I've never owned a DVE calibration disc. Before this disc, I used to use AVIA to calibrate my TV. My TV is a Sony 32S3000, and it is connected via HDMI to a PS3, which I used as my BD player.
Opening the HD Basics case reveals three color filters all in one single item. This is great compared to AVIA. Lift the paper holder up and move you head up or down depending on the filter you want. And the paper holder itself is a tool to check the grayscale. AWSOME INCLUSION!
The HD Basics BD starts by giving you a crippled menu, but with a question: Where would you like to start? The question was a good start, but the execution reveals that they didn?t even put thought into the menu:
COMPLETE PROGRAM MENU - Self explanatory.
HD IN DETAIL - Video shows how to setup Environment, Audio, and Video (more descriptions of Video things like scan-lines, color quality, etc).
SETTING UP MY HDTV - Video shows how to use Basic Test Patterns.
JUST THE TEST PATTERNS - Basic Test Patterns.
The three lower items act like short-cuts to items in the Complete Program Menu. I don't like this menu because it's so annoying to get back into it and because the title of each item is very vague. "HD In Detail" - How vague is that? "Setting Up My HDTV" - Do you mean how to connect the wires to it? Also, having the Complete Program Menu at the top sort of contradicts their efforts to make it simple. Instead it should have been last, and called Advanced Menu or some similar crap that would?ve kept the average Joe from venturing in there.
Once you enter an item you cannot return to this menu unless you press the Top Menu button on your controller, which shows a loading screen. When you enter an item, you can press Back to go to the Complete Program menu:
INTRO TO HD - Video shows why we need to calibrate, new technologies and CRT matching, how wide color gamut sucks (possible shot at Sony?), and video compression.
HD IN DETAIL - Video shows how to setup Environment, Audio, and Video (more descriptions of Video things like scan-lines, color quality, etc).
HD VIDEO CALIBRATION - Known as Setting Up My HDTV in the top menu, this video shows how to use Basic Test Patterns.
BASIC VIDEO SETUP PATTERNS - Known as Just The Test Patterns in the top menu, this item shows the Basic Test Patterns.
AUDIO TEST SIGNALS - Self explanatory.
ADVANCED VIDEO TEST PATTERNS - More test patterns. Allows the option of 1080p or 720p. Doesn?t seem useful to me.
DEMONSTRATION MATERIALS - Some videos to look at for viewing HD picture. Allows the option of 1080p or 720p. Narration by Joe Kane is also an option, but only in 1080p.
CREDITS - Shows who you should complain about if you dislike the BD.
Alot of the information on the 90 minutes worth of videos can get very technical and is not important to calibration or to the average Joe. The narrator sounds monotonous and throws in a few, really stupid jokes. It can also seem repetitive sometimes because every time he refers back to something he repeats that something almost entirely. It also sounds like a rant sometimes as the Narrator tends to sound disgusted with certain practices of HDTV manufacturers and goes on to say the beliefs of JKP.
There are also no titles to each chapter of video and very little emphasis is place on calibration information that is mixed in with all the other technical information. So I watched everything and picked out the information that I thought was important, but it doesn?t mean I couldn?t have missed something.
None of the the Video Test Patterns allow you to calibrate Tint. How did they miss that and why? They went in so much detail on everything else.
The Navigation Menu is similar to the HD DVD menu, if you're familiar with it, but isn't as easy to navigate through. When you enter a menu item, a chapter selection thing shows up. What sucks about this is that to select the next chapter, which is below the current one, you need to press Up instead of Down. Then if you want to get back to the Complete Program Menu, there is no item to do so. You have to figure out to press Back. In only three menu items is there the selection to go Back. This is inconsistent and isn't intuitive.
Every Menu item has a description of it on the right of it that tries to describe in more detail what the item does, or how to use the test pattern if the item is for one. However, it fails. It?s too verbose and not simple enough for the average Joe to understand what to do with it properly. It is also shown in too small font.
I also found a bug. If I press the Menu button while looking at a Test Pattern, the image becomes cropped. I fixed this by going back to the Top Menu. It?s happened to me twice so far. This is obviously something that can get very annoying and is the true testament of how much work JKP put into this BD.
DVE HD Basics isn?t as easy as they say it is to navigate and understand the full use of video patterns. However, JKP do provide the nice color filter item and there are true HD color patterns here unlike SD calibration discs. If you?re an enthusiast, you may also find some of the technical information fun to know. My main complaint is that they could?ve made it so much easier to use by using common sense. It?s just plain ridiculous the mistakes that they made in this edition.
