the time.

All I can say is what a difference his calibration made. I thought that the Pure mode settings that I had been using based on D-Nice's settings were extremely good, but once I viewed the ISF modes that Gregg calibrated on my Kuro I am now hooked on recommending a professional calibration to all of my friends. This definitely makes a big difference on the Kuros.
All I can say is OMG!!!

In addition he installed a Ideal Lume Standard Light on the back of my Kuro at no extra charge as I had purchased the light from his website. http://www.lionav.com The light really makes a difference when viewing the Kuro in a dark room setting.

Gregg also checked out my audio settings. This included making sure my AV receiver was correctly set up, that all speakers were on the correct size, that I had the correct crossover timing and phase and was SPL balanced. He then made a number of adjustments in my 01THX receiver. I had done the Pioneer auto MCACC setup and he showed me how they were not accurate. He also changed the positioning of my speakers by toeing them in to my sweet spot on the sofa. After he was finished I could definitely hear the difference.

Gregg took the time to properly explain everything in a step by step manner about what he was doing and answered all of my questions no matter how ridiculous they were. He is a true professional and I highly recommend him to everyone.
- NYC Guy - Pioneer Elite 111 HD Plasma - May 2009

Back on 5/28/09 Gregg Loewen calibrated my 111. Prior to this I had just recently finished the break in period using the thumb drive files and then had been using D-Nice' general calibration. The display looked great but I work with color copiers and know the true value of calibrating those units for best picture reproduction. The same goes along with these displays.

Gregg calibrated 2 inputs (that is all I use) for Pure, ISF Night and Day. Out of the box and prior to using D-Nices calibration, both my better half and I thought it had a little too much red. The intial changes made pulled some red out, but Gregg pulled even more red out without my ever mentioning anything.

The final outcome was fantastic. HD Sports stations are amazing. At the time I had a Pioneer 51 BD player. I just returned that unit and replaced it with the Oppo 83. Gregg instructed me on how to adjust the contrast on the new player and poof, the display is perfect!! I just finshed watching Hellboy II and the reds in a movie that relies on a red character looked completely natural, not overpowering in any way. The next test will be The Dark Knight.

I opted for the Pioneer Elite over the Panasonic G10 series and then opted for Gregg over BB for calibrating. I do not regret either decision. You get what you pay for, and Gregg is defiantely at the top of this profession !!! He explained everything that he was doing and took the time to answer any questions that I had. He even continued helping after the visit to assist in the tweaking of the different BD player than the player that was here at the time. I would recomend him to anyone that is considering a calibration!!!!
- gbreda New Hampshire Pioneer Elite 111 HD May 2009

While not Color specfic I thought I just make a quick mention of something I invested in last week.

I have quite a few displays in my facility and one of the things thats always irritated me was getting reference monitors and client monitors matching. Of course different display technologies make it even more challenging

For years I have fiddled with different calibration tools and methods for getting all of our displays to match. Well I finally bit the bullet and hired a calibration engineer to come in calibrate all of our displays.

I hired Lion AV. Gregg Loewen the owner came out to do our calibrations. Gregg is and ISF and THX certified calibrator, in fact he is the lead instructor for THX and their calibration services. The thing that attracted me to Gregg and Lion AV was that he splits his time between consumer and professional calibrations so he has a much time on professional hi end CRTs as he does your Costco LCD.

Using the latest in calibration tools i.e. 30k probe and signal generators Gregg Spent about 60min per display. I was pleased to see that I was pretty close (about 95%) to SMPTE and THX standards but by getting into service menus and such it was amazing to get grayscale and luma output perfect on the displays.

Additionally, we were able to measure and adjust surround lighting to suggested reference. Turns out I was pumping out about 20 more foot lamberts then is ideal.

Now each display in our studio matches (as good a they can for different display technologies) and I can finally rest assured that I'm accurate with each and every correction across multiple displays.

I'll admit I was hesitant laying out a pretty big chunk of change (about $350 per display) but in the end it was money really well spent.

Robbie Carman
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Colorist and Author
- Robbie Carman - Colorist - Washington DC - Panasonic 58 800U Plasma March 2009

Just had my P54 V-10 calibrated by Gregg Loewen. Improvement, would be a vast underestimation of the visual differences of before and after. He calibrated THX for night viewing and Standard for daytime. The difference is amazing relating to black detail and color. Now I understand what is all over this board regarding pop! The picture on this unit when professionally callibrated using the over $70,000 in equipment was well worth the money that I spent. Greg took his time to explain not only the before and after but also to show me the nuancinces that Directors use in lighting and colors to enhance the visuals for the audience. He also calibrated my sound on the Pioneer Elite reciever and Def Tech speakers. Wife and I watched the new Transformers movie last night and even she was impressed at both visuals and sound. She made me smile but not where she could see it when she said " boy was he ever worth his money". When you spend this much money for a tv,my humble advice would be to get get it professionally calibrated.
- FCroadking - AVS Forum - Panasonic P54v10 Plasma October 2009

What: Calibration of Mitsubishi WD-73837
When: Sunday 29 November 2009
Who: Gregg Loewen of LionAV
Where: Fullerton, California

I finally had my 73837 calibrated yesterday by Gregg Loewen of LionAV. As others have said before me I cannot say enough about how much of a difference there is in the picture my television is displaying post-calibration as opposed to pre-calibration.

