DOWNLOADS:
AVCHD (.exe) or AVCHD (.7z) - RC1 Revision 2/21/08
The AVCHD can be burned to DVD for playback on compatible Blu-ray players. Sony and the PS3, Panasonic, Pioneer, and the LG BH200 Blu-ray players have all been reported to be AVCHD compatible.

BDMV (.exe) or BDMV (.7z) - RC1 Release 2/21/08
Some Blu-ray players such as Sharp, possibly Samsung and the LG BH100, do not support AVCHD playback from DVD. BDMV is offered for players incompatible with AVCHD. This format is generally intended to be burned to BD-RE disks using a Blu-ray burner. It has been reported that the Samsung 1400 will play BDMV from DVD.

HD DVD (.exe) or HD DVD (.7z) - RC1 Revision 2/21/08
The HD DVD can be burned to DVD for use in HD DVD players.

Steps to use the downloads:
1) Choose either AVCHD, BDMV, or HD DVD - depending on what HD player you want to use as described above.
2) Download either the .exe or .7z file, according to the computer operating system you're using. The .exe will work on Windows, and the .7z is not system-specific so it will work with Windows, Linux, or Mac.
3) Uncompress the download. If you downloaded the .7z, you will also need the free 7-zip software to uncompress the file. The .exe should uncompress with Windows, but if it would happen to fail on your computer you might instead try the .7z version.
4) Burn a disk from the uncompressed file.
- For AVCHD or HD DVD, use a computer application to burn a single-layer DVD from the .iso file. Programs like Imgburn or Nero (burn image option) can burn the DVD in Windows, and on Mac the .iso can be burned directly from the disk utility application. If you're not sure how to use the .iso disk image to create a DVD with your software, then I suggest using Google and running a search with keywords something like - Burn, DVD, Iso, and the general name of your operating system or disk burning program. Here is a link Google returned for me on how to use different software in order to burn from a .iso http://iso.snoekonline.com/iso.htm.
- For BDMV, I think the files can simply be recorded straight to BD-RE (or BD-R if you're willing to part with a non-rewritable disk) as a data disk if UDF 2.5 or UDF 2.6 remains the disk format. My understanding is that those are the default Blu-ray recordable formats, but I personally have not burned a Blu-ray. If you want to burn BDMV to DVD for one of the few players that support BDMV on DVD, you have to use UDF 2.5 format. Step 4 from http://club.cdfreaks.com/f142/bd2dvd...-guide-232165/ shows how to set the format with Imgburn or Nero.

We would like to hear of any compatibility reports or issues encountered. Because of the format created from the disk image, some computers will not be able to read the AVCHD or HD DVD disk after burning. There have been occasional replies about disks being unable to play on HD players that other people are able to use, and our typical method of troubleshooting would be to make sure that your HD player's firmware is up to date and try to eliminate disk or computer problems. Common suggestions if a disk would happen to refuse to play would be to try a different DVD type/brand, burn at a slower speed, or try burning from a different computer. If none of this helps and you would like further feedback on playback problems, it might be a good idea to include which version you downloaded, what software you're using for burning, the disk type, and your HD player model along with if its firmware is current.



NOTES:
These disks are intended to be useful without test equipment, but primarily they're centered around taking measurements with a colorimeter or spectroradiometer from window patterns. The disks were initially created for use with ColorHCFR, yet they can be used with other software such as CalMAN that is currently hosting the downloads. You'll find the disks are divided into sections (titles) to access from the menu, and each title includes a number of 2 minute chapters to select by chapter skipping. The disks are largely intended for digital displays (LCD, plasma, DLP, SXRD, D-ILA) and so items such as the black and white clipping patterns are not necessarily useful for analog TVs (CRT). Information on how to use the disks is included in the Titles and Chapters area of this post.

For those without test equipment, the sections you might want to look at include:
- Basic Settings
- Misc Patterns
- Uniformity

For anyone using a calibration program, here are some additional ways you could use the disk:
- Go to Basic Settings and then go right into a 10% Grayscale and 100% Colors run
- Go into Basic Settings, then use the menu to do both 5% Grayscale and 75% Colors runs
- Go to the Adjust Gray section for an initial grayscale adjustment
- Use either the 75% or 100% Colors section for looking at color decoding
- Use the Contrast, Near Black, Near White, Primary Sat, and Secondary Sat sections for measurements

As the name indicates the encodes are Rec. 709, and all the versions are high definition even though the AVCHD and HD DVD are intended to be burned to DVD media. Because they're high definition formats, they will not work in standard DVD players. Unless marked as saturation, the percentage values shown are relative to the brightness (luminance) of the color for 16-235 levels, where 16 is at the level of black (0% gray) and 235 is the level of white (100% gray). When the word saturation is listed, it means how far the color is away from gray (0% saturation) on a CIE xy grid. The compression format was chosen in order to keep download sizes somewhat reasonable. Further details about the disk are included in hwjohn's reply and the first item from the Links area of this post. If you would like to ask for patterns added to the disk or items changed, I would request that you include an explanation of how that would help you setup your HD player or display. If you would like to contribute to the project, most of the items we would appreciate help on are listed under Known Issues.



TITLES AND CHAPTERS:
This is the disk layout that might display on your HD player. The titles are in bold type and can be accessed from the top menu. The numbers and descriptions in italics that come after each title represent chapters.

BASIC SETTINGS - Title #1
Patterns for black-level, white-level, color, tint, sharpness, RPTV screen position, and checking for scaling on 1080p displays.

1 - Black Clipping Pattern
This is a very low Average Picture Level (APL) pattern for observing if you are incorrectly clipping very dark colors on digital displays, or if you're unnecessarily showing colors below black. By turning up the black-level (brightness) on your TV you should see that this pattern contains a number of vertical bars that flash over top of a dark background. As you lower the brightness control you will see the lower numbered bars disappear into the background so that they no longer flash. The idea is to lower the black-level control until the reference black (16) matches the background but the numbers above 16 can still be seen to flash if you look very closely at the image. You might find that when 16 stops flashing that the numbers above 16 also stop flashing, and in that case go as low as you can with the black-level control and set it one click above where 17 stops flashing. Basically you want to set black-level as dark as possible so that 17 is still flashing.


2 - Average Picture Level Black and White
This pattern has a higher APL than the first pattern, and it shows both the levels around black (16) and the levels around white (235). Like the first pattern this can also be used for setting black-level, and the idea is somewhat similar. If you turn up the black-level (brightness) control you will see that there are vertical bars next to each other and there is flashing going on for both dark gray and below-black. As you lower the brightness control the below-black will stop flashing. The lower you go the more below-black will stop flashing, but don't go so low that the dark grays stop flashing. Like with the first pattern, if you look very closely (get right up next to the image if you have to) you want to be able to see the dark grays (bars numbered higher than 16) barely flash, but you do not want below-black to flash at the same time if possible.

