Disney WOW: World of Wonder

Recently purchased a 55" Samsung UN55C6800 LED TV and was looking for a calibration disc. I was about the purchase the DVE HD Basics Blu-Ray but saw a press release concerning this DVD, so I decided to wait until this one came out and give it a go.I will preface this by saying I had already used calibrated settings from CNET as well as users on the AVS forums to tweak my TV already. Before using the WoW Blu-Ray I would say I was about 95% satisfied with the picture my TV delivered using the settings I found online. The main reason I bought the blu-ray is I was just interested in seeing all the (albeit non-professional) test patterns used to calibrate a TV and so forth. I went in to this purchase not expecting any vast improvements in Picture Quality over my already somewhat tweaked settings. I know this disc is no substitute for a ISF professional calibration and was not expecting such results.First, for people who havent purchased, head over to Disney's website and search for this blu-ray. On its Disney page, you'll find at the bottom a link to download the "WoW Technical Manual." This is basically an instruction booklet on how to use the blu-ray, and I found it to be a nice read before I actually received the blu-ray itself. It goes over a lot of the test patterns and how they work.Here are the contents of the blu-ray:DISCOVERThe discover section basically gives you an overview of what HDTV is, how a picture is composed, etc.OPTIMIZEBeginnerVIDEO TOOLS*Brightness *Aspect Ratio *Contrast *Color *SharpnessVIEWING ANGLE DIAGNOSTIC Find the best seat in the houseAUDIO TOOLS *Speaker ID *Polarity Test *Noise Floor *Buzz & Rattle TestADVANCEDADVANCED VIDEO CALIBRATION TOOLS*Advanced Brightness & Contrast *Aspect Ratio *Convergence *Chroma & Hue *Sharpness/Focus *Overscan Test *A/V SyncDISPLAY EVALUATION TOOLS *Purity *Scaling Test *Advanced Scaling 1 & 2 *Sharpness/Focus *Hyperbolic Zone Plate *White-Black Clipping *Viewing Angle Test *Gamma Response *Grayscale *Compound Test ChartAUDIO TOOLS *Speaker ID *Polarity Test *Noise Floor *Buzz & Rattle Test *A/V Sync *Speaker Level Adjustment *Subwoofer Level AdjustmentEXPERTPROFESSIONAL TOOLS HD SHOOTOUT Standard DVD vs. HD Blu-ray (BD only)EXPERIENCE1-2 minute clips of recent Disney movies.So....how did it work for me?First, I love the included manual. Very well written and easy to use. Also, this blu-ray comes with a blue filter gel used to calibrate your colors. (I believe the DVE Blu-Ray also comes with color gels).The actual DVD menus are wonderful too. Each test pattern has three sections: Overview (description of whay the particular TV setting is important), Instructions (shows the test pattern and clearly talks about how to use it), and finally just the test pattern itself, allowing you to tweak and take as long as you want.Depending on how familiar you already are with your TV and if you wanted to watch the "Discover" portion of the disc, you can expect to spend anywhere from 1 hour to a few hours with the disc. There is a second included disc called Visions that has a bunch of nature scenery/etc to show off your TV. I did not care for the second disc, but i could see how someone could enjoy it.At the end of the day, after running through all the tests (some multiple times because other tests later on may change your initial settings), I only changed two settings on my current set-up, and they were very small changes at that. I was disappointed that my settings didnt change too much, but like i said in the beginning I was already very happy with my TV's picture using settings I found online.For what it is (an average-joe TV calibration blu-ray), this product is wonderful. I highly recommend it for people purchasing their first HDTV as it thoroughly discusses everything a person new to the technology would need to know. If you are the type of person who buys a new TV and starts watching it day 1 on the default settings, this dvd may help a LOT. However, for those who already play around with settings, consumer calibration dvds such as this one will probably not help all that much - especially since we can get decent settings online already from professional review sites or forums.However, since I am rating the product, it undoubtedly deserves 5 stars. Easy to navigate, well produced, professional, etc. Just understand that if you've already tweaked your TV settings using information you've gathered online, this dvd may not bring that much of a change to your picture settings!

