Hey I justed received my DVE, hd dvd, dvd combo. I"m using the ntsc dvd side with just s-video from my mitsu. dvd player. I was calibrating my Panasonic plasma last night, and the menus I went through, were the brightness test then contrast,color,tint,and sharpness. Then I saw the reference test materials but they just went by quickly with no explanations.
The thing I'm worried about is the settings I wrote down from calibrating using the free THX optimizer, are exactly what the settings were after I was through using DVE. Am I missing some menus (because the menu set up confused me) or is that as good am I going to get without using equipment. Thanks for your time and help, and any input would be appreciated.

DVE navigation is horrendous, I'm not sure what all you saw, but DVE should have come with an index so you can navigate directly to the patterns you need. In addition, the full manual is available on their website in pdf, which I think you'll find very helpful.

Disk navigation does take some getting used but there is a full index included in the CD case. What surprises me are the number of test patterns which are included but with absolutely no description of what they're for or how to use them. For instance, the Snell & Wilcox ones looks extremely interesting but there's no explaination of what they mean. Also, there isn't any "full manual" on their website that I've found. I've found bits and pieces and lots of good info but alot of it concentrates on CRT, promises to address how to address other displays but then never does. For instance, you can set DLP black level by getting close to the screen and reducing brightness until you can actually see the mirrors shut down. That's not mentioned in DVE. Overall, I think they need to restructure their product and answer the mail vice bits and pieces of nice info but little guidance.

Also, there isn't any "full manual" on their website that I've found.

Hmm?

The full manual can be found here:
http://www.videoessentials.com/docs/DVE_Consumer_NTSC.pdf

Thanks Chris, I'll be damned if I still can't find the link from their web site. Appreciate the link.

In case you're curious, if you go to the DVE section specifically, there is a dropdown menu item that says "index" and in the drop down menu there is "manuals" and you click that.

The DVE website, like DVE itself, is not very easy to navigate. You can't even find that link on their sitemap! You'd think that after years of people complaining about poor navigation they'd figure that out, but...

Switchgear, I have found on DVE site some Q&A on DVE that has some info, from the home menu, select products, there will be a title that says "Past Programs" and "Digital Video Essentials" drop down the DVE and you'll find the DVE Q&A. There is some fluff but it may help

I appreciate all the help, I have been working some overtime and haven't really had time to tinker with it, hopefully the next few days or weeks I'll get a chance to sit down and really work with it.