'Digital Video Essentials' - High-Def Digest Review

[jed]

Peter's review of 'Digital Video Essentials' is up. He says this HD
DVD version of the seminal calibration tool proves to be more than
up-to-snuff, providing test patterns and the like in full 1080p video
and TrueHD audio. Even better, this retooled high-def edition
eliminates many of the navigational hassles that have plagued previous
versions of 'DVE.'

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/digit...ialshddvd.html

[Bee]

Very nice, mine is arriving in the mail today. Looking forward to see what it can do for me.

[Mark_H]

Yup mine arrived too - all the patterns you need are there. And much much easier to navigate than SD DVE. Still, can't wait to see what AVIA II will offer

Mark

[buckjr]

I got the disc last week. A very nice effort really. I used in it my 1st and 2nd gen Toshiba player and everything was fine. Using it in my 360 add on player was not possible as the menu for the tools were not available for selection.

I am wondering if it has to do with the fact that my connection is via component cable and not hdmi (only the newer elite system has hdmi.)

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by buckjr

I got the disc last week. A very nice effort really. I used in it my 1st and 2nd gen Toshiba player and everything was fine. Using it in my 360 add on player was not possible as the menu for the tools were not available for selection.

I am wondering if it has to do with the fact that my connection is via component cable and not hdmi (only the newer elite system has hdmi.)

A statement was already made somewhere that the upcoming firmware upgrade for the 360 will resolve the problem with DVE.

[mmmmDoNut]

Is it just me or did the HD DVD side content seem a little slow to load once you made a selection?

[bembol]

My copy from amazon should arrive tomorrow.

[lifeat30fps]

I wonder about Peter's 2003 release date for the dvd version. I own a copy of the dvd and it was free from Toshiba (along with a t-shirt and a disc of music videos) for being an early adopter for the format, i.e. you had to buy in by September 1997. I remember because my brother and I both bought players, but he waited too long to mail his registration card in, so he missed out.

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by Blurry

A statement was already made somewhere that the upcoming firmware upgrade for the 360 will resolve the problem with DVE.

We knew there would be problems before the disc was released since it was announced from an MS rep that the Spring update would correct the issue. But the Sping update is still 6 or 7 days away.

[MidnightWatcher]

"'Digital Video Essentials' HD DVD Hits Xbox 360 Playback Snag"

Shock, gasp. We've known this for quite some time now. Boy, talk about a biased heading. Why couldn't it have been "May 7th XBox 360 Update To Enable 'Digital Video Essentials' HD DVD"?

[Aodh]

Originally Posted by Blurry

A statement was already made somewhere that the upcoming firmware upgrade for the 360 will resolve the problem with DVE.

That's what really urks me the most. I hope MS takes another stance on updates affecting HD DVD to not wait till the next dashboard update to fix known issues.

[MidnightWatcher]

Originally Posted by Aodh

That's what really urks me the most. I hope MS takes another stance on updates affecting HD DVD to not wait till the next dashboard update to fix known issues.

From what I understand, they are. For example, Planet Earth. Log on to XBox live, pop the Planet Earth HD DVD in, and you're prompted to install an update if it has not already been done.

[osmodiarshazbot]

Originally Posted by MidnightWatcher

From what I understand, they are. For example, Planet Earth. Log on to XBox live, pop the Planet Earth HD DVD in, and you're prompted to install an update if it has not already been done.

How lame that they can't make every HD-DVD work on only 2 players...

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by osmodiarshazbot

How lame that they can't make every HD-DVD work on only 2 players...

You mean 6 players. The Toshiba A1, XA1, A2, A20, XA2, and the 360 add on. And any other stand alones are rebadged Toshibas.
And i guess you also have the Pc HD DVD drives.
It's not like BD hasn't had any problems with any discs. I had to get a replacement Chronos BD becasue the first ones wouldn't play on the PS3. There was no update for the PS3 to correct this. The disc had to be replaced. An updated firmware is a much easier solution.

[zombieflanders]

It appears the audio portions are still off from the original DVE. This calibration professional mentions some of the pink noise tests are off, and others are posting that the LFE is still "hot".