Has anyone seen the HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Silicon Optix Benchmark yet? They are not available on the HQV website, but some one is selling 1 of each on ebay. I'm wondering if its worth my time.

Thanks,

Don

I've contacted Silicon Optix, hopefully they can shed some light on this.

I was sent the HD DVD version by Silicon Optix and will also be sent a BD version next week to be used in testing players in for review. They have not been released to the public yet, other than some of the HD DVD versions were given away at CES this year.

I've decided to wait for this instead of buying the HD-DVD version of Video Essentials.

I've decided to wait for this instead of buying the HD-DVD version of Video Essentials.

If the HQV HD product is like the last, it is very different than Video Essentials which is a display calibration tools (mostly). HQV is a de-interlacing, scaler, noise reduction torture test.

- Rich

If the HQV HD product is like the last, it is very different than Video Essentials which is a display calibration tools (mostly). HQV is a de-interlacing, scaler, noise reduction torture test.

- Rich

Thanks Rich!

Ok, how about I wait for AVIA on Blu-ray?

Thanks Rich!

Ok, how about I wait for AVIA on Blu-ray?

Sure.

I have my Video Essentials HD DVD and I will give it a spin.
For Blu-Ray the THX setup screens would do me fine. Must I wait for Cars :rolleyes:

- Rich

Posted regarding a HD HQV summary article (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10350553&&#post10350553) yesterday and a few related links. -- John

i have a xbox360 with hd dvd add on and just got my dve hd dvd and it plays fine on the dvd side but on the hd dvd side will not work i emailed them and they have not yet responded can any tell me why it will not work

Unless things have changed, the THX calibration on some discs is title specific. Meaning, if you calibrate your TV to that particular disc you're setting it to be optimized for one title only. You would then have to re-calibrate for the next film, and so on.

Dan

Unless things have changed, the THX calibration on some discs is title specific. Meaning, if you calibrate your TV to that particular disc you're setting it to be optimized for one title only. You would then have to re-calibrate for the next film, and so on.

Dan
Casting dout. Nice tactic. Unless things have changed I thought Dvds were mastered to follow the same standard.:)

So like which of them "some" Thx disc's are good and which are bad? Is there just one "good one" anywhere? Does Thx strive for consistency between every release?

What standard do you follow?

Unless things have changed, the THX calibration on some discs is title specific. Meaning, if you calibrate your TV to that particular disc you're setting it to be optimized for one title only. You would then have to re-calibrate for the next film, and so on.

Dan

This is false. The point of THX is to master to a standard.

- Rich

Where can one get these calibration discs. I see them mentioned, but have no idea where to get them. Thanks

You guys are just too much! You smell conspiracy theories EVERYWHERE. It has been a long standing issue brought up by those who are looking for reference calibration discs. When THX first started putting these color bars and black level/white level charts on DVD's it was brought up by people like Joe Kane that the levels were being used to calibrate the set to the specific movie and not entirely "reference levels" for everyday use.

AVIA and Digital Essentials have been considered more benchmark calibration discs than the THX optimizer screens on THX certified transfers. You have to remember that from the start of DVD, THX certification hasn't meant a hill of beans as some of the worst looking, non-anamorphic DVD's were THX certified.

Over the years THX has lost a lot of its clout as they seem to put their stamp of approval on just about anything. One reason, I believe, the founder of THX left to persue other ventures.
Dan

You guys are just too much! You smell conspiracy theories EVERYWHERE. It has been a long standing issue brought up by those who are looking for reference calibration discs. When THX first started putting these color bars and black level/white level charts on DVD's it was brought up by people like Joe Kane that the levels were being used to calibrate the set to the specific movie and not entirely "reference levels" for everyday use.

AVIA and Digital Essentials have been considered more benchmark calibration discs than the THX optimizer screens on THX certified transfers. You have to remember that from the start of DVD, THX certification hasn't meant a hill of beans as some of the worst looking, non-anamorphic DVD's were THX certified.

Over the years THX has lost a lot of its clout as they seem to put their stamp of approval on just about anything. One reason, I believe, the founder of THX left to persue other ventures.
Dan

Dan is correct. I am not sure what is going on with THX now and their patterns, but they were disc-specific for some DVDs, which meant that not all THX patterns were actually accurate. This was incredibly dumb on THX's part altogether. However, there is also the added issue that some of the HD discs that have THX patterns clip to 16-235, so the patterns are also clipped, making part of their usability basically nonexistent for specific elements outside that range.

In any case, I would stick to tried and true testing sources, rather than the THX patterns which I wouldn't trust at all unless you can measure them directly.

Casting dout. Nice tactic. Unless things have changed I thought Dvds were mastered to follow the same standard.:)

That is true, there is one standard. Somebody needed to tell THX this back when they came up with their whole Optimode idea.

So like which of them "some" Thx disc's are good and which are bad? Is there just one "good one" anywhere? Does Thx strive for consistency between every release?

I hope they do now, but for a time they did not, thus their Optimode system which provided film-specific patterns for per-disc calibration. Needless to say this is/was a horrible idea and I have no idea what kind of controlled substances engineers were on that they thought that this was appropriate rather than just adhering to the video standards that we have.

What standard do you follow?

Rec 601, Rec 709 as appropriate, etc.