I ordered this product in the BluRay 2 disc version at 5pm - and recieved it the next day! Great service from Amazon (Prime) and for $2.99 extra shipping that is impressive.What to expect:I immediately wanted to pop the disc in and check it out. My immediate concern is regarding the Image Retention i see on my plasma from running the Disney channel in standard def. I told my wife about using the HD disney channel to fill the screen but i guess i dont know what im talking about. Anyway, there is a tool on this disc called "PIXEL FLIPPER" which adresses this type of concern. This is basically a colored snow pattern flipping every pixel on your screen 29 times per second. To use the "PIXEL FLIPPER" tool they recommend running it for an hour mininum and over night if needed. Well, my Sony BluRay player has a feature which turns itself off if it detects no activity for about 15 or 20 minutes. (In fact they all do) You cannot turn this off on my unit. Well, due to the way Disney implemented this tool, i am unable to use it because the BluRay player perceives this screen to be "paused" and after 15 minutes it does it's job and shuts down. I cannot use this tool for more than 15 or 20 minutes!!! This was the main reason i bought the disc.I already used the AVS Forums HD 709 calibration disc for free. I am thinking about getting the DVD version and playing it through my Xbox which doesnt have this non-sense. Not sure who to blame - sony for not allowing you to toggle this feature, o Disney for not thinking it through. tough call.As far as the disc is concerned, the menus are very attractive and easy to navigate around and are eye appealing. It really is stunning so far, makes you want to play with the different areas and explore. I found the more advanced tools and though i have only had this disc for one day, i am happy so far that it will be useful to do a fairly decent calibration and i am looking forward to using the Surround Sound tools to tune up my audio system too.I simply had to dock it one star because ALL HOME THEATRE equipment has screen savers and power management turned on by DEFAUlT. You HAVE TO INTENTIONALLY turn this stuff off to run this tool for one hour much less over night (my Sony bluray player thinks its paused and static). Not good!! Everything would be okay if the player only detected some activity from the tool. If anyone knows a work around i would love to hear from you. Good Luck!p.s. i am running current firmware from Sony.

Compre este articulo hace mucho tiempo y fue muy util para calibrar mi television.He empezado hoy a escribir reseñas de todas mis compras por eso llega tan tarde mi opinion.

Ho acquistato questo dvd per calibrare il mio nuovo televisore 48".Il dvd offre una serie di test da effettuare per calibrare diversi aspetti sia del video che dell'audio.Dopo una mezz'ora circa di prove e riprove devo dire che il risultato è spettacolare: neri profondi, colori vivaci e in generale un'ottima qualità visiva, che non ha assolutamente a che fare con le impostazioni standard della tv.Molto semplice da usare, e i contenuti disney aiutano anche a coinvolgere i bambini per un divertente pomeriggio tutti insieme.Consigliatissimo!

I bought this and the Spears & Munsil disk sets. After using them both, I found that I like this one better. And yes I will keep both. They both have their place in my library.If you are a total novice user the instructions before each section will help you immensely. The menu gives you Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced sections so you can grow as you get more comfortable with the concepts.Or maybe you just need a crash course in calibration, I think you'll find this Disney WOW disc's excellent tutorials to be an indispensable teaching tool. But don't assume, that this Disney WOW is just a remedial version of the Spears & Munsil disc. Both discs are absolutely essential tools in any collection.I'm of the opinion that Spears & Munsil is a better choice for ADVANCED picture-control adjustments, Disney WOW's A/V Sync tool (which allows you to precisely dial in the lip-sync delay setting of your receiver or preamp) is without peer period.One other reason I also got the Spears and Munsil is for 3D setup, something the Disney disc does not have. But I think most folks won't get past just doing the setups on this Disney Wow disk in my opinion.Everyone should buy this disk with any new TV purchase.

Très bonne idée de Disney. Bien que tout soit en anglais, c'est très simple de paramétrer sa TV simplement. Plusieurs modes de paramétrage sont disponibles (débutant, confirmé, expert). Le mode débutant fait déjà du très bon boulot. J'ai paramétré mon plasma avec et ça change tout. Ce blu-ray fait gagner beaucoup de temps par rapport à l'utilisation d'une sonde.

