S&V says Sony Blu-Ray discs have built-in calibration screens (1 Viewer)

[LanceJ]

Some probably already know about this, but last night I was reading Sound & Vision at Barnes & Noble and somewhere in there someone asked about video calibration discs for the HD formats. The S&V writer replied that some companies are working on them but he also said - if I'm remembering this correctly - that on Sony's Blu-Ray discs they have included a series of test screens. These can be accessed by pushing 7669 then "enter" (that number is "Sony" in number pad form). He didn't say whether this should be entered while the disc was playing or when a certain menu was onscreen, etc.

 

[Dave_P.]

Wow, thanks for the tip. Gonna try this when I get home.

 

[Ben_Williams]

It definitely works. I entered the code on the menu screen of "Tears of the Sun" and it immediately played though 6 different calibration screens. Excellent stuff!

 

[Dave_P.]

Nice!

 

[LanceJ]

I'm glad it worked for everyone.

I wonder if George L. will include a HD version of his THX Optimzer on his discs. Actually, has he ever even mentioned his saga being released in HD form?

 

[Ben_Williams]

There are some rumblings around that indicate that the entire Star Wars saga will see a HD release (probably Blu-Ray) sometime next year. Also, the entire saga is being broadcast in HD on Cinemax HD next month. That should be pretty frickin' cool!

What I'd like is a HD copy of AVIA.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

The Lionsgate TERMINATOR 2 BD has the THX Optimizer.

 

[Lee-c]

Why would you have to calibrate your t.v. for use with HD DVD's if it's already calibrated for watching DVD movies and so on (anyone who's concerned about calibrating their t.v. for watching movies with their new HD player probably already has their t.v. calibrated)? Movies are movies and the grayscale and color temperature specs and such for proper ISF calibration should be the same, right? The only thing changing is the resolution of the picture in the movie, but if a shirt in a movie is supposed to be a certain shade of red, then it should be that same shade whether the movie is watched on a DVD or a HD DVD.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

Lee, as much as that is the ideal situation, it's not that simple.

A television could be calibrated to a pure signal from a video test pattern generator and thus be perfected to a perfect source. Consumer gear is far from perfect and often result in incorrect colour, contrast, brightness, etc during playback when comparing it to a signal generator. It's not the TV's fault, it's the consumer gear. Throw in an A/V receiver or a video scaler and settings could change yet again. Your TV will remain "calibrated" to perfect grayscale, but the rest of the signal path has an altered image that may not make the final picture represented accurately. That's why some calibrators would prefer to "calibrate to the source."

The video outputs vary widely from DVD player to DVD player that if I were to calibrate your television using one DVD player it wouldn't look right with another player. Many televisions/projectors have multiple picture memories even on a per input basis (optimal) to address this issue. This allows the calibrator to make different memories for different pieces of gear.

If all players behaved the same and output the same image then this wouldn't have to be an issue...but it is. As of right now, very little needed to be changed when I substitute my Samsung BD-P1000 in place of my Denon DVD-3910 (they share the same HDMI cable - manual disconnection). I only needed to reduce contrast by one click - the rest of the controls are the same. Hopefully this will remain the same over the years...but I highly doubt it as manufacturers will start to cut corners and budget HD players come on the market...they probably won't have and 'accurate' output.

Mike

 

[Lee-c]

Ok, so it has nothing to do with HD, it's just a matter of using a new player, whether it's a DVD player or a HD DVD player, it's the same issue. Every time you change brands or models of DVD (or HD) players they vary in how much they deviate from professional-level quality video output signals, and so you may have to adjust calibration a bit to compensate for that.

 

[Cees Alons]

That's a bit strong.

HD uses a toal new set of codecs/decoders/circuitry. Also, the video signal itself is different, including different horizontal and vertical speeds.
So apart from "just" a new player, it's really related to having HD now, instead of SD. The chances of having to tweak it anew are certainly bigger.

But in principle, you're right!


Cees

 

[Grant H]

Has anyone heard any rumblings regarding AVIA or Video Essentials? I really love my AVIA disc for calibration. I'm glad the THX optimizer is around and these screens on the Sony discs, but I'd love to stick with AVIA.

Since I'll have to passthrough my HD unit (is that like an R2 unit?) when I get one, it means I'll have to calibrate my TV to the HD player, using the player itself for the more subtle tweaks if I have to. (One step on my TV is like 2 or 3 on the iScan.) Then, I'll have to recalibrate my DVD player settings with the iScan. I'll keep my old setup with the iScan for SD since I can't take advantage of upscaling with my "old" HDTV.

 

[Cees Alons]

DVE for HD DVD is up for pre-order!
It will be released within two weeks!


Cees

 

[Grant H]

That links to an HD-DVD version. Is there to be a Blu-Ray version as well?

 

[Cees Alons]

Sorry, I believed a BD version could not be far away. But it's nowhere to be found (although I believe you can play this disc on any machine accepting SD, because it's said to be a hybrid).

(I just read somewhere, but I lost the location, that Kane refered to the calibration on the Sony player being there, so this being the HD complement.)



Cees

 

[Grant H]

I was just thinking to myself how much I like AVIA, but how funny it really is because it has some of the worst looking video on DVD with all the how-to stuff. It was startling the first time I used it, as was the horrible cheesey music, but darned if the calibration screens aren't great.

They'll have to increase the production values on HD or people will send it back.