Turns out I posted this in the wrong forum earlier, so I'm now posting here hoping someone can help..

So I have a Phillips 30pw9100d widescreen crt. I've been using Active Control to give me the best picture while watching hddvd's via my xbox360. Now all of a sudden Active control has stopped working in hd component mode and hdmi. I know nothing about picture settings.. There's a noticeable difference now vs when active control was working. I dont get that great detail like before. Can someone please help me out with what I should set each setting at to get good pic quality while viewing hddvd's? I've been messing with the settings for days and I'm never really satisfied. Really wish AC still worked.. The warranty just ran out a few months ago too.

my tv has:

Brightness
Color
Picture (I dont have a clue what to set this at. 100%, 75%?)
Sharpness
Tint
Color temp
Contrast- on/off

I have the avia disc, but havnt been able to get good results with it.. this is beyond frustrating.

What difficulties specifically are you having with Avia? Have you followed the instructions?

Yeah I followed the instructions, but I had my dvd player running through hdmi.. someone said I shouldnt do that if trying to set the colors properly. I guess I'll hook it up through component and give it another shot.

The problem is I can never get the settings right.. Seems like every way I set it, it just isnt right.. I'm red-green color blind, so that makes it even more difficult. All I know is the picture quality I used to get when active control still worked was outstanding, and now not so much. On my tv settings what should the "picture" setting normaly be at while viewing hddvd's? I feel like I could probably get everything else set right if I could just figure out that one setting. Should it be 100%, 75% or what? Thanks for any help, posting here is my last resort.. I really dont want to spend more cash than my tv is worth hiring a pro calibrator. Its just a 32" tv.

No, it should be fine through HDMI. Don't know who told you that, but they're not correct.

What specifically are you having trouble with? To se white, follow the instructions that is covered in the calibration FAQ in the forum as it relates to CRT. Set white as low as possible while still maintaining the appearance of white. This is likely going to be quite low in a 0-100 scale, but is difficult to predict because it is display, system, and environment specific.

Thx for the suggestions, I used avia again and spent the time to get it as good as possible and it has made an incredible difference. I dont have a blue filter to look through while setting color and tint, so I set it the best I could. I guess I'll have to find a blue filter somewhere. Still, I'm very pleased with the outcome. Setting the black and white levels along with sharpness has really improved the pic quality.

You can get a blue filter from Ovation, from THX, etc etc.