If you are into high-end home theatre, check out our Display and Audio Calibration Guides to maximise your experience.
Display Calibration Guides
Update 6 Jul ’22: Here is an overview article on how to calibrate the Epson for HDR yourself if you want to have go.
Also check out The Display Calibration Guide if you want to learn TV and projector calibration.
Related Articles
Epson Bright HDR for UB6050 / 5050 / TW9400
Epson TW9400 / TW8400 / UB6050 / UB5050 Tips and Tricks
Why Calibrate Dynamic Mode?
Dynamic Mode on the Epson TW9400 / UB6050 / 5050 has a lot more aggressive dynamic iris than on the other modes. What this means is the following
- The iris will clamp down harder during dark scenes
- The iris actually has a range below the lowest position in the other modes creating more contrast
- The iris will clamp down to its lowest position during a fade to black and eliminate almost all light (not quite but low enough that your pupils will need a lot more time to adjust than in other picture modes)
Aims of the Calibration
I wanted to create a calibration that could be used for both SDR and HDR without having to switch picture modes – or load a new memory. What’s more, I wanted the gamma controls to be usable to switch between 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 gamma (0, -1, -2 settings on the Epson).
To achieve this, I needed to have the following:
- Greyscale and Gamma as accurate as possible for SDR and HDR without using the custom gamma controls
- SDR gamut that was as accurate as possible and then let the Epson tone map to the HDR gamut which it does quite well – HDR gamut not as much a priority however.
- If possible, have the calibration be accurate for both medium and high lamp (this is always a tall order but wanted to measure the errors regardless)
Results
- The resulting calibration is accurate for SDR without any visible errors (apart from 100% blue, 100% yellow and 100% red).
- The resulting calibration has accurate greyscale and gamma in both medium and high lamp with the same settings
- The gamma is flat without using the custom gamma controls. Instead the greyscale controls were used to dial in the gamma and allow the use of the normal gamma controls.
With regards to HDR:
- The resulting calibration is accurate for HDR greyscale and gamma – as the Epson uses the SDR gamma to tone map.
- With the Epson doing the gamut translation, the BT2020/P3 gamut is not going to be as accurate as doing a dedicated HDR calibration but it looks visually accurate when compared to a calibrated HDR Natural picture mode. The errors are a bit higher however – between 2 and 6 – as opposed to 0 and 3 for deltaE.
I try and avoid using the offsets when calibrating greyscale on the Epson as anything other than defaults compromise the near-black gamma for one or two colour channels without any controls to be able to correct them. Unfortunately, this is not a JVC where auto-calibration takes care of the internal mapping tables and corrects for these issues. I was able to avoid using them however.
Visual inspection of the calibration shows excellent colours and gamma response that stays accurate when switching between lamp modes.
Graphs and numbers confirm the accuracy seen in SDR – and HDR in fact. The only thing left to measure will be the HDR gamut, however it looks visually as good as the Epson is capable of without its P3 filter.
The gamma controls allow for switching between 2.2 gamma for brighter rooms (0 setting) and 2.4 gamma for home theatre type environments (-2 setting).
Graphs
Medium Lamp Gamma and Greyscale:
High lamp Gamma and Greyscale:
BT.709 Gamut Before and After – Medium Lamp
All targets under 75% are under the visible threshold of 3 so no concerns here. 100% targets line up pretty well also, except for blue which is way too bright (you can’t see luminance on this diagram). Red and Green 100% are less of a concern.
Could this be improved even further? It is entirely possible. However, more accuracy would require a lot more time and it is unlikely to result in visible differences when viewing normal content. It is worth exploring as the lamp ages – and drifts less. Spending so much time getting things 100% aligned when the lamp is still new and shifts is not worth the effort.
P3 within BT.2020 Container Gamut – Before and After – High Lamp
While the BT2020/P3 gamut that Epson tone maps once SDR gamut is calibrated isn’t as accurate as a dedicated HDR calibration, it is still within the visible threshold of 6 for targets below 75% saturation, except for green – and lots of the points do line up under threshold of 3. However, green is not going to improve without the filter in place. What is good however, is that cyan is corrected, which had the most detrimental effect on image quality out of the box and most colours are pulled closer to their targets. In normal viewing the errors are not obvious and will do for an evening binge around Netflix or Disney+ without having to keep loading memories or switching picture modes. Job done!
