I suppose I really should have chosen a different title for my review as I have not tried the Digital Video Essentials one; however, I have tried Avia, one from Monster, and of course the THX and Disney optimizers that come on various dvds, and this one makes those look like a joke. It's easy to navigate through the various test patterns, and within each pattern is readily available help information with correct and incorrect examples to give you an idea of what you should be looking for. I found the majority of them easy to use and helpful, though I must confess that with a couple of them (I think one was the chroma one) I couldn't tell any difference, either with the examples or with the actual test pattern. Additionally, some of them (e.g., the cadence ones) seemed to me essentially pointless in that they tested performance aspects not readily correctable; however, I suppose they would be useful for deciding whether or not to keep or return a product. With this disc, I was able to dial in a noticeably improved picture. I personally don't care about the lack of audio test tones as I leave audio calibration up to Audyssey and my receiver, but the DTS Master Audio and to a lesser extent the Dolby TruHD clips are fun. Oh, yeah, and they include the blue filter glasses too, which is great. Not having the glasses included in any of the calibration discs I have bought previously, until now I had always just skipped over those patterns. I highly recommend this calibration disc. It has given me confidence that I am getting the best performance possible from my setup.
Sony XBR6 52" is perfect after Spears & Munsil.
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I have mixed feelings about this disc. I bought it expecting a simple to use disc that you pop in your Blu-ray player and calibrate your TV according to the different tests that are performed.It's not quite that simple. First off, a large section of the tests appear to test items on your TV that you have no control over. This is confusing to those new to "calibrating" your TV. There should be a section called "This will test stuff you can fix" and "This will test stuff you can't fix" to clarify. Example: a section will say "you should not see stepping of shades in the following test" and then refers to NOTHING to fix the problem. Ok, my TV is showing the stepping or sectioning of shades, so what do I do to fix it?
Also, the disc comes with what looks like 3-d glasses that are blue-ish in color. Nowhere, I repeat nowhere, in the booklet does it explain what these do. It refers to a "blue filter" in the booklet at one point, but it does not say it's the film that came with the disc and that you should, oh, you know, put it up to your eyes in some of the calibration tests!
A helpful manual or booklet would remedy all of the issues I've experienced thus far, but the booklet is simply made for those who have done calibration before.
I did perform the brightness, contrast, and coloring tests with relative ease and this did improve the picture on my TV. But it doesn't look better to the point of paying for this disc. I even reverted my changes back to how I had it before and could make an argument that it looked just as good.
Another complaint most TVs nowdays have built-in adjustment features that automatically change the brightness, contrast, back-light levels, sharpness and other items. The booklet doesn't even tell you you should probably turn these off, as they counteract the progress you are attempting to make with the calibration. I fiddled with the disc for an hour before realizing the TV was adjusting to the picture by itself.
I understand TVs and monitors but I still feel like I'm lost with this disc. I know what brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, black levels, geometric warping, sharpness and all that stuff is but I can't seem to get the hang of this disc. That's bad. Better instructions are needed for those who don't do this as a hobby. 3/5 stars.
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This technical Blu Ray is a great reference to have when doing your own home calbiration of your TV. For years, people have had to use (and it was an excellent product for the time) the Joe Kane Video Essentials set up. It first came out on Laserdisc, then on DVD, then (briefly) on HD and is now available on Blu Ray. Ironically the Blu Ray version was the cheapest of all ( LD and DVD versions sold at $49.95 retail) What makes this disk special is that it is $10 cheaper than the Blu Ray version of Kane tech spec Blu Ray (Suggested Retail is(or was)$39.95) is that you get everything the Blu Ray DVD essentials disk (in sound and technical specs) But you also get a prgram designed with Blu Ray in mind. The DVD essentials series, by comparison, was the same old Laserdisc version, re-done for each new medium, with little, if any, bnew material for the specific medium. (The DVD version was the exact same as the LD version except the chapters were different becasue you didn't have to flip the DVD over as you did the laser disc.) This disk was actually produced in Hi Def for Blu ray. Spears and Munsil is a West Coast Company and they have produced a DVD version in the past. This Blu Ray version expands on the older title by adding technical test patterns for deinterlacing performance ( you cant use it on SD TVs) All test patterns have been recreated in 1080p for the best calibration. A booklet of tech term glossary and descriptions has also been included along with a pluge test tool(The Krane discs supplied you with a 35mm film strip tool)that resembles a pair of 3D Glasses. An added bonus is that if you are using HDMI cables to send both audio and video information to your receiver ( or 5.1 capable TVS)you can watch the Promotional trailers for both Dolby Digital HD and DTS HD master audio and calibrate your system. As an added bonus (and I consider a plus over the Kane productions) is different video clip examples showing you the differences of types of video displays (described in detail in the booklet) and a short video clip at that plays when you first put the disc in that is a video mnntage of great sights of the Pacific Northwest. The easy access menu system is also easier to understand and navigate to the desired chapter. Kane's DVD is still is technically sound as always, but this is a better product in that it was produced with HD equipment and is more user friendly than the Kane product
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I own both this disk and also the DVE (Digital Video Essentials) blu-ray test disk as well as the WOW (Disney) test disk.If you are debating between the three pick this disk the Spears & Munsil if you have a technical background and some instruments. This disk has not only good on-screen help but excellent web based help and discussions. The DVE disk has NONE. The Wow disc is easiest to use and will give as good results as the Spears and Munsil if you don't have instruments.
