I recently changed my cell phone’s incoming message alert to a sonar ping. (“Give me a ping, Vasili. One ping only, please…” And, yes, it has already become as irritating as you might think.) So, last night I received a “Piiiing!” at about 11:00 p.m., with some information that was just too good not to share…

Back in 2008 THX started certifying video calibrators with their Professional Video Calibrator Training Program. Call it wanting to take a chunk out of Joel Silver’s ISF pie or just doing their part to ensure that consumer displays are dialed-in as closely as possible to the studio monitors that films were mastered on. (What you can’t call it is George just looking for another revenue stream; he no longer owns THX… Don’t worry about George though. He’ll do fine when Star Wars 1-6 comes out on Blu-ray next year.)

A huge part of the class is the instruction given by calibration legends, Gregg Loewen and Michael Chen. (Chen is better known in calibration circles as “Michael TLV” (“The Laser Video” ) and also happens to be a stormtrooper in the 501st Badlands Garrison.) Chen and Loewen are entertaining and uber-generous with advice, allowing calibrators to benefit from their years of experience earned the hard way through thousands of calibrations.

The calibration Force is strong with Michael Chen, THX Video Calibration Jedi. 

I attended this training class two years ago and was super impressed with how thorough it was. The class was originally an intense three-day program, with each eight-plus-hour day crammed full of lecture, theory, labs, and tons of hands-on time. (Hands-on time is the good part; the nuts-and-bolts of actually getting your hands dirty and putting the information to work, or seeing how totally and completely you can screw up one of their demo displays. Uhhh, guilty.) 

The three-day class used to cost more than $2,000, which was cost and time prohibitive for many to attend. And, as someone who has also attended the ISF training, I felt way better prepared to actually leave the class and, you know, start calibrating TVs. The full class offers like 16-times the amount of hands-on time.

Well, the e-mail I received last night detailed that THX has decided to break the class into two pieces; a one day introduction and then two days of calibration. Now, the introduction class normally costs $599 to attend, which, granted, seems a tad high since it doesn’t touch too deeply on grayscale and color calibration -- but THX is running a sick special for calibrators attending CEDIA this year. If you sign up before September 25, this class, and the accompanying THX Certified Professional status, can be yours for less than $50. Yes, that’s fifty. There isn’t a 0 missing off the end. One single President Grant with a Washington coming back your way.

To find out more about this training class or see how to sign up, THX-yourself on over to Resi Systems at this link...