CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

I have been threatening to get something newer and more useful than the A Video Standard test and calibration DVD for some time now.

Obviously I want to update to something blu-ray and 1080p.

Sure, I could use something else to provide test patterns for calibration purposes, but I want to be able to just use a blu-ray disc, too.

So what's the one to recommend today ?

racerxnet · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 362 Location: Illinois

The AVS calibration forum has free software for everyone. Other than that, use what you prefer.

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-display-calibration/948496-avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration.html

MAK

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Actually I want to do this with a blu-ray disc with the calibration patterns on it,
and I don't have a blu-ray burner and it would be quite inconvenient and even difficult
to connect a PC to my system. But if there's a calibration blu-ray that is generally considered
better than its competitors, that's the one I'd probably want to get.

I've given consideration to switching over to an HTPC solution but I have never decided to actually do it.

I've considered basically totally redoing the entire system but I'm so short on time to do it, even with the
required money in hand I'm not about to pull the trigger on that project.

racerxnet · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 362 Location: Illinois

Put it on a thumb drive if that works!

MAK

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Not a consideration. No PC connection into the theater, and that's not going to change this year.

I only want the BD calibration disc recommendation. Not interested in other solutions, I already have several but they don't
connect into the theater.

gregstv · Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 628 Location: Australia

No scaler?
I use my DVDO VP50 as it puts out the same test pattern resolution as the move.
There are Blu-ray versions of test disc but They are 60Hz. I use 48 and 72 and the DVDO works well for this.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

A scaler does no good in this case. When adjusting for the sharpest picture possible, I don't want an upscaled image,
I want a full HD image that's drawn pixel for pixel.

I currently don't even use a scaler in the system. My current connection path is BDP to HDMI splitter, from the splitter to both projectors via HDMI, and that is IT. Absolutely the sum and total of the video distribution system I am actually using.

I actually do have two different Lumagen scalers but neither of them has been used in years.

gregstv · Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 628 Location: Australia

Don't you get judder at 60Hz?

napos · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 164 Location: Athens, Greece

Chris, you can record the AVS test patterns on a DVD. There are different versions of the file. All of them have full HD test patterns.
You can also check out DVE Digital Video Essentials, a Bluray made by Joe Kane.
If you have a Lumagen Radiance, you can also use the internal test patterns. You can select that they are displayed in a specific resolution, or that they match your input resolution. Use the "adjustable" selection, so that all your settings for gamma, contrast, brightness etc. on the Lumagen are taken into account when generating the test pattern.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Don't have a Radiance or the money to spend on one. Or anything in the theater to play back HD files on a DVD and display them.

Forget I asked the question, obviously people aren't interested in reading it and answering it within the restrictive parameters I have set out of necessity.

Blu-ray test pattern discs ONLY. Pre-made. Can't burn my own. Do not deviate from this specification because only this spec fits my requirement.

racerxnet · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 362 Location: Illinois

napos · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 164 Location: Athens, Greece

Here is the bluray I mentioned above:

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Video-Essentials-Basics-Blu-ray/dp/B000V6LST0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=curtpalmecrtp-20&linkId=58c1dc7edabb930232998e55a83eba16

However, I was just trying to save you some money by suggesting you try the AVS DVD version. You simply burn it on a DVD on your pc and play it on any bluray player in full HD resolution.

**kal** · Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:14 pm Post subject:

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

I just need a simple disc to stick in a player and hit the start button. For some things I need to do that fits the bill completely
and there will not be any provision for connecting up other sources, that I would have to bring WITH ME, in order to do this.

Back in the days of DVD and LaserDisc before that, we had A Video Standard and Digital Video Essentials.

I'm just looking for a recommendation for today's equivalent blu-ray calibration disc, one that's a commercial product I can buy
off the shelf and that is the sum and total of my investment in it.

I do not have the time or the inclination or want to spend the money or invest the labor required to come up with alternative methods. I already HAVE some of those alternative methods. And they don't fit this requirement.

I could use a new laptop PC with an HDMI port. Which will cost hundreds more than the disc.
I could buy a blu-ray burner and burn my own disc. Which will cost a lot more than the disc.
I could put a few hours of labor into the task and install additional cable runs in my system and connect them
to my shiny new Lumagen Radiance scaler (or maybe even just an HDMI switcher box), none of which I have,
and which will cost many times what the disc costs.
I could send back my QuantumData 802BT test generator for an HDMI retrofit, which will cost a few thousand dollars.

I just want a simple recommendation for the simplest way to get the job done, which is a pre-made calibration disc
that is accepted as a good one.

I ask for recommendations for a bicycle and people start talking about which car I should get. Never mind that I already have
cars and I need a bicycle in this case.

Sorry to sound grumpy about this but people aren't making suggestions that answer my exact question as posed. They offer something else...I ALREADY HAVE THAT. And it doesn't fit this need.

**kal** · Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:19 pm Post subject:

napos · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 164 Location: Athens, Greece

Chris do you have a DVD burner on your PC? Not a bluray, but regular DVD burner. Then you can make a DVD that will play with full menus on your bluray player and have full HD patters. There are simple instructions on how to do it on the AVS link above. It takew less than 10 minutes.
I would suggest you give it a shot, since it is free.
If you are not satisfied, you can always try the DVE HD Basics bluray or the ChromaPure bluray the Kal suggested.
Hope this helps you out,

Nicholas

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

PERFECT. Thank you, Kal. I just bought it.

One thing I need this for is so that I can use the grid patterns to exactly co-converge two different projectors to the same screen,
one projector being my RS45. This serves as a reference standard for adjusting the geometry of the CRT projector.

I've always fought little geometry glitches. I've been able to minimize them, but never quite eliminate them. Until I found some images at various points on certain blu-ray discs that were useful in fixing those geometry errors. Projecting those images, still frame, with both projectors at once has been very helpful in fixing those errors.

That disc will be useful for a lot more than that, too.

Thanks again.

**kal** · Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 6:52 pm Post subject:

Good luck!

Kal

jbltecnicspro · Joined: 23 Apr 2016 Posts: 512

I just came in here to suggest Spears and Munsil Blu Ray, but it sounds like you already got what you wanted.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

I hadn't even heard of that one. I will look into it anyway even though I bought the one Kal recommended. I do trust his judgement in such things.