Optoma HD23 Projector Calibration and Settings

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Art Feierman

Naturally, we calibrate every home theater that we review. The Optoma HD23 received the usual treatment. This time, Mike got to calibrate it before I really started watching the HD23. Since Reference and User seem identical. I could compare Mike's finished calibration results with the out of the box default by comparing User (post adjustment), to Reference.

Our calibrations, including the Optoma HD23, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration (adjusting the balance of Red, Green, and Blue), along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, tint (where applicable), etc. We rarely calibrate the individual colors on lower cost home projectors like the HD23. That's a moot point in this case, as the HD23 lacks a full CMS with that abililty.

Let's take a look at the numbers:

Optoma HD23 Color Temperature

Color Temp over IRE Range (Cinema mode)
30 IRE	7991
50 IRE	8078
80 IRE	7840
100 IRE	7773

Before we provide our settings, let's see what we started out with: Pre calibration, these are the color temperatures over the grayscale range (repeated from the Performance page):

Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE (mid zoom)
Cienma	1081 @ 7773
Bright	1045 @ 9291, 1176 @ 7892 on Warm color temp, 1319 @7983 with Brightness on default of 50
Photo	1045 @ 9045
Reference	736 @ 8578
User	736 @ 8578

This shows the default brightness of each mode, and the color temperature of white (100 IRE) that we measured.

Optoma HD23 Basic Settings

Header Content
	Cinema	Bright	Photo	Reference	User
Contrast	(46)	(43)46	(46)	(46)	(46)
Brightness	(37)	(50)37	(37)	(37)38	37(38)
Color	(62)49	(68)	(60)	(49)	(49)
Tint
Color Temp	(Warm)	(Medium)	(Medium)	(Warm)	(Warm)
Gamma	(Film)	(Video)	(Graphics)	(Standard)	(Standard)

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.

Lamp Mode= Bright (unless noted otherwise)
All other settings are default