I agree. Whoever is responsible for the DVE user interface design was on some serious crack. I tried the other night looking for a pattern on there and gave up.

I'm still saying DVE because HT is audio and video. AVIA is too outdated to calibrate a 6.1 or 7.1 setup (and it is easy to get to the audio section on DVE for all the DVE whiners out there ). Agreed that AVIA is easier to use for calibrating video, but once you throw audio into the mix, DVE is much more robust and complete. So to me, there is a clear winner: DVE.

Just my $0.02

I had the DVE laserdisc back in the day. Actually never got around to picking up a DVD version of it. I seemed to remember it being fairly straightforward.

That's basically because LDs interface was much more linear and straightforward than most DVDs. Want to access a pattern or section? Look it up on the list and go to that chapter. Done.

I think you'd be horrified at how dense and complicated the DVE interface is when compared to the VE laserdisc. I know I was.

Another vote for Avia, although I have both.


And Big Worms -- if someone rented you DVE without the filters that came with the disc, you need to get your money back for that rental. You can't set color/tint without looking through the filter to isolate.

Overscan. Title 12, Chapter 17. Took me ten seconds to find it in the insert.

And of course you can get there from the menu. Choose Index, navigate with the arrow keys to Title 12, where it then lists the individual tests, and choose it from the list. Yes, without the insert, I'd have had to actually click on the titles such as Display Setup Patterns or Picture Resolution to see the tests listed on the submenus. But *all* disks work this way. With over a hundred screens, of course there's a few screens to navigate through.

The only thing non-standard is that there's two menus, the main one brought up by the Title or Top Menu key, and the secondary one brought up by the Menu key. It would seem that those having trouble simply aren't aware of the two menu system. They explained it right at the beginning, and I never had any problem at all.

^What he said^

I love DVE and it isn't that hard to use. Just takes some getting used to (don't most high tech products that you have never used before?). Great stuff though. I will agree you could have a better menu system, but I have about 100+ mainstream movie dvds that I could say that about.

Wait for the main menu, then select and click "Play Feature/Movie." Everything else is just gravy. $^)

Update on my adventures with DVE. (My Avia copy is on loan to a friend.) -- I just finished hooking up my surround speakers. (After rearranging the front half of the loft, speakers had to move, and before the SuperBowl tomorrow!) Pulled out the DVE to balance speakers.

A minor plus: I figured out that you can find things on DVE, *if* you have the insert menu handy *and* pull up the display mode on your dvd player so you can select title and chapter directly once you look them up on the insert. Kludgy but it works.

Now my disappointment: compared to AVIA, DVE sound tests (ok, for 5.1) are lame. The sweep tests (for rattles and crossover performance) are not as good. I had a bass buzz and AVIA is a lot easier to play over a certain range using regular dvd controls. Plus, DVE simply does not have any phase tests! I actuially needed these, because I have to run tapewire to the surrounds, with short speaker wires from the terminal blocks at each end. I did not try to follow each polarity connection, figuring I'd just test and switch one set of connections at the end if they're out of phase. And guess what? No phase test on DVE! So, I'm getting my AVIA back tomorrow, for keeps. Might even give DVE to my friend as a gift. I have no desire to use it again. It just doesn't do what I need it to do, and using it is a pain. I would think Joe Kane & Co. would have given a bit of thought to making it user-friendly by this version. But no......