One use for this pattern is to check the setting given by the first pattern. On many TVs the same black-level setting received from the black clipping pattern will also work with this pattern. In that case, the setting from the first pattern should be used because it can be a little more accurate due to the single color differences it offers. Every TV might not be able to use the black-level setting from the first pattern, because some TVs might vary black-level with different APL images. If that's the case with your TV, then the 2nd pattern might be more accurate for setting black-level. If you find that the 1st and 2nd patterns clearly require different brightness settings with your TV, then I would suggest you might want to use the higher of the two settings.


3 - White Clipping Pattern
This is a very high Average Picture Level (APL) pattern that can be used to tell if you're incorrectly clipping grays less than 235 on digital displays. Somewhat similar to setting black-level, you can lower the white-level (contrast or picture) control and you should see a number of vertical flashing bars somewhat like the first pattern. If you see no flashing at all, then either the source or display is clipping near-whites. For most situations that shouldn't be an issue, so the most important thing to check is that grays less than 235 are flashing. The general advice on the AVSforum is to avoid clipping above white video (over 235) at the source if possible, and generally this pattern is included to check if your video source is displaying the bars above white (235). Because of the high APL of this pattern, you might also want to check that the second pattern is at least flashing grays numbered less than 235, but for simplicity I'm only going to discuss white-levels once here.

Some video players or displays can be set so that the levels above 235 will be clipped, and in that case you will not see 235 or above flash. There is some debate around this issue, but in general I'm going to simply recommend not clipping at the source to ensure the best possible video quality. That means that if you turn down the contrast at the display, and turn off any clipping controls a few TVs may have, you should see the bars above 235 flash. Like already stated, most importantly you should always see grays below 235 flash with this pattern on any digital display, but it might be preferable if your player will allow you to see the vertical bars above white flashing with the pattern.

There are different descriptions for setting white-level in these forums, and this linked description is one of the better descriptions I've read. In general you want to have the white-level control set about as high as possible, as long as it doesn't cause any detrimental effects. This pattern is used to check item #1 from the description. If you're seeing the bars less than 235 flash then you have accomplished that goal and you can move on to #2. If you can't spot a color change in the whites by lowering the white-level control on the display, then the second goal given would also be satisfied. For the third item you could watch a movie to make sure whites look white and you don't encounter eye-strain. If your TV has a back-light or iris control, you might try turning it down if the TV is too bright. If the TV is still too bright after lowering those controls, then white-level could also be lowered. There can be other items that come into play in setting white-level, such as the light level listed in the link, and a light meter or a colorimeter (Display LT or Spyder2express work with ColorHCFR or CalMAN) can be helpful for a more in-depth look if you're willing to go to that expense.


4 - Flashing Color Bars
This is used to set color and tint controls with a blue filter. Different ways to get color filters include ordering the THX Glasses, obtaining Lee Filters (#71, #106, #139), getting another calibration disk that has filters such as DVE and DVE HD, or ordering the Avia filters. Using a colorimeter or spectroradiometer (described in the CMS guide by TomHuffman) might give a better level of accuracy, but what I'll describe here is using a blue filter to set color and tint.

The gray bar at the left has a flashing blue box and the blue bar has a flashing gray box. Look through a blue filter at these two bars. As you raise and lower the color control you'll see that the gray and blue will change relative to each other as the color control is changed. You want to set the color control so that the gray and blue match. Ideally when this happens you would see almost no flashing on the boxes through the blue color filter. Realistically you might always be able to see a little bit of flashing, and if that's the case then just set the color control so that gray and blue come as close as possible to matching.

The magenta and cyan bars also have flashing boxes with the other color. Looking through the blue filter you use these two bars to adjust the tint or hue control. The idea is similar to setting the color control. Ideally you would not want to see any flashing when looking through the blue filter, but just use the tint control to get them to look as close as possible.


5 - Sharpness and Overscan
This pattern can be used to center the screen on rear-projection TVs, which is done by simply adjusting screen position to even out blue along the vertical and horizontal edges of the TV. In the upper right and lower left corners inside the blue there are also single pixel patterns to check for scaling with 1080p displays. Primarily though this pattern is included in order to set sharpness. To get some idea about what I'm going to discuss, you might want to first see if you can notice any on-screen differences in this pattern between setting sharpness at maximum and setting sharpness to minimum. Try looking closely at the image and see if you can pick out anything that changes by altering the sharpness setting.

Some displays can simply use sharpness at minimum, and others need to be set. When adjusting sharpness, the most basic item to look for is if a white halo forms at edges between colors when sharpness is set high. The original image contains no white between objects, so for example if a lighter edge was to form along the outside of the large square then sharpness would need to be turned down. One item to look for when turning sharpness down is if the edges between colors begin to blur together. For example, if the TV exhibits blurring with a low sharpness then the black from the square might intrude into the gray. For 1080p displays, another item to watch for when turning sharpness down is if the white dots included in the black areas remain single pixels like in the original image, or if they become stretched as sharpness is lowered. If your TV has a sharpness control and doesn't distort the image as sharpness is turned down, then you might be able to simply set sharpness to minimum.

SXRD is an example of a TV that generally requires a sharpness setting above minimum with an HD source. If you look at the edges between different colors from the pattern, this TV will introduce white when sharpness is adjusted too high. The most pronounced, and often easiest to see effect with these TVs, are the halos formed along vertical edges when sharpness is set too high. On the other hand SXRD cannot simply have sharpness set to minimum, because they tend to lose edges and blur objects together if sharpness is too low. On the SXRD the white dots in the image can become stretched out or repeated into the black when sharpness is set too low. Generally the way to use the pattern with a TV that requires a sharpness setting is to set the control high enough so that edges between colors don't become blurred together, but not so high that white halos are formed. For SXRD I choose a setting between where I can begin to see white halos form at edges (sharpness too high) and where I can begin to see objects become blurred (sharpness too low).


10% GRAYSCALE - Title #2
0% to 100% Grayscale windows with 10% steps for instrument measurements.

1 - 0% Black Field
2 - 10% Gray Window
3 - 20% Gray Window
4 - 30% Gray Window
5 - 40% Gray Window
6 - 50% Gray Window
7 - 60% Gray Window
8 - 70% Gray Window
9 - 80% Gray Window
10 - 90% Gray Window
11 - 100% White Window


100% COLORS - Title #3
100% Color windows with chapters 1-7 arranged for ColorHCFR primaries and secondaries. Chapters 7-14 are arranged for CalMAN measurements.

1 - 100% Red Window
2 - 100% Green Window
3 - 100% Blue Window
4 - 100% Yellow Window
5 - 100% Cyan Window
6 - 100% Magenta Window
7 - 100% White Window
8 - 100% Red Window
9 - 100% Green Window
10 - 100% Blue Window
11 - 100% Cyan Window
12 - 100% Magenta Window
13 - 100% Yellow Window
14 - 100% White Window


5% GRAYSCALE - Title #4
0% to 100% Grayscale windows with 5% steps for measurements. In ColorHCFR these patterns can be measured by changing the grayscale levels parameter to 20.

