Digital Video Essentials HD (HD DVD + DVD Combo Disc)

Average customer rating: 2.5

147 Pages of required program notes = Intolerable Cruelty
DVD Video
A most excellent disappointment
HD side doesn't work in my Toshiba HDA1
Great!

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Digital Video Essentials HD (HD DVD + DVD Combo Disc)
Director: Joe Kane
Manufacturer: DVD International
Product Group: DVD
Binding: HD DVD
ASIN: B000IHYY3Y

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| Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video

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| Educational | Genres | DVD | Video

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| HD DVD | Formats | DVD | Video

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| HD DVD | Formats | DVD | Video

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Product Description

Joe Kane, whose name became synonymous with home theater calibration upon the creation of the original Video Essentials 10 years ago, has now created the preeminent audio/video calibration tool: "Digital Video Essentials HD DVD." One side of the disc features both 1080p and 720p Test and Demonstration materials, and also introduces 6.1 channel Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Digital True HD. The second side is presented in Standard Definition, in NTSC or PAL format. Digital Video Essentials HD DVD was produced in cooperation with Microsoft Corporation and Deluxe Laboratory.

Customer Reviews:

147 Pages of required program notes = Intolerable Cruelty.......2007-06-06

The DVD version was a bit cheesy but did exactly what it was supposed to do. They've had a full decade to improve upon menu navigation, so I was hoping for something a little more user-friendly.

Much to my astonishment, the HD-DVD side of this disk only includes demonstration materials and test patterns, with no audio instruction accompanying the test patterns! Leaving the unlucky user with 2 choices:

1. Memorize or write down what you're supposed to do on the DVD side of the disk, then flip it and find the HD-DVD test patterns, or

2. Print out the 147-page "book" to make sense of it all. Joe, what were you thinking?

Avoid this disc like the Black Plague. For the reader's reference, the rest of this review is a direct quote from the 147-page "book":

"The original reason we chose to provide just the test and demonstration materials in HD was one of hoping to be able to reach the market near the time of the introduction of the format. As with Video Essentials in 1997 we found the challenge of producing a test disc in a new format to be far more difficult than we expected.

Knowing we still needed some form of tutorial for use of the basic test patterns, we decided to include the SD version of DVE in the HD DVD package. That capability, providing HD content on one side and SD content on the other, is part of the HD DVD format. It's called a Hybrid or Combo Disc.

We've taken the test materials on the HD side of the program much further than anything that is described on the SD side so we needed some additional documentation. That's what you have here.

In writing this description we decided to detail the entire contents of the HD side of the disc rather than covering just the materials not mentioned in the video tutorial. It's become a "book"."

DVD Video.......2007-05-28

unable to view one side on dvd. No reason given. Poor description and instruction.

A most excellent disappointment.......2007-05-28

I have the HD-DVD version of this disk, and it's incredibly hard torate.The SD side is much like the older "Video Essentials" disk. It's greatstuff. If you sit down and walk through the disk in order, they'lltake you by the hand and guide you through setting everything aconsumer is liable to be able to set on a TV set and the associatedaudio system to get the best results from your system. They provideall the test patterns you need, and the Red/Green/Blue filters aswell. They don't provide a sound meter, but that would raise the costof the disk significantly. The worst flaw is that the instructions areconfusing in a few places, as they try and explain how to adjustsomething both for sets that behave properly and sets that don't,requiring different instructions. This rates at least 4 stars, and isworth every penny the disk costs.On the other hand, there's the HD side of the disk. Nothing but testpatterns and demo material. No instructions whatsoever. They claimthat the entire instructional set is in 1080p - why isn't that on theHD side of the disk? My player also has troubles with the disk - noinfo displays, all I get for the various tests is "play all", with noway to select independent tests, and the tests don't seem to playproperly. I'm apparently not alone in this. Given that they tend topush the media, this shouldn't be a surprise. Giving this side twostars is generous.If you're spending money on an HD TV setup, this disk will be a greathelp. But don't waste your money on the HD-DVD version; get thestraight DVD one.

HD side doesn't work in my Toshiba HDA1.......2007-05-25

When I try to play the HD side I get an error that says "Disk not DVD format" on my TV and "NotPlay" on my HDA1 display.

The SD side works great but after waiting thru months of delays to get this I'm very dissappointed. I will be returning this and hopefully I just got a bad copy.

I gave it 3 stars because using the SD side I was still able to set up my TV and it has a lot of good information and works well.

Great!.......2007-05-24

Works fantastic on my Xbox360 post Spring update - much easier to use than the 'standard' definition side (provided you know how to use DVE).

The HD-DVD version allows you to get right to the screens you need with no hassle.

If you own a $1K+ TV you owe it to yourself to get the most out of it.

Electronics:

Electronics

Electronics