Overwhelmed Newbie - Get me started

I'm in over my head. I just bought:
Samsung UN32EH5000 32-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LED HDTV

I use it to view over-the-air digital TV stations and watch movie and internet content via a laptop which has an internal blue ray DVD player. I plan to watch streaming internet content, watch videos from my hard drive (some HD), and the occasional blue ray DVD.

I've downloaded and played with AVSHD using the MP4-2c version with the HD Nation videos as tutorial and I've searched these forums and faqs but I find it all overwhelming.

I'm really only looking to get some basic fundamental calibration setup. Despite owning a few HD movies on DVD, I still don't have access to the THX calibration utility found on some.

I apologize if I've missed some obvious threads about starting out. My problem is that there's just too much highly technical information here (even in your faqs) and I'm not sure what information is current (2012).

Q: Can someone offer a CURRENT and newbie tutorial for how to use AVSHD or else recommend another thread/website that offers CURRENT calibration steps for newbies like me? I'll try other software or even buy a DVD if you recommend one. The calibration DVDs I've seen recommended here seem dated.

Q: If I buy a DVD, should I get a blu ray version? My laptop can play it, but most of my use will be via the internet or Hard drive based videos or just PC web browsing. I don't know if I'll be able to setup on-the-fly or quick-key types of configurations, so I guess I'll need to pick one kind of setup and use it for everything. Does this mean I should just buy a non-blue ray HD DVD calibration disk? Considering my usage, please recommend appropriate calibration software.

Q: Just to get me started so I can play around some more, I'm using the HDTV via an HDMI cable coming off my laptop. If I change the mode to PC it seems to get me a better picture, but I know these a pre-set tweaks and the samsung limits features I can calibrate unless I go to "standard" mode. As a starting point, should I use "standard" mode as a base and do everything from there?

Q: Seems I've complicated things by working from a laptop. Not even sure where to start. HDTV internal settings, graphics card software, application software, and maybe the blu ray hardware itself? Do I really need to go though all those levels and factors or is there an approach that will get me a decent basic picture without too much trouble and low expectations?

I'm sure I deserve any RTFfaq or RTFM comments, but please at least point me to a few good threads or websites. I'm in my 40s with a family, this is the first HDTV that I've tried to calibrate and I just want to get things decent, not perfect. Thanks for any help getting me started.

Thanks for the help...

I understand the input modes for the physical cables have different settings, but from the laptop I'll be 1) playing movies off hard drive - VLC player or something like it 2) streaming movies - Amazon, etc.. non resident players 3) just doing PC desktop work and 4) playing blu ray disks off the player. So the problem is, as I understand it, these will all be under the same settings. Of course I'm not going to tweak the settings manually every time I do something different with the PC. I guess I could physically unplug the HDMI and insert it into a different HDMI slot depending on what I want to use it for.

The other problem is that I don't even know where to start. Just by telling the Samsung that the HDMI is a PC connection, it's tweaking my settings and disabling some tweak options. I could keep the HDMI connection to the PC without identifying it, and then all tweak options are enabled, but there might be some PC specific tweaks that the "PC" mode allows for that I'm not understanding or appreciating.

I've downloaded the ASVHD on two different computers, decompressed, and burned them to disks. My laptop says it can't read either. I tried the file designated for blue ray, downloaded, unzipped, and tried to burn it, but it gave me an error during burn. I'm guessing you need a blu ray burner for this while I just have a regular burner that plays blu ray disks. So the only AVSHD I've been able to use it the one you run directly off the PC harddrive.

I did manage to find an older version of the THX optimzer utility. I ran it and was at least able to adjust the brightness. I ran the AVSHD brightness chart but using that gauge gave me a different setting.

I think I need to turn off whatever is pre-setting my screen. For example when I test the brightness, I can't EVER see level 17 no matter how bright I make it. Similar for the contrast test. Something is blocking those levels no matter what I do. Could be I need better glasses, but adjusting the sharpness seems to have almost no effect at all from highest to lowest.

I live in Western PA and but while I appreciate the kindness and advice I get online, I'm not ready to have people come over. I really thought this would take an hour or two but I've already got 4-5 hours in and I can't say I've accomplished anything. Maybe I'll just be the guy who settles for the "movie/standard/vivid" settings. I just don't think I can justify the time.

That said, thanks for the advice. I'll see if I can turn off the auto-calibrations. Doesn't seem like much point in tweaking the HDTV until I have those under control.

Yeah, the stickies seemed pretty advanced... I'll check out the AVSHD manuals. I must have missed them.

Thanks for your time.

Yeah, I'm putting this on the shelf. Thanks for the advice and have a good one.