1 - 0% Black Field
2 - 5% Gray Window
3 - 10% Gray Window
4 - 15% Gray Window
5 - 20% Gray Window
6 - 25% Gray Window
7 - 30% Gray Window
8 - 35% Gray Window
9 - 40% Gray Window
10 - 45% Gray Window
11 - 50% Gray Window
12 - 55% Gray Window
13 - 60% Gray Window
14 - 65% Gray Window
15 - 70% Gray Window
16 - 75% Gray Window
17 - 80% Gray Window
18 - 85% Gray Window
19 - 90% Gray Window
20 - 95% Gray Window
21 - 100% White Window


75% COLORS - Title #5
75% Color windows with chapters 1-7 arranged for ColorHCFR primaries and secondaries. Chapters 7-14 are arranged for CalMAN measurements.

1 - 75% Red Window
2 - 75% Green Window
3 - 75% Blue Window
4 - 75% Yellow Window
5 - 75% Cyan Window
6 - 75% Magenta Window
7 - 75% Gray Window
8 - 75% Red Window
9 - 75% Green Window
10 - 75% Blue Window
11 - 75% Cyan Window
12 - 75% Magenta Window
13 - 75% Yellow Window
14 - 100% White Window


ADJUST GRAY - Title #6
Quickly switch between low and high grayscale patterns for initial grayscale adjustment. Also includes levels patterns and above-white images.

1 - 25% Gray Window
2 - 50% Gray Window
3 - 75% Gray Window
4 - 100% White Window
5 - Black Clipping Pattern
6 - Average Picture Level Black and White
7 - White Clipping Pattern
8 - 105% Above-White Window
9 - 109% Above-White Window


CONTRAST - Title #7
Images for measuring contrast. The first 4 chapters will work for most ColorHCFR users.

1 - 0% Black Field
2 - 100% White Window
3 - Center Modified ANSI Contrast
4 - Reverse Modified ANSI Contrast
5 - 0% Black Field
6 - 100% White Field
7 - ANSI Contrast
8 - Reverse ANSI Contrast


MISC PATTERNS - Title #8
Patterns for various video applications.

1 - Flashing Primary Colors
This pattern shows red, green, and blue bars (primary colors) with the two related secondary colors (yellow, cyan, magenta) and gray flashing on top. Above and below each primary color the two secondary colors related to that primary color also flash between each other. Like with the Flashing Color Bars pattern from the Basic Settings section, this image can be used with color filters for adjusting the color and tint (hue) controls. When you look through the blue filter you'll be looking at the flashing blue bar, use the red filter to look at the vertical red bar, and green filter with green bar.

The idea of this pattern is very similar to the Flashing Color Bars, but it also allows for you to observe red and green primaries instead of just blue. With a perfect setup there would be the same amount of blue in the blue, gray, cyan, and magenta - all the colors that appear in the vertical blue bar. The same holds true for the red and green bars compared with the related colors that flash there also - all the colors that flash on the vertical bar should be the same brightness when viewed through the corresponding filter. You can follow the adjustment steps from the Flashing Color Bars description with the blue bar here. The easiest control to watch work will probably be color. When you adjust the color control you'll almost certainly see the flashing gray change in relation to the bar when looking through the color filter. You should see that the flashing colors other than gray (the secondary colors) on each bar will change when you adjust the tint control. The two secondary colors at the top and bottom of each primary color bar can be used to set tint (hue), just like how magenta is compared against cyan in the Flashing Color Bars description.

In the end you just want to get the flashing stripes on each bar to most closely match the bar. Realistically you'll probably always see some bit of difference between the flashing colors on the bar you're looking at through the color filter, because there's only so much that can be done with user color and tint controls. Color filters are also not perfect, so basically you simply want to find a good compromise. If you would like another description on how to use patterns like this to adjust color and tint, you might want to take a look at the "COLOR BARS" and "MISCELLANEOUS - Tricolor" sections from the Avia II Advanced Patterns PDF. If looking at the Avia descriptions, it's generally most important to notice which colors are next to each other in the different patterns they describe using. Also it might be worthwhile to know Avia uses the word saturation to mean color control, which is different than how saturation is defined for this disk.


2 - Flashing Color Luminance
This pattern can be used to observe how the primary colors (red, green, or blue) relate to gray. When looking through the color filter that corresponds to the primary color (ex. blue filter when looking at blue), you'll see that one or possibly two of the bars for that color most closely matches gray. That most closely matching bar gives you an idea how that color relates to gray. The middle bar (0) would mean that the color is right on and your setting matches gray as intended, while the negative (-) and positive (+) bars to the left and right indicate a low or a high color setting.

As you adjust the color control you'll see that the most closely matching bar varies depending on the color setting. Ideally you would want all of the bars to most closely match at 0. Most likely though, if one color is closest to 0 then the others might be high or low. Getting blue to match gray is the way that color is typically set, but this pattern will allow you to also observe what that does to red and green in relation to gray. Having red come close to matching gray when looking through the red filter is another way to set color, but you don't necessarily want to do that at the expense of blue. The idea is to choose a setting you consider the best compromise for all three colors.

The Avia II descriptions mentioned for the previous pattern again might help you decide upon a final color setting. If you look at the Avia text, then this pattern is similar to their "Color Decoder" pattern. There are labeling differences between this pattern and what Avia shows, but the general idea about setting color is along the same lines as described in their PDF.


3 - Grayscale Ramp
The image exhibits the entire grayscale range from 1 to 254. The white dots indicate the location of black (16) and the black dots indicate white (235).

4 - Grayscale Bars
This pattern shows grayscale bars from black to white (16 to 235) at 5% steps, a 5% bar above-white (246) and below-black (5), and a bar for maximum-white (254) and minimum black (1). This pattern is further described in the GetGray documentation as "5% Step Gray Ramps" - although as mentioned here in the Basic Settings section for the White Clipping Pattern, on digital displays it would be somewhat common to be able to see above-white on this pattern.

5 - Dynamic Brightness
Primarily this pattern is included in order to observe any possible changes that might occur in displays with an adjusting iris or backlight. It will likely show if your TV has a tendency to alter levels depending upon the on-screen Average Picture Level (APL). As the background changes that alters the APL. With TVs that have an adjusting iris for example, you might notice that the grayscale bars in the lower right corner could change shade depending upon the APL. You might find that by turning off an adjusting iris, or some other type of dynamic setting, the grayscale bars no longer have the same amount of shift in brightness depending upon the current APL. With typical video programs the APL will vary, and this pattern can simply be useful to observe some changes that certain display settings might introduce. Ideally the grayscale bars in the corner on this pattern would remain the same shade regardless of the background currently displayed, but that might not be possible with all displays.

6 - Star Chart
Some TV settings can cause such things as jagged edges on diagonal lines and moire when they're turned on. This pattern might allow you to observe some of the negative effects on image quality that certain controls might introduce. On SXRD for example, the controls to look at with this pattern are labeled detail enhancer and edge enhancer.

7 - Crosshatch
This pattern can be used to observe such things as convergence and geometry on projection or CRT displays. The outside circles might go off of the screen on rear-projection TVs, due to overscan.


