Sharp XV-Z17000 Projector Calibration and Settings

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Art Feierman

We calibrate each home theater projector that is reviewed. It is a pretty standard calibration, there's always more that can be done by some of the "hi-end" calibrators. Our calibrations, including the XV-Z17000, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration, along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, etc. We did not adjust the individual colors.

Sharp XV-Z17000 Color Temperature

Color Temp over IRE Range, Best mode, (Movie 1):
30 IRE (dark gray)	6607
50 IRE	6510
80 IRE	6546
100 IRE (white)	6623

Note: Either Movie 1 or 2 could be used for best mode.

That's excellent color temperature balance, out of the box, though greens were a tad thin.

Sharp XV-Z17000 Basic Settings

Header Content
	Standard	Natural	Dynamic	Movie 1	Movie 2	Game
Contrast	(0) 5	(0) 5	(0) 4	(0) 5	(0) 5	(0) 4
Brightness	(0) 2	(0) 2	(0) 5	(0) 2	(0) 2	(0) 4
Colo	0	0	0	0	(0) -4	0
Tint	0	0	0	0	0	0
Color Temp	0	0		(-1)	(-1)	(-1)
Lamp Mode	(Std.)	(Std.)	(Std.)	(Eco)	(Eco)	(Std.)
Iris 1 (manual)	(Hi Brite)	(Hi Brite)	(Hi Brite)	(Hi Cont.)	(Hi Cont.)	(Hi Brite)
ris 2 (auto)	(On)	(Off)	(Off)	(Off)	(On)	(Off)

In addition to calibrating Red, Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment.

Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis):

All other settings at default.

All other settings at default (untouched)

Measurements taken at mid-zoom and with lamp in Standard mode UNO.

Post Calibration Color TemperatureColor Temp over IRE Range (Post calibration):
20 IRE	-6526
30 IRE	- 6579
40 IRE	- 6565
50 IRE	- 6643
60 IRE	- 6582
70 IRE	- 6581
80 IRE	- 6559
90 IRE	- 6554
100 IRE	– 6608
Average gamma	2.18

Post calibration settings bring up the greens a bit, while managing to further improve the color temperature. That's a beautifully tight set of measurements, especially considering that the Sharp Z17000 doesn't offer two controls over the color range, (per color), like most, just one each, red and blue controls. Bottom line though, it calibrates beautifully, and the image quality reflects that.

RGB Settings

Calibration settings:
Movie 1 mode		Quick Cal – Dynamic mode
Red	-4	5
Blue	-3	-5
Brightness		663 1177 (in lumens)

Below are the RGB settings we ended up with post calibration. While there is some slight variation in color from one lamp to the next, you should find these provide a better picture than the defaults. Plug'em in (either Movie 1 or 2, for a best mode, and Dynamic for a brightest mode).

To get the color temp settings above, the following adjustments were made. The controls are on the Picture menu.

That's it, just those settings to do the color temp adjust.