I’m truly speechless today after my ISF calibration experience yesterday at the expert hands of one Chad Billheimer.
http://www.hdtvbychadb.com/That’s Chad’s home web page that details who he is and what kind of services he offers. I can’t implore anyone even remotely in, or near the Midwest, to check this site out AT ONCE!
As best I understand it, Chad will go as far east as Virginia and has been known to go as far as Indiana and Michigan, but I’d certainly let him speak for himself on that matter. Ohio is his home state and his base of operation from which he reaches out.
Let me describe for you all, without getting bogged down in technicalities, what kind of a jaw dropping experience that Chad’s work and dedication were for my ISF calibration.
Chad and I have been exchanging emails occasionally for the last two months, after I had taken delivery of my Sony KD-34XBR960. I was feeling him out, asking him some questions, and laying down the eventual groundwork, as Chad quickly was at the top of my list for ISF calibrators available in my region.
Finally, I went to his website and put it in concrete this past Monday, July 21. Two days later, he’s at my house by 12:30 pm, even though the appointment wasn’t until 1 p.m.
The first words out of my mouth after greetings were: “Have you had lunch yet? If not, I’d be more than happy to make you some.” He expressed some interest in lunch but he wanted to see what the job was going to look like. Lunch never happened for Chad, despite my occasional entreaties. He simply refused to be interrupted or de-railed, even though he “allowed” me to provide him with a couple of Mountain Dews.
The first thing Chad did for me is he saw that some adjustment of my TV’s magnets would need to be done to fix some of the geometry and convergences issued that I had. So, off came the back of the set and two hours’ worth of very meticulous adjustments took place. There was a thirty minute interruption when Chad and I had to bomb out to Radio Shack to get us a supply of very strong, double sided, foam adhesive tape for these magnets. To make a long story short on this count, Chad was arguably even pickier than I was about getting all of those lines perfectly fixed. When we were both satisfied and put the TV back together and returned it to its original position, there already was a shocking, night and day difference in terms of improvement with my geometry and convergence. Keep in mind; he hadn’t even begun on the actual ISF work yet!
So, surely after this Chad would want something to eat or possibly a bathroom break, right? WRONG!
He jumped right in to the ISF calibration. For the next three hours, until he “allowed” me to order us some pizzas, which he finally took a break for at 6:30 pm, after NONSTOP work…Chad was at my house until 10 pm.
Let me explain to you the kind of work he did. If you go to the main ISF webpage:
http://www.imagingscience.com/Or even just to Chad’s website:
www.hdtvbychad.com , you’ll quickly get a feel of exactly what goes into an ISF calibration and what it is supposed to cost in very specific terms.
Chad took my TV and ISF calibrated BOTH component inputs, the cable input, the OTA antenna input, and the HDMI input. He did ALL scan rates, ALL resolutions, ALL EVERYTHING. Up and down. ALL OF IT! Grayscale, chroma, gamma, colors, overscan, geometry, convergence, EVERYTHING you can possibly imagine, Chad simply refused to leave any stone unturned!
I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen a person SO dedicated, SO one track minded and dedicated to perfection EVER! I think the man must have some bionic implants or something, because I saw limitless energy and concentration.
You don’t need to be a math expert to figure out that Chad put nearly 9 hours of PAINSTAKING work into my TV, far more than was really the call of duty. I think the man MIGHT have gone to the bathroom ONE TIME during ALL of this! Superman!
Now…here’s the real clincher: When all this was said and done, I was fully prepared to pay a hefty and fair sum, as dictated by ISF SRP’s and so forth. Chad damn near gave me a heart attack when he quoted me a truly absurdly and unfair to him low price. I wouldn’t do it.
I wrote Chad out a check for a bit more than he quoted me for because he was truly being insanely generous with his price quote. He really was unfair to himself.
This man makes a living doing this full time and I couldn’t have slept last night if I had only paid him what he had the nerve to quote me. I can see why and how he can do this full time: He’s that damned good! UN-BELIEVABLE!
Chad! Don’t undersell yourself like that! EVER!!!
I thought my XBR960 was doing pretty good in Pro, and Monitor, and my little tweak job with the regular menus and Avia. I was skeptical. I thought “Meh, I’ll see a nip and tuck and yeah, it’ll be nicer.”
Folks, I now have a professional monitor in every sense of the word, completely flawless in EVERY possible respect. I wasn’t expecting such a huge difference and yet I sit here today, writing this, in pure jaw dropping SHOCK.
I am now a complete convert and zealous believer in ISF calibrations. It’s a no-brainer for me to say: I will ALWAYS ISF calibrate ANY display I ever buy and own from this day forth, and it will be Chad Billheimer doing my work.
I hope Chad gains the national prominence and business that he truly deserves for the level of dedication, sophistication, and perfectionism that would make most mortal men curl up and weep.
It sounds corny, but I feel moved as I write this. I really am blown away at the level of quality, dedication, selflessness, and pure service to the ends of the Earth that Chad provided for me. “Beyond the call of duty” is an understatement for what Chad Billheimer is all about and the kind of man that he is.
I wouldn’t have believed it had I not sat there the entire time and watched Chad work his magic and talked with him when I saw I might not distract him.
It’s a testament also that, considering how long this was, the time really did fly by because I was so fascinated with what Chad was doing and he was always able to explain everything to me in very easy to understand terms. He also saved on my computer a detailed and easy to follow report on “before/after” calibration with beautiful graphics and charts. That’s a real eye opener! When my grayscale goes from about 10,000 to 6500K, you know something got done! I saw it all with my own eyes!
Chad has made a customer and a friend for life in me. He’s as gracious and humble of a person as you can imagine from reading what I’ve described here. I certainly will be doing everything I possibly can to spread the word high and far about Chad.
Thank you Chad. You’re a gem and truly one in a million and I truly wish you and your wife God’s fullest blessings. Thank you SO much.