NEAR BLACK - Title #9
Provides black and 10 unlabeled fields near black, to match the ColorHCFR near black scale. For the default ColorHCFR parameter of 4 levels near black, use chapters 1-5. Because these patterns are unlabled the chapter readout on the player is intended to be used to check which pattern is currently displayed, and it should be understood that the patterns will automatically change to the next every two minutes unless paused.

1 - 0% Black Field
2 - 1% Gray Field
3 - 2% Gray Field
4 - 3% Gray Field
5 - 4% Gray Field
6 - 5% Gray Field
7 - 6% Gray Field
8 - 7% Gray Field
9 - 8% Gray Field
10 - 9% Gray Field
11 - 10% Gray Field


NEAR WHITE - Title #10
Provides 10 windows near white along with white, to match the ColorHCFR near white scale. For the default ColorHCFR parameter of 4 levels near white, use chapters 7-11.

1 - 90% Gray Window
2 - 91% Gray Window
3 - 92% Gray Window
4 - 93% Gray Window (Pattern incorrect)
5 - 94% Gray Window
6 - 95% Gray Window
7 - 96% Gray Window
8 - 97% Gray Window
9 - 98% Gray Window
10 - 99% Gray Window
11 - 100% White Window


PRIMARY SAT - Title #11
Windows for red, green, and blue saturation scale measurements.

1 - 0% Red Saturation Window
2 - 25% Red Saturation Window
3 - 50% Red Saturation Window
4 - 75% Red Saturation Window
5 - 100% Red Saturation Window
6 - 0% Green Saturation Window
7 - 25% Green Saturation Window
8 - 50% Green Saturation Window
9 - 75% Green Saturation Window
10 - 100% Green Saturation Window
11 - 0% Blue Saturation Window
12 - 25% Blue Saturation Window
13 - 50% Blue Saturation Window
14 - 75% Blue Saturation Window
15 - 100% Blue Saturation Window


SECONDARY SAT - Title #12
Windows for yellow, cyan, and magenta saturation scale measurements.

1 - 0% Yellow Saturation Window
2 - 25% Yellow Saturation Window
3 - 50% Yellow Saturation Window
4 - 75% Yellow Saturation Window
5 - 100% Yellow Saturation Window
6 - 0% Cyan Saturation Window
7 - 25% Cyan Saturation Window
8 - 50% Cyan Saturation Window
9 - 75% Cyan Saturation Window
10 - 100% Cyan Saturation Window
11 - 0% Magenta Saturation Window
12 - 25% Magenta Saturation Window
13 - 50% Magenta Saturation Window
14 - 75% Magenta Saturation Window
15 - 100% Magenta Saturation Window


UNIFORMITY - Title #13
Full field screens for observing or measuring uniformity.

1 - 0% Black Field
2 - 10% Gray Field
3 - 20% Gray Field
4 - 30% Gray Field
5 - 40% Gray Field
6 - 50% Gray Field
7 - 60% Gray Field
8 - 70% Gray Field
9 - 80% Gray Field
10 - 90% Gray Field
11 - 100% White Field
12 - 75% Red Field
13 - 75% Green Field
14 - 75% Blue Field
15 - 75% Yellow Field
16 - 75% Cyan Field
17 - 75% Magenta Field
18 - 75% Gray Field

KNOWN ISSUES:
1. Few people are going to have access to a Blu-ray burner in order to use the BDMV version to create a BD-RE or BD-R disk. If you would happen to know of a possibly reasonably-priced way that users might be able to obtain files written to Blu-ray disks without buying a Blu-ray burner, please reply.

2. The Blu-ray versions are 1080i rather than the preferable 23.976 fps progressive video to match most typical HD film sources. This is due to technical issues in being able to author the disk as 24p with menus in both AVCHD and BDMV. If you know how we could address this item, or if you happen to find indicators of any problems the current encode might possibly cause, we would like to hear about it. Adding 24p Blu-ray encodes would be the current primary focus for further development. At this time the current plan is to possibly switch to Arcsoft for authoring BDMV and AVCHD.

3. You cannot chapter skip between sections on a number of HD players, so instead the top menu generally has to be used to switch titles. While some players will return to the same item last selected in the menu, other players require starting at the top each time and scrolling through the entire list which is not ideal. It's possible that the menu can display at a reduced resolution from the original depending upon player settings. There are also different video types used between video and menus, so some players or displays will take time to switch between menu and video. The menu system and interaction might not be ideal and how I would do things with more authoring options, but these issues are related to what is available with the authoring software.

4. The disk does not include any patterns intended for audio sync, deinterlacing, maximum ambient light, noise reduction, or observing film judder. At this time those items are considered outside the scope of the project. If any are possible within the current framework, or by an offer of outside authoring, we would be willing to add those items with the required technical support. Examples of patterns that are within current authoring ability but are not on the disk include a 2.35 Cinemascope image and ANSI Lumens.



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
The disks are offered free for personal use, and the authors request any redistribution to retain the credits on the title menu. This would not have been created without the input from dr1394 (Ron from W6RZ.net), including the program used to convert images to YCbCr. We would also like to thank dr1394, 3no, GetGray, Imatest.com, and WalVisions.com for allowing us to include their patterns, along with ChokeManiac.net for the original menu design. We also received help from Hank315 (HC Encoder), including a special build that has been used for mpeg2 encoding. Additional people that come to mind for supplying free software used during the project would be the creators of AVIsynth, 7-Zip, Paint.net, and QuEnc. Hwjohn and myself would also like to thank the creators of ColorHCFR for the great free calibration program, the AVSforum for making this disk possible, and certainly the numerous other people we tried to learn from in the process and I happened to leave out here.



LINKS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Creating Test Patterns - Some details on how this disk was created
Basic Guide to Color Calibration using a CMS (updated and enhanced) - TomHuffman's calibration guide
Ursa's "Guide to Basic Display Calibration for New Users" - a MUST read!! - Discussion on using a meter
ColorHCFR v2.0 Available... - Recent discussion of the ColorHCFR software
Color ColorHCFR Calibration Discussion (Post your calibration files here)
Geyscale Calibration For Dummies - Includes a guide on how to use ColorHCFR
CalMAN Evaluation Download - Includes help files by the same author as the link from the Ursa Guide

See http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post13044461 for some PS3 settings disussion. The linked post has settings that should show above white and below black over HDMI.

What TV do you have? As long as it supports Y Pb/Pr Cb/Cr you should be fine by turning the PS3 superwhite to "on."

Brandon

To see BTB a WTW on my PS3 I had to set "BD / DVD Video Output Format (HDMI)" to "Y Pb / Cb Pr / Cr". It appears the "automatic" setting did not work.

The PS3 is feeding RGB over HDMI through my Pioneer AVR to a DVDO HD+ which will only accept RGB at its DVI input . This is then sent to my PJ which is set to receive RGB as well .

I'll try the Y PbPr setting and see if I get a picture .Thanks very much for the info and concern .

Scott...............

