Smart Discs: Home Entertainment System Setup DVDs

by Hal Robertson
Digital Editition March 2005

Avia Guide To Home Theater
$50
Ovation Multimedia
(800) 572-3917
www.ovationsw.com

Digital Video Essentials
$25
Joe Kane Productions
www.videoessentials.com

You finally retired your old television and upgraded to a new home theater system. Now you're set. Or are you? Everything looks and sounds pretty good -- especially compared with your old setup -- but there remains that nagging feeling that you're not getting everything possible from your new gear. Ovation Software and Joe Kane Productions each offer home theater setup DVDs that maintain you can get more and they'll be glad to help you dial things in. Let's look at these setup DVDs and how they can squeeze the most enjoyment from your new home theater.

Getting Started
The premise is pretty simple: using audio test signals and a variety of video test patterns, each DVD walks you through the setup and fine-tuning of your sound and visual systems. The processes, steps and patterns are different on each DVD but, in the end, you've optimized the brightness, contrast, color and speaker balance of your home theater. Each section typically starts with an explanation of the adjustments and why you're making them. In the visual segments, you'll see sample test patterns and adjustments simulated so you'll understand the change before diving into your system. You will adjust brightness and contrast tweaks with the unaided eye, but color adjustments rely on the supplied color filters. In the Avia package, you're given three colored plastic sheets -- red, green and blue -- to look through as you make the various changes. The blue sheet is essential for tint or hue adjustments as it simulates the blue-only test mode on professional equipment. DVE goes a step further and secures its color swatches in a cardboard frame which is more durable and difficult to lose. Interestingly, the colors were markedly different in each package, with Avia's on the light side and DVE's much darker. No matter -- we achieved virtually identical results with each version.

Both discs recommend the purchase of an audio sound pressure meter, readily available for a modest sum at Radio Shack. If you don't own one already, either buy one or borrow one from a friend -- it's essential for setting audio levels accurately. While most home theater systems have built-in audio testing features, the results from these can vary. By including test signals on a disc, complete with encoding and decoding, you can be certain these adjustments will be in the pocket. Each disc plays broadband noise (similar to waves crashing continuously on the beach) through one speaker at a time in sequence. Using your sound pressure meter and the audio setup menu on your system, adjust individual speakers until they all read the same volume on the meter. If everything is hooked up right, you'll have a fine-tuned audio system in just a few minutes. If it isn't, you'll learn what to change.

The Good With The Bad
Although either DVD will guide you to improved audio and video, each has some serious usability limitations. Navigation is a serious drawback on both discs. It's as though the producers have never rented a movie DVD. Granted, there is a great deal of material here -- including setup instructions and a multitude of test patterns -- but it was frustrating to jump to a different test or to an instruction screen once playback of a test series had begun. Of the two products, the Avia has a cleaner interface and clearer instructions. But pray you don't change your mind once you get into a section -- you can't just go back a step. Pushing the menu button on either of our test players booted us back to the section menu. We had to repeat the navigation to the setup screen we wanted. The DVE disc is no better in this regard. Its section titles are ambiguous at best and it provides no simple way to wade through the various video test patterns.

The Avia disc shows a copyright date of 1999 and its age shows, both in the equipment represented and the clothing of the hosts. In addition, many of its video tests do not support modern LCD or plasma displays. We didn't have a chance to test it with DLP sets, but our guess is that many of these same tests would be irrelevant. This disc worked very well with CRT displays, however. Avia does plan a new release of its disc for the near future. On the plus side, the Avia's audio setup was much better than the DVE's -- with beefy test volumes and clear instructions on how to use them. By comparison, Digital Video Essentials' audio tests were anemic -- we had to turn the volume all the way up to achieve suitable test levels. In addition, DVE forces you to go through the audio tests in a predetermined order and pace, which we found too fast for making adequate adjustments. To their credit, the producers have included video test patterns for modern displays, although finding them on the disc is a bit tricky.

Don't expect to pop in either disc and tune your system in less than 30 minutes. The Avia disc treats the viewer to seemingly endless explanations of system setup while the DVE disc assumes you don't know how to use the remote on your DVD player. They spend several minutes on various remote controls and how to use the navigation buttons. During this exposition, you'll see exact replicas of the navigation screens on the disc, but it's impossible to use them.

While both companies should seriously rethink the design of their test packages, ultimately, each disc does exactly what it claims.

Finishing Touches
Can you tell we were a little frustrated with these setup DVDs? Organization and navigation are difficult at best, but your persistence will be rewarded with dramatically improved home theater video and sound. We tested both on a simple 13" television, a basic home theater and a projector-based high-end system. With a little time, we were able to see dramatic improvements in each case. These are not expensive discs considering their power to transform your entertainment system and are well worth the small dent in your schedule and pocketbook.

Hal Robertson is a digital media producer and technology consultant.