. Oxide Plasma Etching: Basics [VHS]

Avia's latest entry into TV and audio configuration strikes a fine balance between being friendly to newcomers and satisfying to home theater gurus. Navigating the disc is easy, as it is logically divided into ten main topics that are further divided into chapters. If you are new to home theater, the first few chapters walk you through topics like Home Theater Components, Video Basics, HD Technology, and Making the Connection (hooking up your system)--all in plain English, not in techno-babble.

If you already understand the basics of home theater, it's easy to skip to the final three chapters to tweak and calibrate every aspect of your system's audio and video. To really take advantage of the audio test tones, you need a SPL meter, and if you don't know how to use one, the disc walks you through the process. It also walks you through the most common video test patterns and how to use them to make proper adjustments to the sharpness, brightness, color, tint, and contrast settings on your display. The first time you calibrate your display it will look a lot different than you are used to, but resist the urge to turn the brightness up. By the end of the week, you will appreciate the improved picture and wonder how you were able to watch it before. Just be careful with the included color filters—since they lack a sturdy, cardboard liner, they can be easy to lose. --Adam Gregorich

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