But the real question, for most people, is whether this disk will help them set up their HDTV in a user friendly manner? The answer is "maybe" and at best, ONLY in a very limited manner.
What can an average user expect to accomplish WITHOUT INSTRUMENTS? Not that much. Here is a list.
1.) Adjust the black level. Black level is an adjustment (using your brightness control no that is not a typo) so pure blacks are as dark as your TV can present them while near black (dark grays) can still be seen. This is not as simple as you might suspect. Your blu-ray player and HDTV must first pass the "below black" test signal. This disk, at least warns that some HDTVs or blu-ray players may not pass that signal, while the DVE disk does not even mention it. This disk also provides a work-around if your player/HDTV does not pass this signal. However this adjustment can be effected by an LCD's back-light and no mention or help is provided to deal with that complexity. So you may or may not get this adjustment right.
2.) Adjust the white level. This is controlled by your TV's picture or contrast control. Your goal here is to be able to detect shades of white above/below reference white. I have philosophical problems with their suggestions but you can probably get this right yet no mention is made (again) of an LCDs back-light which also effects this adjustment
3.) Sharpness patterns are provided and you are instructed to look for halos and edge sharpening. Remember to get within a foot of the screen to do this right. Often the changes you make are hard to see and the instructions are far from perfect.
That is about all an average user will get from using this disk and it is debatable whether they will ever achieve those modest goals.
I've dismissed tint/color as a possible adjustment. Even with the supplied filter I doubt any color balance will get close to being accurate given the limitations of the filter, itself.
For the hard core enthusiast or professional this is a superb test disk with very carefully generated patterns. I think it is pretty clear these are the most sophisticated patterns available and there are a large number of tests I have not even attempted to discuss. But if you are not technically sophisticated and don't have the needed instrumentation ---I really wonder how much utility this disk will have for most users.
I applaud the care and detail of the tests and the superb white papers offered on the Spears and Munsil web site -------but this disk, in my view, has very limited use for most users.
Frankly, if most TV owners understood they should adjust their brightness control to get their blacks as dark as possible while still being able to detect a very dark shade of gray they would get close to what this disk provides. Certainly the test patterns make this much easier! The same advice applies to your whites adjust the contrast or picture control so you can see the differences in shades of bright whites and you'll get close to what this disk offers. But again, test patterns make it easier. Sharpness control if you are using a digital (HDMI) input in all likelihood you can just turn your sharpness control to zero and you'll be fine. But a test pattern verifies that.
If you are calibrating your own HDTV, have the instruments --then you don't need me or anyone else to tell you this is a disk you should have. If you are technically inclined and want to see how your current HDTV fairs on a variety of tests then this is also a disk that you might want to purchase with the following caveats. You'll need to put in a great deal of time to understand all of these tests and should be fully aware that there are often NO adjustments available to improve upon any deficiencies you may find.
If one was looking for a self-guided college level course on HDTV this disk fits the bill assuming the purchaser is willing to do a lot of independent study that would start by studying the excellent white papers at this disc's web site, then joining various forums and working up from there. As with all technical topics how successful you will be will depend on your technical background and diligence.
The Wow disc is easier to use and will give excellent results because it is so much more user friendly. But if you want a journey into the technology of HDTV, want to buy an instrument, maybe even adjust your HDTV using its hidden service menu and read some excellent white papers then I'd get this disc
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