This article prompted me to call a local Best Buy store. I spoke to the gentleman that runs their so called “Geek Squad” in that particular store. He actually was reasonably informed about calibration and explained to me that they in-fact have the proper equipment - as when I asked what they had he replied “Sencore CT-5000 and VP-403’s.” I was SHOCKED. That actually is decent equipment that sells for about $10,000. He also stated that the technicians that actually perform the calibrations were ISF trained and certified. Frankly – I was surprised that he knew about ISF and was shocked that he had a reasonable understand of the process. I was also amazed that they do indeed offer that service to their customers and on top of that, for what seems to be a very reasonable fee. Do they actually do a good job? – I have no way of knowing. But my first impression with the Geek Squad manager was positive indeed and would tend to think that from the way he spoke about the subject matter that they would do a reasonable job.
In this day and age it’s easy to jump to the wrong conclusion not know who to believe. In this case a great disservice has been perpetrated to anyone who just wants the best picture his TV is capable of. If you are one of those – get your TV calibrated, just like we do.
On the HDMI controversy, poster “delanooch” just above has the right answer. There is no easy answer to this controversy, but suffice it to say – that compared to a calibration – it simply doesn’t matter. On an absolute level, go HDMI when you can, but be prepared for the possibility of a plethora of compatibility issues and keep the cables as short as possible. Cable quality starts to matter real fast as length goes up and it’s just not always as simples as “it either works or doesn’t work.” Under 2 meters of length – almost any quality cable – not necessary expensive – should work well.

There are some sets that just are not able to handle 1080P on their component video inputs. My parents have a Sony XBR2 and it can only do 1080P on the HDMI input. When I set my Xbox360 to 1080P over component on their TV just displays garbage.

Search Google for sources: [www.google.com]

So, in summary:
-1080P can be handled over component video
-but only on TV sets that support it, a lot of early 1080P sets do NOT
-the reason you can't get 1080P from your BluRay or HDDVD player over component is because of licensing restrictions. Even if your TV accepts 1080P over component you're out of luck and need to use DVI/HDMI

go read www.avsforum.com and get some insights to what HDMI vs Component really means in terms of picture quality (done right... no difference), and you will see that 99% of the people on this site dont even know what goes into a calibration.

These people are dirtbags.

I call foul.

@DeanOfAllTrades:

Because picture and sound quality are *subjective*.

There are objective measurements of both, but they only go so far. Human eyes and ears aren't objective, and what objectively *is* better may actually look or sound worse to the individual.

I, for instance, am partial to CRTs (as a PC display). I know that, objectively, the picture quality on an LCD is superior (I prefer LCD TVs). A CRT, however, just "feels better" to me. I've been using one for years - they're cheaper and longer-lived than LCDs (My CRTs have lasted double-digit years in constant service, where the majority of LCDs I've seen barely make it over the 3 year mark), which makes me see them as generally "better" (I can't afford to replace my monitor every few years).

Factors like that go into every "x or y" home entertainment purchase. They're why 'audiophile' magazines are still read by people who otherwise don't believe in magic and faeries.

The answer is always "Maybe" because it depends on two extremely wide-range variables: the other equipment you're using, and your personal experience.

If it was as simple as saying "X is always better," you wouldn't need the other 1,996 words.

I just got moved to the back warehouse after working in PC sales for 2 years. Couldn't be happier - honestly there's just SOMETHING about that dreaded general public that seems to suck sometimes.

It's like I feel like people look down on me when all I'm trying to do is put myself through school. The poor guy was probably going through the motions trying to make his numbers, most likely ground down by the unrealistic sales expectations that Best Buy tends to have on its employees. When I worked PCHO (computers) at Best Buy, I once carried the department 86% to budget in Geek Squad services, and was reprimanded for not being over 100%. BY MYSELF.

I kind of feel better for ranting. Sometimes management sucks more than demanding and misogynistic customers. :)

Still, I feel for people that have to work with the general public on a daily basis.

bestbuy in waterford, ct puts the 'calibrated' TV on ESPNHD, and the 'non-calibrated' one on regular ESPN.