P3 within BT.2020 Container Gamut – Natural and Digital Cinema Out Of the Box
For reference, I wanted to post what the HDR gamut looks like for Natural and Digital Cinema Picture Modes out of the box. Natural picture mode lines up pretty well, but Digital Cinema could use some work, and is worse in some areas than our SDR to HDR gamut mapping.
Calibration Settings – SDR / HDR Combo – Accurate for SDR
Lamp Hours: 35hrs, Screen type used: 0.9 gain – no colour push
Colour Temp: 7
Skin Tone: 3
Lamp mode: Medium or High (e.g. use Medium for SDR and High for HDR but either works for both)
Dynamic Iris: High Speed
Custom Colour Temp
Offset R: 50, Offset G: 50, Offset B: 50
Gain R: 50, Gain G: 40, Gain B: 50
Greyscale
8: 0,-48,-34
7: -37,-44,-47
6: -46,-42,-50
5: -41,-38,-42
4: -36,-29,-33
3:-23,-18,-21
2: -13,-8,-8
1: 0,0,0
CMS (RGBCMY)
R: 56,41,56
G: 61,44,44
B: 45,35,52
C:2,50,50
M: 70,39,50
Y: 55,43,53
Calibration Settings – HDR Specific
If you don’t mind switching between two memories and you want more accurate – and frankly much better looking – HDR results, here is a calibration I did at 150hrs on the lamp.
Everything is the same as above, except for the following:
Lamp Hours: 150hrs, Screen type used: 0.9 gain – no colour push
Colour Temp: 7
Skin Tone: 3
Lamp mode: High
Dynamic Iris: High Speed
Custom Colour Temp
Offset R: 48, Offset G: 48, Offset B: 48
Gain R: 50, Gain G: 40, Gain B: 50
Greyscale – same as above
CMS (RGBCMY)
R: 55,66,20
G: 45,60,36
B:45,40,43
C:2,65,30
M: 50,50,25
Y: 60,60,35
Gamma
Custom gamma with everything at 0 except for the following values:
- Color tone 2: -4
- Color tone 3: -3
- Color tone 4: -1
Editing Calibration for Your Unit or Older Lamps
Please note that there is variation between units, lamps and especially as the lamps age. It is only really possible to ensure your unit is accurate by calibrating it yourself – or having it professionally calibrate.
HOWEVER, if you find that the picture is not looking great (e.g. too red, too blue or too green), you can adjust the Custom Colour Temp controls to let more light through as follows:
Picture is too red: Either reduce red or increase green and blue.
Picture is too green: reduce green even further (unlikely scenario however)
Picture is too blue: Reduce blue
This is a rather simplistic way to troubleshoot this, but in absence of having your unit calibrated, this may be your best option. Otherwise, if things are not looking great, use the Natural picture mode on your unit.
Editing Gamma for Other HDR Calibrations / Fixing Lifted Blacks in HDR
If the specific calibration you are using looks a bit washed out in the blacks, you can apply the gamma changes under my HDR settings by subtracting the numbers from your existing gamma. This is not particularly scientific but if you have an OLED at hand, you can compare the two and reduce gamma on color tones 2,3 and 4 until you have visually matched near-black detail.
Another trick is to pull down the offsets to 48 or 49. This works better than messing with the brighness control and can be applied along with the gamma changes to fix the lifted black level and gamma near black in Dynamic (and also Natural) HDR calibrations.
Calibration Settings – Digital Cinema HDR Calibration – For Comparison
Lamp Hours: 100hrs, Screen type used: 0.9 gain – no colour push
Colour Temp: 8
Skin Tone: 3
Lamp mode: High
Dynamic Iris: High Speed
Gamma: -2 or -1
HDR Slider Value used for calibration: 4
Custom Colour Temp
Offset R: 49, Offset G: 49, Offset B: 49
Gain R: 50, Gain G: 50, Gain B: 39
Greyscale
8: 0,0,-5
7: 0,0,-2
6: 2,0,1
5: 2,0,2
4: 1,0,3
3:-1,0,3
2: -1,0,1
1: 0,0,0
CMS (RGBCMY)
R: 50,80,30
G: 75,95,40
B: 65,77,19
C: 48,90,25
M: 75,60,40
Y: 45,82,40
These settings really make you rethink whether it is a good idea to use the color filter modes. I think that if it is necessary to refine a little more in the colors for HDR, the dynamic mode ends up being the best way to see HDR content in the Epson 9400, considering that they will never be perfect, but they could be almost perfect, I see that I just need to refine a little more in some colors. Good job .I will follow the progress carefully
Yes, HDR can look pretty excellent in Dynamic Mode.
