I am going to purchase a set-up dvd for panny plasma. is one better than the other, I need easy. i was looking at the video digital essentials. I see they have a few, do i get the nstc? help please.

Greetings

The NTSC one is appropriate if you plan to feed your TV NTSC based signal and your TV is NTSC.

Otherwise get the PAL version ... which assumes you live in Europe.

DVE is easy to use.

Monster Cable ISF calibration disc is also easy to use.

Regards

ctjoe

I'm a big fan of the Digital Video Essentials, but I also worked on the development of the program, so you could say that I'm a little biased. :)

You can read more about DVE at www.videoessentials.com.

Regards,

Dave

I went to Amazon to order DVE and read through some of the customer reviews. There is sharp criticism of DVE for being hard to use due to the menu structure and the lack of directions for using the many test patterns. I also went to the DVE website and downloaded the instructions written by the Joe Kane group. After reading through some of that 69 page manual I have to say that the criticisms are quite justified. DVE might be a very effective, comprehensive product for its intended use, but the manual is, frankly, terrible. It was obviously written by someone who understands calibration and the electronics and even physics involved, but that's precisely the problem......it is not customer friendly at all. There is an overwhelming level of technical detail and explanation that is not necessary or helpful, unnecessary references to what "pros do" here and there(who cares...Joe and Jane consumer bought the product to do it themselves and need clear directions), and often times there is still no instruction about what to do with a test pattern or it is entirely obscured by all the technical discussion. What is entirely missing are instructions in the simple format "do this, then do this, then do this...." which is what would be most helpful to customers. The company that produces this needs to hire a writer with experience writing manuals for consumer products, and not have the developers do the writing. The product would be a lot more useful. If the producers want to leave in all the technical detail then at least format the manual better.....have "DO THIS, DO THAT" headings followed by an "EXPLANATION" heading so readers can read what they want/need to. I think then all those Amazon criticisms go away.

Dave

I went to Amazon to order DVE and read through some of the customer reviews. There is sharp criticism of DVE for being hard to use due to the menu structure and the lack of directions for using the many test patterns. I also went to the DVE website and downloaded the instructions written by the Joe Kane group. After reading through some of that 69 page manual I have to say that the criticisms are quite justified. DVE might be a very effective, comprehensive product for its intended use, but the manual is, frankly, terrible. It was obviously written by someone who understands calibration and the electronics and even physics involved, but that's precisely the problem......it is not customer friendly at all. There is an overwhelming level of technical detail and explanation that is not necessary or helpful, unnecessary references to what "pros do" here and there(who cares...Joe and Jane consumer bought the product to do it themselves and need clear directions), and often times there is still no instruction about what to do with a test pattern or it is entirely obscured by all the technical discussion. What is entirely missing are instructions in the simple format "do this, then do this, then do this...." which is what would be most helpful to customers. The company that produces this needs to hire a writer with experience writing manuals for consumer products, and not have the developers do the writing. The product would be a lot more useful. If the producers want to leave in all the technical detail then at least format the manual better.....have "DO THIS, DO THAT" headings followed by an "EXPLANATION" heading so readers can read what they want/need to. I think then all those Amazon criticisms go away.

Dave

dbissett,

You are absolutely correct! It would be very nice to have a procedure that is laid out in a step 1, step 2, step 3, type of manner; however, this is extremely difficult when trying to provide a product to the masses. For example, Digital Video Essentials was designed for all types of display devices such as CRT, DLP, and LCD. All three of these display technologies work quite different from one another and require different procedures in order to be setup properly. Even two LCD displays may require a different approach to reach optimum results. That said, DVE focused on providing the end user with the information necessary to make an educated decision on how a specific display should be setup. I agree that a more organized and easier method is necessary.

Regards,

Dave

That is what I tried to do when I wrote the "Instructions" (ReadMe) for the GetGray Caldisc (www.calibrate.tv). Between Scott (GetGray) and myself, I think we put together a relatively good combination of "How To" and "Why" without doing complete hand-holding (I'm a retired EE with extensive technical writing experience, for customers not familiar with the subject).

If you think I'm biased towards the GetGray Caldisc, you're right :D. Scott put a lot of work into putting together a calibration disc, for fixed pixel displays, that is both very accurate and easy to use, without a lot of frills. I own both the AVIA and DVE DVDs and neither measure up to the ease of use and accuracy of GetGray. It does require some knowledge of calibration, but since I've owned every calibration disc (Laser and DVD) that Joe Kane has done, I consider myself an experienced, but non-professional, calibrator (I don't have any calibration measurement equipment, at least not yet).

NOTE: See the similar thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=691849.

would you recommend GetGray for a newbie who knows nothing about calibration? I know nothing about a/v but just got my first home theater and would like to get the optimal PQ for my 46" Samsung LCD. Thanks,