Recently got the Panasonic BD30. When I got off of work, I'm going to download the AVCHD version and just drag it onto a Sandisc card then run it right from the card rather than burn it onto a DVD. Anyone else done it like this and have any issues?

I doubt you will be able to do that. The patterns aren't raw AVC files, they are in an ISO format. You will probably have to burn to DVD.

I used Nero 6 and burned DVD+R and DVD-R discs and tried to play them on my Panasonic BD30. The player attempted to read them but displayed "disc not compatible" Nero gave me the option of burning discs at a DVD bootable or a data file. I tried both ways with new disc but still got the same message.
Wonder if I am burning them wrong or if the BD30 doesnt like file. I don't have any problems playing AVCHD burned from my Panasonic HDC-SD5 Camcorder using the supplied burner (VW-BN1)
I was going to try draging the iso file onto a SDHC card but I don't have the proper card reader .

There have been reports of Nero 6 having issues burning the AVCHD iso. The last person that reported was able to use the Nero 8 trial to burn. You might just want to wait until tomorrow. I should have the new versions uploaded before tomorrow evening. I'm going to create the iso with imgburn and see if it's more compatible. There will be a post here that will announce the RC1 release after the first post is revised.

Yea I was downloading trial as I wrote that last post. Got the disc burned with Nero 8 and it worked. Now I just need to research how to use the disc. My calibration experience is limited to "Sound&Vision HT tune up". These patterns look different but I'm sure the same concepts apply.

Thanks for the tools!

Post Deleted. Didn't see that you got it working.

NEW PATTERNS:
- Sharpness and overscan
- Contrast section with ANSI contrast and modified ANSI contrast
- Revised primary color flashing pattern
- A color luminance pattern equivalent to what requested
- Full-screen grayscale ramp and bars patterns as requested
- Dynamic brightness based on http://www.walvisions.com/PattPages/...ss_pattern.htm
- Star chart from http://www.imatest.com/docs/testcharts.html
- 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%, and 75% fields in the Uniformity section
- 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% Color saturation windows (Thanks to Georges G for levels)
- Near White and Near Black sections to match ColorHCFR
- Duplicate color windows arranged for CalMan use

NOTES ABOUT RC1:
- Added BDMV version
- Removed popup menus from HD DVD to match Blu-ray versions and to see if the BD-UP5000 would work as reported in the HD DVD authoring thread.
- The HD DVD is a revised mpeg2 video encode, intended to be 24p from pulldown.
- The Blu-ray versions remain 1080i AVC. Updating the Blu-ray to 1080p/24 is something we've been experimenting with due to how the Ulead software doesn't support that video type.
- 1 and 254 levels were used for ANSI contrast, while 16 and 235 were used for contrast black and white images. This seemed to match the other materials I had available for comparison.
- The single pixel patterns from the previous disk have been replaced by the single pixel items included in the Sharpness and Overscan pattern to check for scaling.
- Due to reported issues with the prior Nero 8 AVCHD .iso, the new AVCHD .iso is from the Imgburn 2.4.0.0 release and taken directly off the Ulead disk.

If your version of PowerDVD supports HD DVD, then I don't see why it wouldn't work. I haven't tried it, but anything that can read HD DVD or AVCHD should be able to read the disc.

Keep in mind that HTPCs can be pretty tricky. We can't guarantee that the patterns will be correct on an HTPC.

I haven't adressed HTPC, because honestly calibration there is more complex. You're dealing with a number of different decoders depending upon format, that part I'm somewhat sure about and there are some other items I'm not so clear on. With Blu-ray and HD DVD players basically we're making the assumption that mpeg2, AVC, and VC-1 will be correctly decoded to the same levels by the player. I've seen on my computer though that mpeg2 doesn't always necessarily match AVC levels, so I have to attribute that to the different decoders. Even using the PowerDVD trial, with my ATI card (known to have issues with affecting levels) I was running into apparently different levels based on the source type.

Basically where I'm going here is that it's probably more important on a computer, than a standalone, for the source to match the type of material you'll be playing back. If you're mainly playing back DVDs, then it seems to me that a DVD calibration disk would make more sense. If you're playing back recorded ATSC or QAM which might be HD mpeg2, then you probably want a HD mpeg2 source. The HD DVD here is mpeg2, but the container is basically specific to HD DVD. Generally if HD mpeg2 playback is what you use your computer for, then patterns at w6rz.net might make more sense because they're .ts which will likely be closer to the format of your meda.

If you were running HD DVD and Blu-ray on your computer I'd have a different response, but that wasn't the impression I got from what you wrote. All of these disks do originate from mpeg2 files outside of the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, but currently we have not been hosting those files and it would be something that would have to be discussed. Honestly though, there are probably tools available to split the HD DVD and Blu-ray videos into more common formats that would play back on your current software if you are trying to calibrate for playing back HD files on your computer.

Since my DVD player is an HTPC, I'll chime in here.

Like every other device, you need to calibrate the entire chain. I have seen fairly big changes in saturation, levels, gamma going from one version of driver to another. Factor in overlay vs. VMR9 vs. EVR and you can see how things can get messed up quickly.

I'm a TheaterTek user and using VMR9 for DVD playback with the latest Nvidia drivers and TT's picture controls set at default settings video levels are maintained (as far as I can tell) and nothing too funky is happening elsewhere.

In fact when I calibrate my Xbox 360 for HD using the AVS disc and my HTPC for SD-DVD using GetGray I end up with almost the same settings except for obvious differences to account for 601 vs 709.

My media player plays "everything" except HD DVD or Blu-ray in a ISO Can anyone please point me to one of these tools in order to extract to AVCHD , ts or mpeg2 format.

Thank you.

I couldn't find them so I chickened out. No need to kill a perfectly good BR player

I was doing some measurments on a guys C3X 1080 for him. Dawned on my my own DVD had every single thing I needed except the pixel perfect grid, which is built in on the PJ. I give all mine away so I had to burn a new copy. It plays fine and had the stuff I need for now.

I've been looking, but I have not come across any specific instructions for running the HCFR software with these test patterns... other than the French version on the HCFR website. I've read through Tom Huffman's "Basic Guide to Color Calibration using a CMS", but is there anything more specific for the HCFR software ?

I am planning to run the HCFR calibration with the HD DVD test patterns next week, using an i1 colormeter. I am a first-timer with a colormeter, so just knowing what order to run with the test patterns would be a great help.

Generally for a first run you'll want to begin by setting the display's user controls with the Basic Settings area. Then you can "measure gray scale, primary, and secondary colors" with HCFR. The patterns which correspond to that selection in HCFR are the 10% Grayscale and 100% color sections on the disk. That will fill in all the charts on the left of HCFR that you can use to give you an initial impression of how the display is generally performing. If you're not familiar with how to read the charts, then I found http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=586691 useful when I first tried HCFR.

Did the new hcfr improve things?

Do you run gray scale before pri/sec adjust? I have a Mits (NEC) w/ CMS, too.


bob

I haven't actually checked the flashing bars with the filters again. I'll check it out and report back.

