Rating: 
Summary: I was skeptical
Review: ...especially a the steep price. But it really DID make my 27" Trinitron look a lot better. I have a feeling, though, a lot of the budget went into those video clips.
Rating: 
Summary: Video Essentials
Review: An absolutely fundamental title for any DVD library. It gives you easy to follow tutorials that enable you to adjust your TV properly as well as your surround sound audio system. If you purchase no other title this will enhance every other material you will ever view on your TV.
Rating:
Summary: LASERBASE AN AUDIO/VIDEO ESSENTIAL
Review: Dear Video Essentials: Optimizing Your Audio/Video System,Since the LaserBase CD & DVD Isolation Stand improves the performance of all digital audio and video equipment we will try to get it included in your video. Please advise us as to how we may proceed. Thank you. Robert A. Genna LaserBase Audio & Video
Rating: 
Summary: Poor layout, difficult navigation, poor explanations.
Review: First of all, like most DVD's you are not able to simply navigate this DVD with the Title and Chapter Menu buttons. No, the author decided in his infinite wisdom to make navigation a chore by accessing a "Program Menu" which only after significant effort I was able to finally figure out how to get to point A to point B and even then it required cumbersome navigation and took far too long. It was really an aggravation and frustrating since my principle concern was not learning how to navigate the damn DVD but learning how to calibrate my system. After wasting far far too much time figuring out how to navigate through the DVD I then undertook to calibrate my system. The author's introductory chapters are interesting and informative, BUT he fails to follow up on the initial promise of the DVD by leaving you without adequate instructions on how to use the test tones and video tools. For instance, he has half right speaker tones, but never explains what in the heck they are for. After a brief and disappointing intro to both audio and video he simply throws the test tones at you. Why didn't he have a thorough step by step explanation of exactly how to use them. The other problem is that he uses terms he does not completely explain or define leaving this user confused and scratching his head. If you are an expert and know what you are doing then this DVD might be more useful than it was to me. Hopefully, I'll eventually figure out how to use the darn thing. Summary impression: EXTREMELY cumbersome navigation! Poor incomplete explanations of vital information. My next step: Try Avia with hopefully better luck!
Rating:
Summary: Only If you Have a Need For This... Even then, Rent It!
Review: For me, this purchase was a total waste of money... I have surround sound and a regular 27 inch Sony tv. I had set everything up well before even buying the disc, when I went through everything...nothing had to be changed. Now, if you have a serious, complex, advanced A/V system or don't understand how to set up your system, then this title is for you (even then I would still say, "rent it"). If you just have a TV and surround sound (a "normal" home theater..no offence to you A/Vphiles) then I don't think you need this....again, rent it, if you find it is helpful, then buy. For the price, I think it is not worth it. This DVD takes advantage of the fact that some folks still won't take the time to figure out how to program their VCRs. Final Verdict... Rent It!
Rating: 
Summary: Video Essentials vs. Avia: No contest
Review: Having purchased both discs, I have very strong feelings about this. Avia bests VE in almost every respect: 1. Navigation: On VE, the navigation is handled by a very confusing set of menus within menus. On my DVD remote, I could only access one of the menus using a button that I otherwise never use. Until I figured this out, the only way I could skip through the initial (not very useful) audio stuff was to fast forward! Avia's menus work like every other menu I have ever used. No problem with navigation. 2. Color calibration: VE offers only a blue filter. However, Avia provides red, blue, and green filters and allows you set each independently. 3. Sharpness: VE simply tells you to turn your sharpness all the way down. The pattern for setting sharpness is so under explained, it is useless. Avia provides a full explanation and resulted in my setting the sharpness level considerably above zero. 4. Brightness and Contrast settings: VE provides only static bars (and requires that your DVD passes pure black). Avia provides bars that flash. This makes getting proper settings much easier. Also, your DVD doesn't have to pass pure black.
Rating: 
Summary: What a waste of money !
Review: I bought this DVD after reading several 5 star comments.After spending over 2 hours to adjust the system, there was absolutely no improvement had been noticed in both the picture and sound quality. Please spend your money on something else.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Source for Video Calibration Signals
Review: I felt that I needed to write a review because so many of the other reviewers clearly didn't understand much of the purpose of this DVD. Problem: you need to setup a projector or projection tv (e.g. set the dynamic convergence). You read the service manual. It says "feed a checkerboard test signal into the projector and proceed to tweak the following variable resistors inside the set until red converges with green..." Hmm, you don't have a video test pattern generator do you ? But...stick this DVD in your DVD player and lo and behold you now DO have a pretty good test pattern generator. And at $40 it's a heck of a lot cheaper than the real thing. Obviously not everyone needs to or is able to perform dynamic convergence or focus adjustments on their equipment, but I do and so do many others and this disk is a godsend for us.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and well worth the money
Review: I have had this DVD for years. It was tought to buy it at first since $25 seemed like a lot for something I would only use once. And I figured I would just use it to tune my audio, who worries about their TV anyways? Well, I used it for both and it made a big difference. Since then I have used it on other TVs and all of them have been improved. But something recently just amazed me. The text menus on my DVD player started looking funny and were hard to read. I really thought something was wrong with my DVD player or maybe the component video cables. Well, finally I put this disc back in and re-tuned my TV and it looks perfect, once again. I guess my settings were messed up at some point...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and well worth the money
Review: I have had this DVD for years. It was tought to buy it at first since $25 seemed like a lot for something I would only use once. And I figured I would just use it to tune my audio, who worries about their TV anyways? Well, I used it for both and it made a big difference. Since then I have used it on other TVs and all of them have been improved. But something recently just amazed me. The text menus on my DVD player started looking funny and were hard to read. I really thought something was wrong with my DVD player or maybe the component video cables. Well, finally I put this disc back in and re-tuned my TV and it looks perfect, once again. I guess my settings were messed up at some point...
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