In fact, the gamut translation done by the Epson is not at all bad once SDR gamut is calibrated.
Add to that the better black floor due to a more aggressive DI and it makes for an enjoyable experience.
The colour errors in HDR are not obvious during normal content so I’m not too concerned until the lamp settles. This isn’t a JVC that really can and needs to be kept a 100% to reference.
A specific HDR calibration would yield a lot better results with regards to the charts but at only marginal visual difference – and more hassle switching modes constantly.
I have compared the color in my calibrated Digital Cinema mode and this Dynamic Mode, and they certainly look very similar in general, the only thing that in my Epson, I have to raise the saturation 5 or 6 points so that they are almost traced, with the saturation in 50 look a bit dull. At first glance, the only color that appears to be less accurate is blue, which is more purple than blue. All this comparing it to my calibrated Cinema Digital mode, which uses the color filter as you well know. In my unit, it would be the only one that maybe I should adjust a bit, the others seem to look pretty good. But the difference in brightness between Dynamic Mode and Cinema or Digital Cinema is abysmal, with the HDR slider at 4, it emits much more brightness in the image than in the other modes, even with the HDR slider at 1.
Conclusion, this Dynamic Mode works really well on my unit for HDR content, which is what I consume the most in the projector, apart from 3D. I only had to set the saturation to 56 and the HDR slider to 4 (I already had it that way in my calibrated Cinema Digital mode) but the difference in overall image brightness is mind-boggling! Maybe I should work on that blue a bit, but I’ll just leave it that way for now.
Yes increasing saturation is not a bad idea if using it for HDR only.
I would try the other Dynamic HDR calibration – especially the gamut – that’s on my main Epson article: Tips and Tricks! That could work better for an HDR only mode on yours.
But definitely, dynamic has a much better colour volume which – in my book – trumps saturation for HDR. 🙂
Do a specific cal on your unit if you’re able. It’s worth doing an HDR only cal if that’s your main use!
Unfortunately, I no longer have the X-Rite i1Display Pro, therefore it is impossible for me to do any calibration right now. If I had known how well Dynamic Mode for HDR works at the time, I would have performed a specific calibration, but it is too late. I will have to closely monitor your progress and see how well it works in my unit, which at the moment works quite well.
Got ya! Oh well, you have the next best thing on these articles then. I’m glad it works! 🙂
simplemente sensacional !! No podía creer que en modo dinámico esto pudiera lograrse. Me gustó más la imagen al forzar el Offset R, G, B a 47 y el croma personalizado, color-tone2: -5 color-tone3: -4 y color-tone4: -2
una configuración sensacional de Roland;)
simply sensational !! I couldn’t believe that in dynamic mode this could be achieved. I liked the image better by forcing the Offset R,G,B to 47 and custom chroma, color-tone2: -5 color-tone3: -4 and color-tone4: -2
a sensational Roland setup;)
Thank you so much for that feedback, Juan. I’m so glad you found it useful! 🙂
Hello Roland, why should I choose the gamma -1 or -2? Didn’t you use the custom gamma in this setting?
Happy New Year to everyone
Where I didn’t provide custom gamma, the greyscale controls were used to correct gamma and allow you to choose 0,-1 or -2. SDR gamma is relative so you need those controls dependent on environment.
While HDR standard is absolute it was dreamed up by a bunch of cowboys as our visual system didn’t magically change to absolute. For HDR, where no custom gamma is given, -2 is more accurate but I encourage you to experiment if you have light coloured walls or no light control. I hope that makes sense.
Digital cinema (HDR only) does not really need further gamma correction. It’s pretty accurate out of the box. However, it’s only there for comparison.
Ok Roland. I have tested these settings and they look really good.
Thank you for the feedback, John. That’s great news!
Roland, I have found this through the av forum. I must say great work. This has made a huge difference to my epson tw9400.
I just thought I would add something, whilst playing with he gamma curve, jumping in and out to check picture etc I noticed the iris settings opened up. I’m not sure if this happens to you or anyone else but this has never been an option in Dynamic. I have lowered the iris to 14 and wow, my blacks are insane. HDR slider at 4 and in eco mode. I’ve then went in to check if iris still works, it didn’t at 1st but then came on again. I had a play with it and settled on 14. Just for info and thanks again.
