Vizio E701i-A3 picture calibration settings

by katzmaier - 12/20/12 12:46 PM

Review:
http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/vizio-e701i-a3/4505-6482_7-35477664.html

Related products:
Vizio E601i-A3

Calibration report using these settings:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/117539057/Vizio-E701i-A3-CNET-review-calibration-results

TV software/firmware version tested: 1.1.4

Below you'll find the settings I found best for viewing the Vizio E701i-A3 in a dim room via the HDMI input. Your settings may vary depending on source, room conditions, and personal preference. Check out the Picture settings and calibration FAQ for more information.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9996461-1.html

Calibration notes: The 70-inch Vizio was a near-match for its 60-inch brother during calibration, so excuse me if this note is as well.

As usual Vizio's Movie mode provided the best picture settings without any adjustment, although it was a bit too dim in our dark room (32 fL), and even dimmer with its ambient light sensor set to the default Medium setting. Its grayscale was solid, however, although gamma was way too dark.

My calibration improved nearly all of these issues. I was able to mostly correct gamma by disabling the DCR backlight control. Doing so made black levels a bit worse (0.0098 with it Off, 0.0048 with it on) but in my view that's still worth the tradeoff for substantially better gamma. I barely had to touch the grayscale to get it nearly perfect, and it remained admirably linear in all but the darkest areas. As for color the most important areas--primary luminance and secondary hue--were very good, but red did appear skewed toward orange and blue saturation also suffered. Perhaps a good CMS could correct these problems, but Vizio doesn't offer one.

---Picture settings menu---
Picture Mode: Movie
Backlight: 58
Brightness: 50
Contrast: 75
Color: 49
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 0

---Size & Position submenu---
[no change]

---Color Temperature submenu---
Colour temperature: Normal
Red Gain: 106
Green Gain: 107
Blue gain: 116
Red offset: 128
Green offset: 128
Blue offset: 128

--Advanced Picture submenu---
Smooth motion effect: Off
Real Cinema Mode: Smooth [grayed out]
Noise Reduction: Off
MPEG NR: Off
Color Enhancement: Off
Adaptive Luma: Off
Film Mode: Auto
Backlight Control: Off
Ambient Light sensor: Off