What can I expect when an ISF technician comes to calibrate my TV, do you recommend it?

Answer 1

ISF does a couple of calibrations, including

a) Makes sure you have "white color" uniformity across all gray levels

b) Makes sure colors are accurate
c) Adjusts of course brightness and contrast

He will need access to the service menu of your TV (they usually know how to)

The whole principle of ISF calibration is to match the studio environment (D65 white color, usually referred as Movie mode in your TV). So make sure YOU LIKE watching TV at that setting, since whites are rather yellowish, the TV is not as bright and a fully dark room is recommended.

Depending on the brand of your TV and how much calibration they do at the factory, ISF is usually a good thing.

Answer 2

Yes I recommend it for a HDTV.

Keep in mind that the tech spends time on each input because your DVD player gives out different caliber video than your XBox or your CATV box. I would suggest you have him focus on your highest-quality sources (HD) and less time on the lower-quality sources (VCR, standard-def CATV, standard-def game systems).

(Remember that a standard-def DVD player (even a progressive scan unit) is still based on the 1940's television standard of only 480 lines designed to fill a nine-inch tube. Dont waste his time and your money trying to make these signals look good.)

In general, he will spend about 3 hours with your TV. You want the TV on and warmed up when he arrives. If you do most of your TV watching at night, you should cover the windows with blankets to try and mimic the room brightness when you do most of your serious TV watching.

Dont hover. The electronics in a TV are all inter-related so there is a lot of going back-and-forth to the same adjustment 7-10 times, and some of it is a judgment call. Having the TV owner watching everything he does might rush the tech. Give him something to drink, show him the bathroom and leave him alone. Unless you have already calibrated the TV with a setup disk, you should be impressed at the change in the video.