Thx for that feedback, Cineal.
Nope, iris settings never appear under dynamic for me and I’ve been in and out of gamma a million times. That’s curious though.
If you are able to reproduce it, let us know exact steps.
Sorry I just seen your reply. As I said I stumbled across it. I’ve managed to replicate opening the lens iris slider. Source was sky q. Then power was in eco, went into advanced and it was there. Tried it again and didn’t work, went into gamma and back out and it came up again.
Thanks, Neal. I wonder what framerate and resolution sky was playing at. It could be important! When you mean into gamma, do you mean just into the gamma selection menu or also went into custom gamma? That’s two levels down. Again, might be important to be able to reproduce it. What firmware version do you have on your unit?
Hi Roland,
I’ve just read this guide and started fiddling around. I also have an Lens Iris filter in the gamma main menu. It’s under image -> advanced where you can set Gamma, RGBCMY and the forth option is called Lens Iris. I’ve set it to -14 as Cineal suggestest and will check it out. I can actually hear the lens shifting when switching from medium lamp to eco. So this only works when you’re in ECO mode.
Hi Deen, thx for letting us know. Is that in Dynamic mode? That is bizarre as it should be disabled in that mode. What is your firmware version and model?
For some reason I can’t reply on your comment down below so I’ll use this comment instead.
I was looking for my firmware version but can’t find it. I never updated my firmware. Was planning to do that and take advantage of the 3x pixel shifting but I noticed that everytime I set my HZ output to 24hz on my PC, movies become unwatchable on my UB6050. It choppy all over the place so been sticking to 60hz for that reason. Not sure why this happens.
I bought the UB6050 in 2019. I fiddled around a bit more and have the following conclusions:
– Iris setting is only available on ECO mode in dynamic.
– Iris setting is also available with other modes but also with higher lamp modes. For example, I can use the iris mode in digital cinema medium lamp
This iris mode seems to narrow the lens even more so the light output becomes really low. So you can go much deeper blacks if you set it all the way back to -18. But the brightness of day scenes suffers and becomes to dark in ECO mode. I’ve always been running ECO mode but now I’m testing digital cinema with medium lamp and iris all the way day. This makes brighter scenes not to dark but darker scenes get much more black instead of the grey I always had. Also, lower iris seems to increase contrast.
Maybe dynamic uses that same iris to get that better contrast you are referring to? Weird that you don’t have the option to reduce the iris. I’ve seen multiple people in avsforum.com that use this setting.
Well, you see I’ve never put my unit into eco mode in dynamic. I need to run some final testing on the unit before packing it up as it’s going to a new home so I’ll check.
But yes, lowering the iris – which I do in natural – does help contrast performance greatly and does increase native contrast.
The firmware update is worth it. 24p output could be choppy as most movies are encoded at 23.98Hz and not 24Hz so you must match the frame rate exactly. It’s best to use a player like Kodi that can detect and set the exact output rate for the content. Otherwise it will look like crap or will have video / audio sync issues.
Ahh thats makes sense. What iris setting would you recommend? Do you also up the gamma when lowering the iris?
About the 24hz, the problem is that windows only lets you select a whole number as output. So it’s either 60, 58, 24 etc. So it’s not the player that is causing this but Windows (if i’m correct). MPV player just plays movies in 24 (23.98)hz in a 60hz output if that makes sense. Works fine btw. But I do want to check that new firmware sometime. Have an idea how to fix this?
Windows should support both 23.98hz and 24hz if the video drivers support it. Kodi is able to switch between them. But if you are used to frame interpolation and you are using that with MPV, then 24p will look jittery in comparison.
Iris setting depends on light output you want. I used -7 for SDR as a compromise between black floor and dynamic contrast.
2.3 gamma is ideal with the Epson in a completely black room (-1 if 0 is calibrated for 2.2). This is irrespective of iris setting.
HI Roland – great work. I’m still fiddling around with the gamma a bit. I’ve turned them down to color-tone2: -6 color-tone3: -5 and color-tone4: -3 and the blacks are incredible. However, I may try Juan’s suggestion above and change the offset values to 47. Currently I have them at 48.
On another note, I’m using an Arcana to get Dolby Vision (LLDV). Are the HDR values above the same for Dolby Vision or should they be tweaked. I only ask as I know you use LLDV too.
