Whats a good dvd for home theater testing?

Question

I want to test out my new Home Theater.Thanks.

Answer 1

Lord of the Rings

Pirates of the Carribean

Star Wars

All of them are loaded with sound effects and music. Perfect for testing bass, balancing and all that jazz. :)

Answer 2

I like chapter 2 of "Star Trek - First contact". In one five minute chapter there is male, female voices, music, special effects and an outer-space battle with swirling sounds.

To show off the subwoofer - the Lobby Shootout scene in the original "Matrix" is very good as is the helicopter crash scene.

While "Saving Private Ryan" does have great sound - It just feels wrong to use the reenactment of such a horrific real-life battle to test your sound system.

Answer 3

I'd say Air-Force 1 and Independence day and any Starwars movie.

Answer 4

We use U-571.

It's a submarine movie with a good balance between the large sound effects, waves, bombs, et cetera and the quieter sounds like dialog and spacial effects - there is a good segment in the middle that shows close dialog and panning effects (dishes and utensils sliding around on the table) - this is very valuable to see that your speaker levels and delays are set properly - does the sound track properly or suddenly jump to the surrounds?  This scene is immediatly followed by an external shot of the sub hitting the waves, which is valuable for setting the level of your LFE (x.1) output.

Answer 5

If you wish to simply test and optimize your A/V system then I highly recommend that you begin by purchasing a copy of Digital Video Essentials and/or Avia in the format(s) appropriate for your system.



If you also wish to demonstrate and/or evaluate the audio and video performance of your system then—in addition to the Digital Video Essentials and/or Avia discs—you should purchase one or more copies of Silicon Optix’s HQV Benchmark discs (standard- and/or high-definition.) Finally, to round-out a basic collection of reference quality demonstration/evaluation discs you should focus primarily on acquiring one or more of the ‘real world’ evaluation discs that are currently popular with the better A/V equipment reviewers (see below.)



OPTIMIZATION, TEST, AND EVALUATION DISCS



Silicon Optix “HQV Benchmark” and “HD HQV Benchmark”

http://www.hqv.com/benchmark.cfm

(Discount codes are available from various Websites)



Digital Video Essentials

http://www.videoessentials.com



Ovation Multimedia Avia II or Avia Pro

http://www.ovationmultimedia.com  



Avia Pro

By Thomas J. Norton • July, 2004

http://guide.printthis.clickability.com/...



“Test DVDs”

By Geoffrey Morrison • March, 2007

http://hometheatermag.printthis.clickabi...



Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity

DVD Player Benchmark

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_...



DTS • Dolby • THX • DVD • HD-DVD • Blu-Ray • Demo Discs

http://www.demo-world.eu/demo-dvds/

(The discs listed on DEMO WORLD are not available for resale)



PRECISION TEST DVDs (expensive):



Rohde & Schwarz® Test DVDs Professional

http://www2.rohde-schwarz.com/en/product...



BUROSCH Audio-Video-Technik

http://www.burosch.com/shop.html

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Popular ‘real world’ evaluation discs used by A/V equipment reviewers:

   • Gladiator - the Coliseum “flyover” test in chapter 12;

   • Star Trek: Insurrection - classic test for motion related artifacts. Look for flicker, moiré and other artifacts as the camera pans across the village buildings in the movie’s opening sequence;

   • Mission Impossible 3 (Blu-ray or HD DVD) - Vatican wall and steps tests. Look for artifacts such as moiré on the Vatican wall in Chapter 7 and flicker on the Vatican steps in Chapter 8;

   • Batman Begins (HD DVD) - good test of contrast and color performance;

   • Ghost Rider: Director’s Cut (Blu-ray) - another good test of contrast and color performance.



POPULAR DEMONSTRATION/EVALUATION DISCS (in alphabetical order)



• Apocalypse Now Redux (DVD-Video)

• Blade (Platinum Series) (DVD-Video)

• Blade Runner (Complete Collector’s Ed. or Ultimate Collector’s Ed.) (Blu-ray and/or HD DVD)

• The Chronicles of Riddick (HD DVD)

• The Fifth Element (Remastered) (Blu-Ray)

• The Fifth Element: Superbit Edition (DVD-Video)

• Finding Nemo (DVD-Video)

• Gladiator (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition) (DVD-Video)

• The Last Waltz (Blu-Ray; uncompressed PCM soundtrack)

• Legends of Jazz Showcase (Blu-ray)

• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (DVD-Video)

• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (DVD-Video)

• Mission: Impossible III (Blu-ray or HD DVD)

• Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest (Blu-ray)

• Renaissance (German import HD DVD)

• Serenity (HD DVD; Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack)

• Starship Troopers (DVD-Video)

• Toy Story 2 (DVD-Video)

________________________



ADDITIONAL REFERENCE QUALITY HIGH-DEFINITION VIDEO DISCS



~~~~~ Blu-ray ~~~~~

• Blade Runner (Complete or Ultimate Collector’s Ed.) - Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit)

• Hairspray (2007) - DTS HD Lossless Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz/24-bit)

• Ratatouille - PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24-Bit/6.9Mbps)

• 2001: A Space Odyssey - PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24-Bit/6.9Mbps)

• Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer - DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1

• Live Free or Die Hard - DTS HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)

• Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time - Dolby TrueHD 5.1

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl - PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24-Bit/6.9Mbps)

• Big Fish - PCM 5.1



~~~~~ HD DVD ~~~~~

• Blade Runner (Complete or Ultimate Collector’s Ed.) - Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit)

• Hot Fuzz - Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (1.5Mbps)

• 2001: A Space Odyssey - Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-Bit/3.0Mbps); Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (640kbps)

• 300 - Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit/1.7Mbps)

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit); Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (640kbps)

• The Bourne Ultimatum - Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit); Dolby Digital Plus 5.1

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit); Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (640kbps)

• Mission: Impossible III - Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (1.5Mbps)

• Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time - Dolby TrueHD 5.1

• Transformers - Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (1.5Mbps)



RESOURCES



http://www.highdefdigest.com



http://www.dvdtown.com



http://www.dvdverdict.com



http://www.widescreenreview.com



http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/masterind...

 

Answer 6

For testing - Digital Video Essentials

As demo disks - Saving Private Ryan, U-571 and Blade II for audio. LOTR and 5th Element for video

And, here's a link to a collection of recommendations.