Gregg showed up exactly at the mid-point of the timeframe he gave me for his arrival. He is a warm, friendly man who comes armed with two suitcases of equipment to ensure that your set is looking as good as possible by the time he leaves.

We have had our 73837 since early June. The television has well over 1000 hours on it so the bulb is well broken in. We had done some semi-calibration of our own previously with a Spyder2 device and were happy with the results. But we knew it could look better. We just didn't know how much better. Now we do and the results are astonishing.

Gregg set up first and was kind enough to thoroughly explain every step of the process. The first thing that he did was reset the television back to 1x1 pixel mapping. I didn't realize how much detail we were losing until I saw the massive moire in his test patterns at 720p and 1080p. We only have a slight bend on 4x3 material at the bottom of the screen and it's very easy to live with.

After this it was time to set up greyscale and while we were "close", Gregg really dialed in the greyscale. It helps to have a trained eye that knows exactly what it is looking for as well as appropriate test patterns. The differences were very noticeable. The one thing that he explained that I hadn't previously known about before was the concept of "blacker than black" as an actual colour in movies, television and on the film colour spectrum.

From there Gregg went and adjusted the colour to get it correctly set. He explained what every graph on his software was telling us, what our present values were, what acceptable tolerances are for each measurement, etc. Back and forth adjustments were made to the gains for red, green and blue. Picture+ adjustments were made to all of the primary and secondary colours, some more than others, to get within acceptable tolerance.

One of the biggest things brought to our attention is how narrow our colour gamut was before adjustments were made. I don't have the graphs on me, but our initial "colour triangle" was well under the standard colour gamut triangle. It looked as though we were missing about 25% of the colours we should have been seeing based upon the plot points. On top of that our triangle acutally looked more like the spaceship from Asteroids in that it had two relatively straight sides and the third side had a "kink" to it in the middle pointing inwards.

Gregg let us know that we weren't going to be able to dial the colour gamut triangle in exactly so. We were more than likely going to have a gamut that would lie outside the standard. But it is better to have too much colour available than too little. At least now we are able to render the entire colour gamut standard.

The difference was immediately noticeable. We were surprised at the overall changes when we started looking at test material. The largest differences came in flesh tones and blacks. Gregg introduced us to "Jennifer", his skin-tone test queen. With colours set appropriately he was able to use our standard colour and tint adjustments to show us what happens if the colours are off. Too much one way and Jennifer turns green. Too much the other way and she turns shades of violet. With everything set correctly she's just a really pretty redhead with pasty white skin.

With greyscale and colour set, Gregg moved on to making adjustments to our BluRay and HD-DVD players. Combined with the changes made to the greyscale and colour gamut the players were set up to perfection.

Gregg showed us demo material consisting of selected scenes from the X-Men: The Last Stand (I think... I'm not sure) on the BluRay player and Transformers on the HD-DVD player. While watching Gregg was able to show scenes where blacker than black came into play, shadow detail came into play and also how filters and lighting were affecting each scene into warmer or cooler tones.

Once that was done we set about doing a daylight calibration. This was just a minor modification of the brightness that had been set in the dark environment.

What is most noticeable? Pretty much everything. Our blacks are much more bold and deep. The colours are all more vivid. Flesh tones are all "correct". My wife immediately noticed every change that was being made and was most appreciative. It is also immediately apparent that everything is much darker post-calibration. This takes a little bit to get used to as things initially appear "dim". Well, that's because we had everything set a little high in terms of brightness and contrast.

In reality there is nothing I can say that can adequately prepare one for the differences in their television after Gregg gets done doing his magic. While how much one likes what Gregg does is certainly subjective, the numbers are very much objective as are the standards they are based on. I initially thought my television looked a little dim post-calibration. I had to remind myself that it's now set to a standard and my eyes, though good for me, aren't set to "standard".

As an example, my previous setting for brightness had been 35. My Spyder had previously told me to set it at 17. I thought that looked a little too dim after always previously done what the Spyder had said and had bumped it back up to 35. What was Gregg's final brightness reading? 16. Whereas I second guessed my own reading there was and is an assuredness and certainty of getting the numbers from Gregg and seeing exactly what his readings were showing and why we were getting to the numbers. So brightness is 16 for a reason and I know the reasons behind

If you ask, Gregg will explain. I don't know what'll happen if you don't ask because both myself and my wife were very interested in what Gregg was doing and he couldn't have been more forthcoming with details of what exactly was happening. I couldn't have been happier with this part of the calibration. It's one thing to see your television's picture improve incrementally with each adjustment that is made. It's another thing to know "why". This took what Gregg was doing from being some sort of television voodoo to true audio visual science.

I don't have my final before and after numbers from Gregg as he is due to email those to me when he gets back home. Doesn't matter though as I wasn't going to post them anyway. My numbers will be different from the next person who has this television and I think that there has been enough variance in numbers floating around that it is best for people to just have Gregg out for themselves so they can get their television set right for their particular environment.

In closing, I can't recommend Gregg highly enough. The man is a true professional with a love of his craft that you just can't fake and the results speak volumes for his efforts. This was $450 dollars I couldn't have been more happy to spend.
- EvilEuro - Fullerton California Mitsubishi WD-73837 November 2009