Should I buy the Avia Guide to HT (DVD)?

[gnagel]

I am new to home theatre equipment and am interested in calibrating my system. I just purchased a Sound Level Meter from Radio Shack. The five speakers (2 front, 1 center and 2 rear) are now calibrated to the same sound level from my listening position--at least when listening to the test tones produced by my Yamaha receiver.

Does it make sense for me to buy the Avia Guide to Home Theatre DVD now? Is there a better resource at this point? What benefits should I expect to receive from it?

Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

Ovation also offers the Home Theater Tune Up disc that costs a lot less and has more basic calibration info. If you intend to really get in there and do some serious tweaking, I'd get Avia. If not, I'd just go with Tune Up. I normally just use my receiver's tones to calibrate too, though I have both Video Essentials and the HTT disc.

 

[gnagel]

Ovation also offers the Home Theater Tune Up disc that costs a lot less and has more basic calibration info. If you intend to really get in there and do some serious tweaking, I'd get Avia. If not, I'd just go with Tune Up. I normally just use my receiver's tones to calibrate too, though I have both Video Essentials and the HTT disc.

Being relatively new to this, I am not sure if it even makes sense for me to do any serious tweaking.

I have a Yamaha RX-V795 receiver with five speakers and a subwoofer. I don't have an equalizer. For audio, is there much more that I can do other than calibrate the speakers so that they are producing the same sound levels from the listening position?

For video, I am purchasing a Sony KDS-R50XBR1 HDTV. Is there much tweaking that I should expect to do with this, other than what's contained in the set-up instructions in the operating manual? If tweaking is necessary, will Avia have the necessary information--given that it was produced in 1999?

Of course, I would also like to ensure that my DVD player is optimized within the system. I'm assuming that Avia might be out of date for helping me with this as well.

 

[jcPanny]

Video settings

Yes, you will need Avia or Digital Video Essentials to maximize the performance of your new display and DVD player, but your receiver setup is fine for audio.

Since you are new to this stuff, Avia is generally considered easier to use than DVE and it's calibrations are still useful for new HDTVs.

 

[j_garcia]

The operation manual will not have anything about calibrating your TV, and from the factory, the settings are usually not correct for the best picture because they have no idea what you will be hooking to it. The contrast and brightness settings can make a very big difference in your picture quality. Note that this only calibrates for your player, not your other sources (VCR, CATV, etc...). You'll need to consider the settings from your DVD player and adjust to taste for the other devices. Avia is not out of date; more or less everything in it would still be current for both audio and video, but as you said, you may not need the level of detail that Avia will give you. The HTT disc (I got mine for $12) will probably be sufficient for calibrating your display and you should be OK for audio already.

 

[gnagel]

but as you said, you may not need the level of detail that Avia will give you. The HTT disc (I got mine for $12) will probably be sufficient for calibrating your display and you should be OK for audio already.

Thanks!

I just ordered the HTT disc off of eBay for $12 ($15 shipped).

I see that you are from Santa Clara. That brings back great memories. I lived in Santa Clara for a few years in the late 80s/early 90s. I loved the area, but my company relocated me back to Chicago in '92. Now, I'm freezing here in Chicago thinking about Santa Clara. (One of my eBay user IDs is santa_clara_broncos)

 

[Duffinator]

Since you are new to this stuff, Avia is generally considered easier to use than DVE and it's calibrations are still useful for new HDTVs.

I've never used the Avia disc but I can confirm that the DVE disc is not easy to follow. There's nothing difficult about using either disc but navigating the menus in DVE can be a frustrating experience. To add some fun to this process go to the THX website and order their blue tint glasses used in setting the black levels. Then your friends will think you know what you are doing.

 

[j_garcia]

Are you talking about the blue filter to set color and hue using a SMPTE pattern? Why would you need blue tinted glasses to set black levels?

Santa Clara is nice, but today it is POURING rain at the moment (not freezing though )

 

[Duffinator]

Are you talking about the blue filter to set color and hue using a SMPTE pattern? Why would you need blue tinted glasses to set black levels?

Santa Clara is nice, but today it is POURING rain at the moment (not freezing though )

Right, the SMPTE pattern. They are nothing fancy but you don't have to hold them up to your face and they have THX printed on them. It's starting to rain here as well.

 

[j_garcia]

VE was always not so user friendly, but it has all the test patterns in one chapter that you can go directly to once you know how to adjust each one. That's all I ever use it for now

 

[JeffD2.]

From my own experience, Avia is superior for calibrating audio. I used DVE for audio calibration and the results with actual playback were disasterous. However I've read on various forums that DVE is superior for video calibration. I started video calibration in pro mode on Sony but never finished, because on my set, I'm perfectly happy with factory defaults in standard mode. BTW- DVE comes with RGB transparancies for use while calibrating.

 

[Duffinator]

From my own experience, Avia is superior for calibrating audio. I used DVE for audio calibration and the results with actual playback were disasterous. However I've read on various forums that DVE is superior for video calibration. I started video calibration in pro mode on Sony but never finished, because on my set, I'm perfectly happy with factory defaults in standard mode. BTW- DVE comes with RGB transparancies for use while calibrating.

I've read that the sub signal on the early DVE (Not VE) disc there was a 10 db boost on the sub and it was not intentional. Not sure if they ever got that fixed.

 

[JeffD2.]

Dunno if it was ever fixed, but it supposedly has been acknowledged. I got my DVE disc in May of '05 but who knows when it was distrubuted. I've also read where Avia Pro is even better for video calibration but costs a lot more than DVE. Is it better from a cost/result perspective? I doubt it, but I'll leave that to more experienced people than me to judge.