@FireflyPunk: "...I don't know why I took this kind of personally. I've never worked a retail day in my life...because I'm so much better than that."

/fixed

This may surprise you (or not), but most Best Buy employees know their company would like nothing more than to up-sell you useless crap and load you down with Time magazine subscriptions. They just don't care.

They're not evil people, with nefarious master plans to gouge your checkbook. They just need the job and they don't care if you aren't bothered enough to research a $1000+ purchase.

You know, sometimes Consumerist really just makes me think that most consumers, are really just f'ing morons, and that's why this shit happens to them. Anyone who lets the kid at Best Buy sell him/her all their high end electronic equipment without a second thought deserves what they get. Hell, with a recession already upon us maybe they'll make some more irrational purchases and natural selection themselves right out of our hair. Maybe if there was nothing but people who thought for themselves Best Buy wouldn't be able to get away with this shit every other day.

I don't know why I took this kind of personally. I've never worked retail a day in my life.

Aside from the brightness, you can't tell a thing from that photo. A BlackBerry 8830 took it? Most CMOS cameras capture slowly in lower light, so you can get a blur on part of the picture. (I've done trick photos on the iPhone that way.)

The more pressing issue here is why the Best Buy is even bothering to do a "calibrated vs non-calibrated" comparison on a showroom floor. Having a doctored comparison like this is every bit as dishonest as the Bose kiosk demos, in which all of the source material is specially EQ'd to make up for the tonal deficiencies typical of Bose speakers.

In a brightly lit space like a typical BB store (which is far brighter than a typical home light level), the non-calibrated TV settings will look better because of all that ambient light. A reference calibration will typically bump up the colors, and dial down the sharpness and brightness.

Also, a calibration will vary in terms of the level of effort. If BB is selling an ISF calibration, then that involves going into the service menus (which are not accessible to consumers without a service manual or specific codes) and resetting the gamma, white levels, and greyscales so that they better match reference standards. On the other hand, a consumer can also greatly improve the image quality of their TV by just using a test disc like Avia or Digital Video Essentials. And because those calibration discs don't require hacking into the service menus, it also saves you from invalidating the factory warranty.

A calibrated TV can greatly improve the picture quality. Unfortunately, most consumers are more used to viewing washed out colors, exaggeratedly sharp edges, and overly bright pictures. A calibrated TV might actually look worse to anyone not used to looking at a

The more expensive models all had proper color settings, while the cheaper brands next to them had obviously had the colors fouled up to ruin the picture on purpose.

He immediately thought the more expensive models where several times over a better deal until I changed the color settings myself and showed him that when properly configured they looked practically the same.

@Smitherd:
He was also told that Monster Cables make a difference!

@bilups: yeah, i love my onkyo sr605 :)

I'd really like to see some significant calibration differences if you're going to get me to buy into a sham deal like this. Offering calibration services needs to be far more comprehensive than simple menu tweaks on saturation and contrast.

Then again, I shouldn't expect much out of chain retail stores. I wonder if Circuit City still offers their Xbox 360 game installation fees now that you really can install games on it?

@DrHellknow: BTW, Verizon FiOS sends uncompressed HD signals. It's great, but it eats up the space on the DVR like crazy.

It is NOT necessarily the case that component will look worse than HDMI. It can look better. It depends on a number of things. This may simply be the way they hooked these up due to the number of outputs on the DVD they are playing. Think about it -- how many HDMI-out jacks do most DVD players have? One. So you need to run component to get a second signal that's in sync for this kind of demo.

[forum.ecoustics.com]

In other words: capitalism.

Yes! Finally a "technical reason" for why Monster cables are better! Thanks!

It's sad how Monster profits off of consumer ignorance. Oh wait... are they a cable company or a golf court? I'm confused.

That "Calibrated / Non-Calibrated" signage is classicly horrible. It looks like the signage I made for a science fair when I was in elementary school.

