Sharp XV-Z15000 Projector Calibration and Settings
We calibrate each home theater 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-Z15000, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration, along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, etc.
6/9/09 - Art Feierman
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Sharp XV-Z15000 Color Temperature
Sharp's XV-Z15000's Movie 2 mode was very warm (red) in color balance. It improved significantly with our basic calibration. Movie 2 mode was typically in the 5800K range. As such, Mike didn't report on the full range for Movie 2, and instead chose to look at Natural, and Dynamic. Both of those modes were very good, right out of the box. Immediately below we repeat the numbers shown in the Projector Brightness section. Here are the initial pre-calibration measurements of color temperature (grayscale balance).
Natural mode Dynamic Mode
30 IRE – 6626 6707
50 IRE – 6693 6753
80 IRE – 6741 6791
100 IRE – 6757 6777
As you can see, both are just the slightest bit cool (slight shift toward blue). They both look pretty good without adjustment.
Sharp XV-Z15000 Basic Settings
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):
Standard |
Natural |
Dynamic |
Movie 1 |
Movie 2 |
Game |
|
| Contrast = | (0) -1 |
(0) -1 |
(0) -2 |
(0) -2 |
(0) -3 |
(0) -2 |
| Brightness= | (0) 2 |
(0) 3 |
(0) 4 |
(0) 3 |
(0) 3 |
(0) 4 |
| Color = | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
(0) –4 |
0 |
| Tint = | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Color Temp= | 0 |
0 |
0 |
(-1) |
(-1) |
0 |
| Lamp Mode= | (Std.) |
(Std.) |
(Std.) |
(Eco) |
(Eco) |
(Std.) |
| Iris 1 (manual)= | (High Brite) |
(High Brite) |
(High Brite) |
(High Cont.) |
(High Cont.) |
(High Brite) |
| Iris 2 (auto)= | (On) |
(Off) |
(Off) |
(Off) |
(On) |
(Off) |
All other settings at default (untouched)
Full wide zoom
Sharp XV-Z15000 Post Calibration Grayscale: Movie 2 mode
Post calibration, we ended up with excellent grayscale balance which was evident, when watching the XV-Z15000.
20 IRE - 6615K
30 IRE - 6542K
40 IRE - 6187K
50 IRE - 6460K
60 IRE - 6475K
70 IRE - 6486K
80 IRE - 6462K
90 IRE - 6561K
100 IRE – 6625K
You'll note that over all, the color temperature stays very close to the ideal 6500K, but with one exception. The Sharp has a dip to 6187K at 40 IRE (just lightly darker than medium gray), where it has a little too much red. Still it's only off by just over 300K, and that's slight. Over all, it's a very good, but not exceptional grayscale balance. I have to say that the actual picture quality, in terms of color accuracy looks even better than these very respectable numbers.
Gamma: The closest gamma to the target 2.2 for movie viewing is the Gamma 1 setting. That said, it seems, from watching, that the 1 setting is a little low - probably closer to 2.1, which brightens up the mid brightness portions of the image somewhat.
RGB Settings
Strangely, the XV-Z15000 only offers minimal grayscale balance controls. While almost all home theater projectors offer upper and lower band controls separately, for Red, Green, and Blue, the Sharp has a single control for Red, and a single control for Blue, and no Green adjustments. The lack of two controls for a color makes it near impossible to try to smooth out that 40 IRE dip mentioned above. The lack of Green controls is less of an issue (but still would be good to have), as many calibrators use green settings as the reference, and try to change them the least.
On the other hand, the Sharp does have a CMS - color management system - for managing the hue, saturation, etc. of the individual colors. We normally don't touch those - since this is a basic calibration. A full blown calibration, therefore, will do even better.
Calibration settings: Movie 2 mode:
Color Temp on 0, Gamma on 1
Red= -4
Blue= -2
That's all there is to it!
Brightest Modes:
For "brightest mode" Mike recommends just leaving things as they are in terms of the color settings. The XV-Z15000 has one of the best looking (in terms of color balance) Dynamic modes we've seen, "right out of the box".
Further, you'll get an even better bright picture using the Natural mode, which also needs no color calibration. Natural will cost you 18% of the projectors maximum lumens (Dynamic). Both are very watchable, even for those fairly critical.