Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater which HT setup disc to use?

Hello everyone,

I am in the market for a HT setup disc and would like opinions on which to get and why. I have listed 3 that are readily available from Amazon, but am open to other suggestions.

a) Avia Guide ($64 CDN)
b) Digitial Video Essentials ($32 CDN)
c) Sound and Vision HT Tune-up ($22 CDN)

BTW, I have updated pictures on my website to show my recently acquired 3rd QS4 (rear) and LG upconverting DVD player.

Alan

I don't know anything about Sound &Vision, other than it is alleged to be a simplified version of AVIA. Each of the other two has it's pro and cons.

AVIA

Pros:
Considered easier to navigate through than DVE
Accurate Audio test tones

Cons:
Expensive
Has a problem when checking for blacker than black (BTB) in the video section. "Avia's black bars are encoded above black. You must use DVE's PLUGE patterns, or Avia PRO. The bars in Avia should be visible, they are above-black shadow detail. If the bars are not visible, you are clipping values above black, which is not good." - by Chris Wiggles on AVS (see his Go-to Guide for Source Options, a very valuable guide to video settings on DVD players, for further information.)

DVE

Pros:
Relatively inexpensive.
Can accurately measure for BTB

Cons:
Considered harder to navigate through than AVIA
The subwoofer pink noise tone is not accurate. Can be compensated for by calibrating all speakers to 75 dB, as instructed, then calibrating the sub to 83 to 85 dB.

I'm sure there are other pros and cons for each, but you get the idea.

if you have a neflix account you can get dve from there. did not know this till after i bought mine though they dont have avia.
Jake

crap!

I didn't know that!

alou, here is a link to an old post of mine on the S&V disc. I still own it. Any of the aforementioned will all work nicely and depending on how in depth you want to 'test' your system, the S&V is a cheaper option that will do the basics and a bit more just fine.

I agree with chesseroo (Is that possible? ) I have tried them all and very much prefer S&V's disc.

Thanks Chess, I remember reading that post a while back. I've tried to order the S&V disc from Amazon, but they're always out of stock. They just recently bumped my "estimated shipping date" to the middle of May. So I cancelled it.

I'll check around town this weekend, see what I come up with. Otherwise, I may order the DVE.

You can get the disc from S&V directly. I would also check E-Bay as there is always one or two to be had.