I honestly can tell if my calibration with the new plasma option with HCFR is any better than before. The changes I ended up making were small so it's unlikely that I would notice a big difference visually.

The picture looked really good before and it still looks really good.

OK, just went back and checked.

Blue: Saturation had to be increased by 4 clicks using the filter, tint was 6 clicks toward green.

Red: Saturation had to be increased by 5 clicks using the filter, tint was about 4 clicks to green

Green: Saturation increased by 4 clicks using the filter, tint was OK.

Bear in mind these are the AVIA filters from over 10 years ago so they may have aged. I'm also not sure they are suitable for HD colours.

Thanks for the link. I think I do understand the purpose of the chart, just not absolutely sure how to get those measurements. The toughest aspect for me is sorting out which patterns to use for which adjustments, and when to use a window or a full field pattern.

Part of it is just not knowing the terminology as well as I should. For instance, the difference between "color value" and "saturation" is a little fuzzy. I always thought a "color" setting in a TV menu was the same as "saturation". And it doesn't help that different manufacturers use different terms to mean the same thing... like "hue" and "tint". My Sony A3000 has a "color" setting, and now I am not sure if this is "saturation" or a color "value/brightness" setting. I'm guessing it is color value.

I am even a little confused with the terms "100% gray" or "100 IRE". These terms seemed to be used interchangeably here, but I think there is a distinction. Am I correct that 100% gray is white at 100 IRE, and that 100 IRE can refer to any color ?

I am going to keep reading up here, but eventually I think I will just have to play around with the HCFR software. What can it hurt.

Measurements - When you make a selection under view with HCFR v2, it will list what patterns are expected for those measurements. To start out with, just try running the "gray scale" and then the "primaries and secondaries" measurements using the "10% Grayscale" and "100% Colors" sections from the disk. In the end, the only practical use of any reading here is if it helps you get your display closer to intended standards.

Windows vs. fields - Generally for most uses windows are fine. Maybe there are uses for fields, but the disk is mostly centered around windows because from what I've read more displays will run into fewer issues running windows than might happen for fields.

Terminology - I generally use the definitions from TomHuffman's CMS thread. Although Avia defines saturation differently, I just ignore the Avia definition and use the ones from that thread. On a Sony color is probably a luminace control, it's just a brightness control for color.

IRE vs Percentages - If you keep things digital like using HDMI or DVI then IRE is completely irrelevant. Again Avia is sort of the odd duck out because they use IRE while most everything else uses percentages. Even if you're using component, which is analog where IRE applies, I think for most applications it's entirely fine to discuss things by percentages and not to worry about understanding what IRE really means.

I understand that when performing color measurements, either 75% intensity windows or 100% intensity windows can be used as long as the white window used as a reference is of the same intensity. A lot of test pattern disks offer both 75% and 100% intensity windows. When should one be used versus the other or does it not affect the measurements either way? I've never understood why both are included.

Any noticeable difference in the picture now?

thx

bob

My last TV, that had color decoder controls, had a little bit of difference between 100% measurements and 75% measurements. I thought that http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=852536 used to address this item, but it really doesn't now. My impression was that 75% might be considered a little closer to average program material. The reason this disk includes both is just that on the last version of HCFR there wasn't an option to measure gray with colors (to look at color decoding), so it was easiest to do a 100% color run right after a 10% grayscale run. In the end I'm not sure it really matters one way or another, because the differences weren't very far apart on my TV.

I didn't actually change the settings to what is recommended by the filters. I just looked at the patterns to see how different they were.

Is that on a "100 click" scale?

It's actually a "64 click" scale.

Thanks again "alluringreality". Your explanations are appreciated and helpful. I've read a lot of your helpful tips on the Sony A3000 threads and I can tell you know your stuff !!! I give your comments a more weight than most everyone else.

BTW, I did read over Tom Huffman's guide several times and I did see a "little bit" of inconsistency in terminology. Tom uses both the "percent gray" and "IRE" terms and I am never sure if they are suppose to mean the same thing in the context of his instructions.

Perhaps I can impose once more. Do the "x" and "y" coordinates on the CIE chart have some correlation to saturation and hue ? It would seem to be the case since color is defined by saturation, hue, and brightness (value); and brightness is not represented on the CIE chart.

They probably are meant to mean the same. Most people don't use IRE exactly as it seems to be defined. At the end of the GetGray documentation http://www.calibrate.tv/docs/GetGrayCalDiscReadme.zip there is some information about IRE. In one of the postings here by ChrisWiggles there are more technical details like analog voltages and such things. Personally I have no use for the word IRE because almost all of my sources are digital connections.


Saturation as defined in the CMS thread generally seems to be how far from white a point appears in xy coordinates. If a xy coordinate is at red that would be 100% saturated red and a gray would be 0% saturation as far as I can tell.

Hue as defined there is basically how an xy coordinate relates to white by angle. After you can take measurements you'll find that by changing the hue control that the secondaries will move along the CIE triangle, which changes the angle in relation to white.

I didn't see anyone post this (though maybe I read past it). Not all versions of Nero 7 will properly burn the AVSHD iso. My initial version of Nero 7 would only write the image to a CD (which my PS3 wouldn't recognize). However, when I updated Nero 7 to the latest version (from nero.com), it then gave me the option to burn the iso to a DVD. The DVD-R I created now works fine on my PS3.

I suspect that one's mastering software might need to support the AVCHD format. According to the following Wikipedia entry, Nero added this support in version 7.8.5.0.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero_Burning_ROM

P.S. I also can confirm that Roxio 9 didn't work with this iso.

P.P.S. Thank you to the guys who put this together!!!

When you say Roxio "didn't work" do you mean it failed to burn, or it looked like it worked but would not read after burning? My software is old, but has been very, very reliable (RecordnowMax). I got no errors and it burned a DVD without complaint. Gear (www.gearsoftware.com) is a pro burning package. They don't say anything about AVCHD compatibility, but that doesn't mean anything definative. Wondering if that is my problem.

Your software doesnt need to support AVCHD because the disk is provided in ISO format.

Thanks again... The GetGray PDF was excellent. I saved it and printed out a couple pages for future reference.

Roxio 9 (on Vista) seemed to have the same problem as an early version of Nero 7: both recognized the AVCHD iso as valid, but both would only write it to a CD. As I previously mentioned, updating Nero to the latest 7 release allowed the flexibility of writing the AVCHD iso to a DVD.

Thanks!

I downloaded this disc some time ago so I may have thanked you already but today I used this disc and the new 2.01 version of HFCR to do a calibration of the colors and grey for my PJ and it was actually lots of fun.

The pj looks great now. I don't care if it's placebo effect or not because it looks great either way and calibrating it was lots of fun.


-Brian

Hi there,
I've downloaded the AVCHD ISO and while it is a 700MB size when expanded from 7z file, looking inside the ISO it looks empty .... is that normal?

How are you "looking inside the ISO?"

WinRAR is capable to "look" inside and axtract image data.... it may be fooled by something...

Well I'll burn it and see what happens!

