Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark, Blu-ray Edition builds upon the trusted names of two major players in the video technology industry. Their latest TV calibration disc contains all the major test patterns to properly calibrate your HDTV. There aren’t any audio test signals, and there are limited instructions on how to use them. It earns our TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award.
Before we dive into the review, we wanted to quickly let you know who Stacey Spears and Don Munsil are. They are both well-respected and regarded experts in the video technology field. Their material and articles are used by many in the industry, including those who make the HDTVs and home theater products we use every day.
The Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark, Blu-ray Edition has a simple menu layout that makes it quick and easy to get to the “meat” of the disc, the test patterns and tutorials. Navigation is easy, so if you want to go back to a test pattern, it’s fast. No layers upon layers of menus and sub-menus, as with other TV calibration discs.
The only issue in the “Ease of Use” section with is there are limited, pop-up instructions. There aren’t comprehensive instructions and tutorials on how to use the TV calibration tools. We’ve heard a future release will add in better how-to instructions, but in the meantime, there may be a steeper learning curve for beginners.
While there may not be in-depth tutorials, the Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark, Blu-ray Edition makes up for it with some of the best video calibration tools on the market. These will help accurately adjust the picture quality of your HDTV. Along with test patterns, the disc also contains evaluation patterns which will ensure your HDTV and Blu-ray player are displaying the picture properly.
Some of the test patterns include color bars (both the standard variety and HD type, which has a few more options), to adjust chroma and hue; Low and High PLUGE (Picture Line-Up Generation Equipment) to calibrate the black levels.
There are other test patterns, such as Contrast, to fine-tune brightness and contrast; Geometry, to make sure that common shapes like circles and rectangles look normal, and not stretched out or distorted; and other tools to ensure sharpness, overall whites and blacks, and other features on your HDTV are running properly.
There are also tests to make sure your Blu-ray Player and HDTV are set to the right color space, which will result in a better overall picture. Color space, represented as RGB (Red, Green and Blue), is how color will be processed from a Blu-ray Player to the HDTV. The test patterns will help you bring up the proper color space option on your player.
There are video samples, which are gorgeous high definition clips so you can get a “real-world” look at how your calibrated HDTV should be displaying color, brightness, sharpness and so on. These samples show up when you first put in the disc, and if your HDTV’s calibration was way off, you’ll likely notice a big improvement once you’ve adjusted everything.
The audio tracks have been encoded in several different formats, including LPCM, DTS-HD:
Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD, in both 5.1 and some 7.1 configurations. What this all means is you’re getting really high quality audio to go along with the HD footage.
While there aren’t any specific audio test signals, but these audio tracks can be used to ensure your HDTV’s audio and your surround sound system is functioning well. Play them through your 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system and listen to each speaker to see if the sound is coming out balanced and similar to the other ones.
This isn’t an accurate way to calibrate audio, so we’d recommend going with a TV calibration disc that has audio test signals. We understand a future release should have these audio calibration features, which is very much welcomed.
The disc has been created and mastered in high definition, and ships on a Blu-ray Disc. We highly recommend using only TV calibration discs that have been mastered in HD and ship on Blu-rays. As we explain in the reviews of standard definition (SD) TV calibration discs, the differences between HD and SD are great enough that you shouldn’t use one to calibrate the other.
You’ll notice that some of the standard definition calibration discs can be used on HDTVs. We don’t recommend it, since you won’t get an accurate calibration. Everything from resolution to color processing, aspect ratio (16 x 9 widescreen vs. 4 x 3 fullscreen) to sound are better in HD compared to standard definition.
The TV calibration Blu-ray Disc defaults to a VC-1 HD video codec (format), which is of high quality for a Blu-ray Disc. There is the option to switch to SD VC-1 or SD MPEG-2 (standard definition video codecs/formats), if you desire. We recommend staying with high definition to get the most out of calibrating your HDTV.
There are limited help options, with some on-screen tutorials. However, the Spears & Munsil website has a vast wealth of articles about video calibration and video technology, a user manual, an FAQs page and more. This is your destination for all the help you might need in understanding TV calibration, including the technical and industry terms.
The site will also help you with using the Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark, Blu-ray Edition so you can more accurately calibrate your HDTV. They even have smaller versions of their test patterns on their site with explanations of what each one does.
If your disc fails, Spears & Munsil will replace it, or the site you purchased it from.
The Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark, Blu-ray Edition has all the video calibration tools you’ll need to ensure your HDTV is accurately calibrated. However, the lack of tutorials and thorough instruction may confuse those new to TV calibration. The disc is mastered in high definition, and the makers, Stacey Spears and Don Munsil, have gone to great lengths to deliver the best image and sound.
