JaymeF

Is there any point in calibrating my setup?

I'm not a home theater nut like most of you here but I do want the best out of my system. It isn't anything special, but it does me good. I currently have a Sony Wega 32" Flat screen (non-HDTV) and a Kenwood HTB-454 Home theater in a box. I am just wondering if it would benefit me any in using one of those calibration discs such as Avia or Video essentials? or are these more for higher priced systems, and HDTVs?

Jay Blanchard

The Avia video calibration alone is worth the cost of the disc, in my opinion. My HDTV has never looked so good.

I don't know what type of calibration your receiver is capable of, but I would recommend calibration of it if there is any at all.

Jack Briggs

All consumer displays benefit from some sort of calibration. AVIA is the lease you could do.

Dave Poehlman

Not yet.

I agree with the above 2 statements. A calibration disk like AVIA will help you set proper levels for your picture and also help set up your audio.

I too was a bit skeptical before I put my AVIA disk in because I thought my set had a great picture. But, once I calibrated and threw in a DVD movie, I was impressed with how much more natural the colors and contrast was. Everything looked more lifelike.

Jay Blanchard

Yeah, the problem I've always had with getting a good picture on my TV's is that the source you use doesn't usually have proper coloring due to lighting in the actual source. If you use the face of a person sitting in front of a fire in a movie to balance your flesh tones, you're going to get bad results elsewhere. Using a calibration disc doesn't have that problem.

I learned a lot in the process of using the disc too. Such as sharpness and picture being wrong when set too high. Also, I was able to use some of the geometry test patterns to figure out convergence and centering problems I had overlooked in my HD's setup.

Bill Kane

For STARTERS, I recommend the very nice junior disk from the Avia people -- the Sound&Vision Home Theater Tune-Up.

It sells for around $16 at amazon.com (and elsewhere).

Not only does it have the same tv user settings for Contrast/Brightness/Color/Tint/Sharpness, it has Dolby Digital and Dts sound tracks to balance your speakers using a $35 Radio Shack analog sound pressure level meter.
Works for both 6.1 and 5.1 spkr systems.

Ted Lee

yep, i was also thinking the s&v tuneup dvd would work for you. it's not as expensive as the others, yet it has a comprehensive set of audio and video calibrations.

think of it this way, it's about the same cost as a music cd, four trips to mcdonalds, or a nice dinner. yet, for that same cost, you'll be ensuring that you're getting the most out of your system.

well worth the price of admission.

this is my dvd collection. there are many like it, but this is my own ...

JaymeF

Great, thanks! I will most likely be picking up one of these discs soon and see what it can do for me