Usually, calibration doesn't have much to do with the cabling. It has more to do with the fact that they've blown out the colors to make them pop in the harsh lighting of the big box store. That's almost certainly what they've done here.

@ModernTenshi04: While there is a negligible difference between component and HDMI (although if 1080p is only supported from the source via HDMI, the difference will be larger), I'd wager that NO ONE can tell the difference between two HDMI cables. The only time that would matter is if the HDMI cable is 50' long and there are breaks in the line or something.

@YOXIM: those are compression artifacts from the cable source. But others have said that. My added 2 cents is that he was probably looking at a 1080i HD channel. To get the best picture quality from digital cable, go to a channel that broadcasts in 720p. In my area, the ABC affiliate does so, as does the ESPN HD channel.

@MacMasterShane: I must respectfully say that you are completely wrong sir. Component cables CAN carry a 1080p signal. It is the DEVICES that decide whether or not 1080p is sent out from or accepted over component cables. www.HowStuffWorks.com explains it well.

@KStrike155: There is no reason that component is inherently unable to handle 1080p. What stops it in most cases is the ability for content to be DRM'ed and encrypted over HDMI. Only HDMI can actually interpret this added crapola. Therefore, to play most content in 1080p, HDMI is required.

@krztov: Well, HDMI will pass uncompressed 7.1 audio...but you will need a receiver that can decode it to actually get any benefit.

Then why does my Xbox 360 send a 1080p signal via the component cables?

I have to believe that the HDMI cable was enabling an HD picture, while the component cable was not.

Of course, then, the TV showing the HD picture would look better -- no "calibration" needed.

It sounds like Worst Buy is up to its old tricks yet again. How pathetic.

It doesn't work that way. There are variances even in digital televisions that make different settings appropriate, and each and every source has slightly different output characteristics, rendering any "standard" settings about as effective as random guessing.

They're good as a starting point, but you're dealing with someone else's source, someone else's eyes, someone else's preference. It's just not that simple.

I guess you're asking if something is wrong with his cables. "Nope" is the answer. The source is the problem. I bet you don't see that nastiness with a HD video game system or Blu-ray disc. Cable and Satellite (as Dr.Hellknow said) is heavily compressed to fit the maximum number of channels down the pipe. That results in some bad artifacting.

It's actually very common for a calibrated display to be dimmer than an "uncalibrated" set. This is because TVs come out of the box with all the settings jacked to the max so they'll stand out on the showroom floor.

"Bright" isn't necessarily a key component of picture quality. A dimmer image in a home will often be much more pleasing and accurate.

To be ISF certified, you have to have about $20k of equipment. It's far beyond a $40 DVD.

And Shadowman, I don't think I need to point out that Circuit City isn't Best Buy.

Frankly, most TV stores will turn up the contrast and brightness on in-store display models to make up for the horrible lighting conditions. It's very easy to spend 2 minutes and get 1 picture looking much better than the other.

You should really spend some time at AVSForum and read.

You do realize a 1 is a 1 and a 0 is a 0 in the digital world. HDMI is a digital cable, different cables over short runs behave the same. This is why Monster cable HDMI cables are a rip off. They work just as good as the cheap ones. I'm going to make the assumption that the run is < 25' and the brand of HDMI cables would make no difference.

I think they're missing the point that it's not a comparison if conditions are not equal. Even using different brand HDMI cables wouldn't make a fair comparison.

That aside, did we expect any less from BEST BUY?

*Please don't sue me. I'm not using your trademark in an illegal way. It's fair use. Thank you.

I believe HSBC is the bank who handles the BestBuy credit card. Sounds like your beef might be with them?

For example:
[consumerist.com]

"Bright" isn't necessarily a key component of picture quality. A dimmer image in a home will often be much more pleasing and accurate.

But actual calibration (like the full-fledged Geek Squad service) is done by a dedicated traveling calibrator who uses equipment to determine proper settings...it's not some kid fooling with color bars.

