Ask S&V

Richard Allen

You've hit upon a big problem—for the most part, there is no way to objectively calibrate a display for source devices that don't have a video-disc drive. THX has developed a version of its Optimizer program for set-top boxes, which provides the necessary setup images, such as the one above that lets you check the color of various skin tones, and can be found in the TiVo Premier XL DVR. I really hope it finds its way into other cable and satellite boxes.

A reader recently suggested using the color-bars test pattern that some channels send when they sign off, which could be used to set the color and tint controls. Some color-bar patterns also include a PLUGE section that helps you set the TV's brightness control. However, in our 24/7 world, very few channels sign off any more, so this might be difficult to find. If you did find one, you could record it to DVR, but even then, different channels can transmit very different colors, so adjusting to them would make other channels look worse.

If you don't have a TiVo Premier, the best you can do is calibrate the picture controls from a disc player and use the same settings for other inputs, tweaking them by eye as you watch program material. Not ideal, I know, but it's probably all you can do at this point.

Turn On, Tune In, Drop a Question
I just finished listening to your podcast with Tom Norton. At the start, you mentioned "watching the live stream." Could you please tell me how to do this? Secondly, you mentioned submitting questions for your guest. Is there a schedule available so we listeners know when to tune in to ask a question?

Bill Carman

We record the podcast on Mondays from 1:30 to 2:30 PM Pacific time, and you can watch the live video stream at live.twit.tv. In the upper right of that page is a tab labeled "TWiT Calendar," which opens the schedule of all TWiT live events, including the Home Theater Geeks podcast. (We skip a week here and there for holidays etc.)

To submit questions for my guests, join the chat room by clicking on "Popout Chat" just below the video image. Alternatively, you can join the chat room at irc.twit.tv. Then, simply type in a question for the guest. (You don't have to enter a screen name to join the chat room, but doing so lets me identify you on the air when I pose the question.) The show's engineer monitors the chat room and passes questions on to me, and I ask the guest to comment on some of them. I don't have time to ask all questions submitted, but I try to get in as many as possible.

Thanks for listening!

HDMI Hype
I recently purchased a Pioneer Elite Pro-111FD. Since then, I've been in awe. However, I am using the cables provided by my cable company (Bell in Canada). I have read that high-quality cables are a worthy investment if they are for high-quality displays. I have been looking at cables by the Scottish manufacturer Atlas. Do you think I would notice an improvement in picture quality? The cable run would be 2 meters at most.

Also, I noticed the review of the new LG LED was quite favorable. How does it compare with the Elite?

Vir Sodhi

In my view, as long as an HDMI cable meets certain minimum requirements established and certified by HDMI Licensing, you will see no improvement in picture quality with so-called high-end cables. I don't know if the Bell cable meets these requirements, but 2 meters isn't very long, so it should be fine.

The LG LE8500 LED-backlit LCD TV is indeed excellent, but not as good as the Pioneer Kuro. For example, on outer-space star fields, the bright stars have halos because the local-dimming zones are much bigger than the stars. So far, I've seen no flat panel that can beat—or even match—the Kuro.

If you have a home-theater question, please send it to scott.wilkinson@sorc.com.