Digital Video Essentials

I believe in calibration as any decent hifi or AV magazine will tell you that your TV be it plasma, LCD or CRT comes with factory settings out of the box and even if you try to change the contract / brightness yourself, you'll never get it to its optimum. Thus why spend £500 or £1000 on a TV but only have it working to 60% of its potential? It's like people who expect a brilliant picture with a £1000 TV but only have a rusty £15 aerial on the roof. This DVD does work, it improved the balance of colours on my Sharp LCD by 20 - 30%. Now when I watch the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan you actually feel like you're there; the realism of the beach in all its rain, spray and dreariness looks fantastic - it's almost like living in Manchester. The downside is the guy on the DVD goes on and on and on and on.....and never stops talking. The menu is badly designed, it takes some working out which options to choose if you want to jump straight to the screen calibration or the sound calibration. The narrator talks far too much about the science or history behind why something does what it does - I don't know anyone who is remotely interested in this, it's far too deep. By the time he's finished explaining the science, you've forgotten what section you're in and what you're trying to do. This DVD really should have a separate section for this stuff. As for the calibration, the so called 'quick calibration' takes about 30 minutes plus as you pause to digest what the narrator has just told you and then to carry it out. Hardly quick - it should have been about 10 - 15 mins and explained a lot clearer. This DVD will get you a better picture, that is guaranteed and you'll be very happy with the results. But annoying is the word that doesn't leave your mind when watching this.