If you own home cinema equipment be it LCD, Plasma, projector and maybe a multi speaker sound system then you will want this Blu-ray which will walk you through a whole series of tests to help you get the best picture and sound from your kit. Made by experts in the AV field enthusiastic about educating end viewers and providing quality on-disc resources, showing everyone it is worth any time spent enhancing the enjoyment of the content that they produce. Everyone wins. You choose via a menu system which starts with a choice of Discover Optimise Experience. Discover is an educational feature explaining what is HD, colour, pixels etc. Only the advanced is worth a look. The rest is thinly disguised ads and promos plus Goofy's guide to HD for those who find sitting still a challenge.Optimise is the main tools section where you choose one of three tech levels Beginner, Advanced and Expert, whichever you are comfortable with and the appropriate tests will follow. You also get to choose what type of screen and sound hardware you have. The purpose and format of each test is first fully explained and then the test is started. You can jump in on any test and you can skip the intros when you are familiar with them. There is a also a large list of test footage from Pixar/Disney films (Experience section) to test your efforts. Perhaps a little more information on why each Experience clip was chosen would be of additional education value. Actually it is interesting to try and figure out what it is in each movie clip that is being demonstarted. Is it some sound detail, tricky high or low frequency? Some technically demanding visual detail or colour? Both? Some are obvious.I would advise to not try and do the whole of the disc in one go, it would take you several hours if done properly. You will be frustrated and tired. Focus on basic Video adjustments one session, run with that setup for a few days and say take it to the next level the following weekend. The disc is not a magic tool, press one button and you are done. It is a process with you the human being at the centre who has to be willing to take a bit of time critically assessing what you are seeing and hearing. There is plenty on this disc to work with over multiple sessions.The Optimize, Video calibration test tools is however the one part everyone should try. Don't just go with straight built-in TV manufacturers settings, certainly not dynamic and guess work is just as bad. The large number of disc test screens will definitely help put your set in a much better place, even using the most basic level sequences . Provided you listen carefully and learn a little about what it is you are trying to achieve.There are also single colour screens (purity), all red, all green all blue, all black, all grey and purple; use the skip button on player remote to advance. This was interesting as the Green screen demonstrated some image retention on my Plasma showing the outline of DOGs and lower thirds from a recent channel I viewed. Thankfully temporary. Speaking of which there is also a Pixel flipper which is designed to exercise each and every pixel with random noise to help with stuck pixels, image retention etc. Can be left running for an at least an hour which is what the disc recommends or even overnight which is probably more likely to be needed if you have this problem. This won't fix dead pixels but it may help 'reset' stressed phosphors.A nice feature is that some patterns pulse key elements to help concentrate your eye where matching of tones is crucial. Staring at just a static pattern would be prone to error as the brain fades static features away. There is an A/V sync test which is testing audio and video arrive from the player at the correct time. You are supposed to be able to judge in either +/-1 frame (41.6 ms) increments. To be honest that's really tough to judge simultaneously by ear and eye. I have yet to see a good way of doing this without a couple of detectors and a milisecond timer doing the job. There used to be a BBC screen on one of their Freview HD channels but thats was amazingly hard and lasted for just a minute or two. Covering bits of the screen with a sheet of paper hilst listening can help. I can't tell better than between -2 and + 2 frames with this method though. Note This only tests the Blu-Ray sync and not any Freeview codec sync problems.UK users will have PAL TV sets so you have to skip the tint test. PAL does not have a Tint adjustment, it is taken care of in other ways in the format. All other disc tests do work with PAL and you get the elusive blue plastic gel filter to help with colour (ahem, color) adjustment. This is perhaps one of the finer user judgements to make and you should take your time with it. In fact an eye for detail is required for all tests and its best to refer to the full manual which is only available as a download. For those willing to go more advanced you can go round the sequence of test a few times as there is a degree of interdependence requiring some iteration.Some test pictures will also help evaluate all the stuff the TV manufacturers like to add to "improve" the picture and build an impressive feature list for salesmen that actually you will discover you will want to turn most of them off. A lot of them are acronyms that sound like they should be left on but this disc allows you to see and judge for yourself in a controlled way vs the benefit of say maintaining 1:1 pixel mapping for example. I had one obscure TV setting that stretched the picture just a few pixels to the right for no obvious reason (giving an overscan on the rightside only plus the loss of 1:1 pixel mapping). One test pattern showed the problem straight away (you should be able to see the sharp arrow tips on all screen edges) and I had to go through every TV menu Picture related featuresturning each one off to find the culprit. It was Pixel orbit On. The only other option was Pixel orbit Auto which eliminated the one sided overscan. Not something I would have found out otherwise. Auto sounds like it is on sometimes but from the TV manual you have no idea.I primarily bought this as an upgrade over the short DTS picture tests on the Pixar discs but I found the detailed sound test materials on the WOW disc are very usefu and interesting as well. Both as a accurate reference for which channels are wired up to which speaker but also phase checks and a whole suite of frequency based tools like rattle tests. It's great way to comparre the performance of different speakers when you want to assess which ones to swap out. The sound tests at the higher tech levels require ownership of a sound meter which most people won't have but my tip that will get you a good part of the way there is to download a 3rd party sound meter phone App with a dB readout, many are free that perform well enough to do reasonable level of reproducible volume balancing. Obviously a real meter with calibration is always going to be better but if you use what you have to hand it is better than doing nothing at all. Just use a bit of common sense, place your phone in the main listening position and watch the readout. Don't touch the phone and be very quiet.Once you use ithis WOW disc you will want to go and sort out your friends and family out as well. I would say even the most technically challenged could achieve noticeable benifits with just the basic level adjustments, as long as you are motivated. You may find some fellow viewers will complain the new image is a bit dim for example but that passes within a few days of eye re-education. You will have to ban fiddling with the promise of a review in a week. Some scenes are intentionally shot dark by directors as part of the atmosphere.Do remember there is a 54 page PDF fully detailed manual out there which is meant to be used with the disc to help identify what to look for in all the tests. You only get a very basic mini leaflet, the disc and a blue filter in the box. Look on the back of the mini leaflet for the URL to get the full manual.After you are done just wait to you next see a HD program of natural scenery, wildlife (hair feathers whiskers). The Olympics 2012 was another good HD example. Yes, hairy atheletes. Water surfaces also look spectacular. The only downside is you will notice how poor some SD material can be in comparison.