Home THeater Essentials DVD (1 Viewer)

[RyanBoyce]

Amazon has the DVD onsale. You know the one that is spposed to give a better picture and sound after using it. My guess is that it will be too complicated to get anything out of it. Has anyone been satisfied with their results???

I hope I am not getting myself into anything tricky.

Ryan

 

[John S]

No way.. Video and audio for that matter calibration is cool, and makes a difference you can see, hear, and feel.

 

[RyanBoyce]

I read a writeup about audio spl metering. (I wasnt allowed to post the link) Is there a video metering writeup that i can read in order to eliminate the guesswork ? I think that video is the more difficult of the two to perfect.

Ryan

 

[Michael Reuben]

There is an ***Official Digital Video Essentials Discussion Thread*** in the Software Forum.

There are chapters on calibration in the HTF Primer and FAQ (link in my signature).

M.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

and another one in the works here:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=178509

 

[Steve Lucas]

I have the AVIA disk. I calibrated my audio the first day I set my theater up, but like you, I thought that the video was going to be very difficult and complicated. It took me a year to get around to trying it.
Well, I was wrong, if you follow the instructions on the disk, it was simple and took maybe 30 minutes. It made a very noticeable difference on my fp system. I highly recommend calibration.


Steve

 

[Bob McElfresh]

The nice part about the disks is they include a TUTORIAL that shows you the test-patterns and tells you what to adjust and when it's right.


Keep in mind that there are 2 levels of 'Calibration'

- User Controls (Brightness, Sharpness, Contrast, Color Balance, etc.)

- Service Menu Controls (...too numerious to mention)

The disks contain test-patterns for both, but only teach you how to adjust the user controls, not the more involved, lower-level adjustments.

Big Hint: Before you use one of these disks, get a piece of paper and go through all the video-setup menus on your television. Write down the values for all the settings. (Hopefully your unit has numbers for everything rather than "slider bars", but you can estimate those). Now you can try your own hand at calibration, but put things back if you dont like the results.

Many units also have a item like "Restore to Factory Settings" which is nice insurance. It will put things back if you mess them up.

Some other hints:

- Wait until night and have the room dim/dark like you have it when you watch movies. Saturday afternoon sounds handy to take on this project, but the room is very different and your adjustments may come out extra bright to combat the daytime sun.

- Turn the TV on and let it warm up for about 30 minutes before trying to do adjustments.

- Record the settings before you start

Then take your time and have fun.

 

[Kevin G.]

GREAT TOPIC!!!!
I am also new to callibration, have just bought a new "tube" HDTV and am curious if this is something I NEED to do, as I have various pre-stored settings which include movies, sports (which is considerably brighter), multimedia for video games, weak signal, and personal settings(If you deviate from any of these pre-stores, it sends it directly to personal)
Would I be able to adjust and get multiple pre-stored personal settings? If I adjust anything it overrides the last personal setting.
It is the Philips 30" widescreen HDTV monitor.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Yes.

 

[RyanBoyce]

I have viewed the DVE disc several times and have concluded that it is worthless to the untrained eye. I have in no way made my set any closer to being better. The disc gets alot of information out there but, nothing I can actually use to help me get results. Looking through the green filter at the test bars looks horrendous on my set which leads me to believe I have no control over the TV at all.

Even with the SPL meter that I quickly ran to radio shack for doesn't help if the speakers don't have individual gains to them. I suggest that anyone with a Home theater in a box not to even bother. Maybe you can boost the gain but, whats the point if the readings are all neutral to each other in the first place.

Don't get me wrong. It was fun viewing the first time. After that I could look at the disc until I turn red with frustration. Or blue with information overload. I liked the idea and that is why I bought the disc. At this point I just want my time and money back! I will invest 10 times the price of DVE into a disc that gets to the point and makes my set a better one. Maybe a set specific disc with calibration material and values I can enter for instant satisfaction. What is so wrong with that?

 

[John S]

If you HTIB does not allow for calibration, I would return or upgrade it. basic volume and distance settings are way needed for any and all enviroments.

