Calibrating my home cinema setup

[theVoong]

I own the original AVIA "Guide to Home Theater" DVD which I have been using for video calibration.

Now that I have purchased a Blu-Ray player (Pioneer BD35) I should like to use the HD signal to recalibrate.

Has AVIA released a new Blu-Ray version of their calibration disc yet? If so where can I buy it?

I have read that Silicon Optix released a benchmark Blu-Ray disc (called something like "The HD HQC BENCHMARK IMAGE QUALITY ASSESSMENT TOOL"). Having searched for someone selling this I keep being directed to the HQV web site where the link to purchase the disc is not working. Again, can anyone tell me where I can get hold of this disc, please?

Finally, I understand that the BBC are transmitting a high definition wide screen version of their test card. Is it available as a Blu-Ray disc (it would be perfect if it came with the BBC Research sync check signal!)?

Any help gratefully received.

[Ballistix999]

Search for Get Grey, set of test screens, very good, I've just calibrated my VW60 with it and HFCR.

Brill!

Regards,
Tony

[mwardy]

Amazon.com: Avia II: Avia 2: Guide to Home Theater: Movies & TV

...but look at the user reviews!

Get Gray is meant to be very good but you have to buy it. A free and excellent HD disk is here:

AVS HD 709 - Blu-ray, HD DVD, & MP4 Calibration - AVS Forum

You can burn it in a standard DVD burner, though the result will only play in a blu ray player (or HD DVD player if you d/l that version).

The HCFR calibration s/w is also accompanied by a calibration disk for SD. It's only worth bothering with the difference between HD and SD if you have a colourimeter, can have different settings for SD and HD, and have a usable advand colour management system on you set. Otherwise go with the rec 709 one!

[theVoong]

Thanks for the advice.

The reviews of the Avia II really are quite poor so I've decided to give that a miss.

I've downloaded ColorHCFR and the SD DVD Test Pattern disks. And I'll have a play with those later (to see if the BD35 is better or worse than my Denon DVD-1940 with standard DVD's - who knows I may be able to save a slot in my rack!).

I have also downloaded the AVS HD 709 disk. It has a great range of test patterns but is missing the flag wave etc. that are on the HD HQV Benchmark disk. Unfortunately, the HQC online ordering pages are still down but I have emailed them (no reply so far) to see if there is another way to order the disk or if they have a UK distributor. I'll let you kniow what (if?) they reply.

[Avi]

Originally Posted by theVoong

I have read that Silicon Optix released a benchmark Blu-Ray disc (called something like "The HD HQC BENCHMARK IMAGE QUALITY ASSESSMENT TOOL"). Having searched for someone selling this I keep being directed to the HQV web site where the link to purchase the disc is not working. Again, can anyone tell me where I can get hold of this disc, please?

The HQV is an assement disc designed to compare how video processing products compare to the Silicon Optix HQV processor in their custom tests. HQV provides a series of tests that they set a pass or degree of fail based on your perception of the result. Interestingly a Toshiba product that used the Reon HQV passed cretain tests but introduced artfacts in to a real world image (would have failed) that other procssors didn't with the same material.

The HQV will not help calibrate your setup but it may show issues with the level of video processing which you may be unable to do anything about apart from change the products.

AVI

[theVoong]

Originally Posted by Avi

The HQV will not help calibrate your setup but it may show issues with the level of video processing which you may be unable to do anything about apart from change the products.

AVI

Yes, I am trying to evaluate two aspects of my system.

Firstly, which component should do the upscaling of SD content (DVD player, Amp or TV) for which I wanted to use the old HQV disk.

Secondly, I'm looking for a new TV and wanted to use the HD version of the HQV disk to compare different models - by taking my BD35 to the dealers and running the disk I'm hoping to get some sort of score which I can compare between sets. It's either that or depend only on reviews and the picture that you see in the dealer's showroom...