The article from Keohi revolves around a number of social issues and philosphy of products, markets and money. In the end it was poor journalism and they used their resources to air out their bruised feelings caused by the meeting.
Consumer Displays
Consumer displays are not perfect because the consumer does not want to spend that much money. To demand that consumer displays have the same response as broadcast displays is ludicrous. Another part of this is nobody makes a TV that does not break or have problems just like cars. The key when something breaks is what kind of support do all of us get from the manufacturer. So far, for well known brands, we have been taken care of. One of the issues Keohi has is that manufacturers are not putting forth a recall on known problems for current products and implementing corrections only on yet to be released new products. Who else in manufacturing is not guilty of this and more importantly why have a recall on all products when only 2% are seeing the problem? Nearly all the issues with Keohi are performance related. Even when this is a safety issue the final decision will rest on which is more expensive, the recall or paying out claims balanced against potential negative press. There is nothing new here in this regard.
Nearly all calibrations done by the Keohi team are reference bringing many consumer display devices to near broadcast reference. This is a great service for those who are seeking it yet like all things in life you will run into diminishing returns as you strive towards perfection. Does it really matter to the average consumer or videophile for that matter that the picture is off center by 1-2 inches on a 65" display? That a product has 4% overscan rather than 6%? That the linearity is slightly off but would require you to actually measure this to even know? This is what Keohi is all about and is also their reference point for many of their accusations directed towards the ISF and TV manufacturers. The problem is that Keohi and their goals represent maybe 1% of the buying public. Expecting manufacturers to make all these changes for these people when the other 99% could care less is insane.
An analogy here would be my argument about how sports cars are the safest form of transportation on the planet. Lets not get into a debate over my argument and agree with this for a moment just for kicks and grins. Would it then be the right thing to force every person in America into a 2 seater sports car? Of course not!
The ISF is a conduit between the customer and manufacturer for proper imaging. We make it possible for consumers to have a more accurate presentation of images if they so desire. This works well for all parties while keeping prices low for retail product. When this system is followed everybody is happy. Unfortunately there are those who are trying to circumvent this system using the internet. Over the last couple of years a number of sites have become popular by providing free information for consumers to calibrate their own displays by accessing service only options either via a menu or opening up the product and twisting controls. Most of these sites are somehow related to ISF calibrators. The main reason these sites have shown up is due to good old human nature - saving money and those greedy manufacturers plus ISF calibrators I might add. There is an air of socialism to it as if this capability is some sort of birth right for all consumers that should be available for free. Few will appreciate the hard work and sweat that goes into determining what data values are necessary for the proper response. The data is cheap, figuring it all out is not. Apparently Keohi and others do not put much value on the hard work of themselves and fellow calibrators. History shows that those who follow this line of thinking end up out of business!
If you were a manufacturer of a product that the majority liked yet were receiving negative press from a group of folks who represent a very small percentage yet appear to have a large voice, how would you react? How would you feel that your product is being torn down and scrutinized to a level of performance it was not designed for? How would you feel about your service manuals, service bulletins and service access codes being freely available at the click of a button and purchasers of your product fiddling around with it not to mention the copyright issues? How would you feel about a number of warranty service claims that appear to be related to end users causing problems with your product by messing around with them and then holding you responsible for the failure? How would you feel getting products returned to the factory as defective only to find the defect is due to modification or tweaking? Now weigh all that against a group called the ISF who over a decade ago brought all this stuff up but kept it between themselves and those customers wanting this service but by bringing this to the customers attention indirectly created all these problems for you the manufacturer via the internet? You might very well go to the root and blame the ISF instead of those directly responsible for this. This is why the Keohi team was asked to stop reporting every little flaw they come across. Some manufacturers are shutting the ISF out due to all the above. As a servicer I am constantly reminded of this since Mitsubishi changes the service menu access codes every year due to the internet. Keohi is breaking copyright law by posting service manuals on their site. I on the other hand have to pay for those manuals and also sign a non-disclosure agreement with the manufacturer.
ISF Calibration
As mentioned the Keohi team are reference calibrators and the calibration community applaud their skills and the many tweaks they have brought to our attention. The fact remains that a basic ISF calibration yields the most significant results for the average consumer. When reading some of their material you will find that they appear to down play a basic calibration all the while promoting a reference calibration. A basic is $300 but their reference is about $600-800 for RPTV. You will not see twice as much improvement in overall picture quality by choosing the reference calibration - diminishing returns. In fact Keohi may very well be guilty of their own accusations. One of the calibrators posted on their site does not place great value on reference calibration of consumer RPTV and has said often within the ISF community “it is just TV” yet he is one of the top calibrators for reference calibration which he will gladly do on reference products. Another calibrator listed does not take an optical comparator with him, uses a color analyzer that will not perform correctly with the majority of consumer products and performs geometry without using any sort of jig for a straight line reference yet he is also known as one of the top calibrators for reference calibrations. The reality is that most of the problems Keohi is complaining about are related to the very high standards of Keohi rather than the common standards of the general ISF community within the consumer market.
Not all is rosy within the ISF. Name me an organization where it is? Nearly all our problems are related to calibrators or web sites fighting over customers and pricing. We have a few problems with quality issues and the community I work with promotes working this out privately and getting those with the problems up to speed. Those ISF calibrators outside of our community have a tendency to publicly slam the offending calibrator and the ISF while making themselves the savior. Of course the client will publicly announce that X calibrator is bad and Y calibrator is a hero. Pricing issues are based on the fact that some calibrators are not maintaining minimum pricing as set forth by the ISF. This is a difficult issue and there is no recourse for the ISF when a calibrator charges less. There are multiple reasons for pricing controls in all industries and the ISF is no different. Ultimately we are getting back to individuals deciding what they think their knowledge and service is worth. We are also dealing with competitive prcatices where calibrator A will perform this list for X amount and calibrator B steps in to say not only will he add some extras to that list he will do it for less at Y amount, capitalism 101. Unfortunately this only causes price erosion for the rest of us. Speaking for Mastertech it is imperative we maintain minimum ISF pricing because if we were to charge less we would have to consider not doing them anymore. It actually takes more time to perform a calibration and educate a customer than to simply repair a unit and perform a minor non-ISF calibration.
Conclusion
No personal statements here. The following is an excerpt from Liberty magazine that is unrelated to TV but is very fitting to this discussion.
“Is it a naive belief that markets are always right? In a sense, of course, they are. But they don’t necessarily or even usually reward excellence. Only the ability to supply what people want. People do not always, or even usually, want excellence. To economists, of course, the term “excellence” is meaningless, indistinguishable from whatever is wanted by some buyers. Everyone always thinks his choice is the most excellent of the alternatives; otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen it. But there is another kind of excellence, the excellence of being well adapted and well designed to serve intended purposes. It is with this sort of excellence in mind that Macintosh enthusiasts decry the Windows operating system as an inferior product despite its market dominance.”
Replace Macintosh and Windows with some other technology, groups or level of performance. Supply and demand is the reality of the market place.
I also add this link to a thread in the HDTV Magazine Forum. You will have to scroll through it to get to an excerpt from Aynn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, for perspective on “free” and how we value our knowledge and skills and those of others.
Best Buy, Discounts and Morals
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/thread?forumid=213962&messageid=1039826995&lp=
Richard F. Fisher
Mastertech Repair Corporation, Lawrenceville, GA
770-513-3987 E-Mail - help@mastertechtv.com
Have you been calibrated? ISF and HAA Certified
Factory Authorized
Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Toshiba, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, NAD
