Trying to explain this product goes something like this:
Me: Hey check out this cool box that allows me to control grayscale, hue, saturation and brightness for primary and secondary colors independent of the display!
Friend: <blank stare>
Me: Umm. It’s an EQ box that makes colors as perfect as possible.
Friend: Dude, why didn’t you just say so?
The average layman may not appreciate the level of control AV Foundry’s new Video EQ Pro is capable of, but anyone who remembers using an analog equalizer in their hifi stereo systems can understand the principle of how it works. But before I explain what this product can do, you must first understand why it was developed in the first place. Many display companies skimp on picture controls for several reasons. Sometimes it’s a marketing decision to sell higher end sets while other times the cost of developing a proprietary color management system (CMS) and user interface simply isn’t worth the cost. This is a source of frustration for professional calibrators and video enthusiasts who are constantly searching for the perfect picture (the holy grail if you will) only to have a few absent controls stand in their way. For instance take Panasonics latest top of the line V10 plasma. In THX mode the color is brilliant both in terms of accuracy and gamma, but the low light output (~27ftL) is not suitable for anything outside of a darkened room. Alternatively, calibrating the brighter “Custom” mode immediately switches the display to a hard-coded gamut with oversaturated green and red which cannot be changed. What if you could “add-on” some additional picture controls that would allow you have a brighter mode (making it useful during the day) and better gamma and color than THX mode? That’s exactly what AV Foundry’s Video EQ Pro is designed for. In the same way that old audio EQ offsets frequencies to minimize deficiencies in your speakers, the Video EQ offsets color and grayscale inaccuracies in your display, all in a box smaller than a Walkman. The company also produces a lower cost “basic” version which foregos the CMS (see update) and is designed for displays with accurate color but poor grayscale tracking. However for this review I got my hands on the Pro version and was eagerly waiting to put it though its paces.
The Box Itself
The VideoEQ box is made by engineers and the design reflects that. It’s a simple aluminum case (screws and all) with 2 HDMI connections on back. The front panel features super bright LED’s ( which can be thankfully turned off) and an IR plug (with a recessed sensor) that allows the user to switch though presets using a universal remote. For those who love pushing buttons, there’s 2 on the front allowing you to scroll through presets manually. Oddly enough there’s no indication either on the box or on screen that tells you which preset or custom mode is selected which automatically makes it the least desirable way to do this. The unit is small enough to attach to the back of your display with velcro tape if you wanted it completely out of the way.
Controlling the Video EQ Pro
You know what they say, power is nothing without control and the Video EQ gives you 2 (soon to be 3) ways to do this. First is the command line interface which allows you to shut off the LED’s, toggle EDID settings (related to HDMI negotiation), reset the device and import export lookup tables (LUT). The CLI is useful for a few things but building tables is not one of them. Therefore most will opt for the handy windows interface. Here you’ll find enough controls to make any calibrator giddy. While most displays have 2 step RGB controls (low and high) how does 11 sound to you? This is a huge benefit for displays with poor grayscale tracking and or gamma as this would theoretically allow you to smoothen it out completely.
If that doesn’t drop your boxers perhaps Spectracal’s upcoming Calman Version 4 with VEQ integration featuring drag and droppable CIE color points will. That’s right. Measure the before triangle then drag and drop your targets and the changes get fed into the VideoEQ automatically. Uber cool! Makes you wonder how soon we’ll see a 1 button calibration in the future.
Calibration Process
For this review I connected the Video EQ in-between an Onkyo 876 receiver and Pioneer Kuro 5020FD plasma with source patterns originating from an Oppo BDP-80 blu-ray player. The non-elite Pioneers are known to have terrific contrast, but also low gamma (2.1) and an oversaturated color triangle particularly when it comes to red and green so I was eager to see what the VideoEQ can do. Measurements were taken using an i1 pro and Color HCFR software. I started by doing a calibration within the display first which is recommended. Once I got the grayscale dialed in I set the main contrast to 35fL, turned down the sharpness and left the color/tint in their default settings. I then plugged in the Video EQ and selected one of the custom tables to start my gamma calibration. The windows program has a handy feature that allows you to enter your measured and target gamma readings. I entered 2.1 with a target of 2.3 and hit the initialize table button. The program does a series of calculations to target luminance values at each IRE step and adjust accordingly. While doing it this way generally worked, it wasn’t as flat as I’d like, so I decided to do it by hand. How is this done? If you understand the idea that adding equal parts of red green and blue makes the image brighter and consequently subtracting RGB makes them dimmer it’s easy to realize what you need to do. Since my gamma was relatively low at 2.1 I started darkening each point to reach my target of 2.3. You can use this method to shape the curve any which way you want. Say you have a relatively flat gamma curve with a dip at 40% IRE. Simply take a few clicks off the R,G,B values at 40% until it flattens out. If you have a bump at 40% simply do the opposite. Voila!
