Which calibration dvd is best

Setup discs help you ensure that you're getting the best performance from your TV. These discs will help you out, no matter what your skill level. If you've never adjusted the settings on your TV, it's a good bet it's not performing as well as it could. While it's possible to get the picture settings close just by using your eye , the better option is a Blu-ray setup disc. Beginner to expert, there's one for every skill level.

All will get your TV performing much better than before. Disney went all out with its foray into the setup disc world. Extremely high production values, well-made and easy to follow tutorials, and even extensive test patterns. Disney The good : Excellent tutorials teach the basics better than any other disc. More than that, it teaches more advanced subjects like deinterlacing, 24p, and more.

Test patterns are good, if not extensive. The bad : The other discs here have more patterns, but the ones on the Disney disc are well-designed and offer all the basics and then some. The bottom line : Disney's WOWis a fantastic disc that should be the go-to choice for all beginners looking to learn about their TV, and how to set it up.

You'll find detailed and extensive test patterns that not only help you set up your TV, but aid a trained calibrator more on this later in getting every last pixel of performance from your TV.

In the beginning there was analog television and we were so thrilled to have moving pictures and sound in the home, quality was irrelevant. Color was introduced and the awe continued.

Broadcast standards emerged for contrast, brightness and eventually color, but in the end the individual TV set makers would always have to adjust for the capabilities of their newest analog displays and manufacturing design standards.

Time passed and computer displays came about. They had to map the analog capabilities of CRT analog displays to the digital steps in levels that computers were capable of specifying. TV's NTSC standards stayed very much the same, but capabilities of displays designed for computers improved.

In the case of computer monitors and high-end home theater projectors these capabilities grew very quickly over the years. One thing that does not change though is that calibrating your display system from source to display is crucial. If you want to get your moneys worth out of these more expensive, higher resolution displays, designed to deliver High Definition programming, it is worth the time and expense No doubt whatsoever.

Don't they do that at the factory! Both disks are a good deal more difficult to use than navigating your average DVD, but give detailed instructions on the proper usage. Either disk should be watched by most people all the way through the first time in order to absorb the information on them. This site is designed to give you pre-exposure to the procedures on the disc and will increase your understanding and watching experience. They both have a wealth of information and we recommend adding both to your library for periodic recalibration as the display ages.

NOTE: The images presented here in this tutorial are not meant to be used to calibrate your display. They have been altered so that Computer users can hopefully see the mentioned attributes of the test screens.

You will need to buy either or both disks to see any of these test signals properly presented for you to use for your display. Another Note: You can do pretty much everything with Avia that you can with DVE, both have certain strengths and few weaknesses, and both will give you an excellent video calibration when done correctly. Just about every feature of either of these disks is available in some format in the other disk, although both do have various strengths and few weaknesses.

Avia is a great disk, with very good information and calibration examples, explanations of calibrations as well as excellent test signals to be used for calibration. It is arguably easier to get a good 5-minute calibration with Avia than anything else. Here's how to calibrate your display very quickly with Avia. Set your video display and DVD player settings to "Pro", "Normal" "Advanced" or whatever setting you might think, or have heard will set your display near to the "K" standard.

Contact your vendor if necessary. If you are not sure which is correct - guess. If you are new to this look for the most boring setting that sounds right. Next insert the Avia DVD and sit through the title if you have to and then click next whenever it lets you.

You should be at the main Avia screen: Next select "Advanced Avia". Select "Video Test Patterns". Select "Gray Scale and Levels". Pause the disk! Set up display to adjust White Level Contrast or Picture. Click the next chapter button until you get to the White Level Contrast or Picture adjustment screen.

You will see this" Adjust your white level until the right hand side bar of the two moving white bars becomes invisible. Then bring down the setting until the right hand side bar becomes just slghtly visible. Click the next chapter button or let it play until it gets to the Black level adjustment. Set up display to adjust Black Level brightness Click next chapter button until you reach the Black Level brightness screen.

Adjust the left side moving bar on the left side until the left side bar just blends in with the black around it, and no further. You will have to go back and forth with the Black level and White level adjustments to get them both just right. Use previous and next menu controls on your DVD remote for navigation. OK, black and white levels done it is time to adjust color.

Ultimately, your contrast setting will come down to personal preference, but we advise that you resist the urge to simply jack the contrast up. Find a scene with a bright, white image in it and hit the pause button. Adjust the contrast to the point where the white object is bright, but still contains detail and crisp edges.

A good starting place is the halfway mark. From there you should have no problem finding the setting that suits you. Note: You may have to bounce back and forth between the contrast and brightness settings to find the optimum combination. This is normal and can take a little time, but the final result is worth the effort.

It is a common misconception that turning the sharpness on a TV to its maximum will provide a sharper picture. Truth be told, high-definition images usually need little or no sharpness enhancement.

You can play around with this setting by pausing your source on a scene that provides lots of straight lines; for instance, a scene with lots of buildings or other uniform shapes like stadium bleachers. If you turn the sharpness to its maximum, you should notice that the straight lines will become jagged.

Reduce the sharpness to a point where the edges appear clean and straight, then let it be. But on mid- to lower-tier TVs, color adjustment could be considered the trickiest of them all.

Just how green should a leaf look, anyway? For this reason, a calibration disc is highly recommended to achieve the most accurate color settings.

We do have a couple of tricks to offer, though. First, find out if your TV offers a color-temperature adjustment. Settings for color temperature are usually expressed in terms of cool or warm. Choose the warmest setting you have available to you as a starting point. From there, find a scene with plenty of faces in it, then press pause.

Turn the color all the way up and notice how it appears everyone has jaundice or a fresh sunburn. Now, turn the color nearly all the way down and notice how everyone looks as if they belong in the morgue. Now adjust the color back up until faces look natural. We recommend that you leave the Tint setting alone, unless you are using a calibrator disc.

It is a rare case in which the tint setting will need much adjustment, but it does happen. After all, someone is bound to come along and accidentally screw it up at some point. If you need to unplug devices often, this can present a problem. A hard copy of your settings ensures you always have a reference for that perfect picture. For example, you can use a calibration disc to micromanage the output of your television.

While it uses test patterns with lesser subjectivity, you will optimize the settings on your TV.