Update: I just remembered, from AVIA, how to adjust the TINT control. Use the blue filter on the pattern used to adjust color. Make sure all the blue boxes are an equal shade of blue.
Opening the HD Basics case reveals three color filters all in one single item. This is great compared to AVIA. Lift the paper holder up and move you head up or down depending on the filter you want. And the paper holder itself is a tool to check the grayscale. AWSOME INCLUSION!
The HD Basics BD starts by giving you a crippled menu, but with a question: Where would you like to start? The question was a good start, but the execution reveals that they didn?t even put thought into the menu:
COMPLETE PROGRAM MENU - Self explanatory.
HD IN DETAIL - Video shows how to setup Environment, Audio, and Video (more descriptions of Video things like scan-lines, color quality, etc).
SETTING UP MY HDTV - Video shows how to use Basic Test Patterns.
JUST THE TEST PATTERNS - Basic Test Patterns.
The three lower items act like short-cuts to items in the Complete Program Menu. I don't like this menu because it's so annoying to get back into it and because the title of each item is very vague. "HD In Detail" - How vague is that? "Setting Up My HDTV" - Do you mean how to connect the wires to it? Also, having the Complete Program Menu at the top sort of contradicts their efforts to make it simple. Instead it should have been last, and called Advanced Menu or some similar crap that would?ve kept the average Joe from venturing in there.
Once you enter an item you cannot return to this menu unless you press the Top Menu button on your controller, which shows a loading screen. When you enter an item, you can press Back to go to the Complete Program menu:
INTRO TO HD - Video shows why we need to calibrate, new technologies and CRT matching, how wide color gamut sucks (possible shot at Sony?), and video compression.
HD IN DETAIL - Video shows how to setup Environment, Audio, and Video (more descriptions of Video things like scan-lines, color quality, etc).
HD VIDEO CALIBRATION - Known as Setting Up My HDTV in the top menu, this video shows how to use Basic Test Patterns.
BASIC VIDEO SETUP PATTERNS - Known as Just The Test Patterns in the top menu, this item shows the Basic Test Patterns.
AUDIO TEST SIGNALS - Self explanatory.
ADVANCED VIDEO TEST PATTERNS - More test patterns. Allows the option of 1080p or 720p. Doesn?t seem useful to me.
DEMONSTRATION MATERIALS - Some videos to look at for viewing HD picture. Allows the option of 1080p or 720p. Narration by Joe Kane is also an option, but only in 1080p.
CREDITS - Shows who you should complain about if you dislike the BD.
Alot of the information on the 90 minutes worth of videos can get very technical and is not important to calibration or to the average Joe. The narrator sounds monotonous and throws in a few, really stupid jokes. It can also seem repetitive sometimes because every time he refers back to something he repeats that something almost entirely. It also sounds like a rant sometimes as the Narrator tends to sound disgusted with certain practices of HDTV manufacturers and goes on to say the beliefs of JKP.
There are also no titles to each chapter of video and very little emphasis is place on calibration information that is mixed in with all the other technical information. So I watched everything and picked out the information that I thought was important, but it doesn?t mean I couldn?t have missed something.
None of the the Video Test Patterns allow you to calibrate Tint. How did they miss that and why? They went in so much detail on everything else.
The Navigation Menu is similar to the HD DVD menu, if you're familiar with it, but isn't as easy to navigate through. When you enter a menu item, a chapter selection thing shows up. What sucks about this is that to select the next chapter, which is below the current one, you need to press Up instead of Down. Then if you want to get back to the Complete Program Menu, there is no item to do so. You have to figure out to press Back. In only three menu items is there the selection to go Back. This is inconsistent and isn't intuitive.
Every Menu item has a description of it on the right of it that tries to describe in more detail what the item does, or how to use the test pattern if the item is for one. However, it fails. It?s too verbose and not simple enough for the average Joe to understand what to do with it properly. It is also shown in too small font.
I also found a bug. If I press the Menu button while looking at a Test Pattern, the image becomes cropped. I fixed this by going back to the Top Menu. It?s happened to me twice so far. This is obviously something that can get very annoying and is the true testament of how much work JKP put into this BD.
DVE HD Basics isn?t as easy as they say it is to navigate and understand the full use of video patterns. However, JKP do provide the nice color filter item and there are true HD color patterns here unlike SD calibration discs. If you?re an enthusiast, you may also find some of the technical information fun to know. My main complaint is that they could?ve made it so much easier to use by using common sense. It?s just plain ridiculous the mistakes that they made in this edition.
Update: I just remembered, from AVIA, how to adjust the TINT control. Use the blue filter on the pattern used to adjust color. Make sure all the blue boxes are an equal shade of blue.
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