Customer Reviews

Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have both Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up and the Avia Guide To Home Theater. If you're a serious video/audiophile, you will want to get the Avia Guide To Home Theater which has far more comprehensive video/audio calibration tests and procedures.

Then again, I suspect the S&V disc is more aimed at the 'mass market' and as such, it does an excellent job. The explanations are very well (and occasionally humorously) explained by two highly appealing presenters. The audio/video tune-ups are a subset of what's available on the Avia Guide disc, though the S&V disc also includes some test patterns from Avia Pro which I hadn't seen before.

I very much like the 'Extras' section of the disc which has some great demo clips from Dolby, DTS, and THX. These are not available on Avia Guide to Home Theater. Also, the DTS tune-up is not available on the Avia Guide, and is most welcome though it didn't result in any changes to my audio settings.

I experienced a strange glitch with the video on the speaker balance tune-up - the wrong speaker was highlighted or the previous menu would be displayed. Weird. I have had no problems with the Avia Guide.

Overall, at the MSRP ...I highly recommend the Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up. It's informative and entertaining, and I think it will help novice users better understand and make the most of their home theaters.

I recently splurged on a new home theater system (large-screen Sony TV, a Dolby Digital receiver, and surround speakers). After I set up the system I was pleased by the results. Great sound, great picture. Then my brother sent me a (very) belated Christmas gift last week, Home Theater Tune-up.
What a shock!
The picture that I thought was "great" became fantastic. The picture is a darker than before, but details seem to jump out at you.
I purchased a Radio Shack sound meter, as advised by the disc, and used it according to the disc's instructions.
Another HUGE difference! I felt like I was in the middle of the scene!
Overall the disc was extremely helpful. It laid facts out in bite sized morsels that I could easily digest. The girl was hot. The guy got on my nerves a bit...
I recommend you stay away from the upgrading your equipment chapter, though. I'm already plotting my next purchase!

I'm glad to see a set-up disc that doesn't cost [so much]. I have not seen the much talked about Avia disc, but my guesses are that for most people with a basic 4:3 TV and economically packaged surround system, this is all that you need and perhaps more. The on-screen narrators provide an easy-to-understand introduction for the beginner and the seperately accessible tests make it easy for the more experienced to jump right in at his own pace. I'm also glad to finally see DTS audio tests along with the Dolby Digital tests. Also helpful is the explanation of how to use RadioShack's sound meter although the disc's instructions to point the microphone up differed with the meter's instructions to point the meter at each sound source (Anybody know which way is really best?). This disc also includes a nice variety of demos to show off your system's full video and surround potential.

This DVD is a must for all people interested in audio and video quality. Also it's simple, and the narrators are very cute. It gives a basic description of new digital home theatre systems, including the receiver, the speakers, different types of connections, and useful tests of audio and video calibration.
One of the most difficult items on calibration is that of the subwoofer. The test included is perfect, and at last I can enjoy hearing the deep bass without distortion. Different digital sound tests are included like Dolby 5.1 and DTS, which make this DVD a reference guide to the new era of digital home theatre systems.

I bought a copy at the consumer electronics show last week, and am impressed at the quality and information of this disc. It was informative, easy to follow, and my picture is much better now on my Toshiba TV. I have not tried the audio tones yet, but the disc has a chapter for using a sound-level meter. My wife actually watched the entire disc with me -unusual for her. Very cool.

I literally was goinig to get rid of a 27" TV until I calibrated it with this disc. It now has one of the best pictures of any tube type TV I have ever seen. It also did wonders for my crt rear projection as well.

I considered getting Avia Home Theather but decided it wasn't worth 40+ dollars. If you are not a serious video/audiophile, this product does a great job. It's simple to use at the right price.
The two presenters can get a bit annoying yet they can be amusing at the same time. I spent around 45-60 minutes to set all the basic parameters on our projection TV and sound system.

I basically was looking for something just to adjust the picture of my plasma television. This was relatively easy to do using this product. Instructions are easy to follow, and I was able to calibrate my picture in just a few minutes.

I debated this one for $18 (sealed new) from an Amazon seller or the Ovia one which was $40.

I just purchased an HD LCD TV and some of the content inside this DVD is outdated and has no mentionings on how to adjust an LCD backlight and some other features like Dynamic Contrast, etc.

However, the basic calibrations like Contrast, Sharnpess, Color, Tint, Brightness, etc, are great and get the job done.

The audio tests are nothing more than "Let me send a signal to each speaker so you know which one is left, right, rear, or center, or sub"

It was good for speaker polarity, but I would like to have seen an equalizer test for knowing how to best set mids and highs and filtering out lows - but for testing surround sound - yes it works.

For the money, yes, I recommend this, I wouldn't buy the DVD used since it may not have the blue clear filter lens that is included to help you adjust color and tint. Mine was factory sealed, though it was from a seller.

I will continue to use this DVD at other places through out the house and I'm sure friends will want to borrow it. I also pre-called Blockbuster to see if they rented one out, but they don't - and also I "hear" that Circuit City and Best Buy may give out free ones, but I didn't get my tv from them and didn't know anyone that worked there. I plan to upgrade my audio system and this will come in handy again.

This one's a nice keeper since most tv retain different video settings for the various inputs, so IF I add a HDDVD player or upconvert, I can use this DVD again.

A must have for any HDTV set up. Most TVs are sent by the manufacturers with the color settings and brightness way oversaturated. They want them to look bright if set up in stores for display.

For even an amatuer, this simple DVD will lead you through the steps to adjust all of the settings to get accurate color from your set. No more "blooming" reds or unnatural skintones.