Test disc.

Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune Up. Up until now I have been aware of only two good DVD test discs that allow enthusiasts to fine tune high-fidelity surround-sound audio-video systems. The older one is the Video Essentials disc, available from the Imaging Science Foundation. (There was also a laserdisc version from this outfit available some time before the DVD got started.) The other is the Avia test disc, available from Ovation Software. Both discs are very usable, although the Avia disc is easier to navigate and also contains some audio and video tests that I find to be more useful than what we have with the VE disc. However, now we have a third disc, also .produced by Ovation, although this time the job was done for Sound & Vision magazine.

Right off the top, and just like with the Avia disc, the S&V version has an introductory tutorial that most newcomers (and even some old timers) to home theater and surround-sound audio will find very useful. Anyone using the disc should make it a point to sit through the tutorial before going on to bigger and better things.

The new disc, which is 80 minutes in length, has some (but by no means all) of the video and audio tests found on the Avia disc, although it also has few new tests that might be more workable in some cases. For example, it has an "anamorphic" video resolution chart that those who own wide-screen TV monitors might find handy. It also has DTS audio tests, in addition to Dolby Digital and other more standard ...