Avia vs. DVE

[malvado78]

I did a search and haven't seen this question. If I missed it could someone point me to it.

Here we go.

I know Avia Guide to Home Theater and Digital Video Essentials are always recommended for HT setup but which is better?

Has anyone here used both? I believe I have heard there are some issues with DVE's accuracy at low frequencies and also that Avia steps through the process better. Are these true and are there other differences?

This is just out of curiosity. I bought a copy of Avia the other day it is being shipped so I am not considering which to buy. We all know we see all sorts of debates around here and I don't believe I have seen this one yet. Maybe this is because I have only been reading here since the end of last year. Thanks for any input.

 

[s2pdname]

I've only used DVE, my sound system is not yet complete, so primarily my purchase was based on the video portion. I have read that the video part of DVE is better than Avia, but I have also read that the audio portion of Avia is a little better than DVE. Also, the general consensus is that DVE is more difficult to navigate.

I think many people here, and on AVS, have tried and/or own both.


Good Luck!

 

[brian32672]

I've only used DVE, my sound system is not yet complete, so primarily my purchase was based on the video portion. I have read that the video part of DVE is better than Avia, but I have also read that the audio portion of Avia is a little better than DVE. Also, the general consensus is that DVE is more difficult to navigate.

I think many people here, and on AVS, have tried and/or own both.


Good Luck!

I agree 100%. But as above poster- I have only used DVE. Also, for quick grey scale adjustment. You could use a THX optimizer disc. Any movie with THX will have the optimizer in the set-up portion.

I have thought about getting Avia, but as above, was told DVE is better and more thorough for the Video aspect.

Being I have a 1015tx, it has its own calibration mic. Then I just tweak slightly to my listening preference.

 

[brian32672]

Has anyone here used both?

Check back often, surely someone has used both.....

 

[MDS]

I have both AVIA and DVE. s2pdname pretty much summed up my thoughts about them.

AVIA is way easier to navigate - there are actually menus for every test. However, I don't like how the video calibration works. It's tutorial style - you have to listen to a 30 second to 1 minute explanation of what to do and then it puts up the test screen for you to make your adjustments. The problem is you only have about 1-2 minutes to do the adjustments before it moves on to the next step. If you are not done and hit back track, you have to suffer through the whole explanation again.

DVE on the other hand pauses at each step and you have all the time in the world to make your adjustments. You have to manually press play to resume. It also has far more video calibration tests than AVIA. The negative is that the advanced tests have zero information on how to use them and to get to them you have to look in the manual for the chapter and track number and enter them directly in your dvd player. That is one reason people agree that DVE is harder to navigate.


I think the audio tests of both are fairly comparable in what they cover. The way they each handle subwoofer calibration is different though. AVIA plays the LFE test tone in both the mains and the sub whereas DVE only plays it in the sub. The avia web site has a good explanation of why they chose to do it that way.

They are both good and if you can get them as a package, as I did, then it can't hurt to have them both. If I had to choose only one though, I would choose AVIA even though it costs twice as much as DVE.

 

[malvado78]

Thanks everyone.

Already picked up Avia maybe in the future I will keep my eyes open for DVE just to do a comparison also.

 

[Duffinator]

I have the original Video Essentials and DVE discs. The content and instructions are excellent but the navigation of both discs is horrible. You get stuck in these endless loops that you can't seem to get out of. Joe Kane gives you a nice tutorial of how to use the menu and submenus but the fact that you need a tutorial in the first place is a clue of things to come. You will eventually figure out the navigation but its unnecessarily complicated. Running the the video setup had a dramatic improvement on my CRT RPTV. But with the difficult menu navigation it's tough to recommend.

 

[Spiffyfast]

I may have to look into getting one of these myself, as far as I knew my tv looked good, but who knows, maybe all this time I've been watching it with a less than ideal setup and just didn't know any better, thnx for the info guys

 

[Duffinator]

I may have to look into getting one of these myself, as far as I knew my tv looked good, but who knows, maybe all this time I've been watching it with a less than ideal setup and just didn't know any better, thnx for the info guys

The most to be gained from a DIY calibration using one of the discs is on a CRT based RPTV like you have. Typically the contrast and sharpness are set way too high so the sets look nice in the stores. YMMV on fixed pixel displays, maybe someone else can comment on that. And of course there is the ISF calibration that runs $300-$400 which should do an even better job improving picture quality.