Hi Al,
Thank you so much. Also thx for commenting. It helps to know what people are doing!
Yes, the settings will work for LLDV as well. If you wanted, you could get a 4000nit or 10000nit pattern up and increase contrast until you cut the content off at 1000nits (or whatever nit value you set for LLDV in Arcana). But the settings will work as is.
Just be mindful that reducing offset to 47 will cut some content off – it will be different per different movie or source. I do find that some source devices have slightly elevated blacks so maybe that’s what’s going on for you too.
Enjoy! 🙂
Thanks Roland – good to know. I have my Arcana set to 1000nits as 4000nits seemed to blowout the whites. I’m assuming I would need an X-rite or some colour meter to use a pattern and increase contrast until 1000nits.
Good to know about reducing the colour offset to 47. I think I’m going to stick with offset at 48 or 49 with color-tone2: -6 color-tone3: -5 and color-tone4: -3. It is dark for some Disney+ content (ie Rogue One) but Disney+ content is also very dark on my OLED.
By the way I’m watching mostly 4k content streamed through an ATV4k (new model). SDR looks really good with these settings too.
That’s awesome to hear then!
Nope, you don’t need a light meter. All you need is an HDR peak brightness pattern. There are some free HDR patterns on AVS (or Spears & Munsil which I use). You may need to play it through a blu ray player however, unless you find a way to play HDR patterns on your AppleTV 4K. You need to be careful though as Apple TV has a habit of converting from SDR to HDR and it behaves differently in HDR conversion mode than in LLDV. So best to use a Blu Ray player if you can…
Sorry, I meant to say you don’t need a colorimeter. Anyway, you know what I meant. 🙂
Wow. Congratulations for this research…
I am considering a 6050 to hit a 158 screen (gain 1.0). I am afraid that I’ll need all lumens available so this calibration could be the solution.
How many lumens will deliver such a dynamic calibration? Without calibration it is around 2600 according to several reviews.
Just to calculate how many fL I’d have…
Thanks!
Hi Amo,
Thank you! It is quite effective!
Well, some units measure a bit more than 2600 lumens with a brand new lamp but after calibration you need to calculate with around 2100-2200 lumens to be on the safe side.
Lamps are relatively cheap so you may want to swap lamps yearly like I do if you are a heavy user!
If you need more brightness than this especially as the lamp ages, you can increase the contrast control by 5 clicks. It will crush whites a bit but it isn’t noticeable for most content. This is also a trick to do for a day mode for example!
These are awesome settings, it works great for me, Thank you Roland. What is the ideal setting for HDR slider when HDR specific settings used?
No dramas. You can use whatever slider position looks bright enough for you. I use position 4 on a 125” screen. Anywhere between 3 – 6 are good settings.
Thank you
Hi Roland – I’ve moved to the Natural setting as I found that it would take a while for the image to come back after a black scene with auto iris at high. Is this normal? Is there any way to fix this issue?
Hi Al, Unfortunately, the auto iris is very aggressive in dynamic and in addition Epson employs lamp dimming as well to increase contrast and plunge the black floor aggressively for dark scenes.
I have requested Epson to make dynamic iris and lamp dimming configurable separately but it was not really a priority for them. With the new laser units this isn’t an issue of course.
It’s worse with some material than others. Also some people are more bothered by this than others.
Personally, for problematic HDR material I disable the iris on dynamic or put the unit into medium lamp which reduces the severity.
Hi Roland! Thank you so much for your work! I’m a home cinema novice and just got my first projector – the tw9300/6040ub. Would your recommended settings work for my projector? Thank you in advance for your help.
Hi Adam, no worries. Unfortunately the 6040 is a different beast I’m afraid. These settings are unlikely to work. Your best bet is the owners forum on AVS. I know they have some good settings there.
Thanks for your reply Roland! I’ll be sure to check out the forum.
Hey, I’ve found your article yesterday and immediately tried it. I love every part of it, except the green. As soon as I open the Menü I can see that the picture is too green. I’ve tried to decrease the gain but it didn’t help. Do you have any idea to fix that?
Mmm, I would check the CMS values if the gain is not having an effect!
Otherwise, reset the picture mode, reboot projector and try again.
Make sure you’re in dynamic pic mode!
If that doesn’t work then your lamp or unit is very different. (Remember that the previous model is very different for example and won’t work with these settings)
Ultimately, the only sure thing is calibrating the unit yourself. I’ll have a display calibration guide out within a month so check back. (Likely USD9.99 to start with which beats the $100s you’d pay to have someone come do it and it’s a lifetime skill.)