On the screen, You saying even basic calibrations using the use picture controls made no difference????

Hard for me to beleive, I use my DVE on every setup I encounter, the owners are usually very impressed with it.

And I have never been in a service menu as of yet, just the basic user controls.

 

[John S]

If your HTIB does not allow for calibration, I would return or upgrade it. basic volume and distance settings are way needed for any and all enviroments.

On the screen, You saying even basic calibrations using the use picture controls made no difference????

Hard for me to beleive, I use my DVE on every setup I encounter, the owners are usually very impressed with it.

And I have never been in a service menu as of yet, just the basic user controls.

 

[John S]

Double post?? I am not sure how that happend...


Sorry Admins...

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

This statement alone shows you kinda misunderstand and maybe don't have the patience for this type of persuit.

There can be no "answer" - the values you will achieve will be influenced by a million variables (room brightness, age of the set, minute differences in the manufactirong of the set, quality of electricity, cable types, source type, DVD converters, etc etc).

My eye is not more trained than yours and the basic stuff for display calibration on DVE was well within my means. Did you actually follow the instructions? Did you try the color test as it was outlined in the instructions, or diid you just look through the green filter and say "that looks bad"?

As far as the HTIB not having individual gains- could you post what you have? While some integrated systems are pretty lacking in features, ever single one I've played with, even the cheapest, has the ability to raise and lower the speakers individually (if I'm not mistaken this is REQUIRED of Dolby Digital decoding equipment in order to license the decoding chips).


If you're looking to invest 10 times the amount of the disc, try calling an ISF tech ike the guys at Lion AV-- they will come out and "give you the answers" at several hundred bucks a visit.

-Vince

PS: Drop me a private message and I'll buy your copy of DVE off your hands- my 12 year old cousin borrowed mine and calibrated his parent's TV, and now wants a copy for himself.

 

[RyanBoyce]

I could do it but, I don't see any difference in the set. My colors just seem off and the blacks seemed to dark. I called Gregg and spoke with him about a visit to my place and set up my TV. If he spends even 30 minutes explaining everything to me about my Toshiba HDX50 set then I could most likely replicate his results over and over again. Wothout a good lesson it is NOT worth the $225. At this point I have got to learn how to do this!

My home HTIB is a Samsung HTSK5. It is great for the space I am working in and should be tuneable. But, the spl meter, using the proper settings and limited band pink noise, seemed to be reading a consistent 64 on every speaker except the woofer which read 72. After I attempted to boost the levels to read 75 on the meter, the gains were maxed out. THat didn't seem right. So I left the gains at 0. What do you think?

Ryan

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Without a color analyzer and test material you won't be able to replicate it. However, you could always put back in the values by number if they over got reset. I'm not sure what Gregg will tell you that DVE didn't- but I'd be eager to hear after Gregg's visit what else you have learned!

Also, again, let me know what you're gonna do with your DVE- I'm going to pick up a copy for my cousin in the next week or so.

-V

 

[John S]

On the audio side, You saying you could not get the meter to read 75db without your system being max'd out on gain?

I think you need to upgrade still. I can't imagine any other reason that would be.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

As Vince said, you probably are not starting with master volume up high enough for the individual speaker gains to reach 75dB. Increase your master volume control until the left front reads 75dB with the left front gain at '0', then adjust the other speakers from there. If this does not work (very doubtful), adjust to whatever level you can reach and then make all speakers equal to that level. This will still calibrate the channels to equal levels, just not to "reference".

 

[John S]

What Jeff Gatie says is true...

But in the instructions, doesn't it say to put all individual channel gains flat, then start with one speaker (left front I think) with main volume to 75db, then continue with calibration?

I took what he posted to mean, that at 75db on his first speaker his main gain is maxed out.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

My best guess is the master volume was at -30 or so, and then he ran the Left Channel gain up to +10 and only measured 65 on the meter. If the master volume would have been at a better level (and following Jeff's instructsions to just run the left channel at 0 and turn up the master to get 75 on the meter is good advice)-- it will be fine.

-Vince