Digital Video Essentials: Optimize Your Home Entertainment System (NTSC Component)

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Product Reviews

(1 stars) - long
Do you really want a 20 minute lecture on history of TV to set your color level and Hear the kelvin temperature sale defined to set gray level. If so this is for you. If you just want a test pattern and audio to walk you through the setting then no way. This DVD has an hour long monologue using 1931 charts on history of TV sets including block diagrams and equations.

(2 stars) - Confusing
This DVD probably has to be one of the most confusing things I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen Battlefield Earth.

If your'e an average guy who wants to learn how to do a basic calibration, run away from this disc very quickly. You will likely suffer an anurism trying to figure out what Joe Kane is trying to do here. Further, at the time of this writing this disc is really old (close to 10 years), so large portions of the explanations have really outdated pictures/CGI. You'd probably learn far more about calibration by running the THX Optimizer on Star Wars or the Monster calibration disc. NB: The BluRay version of DVE might be better, so maybe check that out. I hear he explains more stuff, and if he does, this disc might be useful for average folks).

Much of the material toward the beginning of the disc seems to be that way. There are videos that explain DVD technology, how to setup your room to watch DVDs optimally, how to setup your sound system in very broad, basic terms. However, later when they explain (some) of the test patterns on the disc, tons of terms, diagrams, and pictures are thrown at the user in short order with very little explanation as to what they mean. The basic test patterns are explained well enough that someone who sorta followed the directions and re-watched most of the disc *might* get it after the the third time through.

This disc, in many ways, feels like a highly abbreviated version of a professional training seminar in home theater calibration with the lecture torn into pieces and scattered about on this disc. Since I'm a bit of an AV geek, and read AV forums quite a bit and peruse many av websites, some of his explanations are helpful (his explanation of color temperature finally helped the concept click in my head), but a lot of the test patterns simply aren't explained in the reference section. Also, some of his explanations throw out terms that he never explains (like Average Picture Level).

I wanted to recommend this disc to people, but I just can't. I can't figure out who this disc is for:
-Calibrators will not use this disc because its too cluttered to find reference patterns.
-Normal people won't be able to decipher what he's trying to say and will get frustrated.
-AV Geeks will be disappointed at the uneven quality of the disc's explanations and patterns.

(3 stars) - Somewhat technical
This item is very detailed but very technical. I think the average person will find it somewhat frustrating to use.

(2 stars) - Difficult to navigate
I had a hard time finding the test signals I was looking for, and I wish it gave better instructions on how to adjust your TV settings to improve the viewing experience.

(1 stars) - Do yourself a favor and don't buy anything from Joe Kane Productions
The basic adjustments are explained but you have to sit through long winded explanations of video theory and history before it will give you a test pattern. It should just explain what setting you need to change and what to look for and then give you the test pattern. Just getting to the first test pattern takes approx 30 minutes of the narrator endlessly gabbing. There are advanced audio and video tests included on the disc but there are no explanations as to how to use them. I bought this way back in 2001 when it first came out and recently decided to pull it out to (finally) adjust my LCD TV - big mistake as most of the patterns and tests will only apply to a CRT anyway.

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