Yeah you’re right I should definitely learning to calibrate. I got a Epson 9400. What exactly are the CMS Values?
Can you please check if your Menü looks green on the projector? I can not post a picture here but for example on the storm report scene in the Martian everything is clear white. And no matter which Gain I increase the Menü itself stays always litte green. So maybe it is just normal or a software mistake?
Ah ok, it’s just the menu! Haha
I wouldn’t worry about the menu colour. My menu isn’t green but that could be an issue in your firmware.
As long as the picture is not green, and looks fine, then there’s zero issues!
(CMS values are in the article under the CMS heading, but sounds like it’s not the issue!)
Just remembered… you must make sure you have v 1.03 or 1.04 firmware on your unit. Prior firmware had a green tinge to near blacks on dynamic mode.
Hey Roland, I’ve tried it with CMS and with the greyscale it looks better know. Only thing I have to do now is to decrease red a little bit. It seems like the greyscale is a gamechanger here. But hard to adjust without the right equipment.
My Version says in the first row 104 and on the second row 103 at the end. It’s a new Epson 9400 and I’m not sure about the difference. Maybe I should try to update it manually. Maybe you know more about that?
Thanks for you help 🙂
That’s the latest firmware, Burak. You’re all set!
That’s the best you can do without a sensor (minus double-checking your numbers).
Enjoy!
This is brilliant info thank you. However I use an elite screens Cinegrey 5D which is a 1.5 gain. Are there any changes I should
Make to your settings or would it be too different to try? Any reccomendations would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks.
The settings should work fine. I believe the CineGrey 5D has a slight blue push so you may need to lower blue gain a little (or up the other two) but a blue push is not normally noticeable or objectionable. If you have a green / blue push that’s different (but can happen).
Ultimately, you can only try and see if they work for you. Otherwise you’re gonna have to get down to calibrating it yourself. (Display Calibration Pro Guide out by end of the month!)
Hey Roland, I again need your help 🙂
I “calibratet” the Dynamic Mode as good as possible without any professional calibration tool. When you calibrate the Brightness with black bars on what numbers you do that? If I calibrate it like suggested to 0,005 nits then I have to increase the Brightness to 61 and that results in a black crush during a movie. Do you have any advice? By the way I’m using the Panasonic 424 Bluray Player with HDR Optimizer and the picture is just amazing. Thank you so much for your help and your idea 🙂
The dynamic calibration was set up so blacks are slightly crushed to combat elevated black levels in some HDR material (and incorrect low-end gamma).
However, if you must set blank level, you need to have an HDR calibration disc or usb with the patterns. On the HDR black level chart, Level 77 must be black with levels above it flashing slightly so that you are cutting 0.005nits off. But you may not be able to detect this by eye correctly unless you’re in a black room.
These settings are great. Thanks for sharing.
I have a question though. I’m finding in darker scenes in dynamic mode hdr that motion can sometimes blur the image. Is there anything I can change to improve this? Thanks
Hi Steve. I’m glad they worked for you.
I haven’t really experienced that. Would you have a particular movie scene (or a couple), I could check out that show the issue for you?
Thanks for getting back to me. Some of the scenes in The Batman can look slightly blurry. I will be watching a couple of movies this weekend. I will let you know how I get on. Do you use any of the image enhancer presets. If so which ones? Thanks again
No worries. Mmm. I haven’t watched the Batman yet. Could it be the source? Do watch some other movies and report back. There shouldn’t be any noticeable blur. At least not on my unit.
Yes, Preset 3. Ensure you disable all noise reduction though from the defaults. Now that could cause some blur actually if noise reduction is on! It can blur fine detail. And it’s on by default in all those presets.
Also ensure image processing is on the fine and not the fast setting!
I wasn’t aware of noise reduction on the Epson. Thanks
No dramas. Easy to miss!
Just an update on picture looking artificial. Noise reduction is greyed out for 4k. I have reduced sharpness for 5 to 2 on all settings. This seems to have resolved the issue.
Awesome, Steve. Thx for letting us know! Might help someone else too!
Hi Roland,
Do you have any specific calibration for SDR in Natural mode or another mode that is not Dynamic mode?
