Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics

As a videophile I have to have my home cinema set up to PERFECT standards. This Blu-ray helped me to get my hdtv settings adjusted to the ideal levels. You can pay hundreds of dollars for someone to come and do it for you, or you can do it yourself with this disk. It has all of the test patterns you need, but more importantly, it tells you HOW to use them. My picture looks awesome now. It's amazing because I thought it looked great before, but things looks so much more life-like now.Tip: The history section is pretty long and can be skipped, but it is kind of neat to learn some of the back story of what you're doing.

I bought this DVD because it came highly recommended on various sites for calibrating video. It has a very comprehensive background on Hi-def and video presentation as a whole. To my surprise though, it had an equally impressive calibration for surround sound audio. I already had audio CDs for this and figured it would just be more of the same. In fact, it showed how "off" my system was...especially the subwoofer. Now my home theater experience has increased considerably. Between the improved video AND audio, I have a pretty impressive package...truly demo worthy. Thanks Joe Kane.

Well, this is the 5th review of this product and the first one by someone who has actually used it...go figure.This product is very similar to design and function of the original Digital Video Essentials (DVE) for standard DVD: it has in-depth explanations of current display technologies and how they differ from each other as well as (the most important thing) video and audio test patterns to setup and calibrate your video and audio system (as well as instructions on how to do so).The HD test patterns are encoded as VC-1 (video) at 1080p and 720p, and Dolby TrueHD (audio). The basic video test patterns are essentially the same as what can be found on the DVE disc but the advanced patterns are different and include a one-pixel-on-one-pixel-off test for 1080p displays, as well as various shades of gray boxes with PLUGE patterns. (It may be of interest to some that the Toshiba HD-A35 HD-DVD player that I have does not pass below-black information. It does not, however, seem to clip the above-white signals). Through testing, I came to the (somewhat surprising) conclusion that my HD-DVD player and Panasonic standard DVD player require essentially the same settings on the display when using the HDMI cable.The audio test signals (and my subsequent A/V receiver settings) were very different, however, from standard Dollby Digital 5.1. Because my receiver does not have any HDMI inputs, in order to enjoy 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, I have to utilize the HD-A35's internal decoders and analog audio outputs. Standard DVD's have sounded very different with this setup so I was looking forward to the audio test signals on this disc (particularly subwoofer level adjustments). However, the audio test signals are much more limited in quantity than the DVE disc. It's by no means spartan (and it even has a few additional tests over DVE) but the number of tests is small. There is a dedicated LFE signal to set subwoofer level, but the Full-Bandwidth test for all speakers is mistakenly recorded as Limited Bandwidth (which already appears on the disc) so there is no simple way to match subwoofer level to main speaker levels. There are separate Full-Bandwidth signals for the 2 front speakers (and they indicate that they were recorded at the same level as the LFE signal) so this is what I used. I was hoping there would also be DD+ test signals, but there was only the (superior) Dolby True-HD. Ultimately, I was not left high and dry by the audio test signals, but there could have been more of them to finetune the settings.Navigation of the disc is fairly simple but because HD-DVD works differently than DVD, you may find yourself over-shooting the test you actually want.All in all, I think you can probably use your original DVE disc for most video setttings and the audio settings can be done fairly accurately with your HD-DVD player's test tone (if it has this feature). There are additional tests that make the disc worth getting (or if you don't already own DVE, this is a must-have) but it's (few) shortcomings drop it to an overall 4 star rating.For first time calibration disc users: 5 starsFor owners of the original DVE for DVD: 3 stars

I'm very surprised at the number of people who complain about the amount of "extraneous" information on DVE, then complain that they don't understand or can't get anything done with the test patterns.Calibrating your TV is not the most complicated activity in the world, but it does require a somewhat in-depth understanding of the production process and theory. A very important thing to know going in, is that a great number of TVs will never be able to reach a "perfect" calibration. It's simply beyond the capabilities of the television. So, the more you know and understand, the better you can choose which areas to compromise on to achieve the best picture you can get from your individual set.It may be boring, but watch all the material on the disk and try to pay attention. If you can't understand the concepts... well I don't know what to tell you, maybe grab that geek buddy (everyone has one) and have them check it out with you. There's no getting around the fact that you're going to have to tangle with, and come to grips with, some semi-complicated technical information to get the best results.The disk doesn't go into great depth concerning the various devices that the disk may be played through, and what those devices may be doing to the incoming signal to the TV. You will need to check out an AV forum for the best way to optimize your player. If you are using a PS3 as a blu-ray player, check out "optimizing your ps3 for BD" on youtube. It will show you all the settings you need for that device.Neither does DVE get into all the noise reduction, active back light controls, cinema motion etc... available on most sets. Some may consider this a negative, but I view it as DVE being realistic about the fact that there is no way for a relatively universal disk to cover this. There is no industry standard for these controls. What they do or how they do it is all on the manufacturer, and even varies within a makers own line up or in the same model from year to year. As a general rule simply turn off any of these settings, or set to the lowest possible setting. They are almost all techniques for altering the basic information of the incoming picture in one manner or the other.Does it take two hours to go through? Well yes I suppose it does. But, did you just drop a grand or more on a new TV? Doesn't two hours and [...] seem like a small price to get the most out of that investment? I've used it on both TVs in my house, my in-laws, and several friends sets. They've all been ecstatic with the results. If you're patient and take you time, I think you will be too.