DirecTV - Test pattern anytime soon?

If you receive HD Net (HiDef), they broadcast a set of HD test patterns for 10 minutes every Tuesday morning at 8am ET.


Also, sometimes HBO broadcasts test patterns, but they're never announced in any schedules that I've seen.


If you receive your local channels via DirecTV, check them after "signoff" time and they may be broadcasting a test patter.

Um, will the ATSC test pattern HDnet puts up on Tuesday mornings going to be appropriate for NTSC calibration?

I'll have to check the after hours broadcasts - I don't have HD Net.


I actually had a test pattern saved on my UltimateTV once upon a time, but unfortunately it recorded 4 hours of it, and it got helpfully deleted for me by my wife before I had a chance to vidcap it onto my HTPC's hard drive ("why would anyone want 4 hours of "beeeeeeeeeee"?).


--KS

Well, any channel putting up a test pattern is only going to help you calibrate for that one channel, no? I'd buy a $15-20 Avia disk, or borrow someone's Avia.

Truth is, I already have an Avia Video Essentials DVD - I use it to calibrate movies played via Zoomplayer/PowerDVD from my HTPC's DVD player. That calibration, of course, doesn't help with my VidCap card. Remember - I'm not adjusting my projector's Hue/Sharpness/Contrast/etc settings (those are dialed in perfectly already), I'm adjusting DScaler's overlay.


In order to use it that DVD, I'd have to schlep my external DVD player downstairs, pull the AV cabinet away from the wall, unplug my UltimateTV from the VidCard, plug my DVD player's S-Video out into the Vidcap card, and then have DScaler do it's automatic calibration. And then put everything back. That's a real pain in the butt based on how my layout is - I'd rather just record a test pattern on my UltimateTV - then I just "play" it and fire off DScaler's automatic calibration whenever I need to.


--KS