Hi Lozzan,
Natural is quite accurate out of the box. But see below link for some settings you can use. 🙂
https://sites.google.com/view/dreaming-cinema/home
Hello,
I have an ALR xyscreen 0.8 screen with this tw9400. You have calibrated your epson with a 0.9 screen. Your settings will also be adapted to my 0.8 screen, or should I modify certain parameters (if so, which ones?). Thank you for this article
Hi Jules,
It will work with an 0.8 screen without problems. The only issue comes if the screen pushes a certain colour badly. But if you notice a colour push, try and lower that colour (e.g. blue).
Otherwise you’ll need to calibrate your PJ. It’s not super hard.
Hi guys greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷. I applied the Dynamic settings on the Epson 5040ub and it worked quite well. Yes there is a greenish tint on the overall image but it is noticeable mostly on menus like the Kodi white boxed logo, on actual content it’s not bad at all. Saw some scenes of Blade Runner 2049 last night and it looked very good. I’ve never considered Dynamic before but it seems to be a very promising alternative for very dark movies where Digital Cinema looks to dim (remember the 5040 does not have HDR slider). So thank you very much Roland you did an amazing job, looking forward to check out your other articles about HDR calibration! 😉
Thank you for the message, Luis! Glad it worked. Just double-check you entered all the settings correctly. Also, I believe in one of my earlier settings I let more green through but only for highlight information so it has more pop. But also lamp variance can cause issues.
If you have the means to get a Spyder X or a ColorChecker Display device then you can learn calibration and do a better job on your unit. 🙂
Oh, also just realized you’re using the 5040. Still sleepy here. Well, it’s a miracle it worked at all then as that unit has a different calibration from factory. Haha! Very well!
I’m using dynamic settings from this page. However, certain things don’t seem right. 4k blu ray picture is great day and night scenes. But it’s not the same with streaming services. Fast moving night scenes look very messy. To the point where I can hardly make out what’s happening. Oled tv looks much cleaner. Is there a processing setting that could be causing this? I’m using image enhancer preset 3.
Also is there a way to make dynamic less aggressive? If the screen is black with subtitles or credits. I can hardly read them as the background and text is so dark. Night scenes are too dark as well.
Thanks
Can you please try the settings under the following two articles…
https://simplehomecinema.com/2021/10/09/epson-tw9400-ub6050-ultimate-dynamic-calibration/
https://simplehomecinema.com/2022/07/01/epson-bright-hdr-for-ub6050-5050-tw9400/
If need be, up the offsets to 49 or 50 in case you need extra shadow detail.
Otherwise, LCD has a different look than OLED. Motion resolution is simply much better on the OLED especially with motion compensation / smoothing enabled. The Epson can’t do motion smoothing in 4K. For that you’d need an LS12000 or a JVC NP5 (or higher).
These settings are great thank you. So glad I stumbled here. Still tempted by moving to the epson laser mind…
Also I’m keen for some audyssey guidance. Is this suitable for a marantz sr7012
Hi Scott, glad you found them useful. The Epson laser is lower maintenance over time, calibrates a little brighter and sharper for 60Hz content. I wouldn’t say it’s night and day for 24hz content.
Yes, the Audyssey guides on this site are compatible with the SR7012. Secrets of Audyssey was initially developed on the first generation Audyssey receivers and then updated with optional Audyssey App and MultEQ-X details but those are not required to get great performance.
Thanks will give them a try. Which is the best image enhancement preset? Currently using 3
3 is good. Just be aware that it has noise reduction when watching 1080p so disabled that for 1080p content.
Hey Roland,
Hopefully you got yourself a merry little christmas 🙂
So i got the ub6050/TW9400 for about three months now.
At first I tried to make the dynamic picture mode usable. My biggest issues with that are the lifted blacks and the slow adaptive iris which opens up too slow after a full black picture (in this mode it becomes as dark as the room for seconds,impressive but sad at same time cause of the downside).
For the first i found your settings in gamma now (at the negative values: -10 and so on) and i’ll give it a try even if it’s just nice for Games or good for very bright movies, calming down overblown picture that way.
The most used picture mode by people is ‘natural’ it seems and it’s said ‘nice out of the box’ but colours and raised black floor don’t seem to fit for my taste. Since i found no settings/calibration on this and got no Equipment for a calibration in my room I skipped it eversince.
So i use ‘digital cinema’ as primary picture mode giving me the best perceived contrast, deepest possible black floor(which this projector is lacking just like most projectors do..), cinematic colours thanks to your posted values/settings!