Here’s the before gamma at 2.1 which is not adjustable within the display.
Here’s the after gamma boosted to 2.3. Very impressive!
Now that the gamma was dialed I turned my attention to the CMS. Hit the CMS tab on the windows app and you’re presented with hue, saturation, and brightness (aka luminance) controls making this a full 3D CMS. (Remember the luminance Y is the 3rd dimension that does not appear on the CIE color chart). The controls on the Video EQ are the easiest I’ve come across. Simply bring up a 75% or 100% color windowed pattern, and even if you know nothing about color calibration it becomes obvious that adjusting hue moves the color point in one axis and saturation in the other. First run the meter in continuous mode, then watch the bulls-eye as you dial in each primary and secondary color as close as possible. When you’re done go back and set the brightness for each color according to the REC standard you’re calibrating for. It’s worth noting that excessive EQ settings caused some irregularities in the form of posterization on this display. As noted in their documentation AV Foundry says this could happen if your display is operating outside of its limits but In general I was able to balance the Kuro’s color and tint control to get me back within an acceptable range. Also the windows program will not auto save your changes which is a bit tedious but AV Foundry says such capability is coming in a future release. Overall it took me less than an hour to dial in each primary and secondary color.
This is what I started with:
After. You can’t see luminance information on this 2D graph but its spot on too:
Sometimes taking saturation measurements at 75 or 100% doesn’t tell the whole story since most of the color information in real world content is at lower levels. Therefore taking saturation measurements at several levels gives you an idea of how well your display tracks color from 0-100%. As you can see below the display had no trouble with this:
Profile Switching
Having the ability to switch between custom profiles is wonderful not only because you can A/B your work, but also allows me to have several gamma settings. Can’t decide between a 2.3 or 2.2 gamma? Have both and switch on the fly! There’s a total of 4 custom profiles and 4 preset settings. The preset settings can be overwritten when it comes to RGB but not CMS which is a bit curious. I would personally like to see them ditch the presets altogether and create 2 more custom profiles if possible.Have a projector too? Setup a profile for it and add HDMI switching to use it on multiple displays. Very handy.
Enough with the graphs! How does it LOOK?
I’d be lying if I said the difference was dramatic as a calibrated 5020FD already looks pretty good, but the video EQ certainly made an appreciable difference. If I could sum it up in 1 word, I’d say the picture is now “balanced” as none of the colors really stand out. A good example is the opening scene of “I am Legend” where Will Smith drives a bright red Ford Mustang through an eerily desolate NYC. In the past the red Mustang would leap off the screen, but with the Video EQ pro it looks way more realistic as you would expect in real life. I saw big improvement with skin tones as I’ve been watched plenty of Olympics coverage and the close-ups of the athlete’s faces have left me breathless. After getting used to over-saturated red and greens I kept whispering to myself “this is what it’s supposed to look like”. Finally the gamma boost from 2.1 to 2.3 made the already impressive Kuro blacks look even better. I flipped through my reference scenes from the Dark Knight and Kill Bill Vol 1 and noticed improved depth, almost 3D like. This little black box has completely eliminated my Pioneer Elite envy.
Conclusions
At $1200 MSRP AVfoundry’s Video EQ Pro will most likely appeal to hardcore enthusiasts and custom installers. Through their eyes this product is a terrific bargain as previous functionality was only available in a box costing 3x as much. But even if you don’t consider yourself a hardcore videophile and appreciate the joy of viewing a reference picture, look no further than the Video EQ Pro.
Pros:
It works!
Profile switching allows for use on multiple displays
Cons:
A tad expensive for mainstream consumption
Review Note: I also tested the Video EQ Pro with a Panasonic S1 plasma and saw equally good results. The Video EQ Basic and Pro can be purchased from Spectral.
