AVIA Guide to Home Theater DVD

Average Rating:

The audio calibration section is amazing. The Radio Shack Sound Pressure Meter highlighted in the DVD is also a must have. The difference between calibrating the audio with the test tones built into the audio/video receiver versus calibrating the whole playback chain by including the Avia disc in the DVD is astounding. I thought my system was near perfect by using the test tones in the receiver until I did it again with the Avia disc and the SPL meter. Only then did the "sound stage" of my system become seamless and incredible. Guests now comment on the sound as often as they do the High Definition images on the screen.

Invest an hour with this disc and you'll get several hundred hours of incredible HT enjoyment. Very highly recommended.

The dvd menus are layed out nicely, allowing you to quickly navigate to the setup procedure that you want to perform.

The disc includes red, green, and blue plastic filters for use in calibrating the color level, which turns a job that used to be guesswork into a quite accurate yet easy procedure, all without lots of scientific test instruments.

The instructions are a extremely easy to follow. Each video setup section starts out with a description of what you are going to see and how you are going to adjust your video controls to make the correct settings, then shows the real test patterns. When done, you simply move on to the next chapter and continue the process.

Overall, an outstanding dvd -- Highly recommended.

I didn't test my audio because I don't have a 5.1 system, but for video you should get this disc OR try to get those 3 filters somewhere else, instead of paying $30 on this DVD for them.

Overall, I recommend Video Essentials first, Avia second. I DON'T recommend Ultimate DVD Platinum.