I combined offsets dialed in at 48 with your “medium bright gamma” for HDR in middle and higher tones but with bottom ‘2,3,4’ tones turned down a bit to get ‘cleaner’ blacks ( i’m a black level fan) greyscale and colours, medium or eco powermode and a bit more colour saturation depending on it (60-65). There is good shadow detail aswell .
Maybe best picture possible (for my liking) without calibration in my cinema.
I wanna say a big THANK YOU for your effort! It’s looking great!
Thank you for your best wishes and for sharing your journey to an ideal picture mode, Christian.
Yes, as you discovered as well, it’s all a balancing act and very much depends on your screen size, preferences and sensitivity to the different shortcomings.
Glad you found something that works for you!
Now that Epson is shifting to a laser light-source, the slow responding dynamic iris will be a thing of the past so your next unit won’t have this issue. That’s one of the positive things to come out of lasers I think!
Thx very much roland for your settings… can you provide a calibrated settings for SDR in natural mode ? because the puming betweent white en black is too high for me in dynamic. thank you in advance.
Natural should be pretty good out of the box.
But there are some settings here on the below site:
https://sites.google.com/view/dreaming-cinema/home?pli=1
Ok thx you very much i will check and try tomorrow.
No worries. Let us know how you go. 🙂
Hi, for the “dynamic” calibration: what values do you put for brightness, contrast, color saturation, and tint? you keep “50” for everything? Thkx
Hi Jules,
Yes, just keep anything that’s not mentioned at default (indeed 50 in this case). Thx!
Hi Roland, I’ve been trying a number of different calibrations for the TW9400 from your site. Thankyou for providing these. I have a couple questions:
1. Is the “Dreaming Cinema” link your settings on a spreadsheet, or someone else? If someone else, have you tried them?
2. Are the settings on this page still current for those that are happy to switch modes / memory settings? Or have you adjusted your settings now that you have tried the JVC NP5?
Sorry about the slow response, Simon. It’s a bit crazy here.
Yes, I am aware of the calibration settings on Dreaming Cinema. In fact, I know the gentleman from the forums.
They are all valid calibrations for the particular units. You can give them all a go and see which one fits best with your unit.
I would encourage you to try the Bright HDR for the Epson from this site as well.
That was the latest one I did.
However, the only sure way is to calibrate the unit yourself of course…
I’ll need to buy a calibrating instrument and your guide.
Have you tried the curved 2.35:1 screens? I’m interested in this approach but very few reviews around. I’m wondering how you avoid loss of focus and altered image height due to the closer lens distance at the extremes.
Hi Simon,
Yes, a curved screen can help you avoid geometric distortion near the extremes. But the issue is that your brain is so used to looking at it that it’s learnt to compensate. So unless you have a massive screen and you sit very close to it, there’s no advantage switching to a curved screen.
With regards to focus, you need to realise that projector lenses are designed for flat projection. So the irregularities you get with softer focus near the edges are unintended and also change with the throw.
So the answer is it may make it better or it may make it slightly worse.
Is a curved screen worth the hassle? In my opinion it isn’t. But you may think otherwise.
Cheers,
Roland
Hi Roland, what are your thoughts on the function under Advanced > Video Range: Full or Limited.
Should Full be used with HDR streaming content? And then calibrated accordingly? Full lifts the blacks significantly and brightens everything more which can help in some very dark movies but with a washed out look
Hi Simon,
Full should only be used with PC input in my opinion. There’s no reason to calibrate a video chain using full these days.
With some older displays and video sources that crushed blacks badly, it was a workaround to use full but that’s no longer the case. Use limited and do the full video chain as such.
(Exception might be a home theatre PC, in which case look at the manual for the particular software you are using.)
Cheers,
Roland
Hi Roland, I would like to know best setting if I use Madvr on PC for tone mapping HDR to SDR. I tried dynamic settings by you for both HDR and SDR accurate but blue and green tint appears more in some scenes.
Hi Mohammed,
Unfortunately, with lamp-based projectors, settings might not be fully transferable due to variance in colour output of the lamp.
Your best bet is to try the few settings posted on the site and possibly on AVS Forums. If they don’t work, you need to try and calibrate the projector using our Display Calibration Guide. That’s really the only accurate way to get consistent output.
If you are mapping HDR to SDR, you do need to use the SDR settings, not the HDR settings of course…
Cheers,
Roland