I'm ready to buy one of them thar' fancy home theater calibration discs. Any recommendations? Please and thank you. I wonder which one Axiom uses.
I have the "Sound and Vision home theater tune up" and am pleased with it. The other one recomended here is the Avia. Ultimate electronics ($19.00) and best buy ($29.00) carry the S&V version.
I have both the Avia and S&V's and also one of Dolby's own and I always use S&V's. I honestly think it's a better disc but that is my 2 cents only.
Thanks guys. Wow, thats a big differnece in price between UE and BB.
I read somewhere (can't remember where) where one of these was designed with DLP/LCD displays in mind (is it legal to type the word "where" 4 times in one sentence?). Anyone know of this?
I think I caught it "on sale" at ultimate. It took them 30 minutes to find it.
Yeah...is there a calibration disk that does DTS as well? The one I have broadcasts in DD 5.1 (Avia).
Yes, it does DTS, but if you search on HomeTheaterSPOT, I vaguely remember there being an issue with the DTS recording...about the levels not being correct or something...
I own a copy of it as well but primarily use my copy of AVIA.
My .02,
WhatFurrer
I haven't used the S&V disc, but the Avia disc is perfectly fine. It's a little pricey, though. If you go out and rent "From Hell" or any of a handful of other discs that have calibration options as part of the extras, that will work pretty well if you're not ready to shell out the dough for one of the dedicated discs. That got me 90% of the way until I bought the Avia disc.
The Avia disc (and presumably the S&V disc) offer a wider range of test tones and scenarios, as well as some nifty colored filters to help you set up your TV's color accurately.
If you want a disc mainly for sound calibration, don't get one that doesn't include DTS. I got very mixed results with either the E-Z Set remote or the THX Optimizer that's on many discs. Only with the S&V and a Rat Shack SPL meter did I get the sound right on both DD and DTS. Makes a big difference. Plus, it's got better subwoofer calibration, almost worth the price of admission alone (but I got it for $15 at DVD Planet a year ago).