I want to properly calibrate my TV (a CRT, Sony XBR 34 inch).

Have any Outlaws used the "Avia Guide to Home Theater" or "Digital Video Essentials (2003)" DVDs? Is one (or both) of these worthwile?

Do you have any other suggestions for properly calaibrating my TV (color, sharpness, etc.).

Thanks, Duke97

I've had pretty good luck with both the older Video Essentials and the Digital Video Essentials DVD's, for what it's worth.

I made an appointment to have my set professionally calibrated by Eliab...but until then I like the Sound and Vision Home Theater Tune Up . It's pretty simple and very user friendly.

Ignorance alert! 8-)

Perhaps, I'm just too wrapped up in sound and not with the video, but....

What exactly do you intend to tweak on the video end? What settings would you change and what settings would you consider ideal?

Cheers,

Brightness and contrast typically ship from the factory significantly off of where they should be. There's also sharpness, color, and tint, plus in some cases you can get into things like screen geometry and convergence....

Gonk & Wingnut, thanks for the input. I'll get a copy of either Digital Video Essentials or the Sound and Vision Home Theater Tune Up.

Ritz: I was thinking about the video settings for brightness and contrast. I also wanted to learn more about the other settings Gonk mentioned above.

Cheers, Duke97

those discs cover pretty much everything. though on a tube, you are not going to be able to affect the picture as much as a projector based system. BUT you can improve it for sure.

keep this in mind, just because the setting says its perfectly calibrated. make sure you actually like the result. who cares if the picture is "perfectly calibrated" if it is hard to see, etc.

i say this, because i have found that these discs typically want a very dark picture, at the cost of detail. there is always a trade off, but i would rather see everything than have that perfect black!

tube tvs are going to be able to have the best of both worlds in that regard, but they have jagged edges, image tear, etc.

Another point you might keep in mind, quite a few amateur calibrators use two or three of the DVDs that have been mentioned. It seems that each disk has strengths and weaknesses, and when you "get into it" (this is a hobby, after all) you can use AVIA for some settings, DVE for others, and Sound&Vision for others. I've been happy with the new DVE, and I haven't even taken AVIA out of the box (sigh, but of course I had to buy both, right)!