Anyone know a good HDTV installer in LA?

June 3, 2006 9:16 PM

I set up my big screen and I think I did a good job. Only there's a lot of artifacting on the regular TV channels (not the HDTV). That may be as good as it's going to get with my DirectTV box but I'm not sure. Can you recommend a good guy at a reasonable price in LA to come take a look at it?
posted by rileyray3000 to Technology (2 answers total)

Not sure what kind of TV you got, but one thing that new HDTVs do (especially LCD and plasma) is reveal just how crappy NTSC and "regular" digital channels are. Some are almost unwatchable as you realize just how much compression is used to squeeze as many channels as possible through your cable.

If this is the type of artifacting you're talking about, there's nothing you can do about it except get a crappier TV, or only watch high-def content.

What I would recommend strongly, however, if you spent more than $1,000 on your TV and it's more than 27", is to have it ISF calibrated. I get all my TVs calibrated now, after how impressed I was with the results of the first one. It won't help your artifacting problem, but the improvement in overall picture quality can be quite dramatic.

There are certified ISF calibrators in most major cities, and they're usually willing to travel. Expect to pay $250-$350 for the service, but it's the best money you will spend on your TV. Sometimes the difference is night and day. A lot of people are satisified with just tweaking the color controls themselves, maybe get fancy with their own copy of Avia or Video Essentials, but ISF technicians have access to you TV's service menu and use expensive hardware to perfect your image, far beyond what the consumer is capable of.
posted by robbie01 at 10:29 PM on June 3, 2006

Ignore SJ1968. It's perfectly reasonable to seek recommendations for technicians in this forum.

As implied by robbie01, you could get one of the two popular calibration discs and work on it yourself.

Head over to avsforum.com, specifically the display calibration forum, and read to your hearts content. Please don't post ... your questions will already have been answered, so just hunt around.
posted by intermod at 6:51 AM on June 4, 2006