Speaking on behalf of Circuit City in regards to our post, “Circuit City’s In-Home TV Calibration Is A Total Scam”, Mike Vallebuona of New Media Strategies (a company that protects its clients from “online attacks, rumors and misinformation”) send us the following pulsating pile of drivel:
First, Firedog technicians should only perform services that they are properly trained in completing. Second, the employee’s testimonial is not accurate regarding the way in which Circuit City calibrates televisions. Firedog technicians follow procedures recommended by Sound & Vision, a professional authority on home theater, audio, video and multimedia products. When conducted properly, the test patterns improve television performance including contrast, brightness and power usage, among other aspects. Additionally, on an unrelated note, an e-mail appears to be circulating that claims Circuit City and other stores have filed for bankruptcy. If you receive this e-mail, please know that the information is completely false, as far as Circuit City is concerned.
That’s nice. But according to the employee, his boss made him perform the test he apparently hadn’t been trained at all to do, and was threatened with job termination if he didn’t go and do it. Does Circuit City have a similar policy against managers telling employees to “make believe like you’re changing settings” ? If you have fingers attached your hands, you can probably operate the contrast and brightness settings on your TV, and save yourself from Circuit City’s useless tv calibration “service.” Oh, and we’re glad to hear that Circuit City isn’t filing for bankruptcy, as that would totally throw our “who is Circuit City a takeover target for” betting pool totally out of whack.
PREVIOUSLY: Insiders: Circuit City’s In-Home TV Calibration Is A Total Scam
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Circuit City does not ISF calibrate their TVs
First off, anyone who states that a TV calibration is not worth it or that you can simply buy a DVD to do it is a uninformed idiot. Do the research before you say anything. I am a service tech for best buy and used to do installations. Now the only certified way to get a proper and LEGIT calibration is to have an ISF calibration by a certified installer(Imaging Science Foundation)which Best Buy uses. They have 1-2 people who are certified per teritory(60 stores). Now in order to have this calibration you need to have used your TV for 90-200 viewing hours for optimal results. This allow your TV to break in. The equipment for this is quite expensive so it would not be worth purchasing unless you plan on calibration 100 plus TVs. With this calibration you have to access the service menu and adjust different levels which you cannot do in a standard end user menu. There is a software you purchase and it gives you the best possible levels for your TV and you hook up a suction cup that has an electronic device that reads different levels. In the end it is worth the money you spend because it increase the lifespan of your panel roughly 5 years. Now I am going to elaborate on what some people have stated about TV’s running on “tourch mode”. In the TV industry it is refered to as “running hot” and when your TV runs hot it is producing whites with more of a blue tint and it also affects your black levels. What the calibration does is makes the whites truly white as well as the black really black. It takes your blakc levels and spreads them out more so there is more of a grey to black scale which in turn adds more detail. It also does the same for the colors but instead of detail it adds for a broader color range for better color reproduction. There is a noticable difference when this is done, even more so when you put the same MFG out of box TV next to a calibrated tv. If anyone has specific questions about this calibration I would be more than happy to answer your questions. Last thing i want to add is if you are thinking about getting and HDTV and/or a calibration go to Best Buy and get a consultation because they can help you pick out the best size tv as well as inform you on the calibration further. you pay $100 for it and you ask them all the questions you want and at the end the give you a $100 coupon to spend on your purchase. Worth it in my opinion.
Unfourtuantly I cannot give my best buy email account out publicly but you can reach me at my personal email
Southsidepride88@gmail.com
GO WHITE SOX
when I got a hdtv I first went to circuit city but heard the greatest bs in my life.
First off they made a claim that the only way to get hd programming was satellite and cable…dispite the fact they had antennas in the corner…then I mensioned how I have a old voom box and get hdtv over the air so the claim isn’t true.
He looked like someone sucker punched him.
OK so we find a set and then he rambles on about “calibrating the colors” for just $200. That someone would stay there to adjust the set…WTF? This makes no sense…I grew up in the 80′s I watching analog OTA tv…I THINK I should know about adjusting the colors on a tv. He claimed there was no commission but yet there was a white board with “Sales target” written on it…
Calibration? I mean come on now we don’t have people selling that for computers…
I walked right out of there and to a competitor that actually had staff that wasn’t kids and causally took the time to explain it.
A dvd for under $20 can easily replace this $200 bs.
As for cc going under remember they are going to get bought out by blockbuster…which itself is nearly under.
to touch on what svctech just said, the calibration is worth it if certified. our cc in our district got the sypder 3 software and suction camera 2 months ago, and our tech, who had to go to a training for a week in cleveland to learn how to do it from a group of professional in-home installers that are the newly contracted 3rd party installers in our area, has since calibrated about 5-7 tvs in our main display area. if you cant tell the difference, your blind. i had my sam ln46a650 and my pan th50pz80u done within the last week and the difference is astronomical. no, its not for everyone, but if picture quality matters then its worth it