I bet they're using one source (like a Blu-ray player), and the only way they had to show picture on two TVs was to use the HDMI and Component outs simultaneously.

I happen to know if this store was merchandised correctly, they'd have a piece of equipment that would give them two HDMI outputs, yielding a fair comparison, but sounds like they aren't merchandised correctly and did the best they could with what they have.

@Bozman8:

Is there really a "best" setting though? I have tried many settings on some A/V Forums that some claim is the best, but for me, it wasn't better than what I had...

I think it's to each their own...in all honesty...

While you're at it, you should ask them to change the from Dynamic mode to Movie mode and tell me "Calibration" is necessary.

@weakdome: It's entirely possible an uncalibrated TV would like brighter in a true professional photo. A higher brightness setting does not make the picture better.

@Jeremy82465: Tion the calibration charlatans.

And, yes, a lot of TVs will not handle 1080p on component.

@YardanCabaret:

1080p over component seems to depend on vendor, but if there's no 720p over component, then my old HDTV was clearly connected via magic.

for "professional" calibration, i suggest just performing a google search. there's a number of audio/visual forums out there that can provide you with the "best" settings.

Composite, on the other hand, is 480i only in NTSC-land, and 576i in PAL-land and SECAM-land. Composite handles no standard progressive modes.

However, some companies are pressured to make the component connection less capable than HDMI.

@CarlR: I am also in full agreement. It appears that by the width of the cables, they are only using the 3 video lines of the component input. If I am mistaken, and they are actually the 1xvideo and the 2x audio of composite, then the guy was bold faced lieing to the customer.

No, what the op should have done is switch the cables, and see what it would look like.

@YardanCabaret: Taken from HowStuffWorks.com:

"One of the big questions surrounding HDTV is whether HDMI is required for 1080p resolution. The answer is maybe. Many devices require HDMI for 1080p output. Others, though, can send 1080p signals over a component video cable."

Again, though, your average consumer won't really notice the difference, and likely won't care.

The major benefit of HDMI, besides using a digital signal, is you can get video and audio via one cable connection instead of one cable split into five. For most consumers this is far easier. Hell, a friend of mine who's hosted LAN parties before got the red video cable and read audio cable mixed around once.

I'd say this also goes hand-in-hand with stores telling customers to buy expensive HDMI cables for their players, when a cheap $2 HDMI cable will give them the same results. Again, benefits are marginal at best, and 95% of consumers won't notice and/or won't care in the end. Also, I made up that percentage, but you know I'm right either way. Hell, even CNET's home theater guys use cheap cables from monoprice.com, and CNET is owned by Rupert Murdoch

Granted this still doesn't excuse Best Buy (at least this location) from using two different inputs to try and sell a calibration service to customers. Examples should use the same setup across the board.

Oh, and no to be too far of topic, Best Buy sucks. :)

@TinyBug: no, but it damn sure means you can handle uncompressed 7.1 audio :)

That's like walking into a Dr's office and demanding that the receptionist be as knowledgeable as the doctors.

Really, it shouldn't make much of a difference - assuming the run isn't too long, and the component cables are at least decent quality (doesn't matter for HDMI, it either works or it doesn't), the picture should be pretty close to identical.

These clowns (electronics retailers in general, not just Best Buy) are flat out desperate at this point to move their Christmas merch. I'm not at all surprised to see this kind of deceptive practice going on. Just another reason to be an educated consumer.

If we were talking COMPOSITE video instead of COMPONENT video it would be a different story.

A+ for sleuthing skills,
F- for photography skills

:) I love how the "not calibrated" TV looks brighter in this high-quality photograph...

Most TVs out there wont handle 1080p on component, Those tricky bast...

Even his admition to their definition of calibration (snuck quite a bit of 'tion's in there) is easily something the lay person could do. I know people who would fall for this, but I dont know anyone who would pay for it after they were told it was messing with the picture until it looks good.

The short version: HDMI does not automatically mean better picture.

The employee probably heard the explanation from a higher-up and just passes it on as "the way it is."