Video Essentials

The discs aren't that hard to find. Just go to Amazon.com... you can find new and used copies of both discs. Probably lots of other alternatives also, including posting a "wanted" ad here on AVS forums. But the used prices on Amazon are as low as $5 including shipping so it may not be worth the effort to try to beat that price. I have a personal preference for the Digital Video Essentials disc for use in DVD players over the earlier Video Essentials disc (no Digital in the title).

I can't speak for Doug, but one reason is that navigating around the original VE disk can be quite the adventure ... but then again I don't know if the DVE is any better. ... Plus I seem to recall that a couple of the patterns have some errors baked in.

I have one copy of 'Avia II' left in inventory, still factory sealed, if you want it instead. It is more intuitive to navigate than DVE. There is also Disney's 'World Of Wonder' program available on DVD from other vendors.

This isn't that big of a question - it's for setting-up an old CRT -- it's not rocket science with dire consequences should the wrong choice be made. Get DVE used for $5 or $7.50 or whatever and forget about it.

Avia is confusing for non-Pros because it uses IRE correctly, meaning for consumer video calibrations, black is 7.5 IRE not 0 and IRE and % white are not the same thing (this is correct usage, but confuses most people who think IRE and % white are interchangeable when they are not).

And after you've used DVE, get VE and AVIA... collect the whole set and make up your own mind.

LOL ... while you're at it, you could also pick up "A Video Standard" and the original Laserdisc version of "VE"

I don't use discs. I use a professional video signal generator. I have discs... I just don't use them except for odd occasions when I need to check something I can't check with the signal generator.