Toshiba 47Z3030D Calibration

The Toshiba 47Z3030D offers four global picture modes (the settings cannot be saved independently per input) which can only be switched through a button on the remote control. The first three – [Dynamic], [Standard] and [Movie] – are fixed presets. However, altering any value in one of these presets would automatically transfer all the settings within that preset to the [User Settings], erasing any previously stored configuration in the process.

Greyscale Calibration

Out of the box, the [Movie] preset on Toshiba 47Z3030D came closest to the D65 imaging standard widely adopted by film and broadcast studios, although overall it remained a touch too red:

Pre-calibration [Movie] CCT	Pre-calibration [Movie] RGB Tracking

Despite sporting the most advanced colour management system I have seen on any flat panel television to date, it beggars belief that Toshiba has once again chosen not to offer user-menu-level white balance controls on the 47Z3030D for greyscale calibration (hint: greyscale significantly affects the final colour reproduction). So I had no choice but to venture into the service menu to align the greyscale to D65. It was worth it though, for I achieved an impressive result after a few clicks here and there:

Post-calibration CCT	Post-calibration RGB Tracking

Colour Calibration

One would have thought that with such a comprehensive colour management system (CMS) on board, it would be a piece of cake to finetune the colours. Unfortunately Toshiba has implemented Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) on the 47Z3030D: the green primary was so far out-of-whack to begin with that it took quite a lot of adjustments to bring it back to Rec. 709 specification:

Pre-calibration CIE chart	Post-calibration CIE chart

The good news is that unlike the Pioneer Kuros, tinkering with green primary colour point using the CMS (even to such an extent) did not seem to adversely affect the gamma. The final result was reasonably good; and colour decoding was excellent as I could align the colour decoders for all the primary and secondary colours through the [Brightness] controls under the [Base Colour Adjustment] submenu.

Benchmark Test Results At A Glance