Michael Chen
Calgary, Canada – Video Calibration Expert To Canada and the Pacific Northwest

I’ve been an enthusiast of home video ever since 1980 when my parents bought the family’s first Betamax vcr. The hobby grew from there to constant upgrading of equipment and the addition of poorman surround sound in those early days.

Hooking up people’s systems was the big thing back then and I could wire up anyone’s system and even teach them how to use it after 10 minutes of study. Sort of a slow “pretender.” By the early 90’s I was operating a hobby business hooking up a/v systems for people and contracting this service to the local department stores and repair shops.

In the late 80’s the first calibration video laser disc came out and that spelled the beginnings of video calibration for myself. I had been a keen reader of all that a fellow named Joe Kane wrote about image calibration. By 1997-98 when the colour analyzing equipment first became available at an attainable price, I maxed out my credit card and took that plunge and thus started my life as a full fledged video calibrationist.

I had the slight advantage over others in that I had actually spent the previous 8 years reading and studying up on the theory before and practicing the physical stuff on tv after TV anyway. Learning the equipment was a piece of cake. Although making the capital investment meant that playtime was over. Getting my ISF credentials was next and I simply saw that as a necessary evil. Something one needed to get additional credibility.

Today, circa 2013, I’ve been a THX Video Instructor for over five years and an ISF Instructor for seven years.  I played a major role in the creation of the THX Video Systems Calibration program examining where existing calibration education opportunities were weak and implementing the solutions into the THX program at the offset.

I continue to do this calibration work as a hobby. When I am not on a calibration tour, my primary local service areas are Calgary & Edmonton and Central / Southern Alberta and the adjacent Provinces.

We are THX Video Calibrationists … not just a run of the mill ISF calibrator. We do a whole lot more where ISF ends.
Current equipment includes the Jeti SP1211 spectrometer, i1 Beamer spectrometer, the Video Forge signal generator, Calman and Chromapure software packages and ISF/THX ccc software.

I am equipped to handle all display technologies from CRT, DLP, LCD, LED, Plasma, LCOS variants, and OLED and 3D.

I am unaligned with any company so I have no loyalties and will not push product on you. I am free to criticize any type of display device on the market. The man with the brutal truth … as I am not there to tell you how great your equipment purchases are. I only care about the image and I won’t stop until the job is done to my satisfaction.  (My Curse)

This form is for QUESTIONS ONLY. For booking, please go to the Book A Calibration page.