I see. You won't see anything "inside" the ISO that way. The ISO is basically a disc "image," so it basically contains a bit for bit (or close to it) copy of the original master. The only thing that can really read the contents is an HD DVD/Blu ray player... although CD burning programs can burn the contents. The burning program doesn't necessarily care what the contents are, it just burns a bunch of 1's and 0's as recorded in the ISO image.

What the hell, I'll try it tomorrow...

Be sure to wear your lucky underwear

Menus are in english.
http://www.samsung.com/he/support/pr..._rayplayer.sec
If this does'ent work its the player so you may need to exchange it.

Rover2002: If your FW isn't XAA, are the menus in english by chance? Maybe I can live on the edge and try the Asia FW if that's what you have.

I had no idea that HK was region A, but it still seems quite possible that the XSS (Asis) could be different than the XAA (US) firmware.

I agree. I dont' know which is newer. I picked mine up just a few weeks ago direct form the distributor (AVAD) and it had been on backorder so it wasn't old stock. But I think a suffix model number would imply something different. That said, I looked and there is a listing for a N and C suffix. Neither of those had FW listed, only the "plain" version took you to a page with FW. The N model listed nothing, the C model, only a user guide. Maybe they aren't out yet, dunno.

BD-P1400 US Firmware link

The international site lists several versions but all apparently "1.5" (which isn't anything like 08... shown above, but opening them they all say ...080114_01_BDP1400[varying suffix]):

BD-P1400 International

If you used Taiyo's and any good NEC, then you definetely shouldn't have a problem.

Kind of odd that one model works and another doesn't. Which model is newer? Which is "higer end"?

Not much chance there's any error on the DVD making process. I'm pretty versed in the creation of DVD's. It was that experience that led to the GetGray calibration DVD. From something completely unrelated, I'm had to make hundreds of DVDs for others. I learned early on what it took to be compatible. I use a particular NEC burner for writing. I use a different drive for reading. Drives that read-write are on different busses, I use Taiyo Yuden high end media, and burn at medium-low speeds (4x). In hundreds of DVD's made and sent to strangers with everything from $20 Apex players, to high end Denon's, I just don't get any player incompatibility. But that's not to say the Samsung BR couldn't be the first. So I tried a different brand (Verbatim -R) and redownloaded the image. There is no checksum avail, but it unzips without issue and all indications are that the iso is fine. It's a small burn, nothing on the more problematic perimeter of the DVD. The image looks fine, no sign of a bad burn. So it appears that it is probably the player.

If your region is the same, what about the FW version? What is your's? Sure seems odd one woudl do it and another not. Also I saw on Samsungs site several models of the 1400 listed. (A,C,C IIRC). Mine is a "plain" BR-P1400. Your's?

Thanks, Scott

HK is region "A".

I think Blu-ray is region coded, so even if you're both running the most current firmware I question if a player in Hong Kong is running the exact same firmware as one in the USA. If anyone can run AVCHD with a region A Samsung player, please reply.

Sometimes you run into that... but as manufacturers get more and more experience with the older formats like DVD, you generally see less and less compatibility issues. That isn't to say that they don't still exist, which is one reason I would recommend using different media if you have it available.

You also run into burners (sometimes the combination of burners/media) that produce a poor disc. Cheap burners and cheap media can easily produce a poor quality burn that standalones can't read. In that case, it isn't so much that the player refuses to read it, but rather that it can't read it.

I doubt either one of these is the case for GetGray, but it is worth a shot.

I have mine burned to a Maxell DVD-R, maybe its brand related?

Have you tried different media (brand, +/-R) and different burners?

No dice I loaded FW ver 080114.01_XAA. Still give message "cannot play this disc" and ejects it. I D/L'd a fresh copy, file size uncompressed was identical. Im burning another one to be sure, but I'm pretty skilled at that end of things, unlikely that's the problem. Oh well.

Thanks, I'll update mine too and see if it fixes it.

Just downloaded "AVCHD Beta2.exe" again and ran AVG 7.5.516 269.19.16/1251 updated today 01/30/08 and all is well . AVG DID NOT detect a Trojan this time .

No false positive .

Scott............

I scanned AVCHD Beta2 (.exe) with NOD32 Update 2836 (20080130). It's clean as far as I can tell.

Can anyone confirm the third item here http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/re...,backpage=,sv= ?

Still works

My Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 shows virus too. also downloaded the files and the RARs show empty once I unrar

I don't know what the mention of RAR is about because that's a different compression format. I uninstalled Kapersky, downloaded the Trend Micro Antivirus trial, updated, redownloaded the AVCHD, and ran a scan on the folder. The program deleted some internet cookies and that was it. Trend Micro did not indicate anything about a virus on the computer that created the files.

Again, if someone can confirm the report that Trend Micro singles this file out, please provide a screen shot. The way you screen capture in windows is to press print screen. You can then paste into paint or a similar program in order to crop and save. You can attach a file here in avsforum, and the image can be put in a zip file if the resolution exceeds the image resolution allowed.

Just to let everyone know... My AVG software detected a virus this morning as well attached to the AVS_HD_Beta1.exe file. But, is it just an AVG thing?

many of these questions should be going to the AVG developers....

at this point, it really looks like the anti-virus is wrong.

Thanks, much appreciated.

My F-Secure antivirus program detected no viruses on the AVCHD Beta2.exe file.

Have you guys who are finding this virus considered the possibility that this virus was already on your machines before you downloaded this file, and it attached itself to the file?

Have you guys done a full system scan to see if any other files on your machines are infected?

After checking Samsung HK site it seems i was not up to date. Iv now updated via CD to 1.5 and will check tomorrow to see if the AVC HD disc still works.

Yes, DVD-R. You are also using DVD right?

Can anyone, not running AVG, give any more information regarding Norton and Kapersky that David Susilo reported as indicating a virus? I uninstalled AVG and installed the Kapersky trial, updated, and it reports nothing. The online Kapersky file scanner could not be used because the file is too large. Norton doesn't seem to have a trial, so I can't check what it's reporting. From now on, if anyone reports anything other than what seems to be a spurious AVG report, please include a screen shot using the avsforum attachment. The way to do a screen shot in Windows is to press the print screen button, then paste it into paint or another image editor where you can crop and save.

I seem to recall there was some controversy about this title when it was released in the d-Theater dVHS format.... many saw banding in the dock scenes around the lights... it may well be in the source.

It sounds like the waveform monitor is to monitor the incoming signal and then adjust based on the signal. You are basically telling the projector (this is an FP right?) what voltage represents black, what voltage represents white, and so forth. It also sounds like it would only apply to analog signals, but it is hard to tell from that documentation.

There are some patterns you can use on our disk to give you a 100% white field, black field, RGB fields, etc, but you should really consult someone who knows what they are doing with this specific projector. It sounds like you could really screw some stuff up if you don't know exactly what you are doing. I'd wait for someone with more experience to post, but you will probably have better luck starting your own thread. If you figure out exactly what pattern you need and want to know if it is on the disk, then ask here and we can tell you.

