swo17 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 11, 2022 6:17 pm
Thanks, although what do others here make of the "Why Dolby Vision isn't recommended" section?
He does clarify in the comments that his views on DV are limited to the in built streaming apps:
For discs Dolby Vision should be good most of the time. It's in streaming apps that a lot of the content isn't right.
But even then this guy doesn't seem to have much of a clue. He's constantly referring to "native DV content" and that many shows/films are only "native HDR10" but are force converted to DV, which plain isn't a thing. There is no "native HDR10/DV", there is only "native HDR/PQ". HDR10 and Dolby Vision are simply metadata systems, nothing is graded in one or the other.
And it's also pretty weird for an ISF calibrator to recommend specific white balance settings across the board, when he should know that panel variance makes this pointless (and indeed could make some sets look more inaccurate than their out of the box settings).
As for basic settings to go with, first of all make sure that as above your HDMI ports are switched from Standard to Enhanced. And then load up a normal Blu-ray so you can adjust SDR settings first. Go with Custom and then as follows:
Contrast: 90
Black Level: 50
Peak Luminance: Medium
Black adjust and enhanced constrast: Off
Gamma: The default 0 I believe is 2.2, which is fine for a normal or somewhat dim room. Reduce to -2 (2.4 gamma) for a properly dark room.
Brightness: This depends on room conditions, probably aim for around 5 for a fully dark room, and work upwards if your room is brighter. Or simply turn the Light Sensor on, which will set the brightness for you based on the room conditions.
Sharpness: 50 (this is the default Off setting on Sonys)
Reality Creation: Off
Random Noise Reduction and Digital Noise Reduction: Off
Smooth Gradation: Off, but it is fine to use for content that has bad banding
Live Colour: Off
Colour Temp: Expert 1
MotionFlow: Off, or if you want to enable Black Frame Insertion, turn it to Custom but leave Smoothness on Min but Clearness to 1 or 2 (do not go to 3 as this will force the TV to output 60hz instead of proper 24fps at 120hz)
Cinemotion: High
As for your Oppo, it may be best to post here what most of your settings are incase anything untoward is being left on. Obviously though you want to make sure any SDR conversion is off and that HDR/DV is back on (make liberally use of your Oppo's playback summary button, which will tell you what it's outputting during playback). The A90J can accept TV-led Dolby Vision so the Oppo DV should be switched to TV led if it's currently on Player led.
Use a UHD that is HDR10 only to adjust your HDR10 settings (the TV will need to detect such a signal to give you access to the seperate HDR settings), and the same with a DV disc. You'll know if the TV is in the right mode as the Picture settings option should clearly be a different title. For instance in DV there won't be any "Custom" option anymore, but Dolby Vision Bright, Dolby Vision Dark, etc. The latter is more accurate obviously. I think in HDR10 on Sony's the normal Custom option remains, but the HDR options within are now adjustable. Generally the settings should be the same as above except:
Brightness should be Max
Peak Luminance High
Gamma 0
HDR Tone Mapping: Gradation Preferred (this is an instruction to the TV to sacrifice brightness to maintain highlight detail where necessary, in effect what the Panasonic Optimiser does)
You may want Black Level at 49 instead of 50 for DV content, as there are reports the Sony sets have DV set a bit lighter than normal. This is only something you'll notice in a totally dark room though, the giveaway being 2.39:1 bars will appear slightly grey instead of pure black. Reducing to 49 should fix that.
DO NOT engage Black Frame Insertion for HDR content, so make sure MotionFlow is Off.