Thanks for the quick response.
I also managed to find an old post from Kelvin1965S
dummies guide to the waveform monitor
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...veform+monitor

Post 19

I would think the "single line scan" option could be used. As far as I can tell the feature gives a graphical representation of signal levels. I'm thinking if you go to the uniformity section you'll get a horizontal line across the monitor. I'm thinking if you use the windows it will show black (0%) at the outsides and the % window in the middle, so that if you went to the 100% window you could have both black and white on the monitor for setting brightness and contrast. If you use it for the colors, then you would probably want to use the 100% colors section. We do not have vertical gray bars like is shown in the manual (the middle of Misc Patterns chapter 1 might be similar), but by the best I can tell from their pictures I think the waveform monitor just relates signal levels. To me it looks like an amplitude monitor of some sort. By the "Any signal level below the recommended range will be forced to 0%" it appears anything below 0% will be clipped like can be seen on the black-clipping pattern from the disk (0% is 16 on the black-clipping pattern).

Yeah, I need to try a couple of other movies to see if I get banding at this higher contrast. It is probably the movie. The thing is I see some banding even at the beginning during the Universal title.

Thanks for the suggestions.

the blue ray version seems to think it's an iso image for a CD, but i see that it's supposed to be a DVD, but nero won't recognize the iso as one for a dvd. seems like there's a compatibility issue? i'm using nero 6.6. any ideas what i'm doing wrong?

it happened to me as well, download and use imageburn...that works.

alluringreality will have to look into that one, but it sounds like a Nero issue. Did you try burning it to CD? It may work.... I don't know if AVCHD has to be on DVD or if it can also be on CD.

On the Nero 8 trial I was using to burn to UDF 2.5 for testing, you have to select DVD even though it initially comes up as CD. My player can't even read CDs and AVCHD is intended for DVD as far as I know, so I think it makes sense to burn to DVD. I would agree with the reply to try something other than Nero 6.

i did try to burn to CD but it didn't work.



i'll try something other than nero 6.

thanks, i'll try that. is that the same program as imgburn?

Yes. ImgBurn is basically the king of burning programs in my opinion. It doesn't have a thousand bells and whistles like Nero, but it does what it does exceptionally well.

@vdiesel
Yes. Imgburn.

Would it be possible to add something like what is shown at http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/Sho...73543&SiteID=1 to your disc. I think it would be useful do be able to see what a player is reporting as capabilities. I am going to be downloading your disc today and testing on new Samsung Duo player. I look forward to having it in my bag of tricks along with GetGray. Thanks.

It looks like the link is broken. I get an error from the MSDN forums when I try to follow it. Can you double check it?

The site is really slow sometimes, the link works but will time out. Try this link to msn cache of page. Sorry to make it difficult.

I read the thread. I can't really understand what they are doing from that thread alone.

Do you know how they generated that output?

If anybody knows it will be Ron (dr1934). He may read this and give input. If you are really interested in it, you might want to start a new thread here or ask in the MSDN forums how it is done.

EDIT: Are they using HDi?

EDIT2: Nevermind, alluringreality figured it out.

The first one worked for me, yet I'm not sure how someone would run that http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=1&gl=us I find it interesting that a HD player can run it, but I really don't get the practical application. There's not much there that's there which is different between players or doesn't show up on a spec sheet. Beyond that, I would have to get permission to use it. Feel free to explian how to use it and the application, but aside from the "Player.capabilities.video.sub" nothing much caught my attention as interesting in the results.

Honestly the reason I am interested is to test what a player truly supports with a given firmware vs. what was promised on a spec sheet. It might not have an ongoing use. I was just thinking it would be another data point for testing and verifying a player. I am not sure if there is a way to do the same on Blu-Ray using BD-J to interogate the player. Also as to permission I think this is a feature set built into the HDi JScript engine not some additional code.

I have just gotten a Samsung Duo player that claims support for TrueHD, however Batman Begins using something similar to this claims it doesn't. It would be nice to be able to verify.

Your disc may not be the best place for it though. Thanks for looking at it.

I downloaded the HD-DVD version to try on the new Samsung BD-UP5000. The menu loads up fine but then I can't seem to navigate well.
1. I can move cursor to the right to down arrow, I can then hit the arrow to move the list. Once the list moves I can do nothing but move the list back up.

2. I can move to the second selection on the list but no farther down.

3. I can select either the top or second option and see the expanded rows but then I can't seem to do anything farther.

I can't seem to get the disc to actually play at all. I am sure this is a incomplete HDi in the player but I wanted to let you know. If I am doing something wrong let me know and I will try another way.

I just downloaded the AVC version and will try it and report back. One side question is in theory both discs should have the same ouptut correct on this player?

Yes, they should both give the same output (we have verified that they are both the same on disc). Let us know what you find.

Well I had less success with the AVCHD disc. The Duo just says disc can't be read and spits it back out. I burned both discs using same media and ImgBurn. Any ideas?

It had to happen sooner or later, so 2000+ downloads for the first incompatability report isn't bad. I don't have too many ideas, except maybe listing the player as incompatible

Using your player model and AVCHD in a search basically returns nothing, so I'll guess the player doesn't support that format. BDMV in the player thread also didn't return much either except a mention of incompability on dvd+r, so I'm not necessarily inclined to upload that Blu-ray format. BDAV is the only other format, and that doesn't work with menus. In short in regards to Blu-ray on DVD, someone would have to inform me what the player can do because I didn't see any reports of it being able to play anything.

The HD DVD also sounds like a player issue of some sort. The only thing I can think to suggest is to try maybe a -r if you're using +r DVD. I suppose it's possible that either Ulead or Samsung might eventually get things to work if one of the two is the cause of the HD DVD issue.

Using DVD Decryptor both formats read perfectly with a +disk on the LG BH100 dual player.
Go figure ??

I doubt it is a -R vs. +R issue since the HD-DVD reads fine. I will try to get some -R just in case and test it though. I totally forgot that AVCHD isn't required spec for Blu-Ray so that is likely the issue. If I make any progress with HD-DVD I will post. I would be curious to see if anyone has success with BH200 since internally the two players are very similar.

You may want to try a different brand of media as well. Sometimes players are very picky...

I have an A3 but since I would be burning the iso to a standard DVD is there any difference between the two isos? Do I just use the HD-DVD version anyway?

Both formats are intended to be burned to a single layer DVD+/-R. The HD DVD version plays in HD DVD players; the AVCHD version plays in Blu-ray players.

These disks are HD formats. Even though they are put on DVD, the versions are entirely different. Just like how the disks will not play on DVD players, they will not work with incompatible players. The HD DVD will not even play on my XA2 if the Blu-ray version is included on the same disk.

I just downloaded the AVCHD Beta 2 and tried to burn the ISO to DVD-R using NERO and Sonic but it looks the software wants a CD-R to burn the ISO not a DVD.

Is there something wrong I am doing?.

You may have to select DVD manually within in Nero, don't know about Sonic. If you have a lot of trouble with it download ImgBurn and use it instead (it is free).