Disney Announces Calibration Blu-ray with Goofy

[MICKEYMOUSE]

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has announced the Disney's WOW World of Wonder disc, a configuration and calibration disc, hosted by none other than Goofy, to help consumers (from beginners and enthusiasts to experts and custom installers alike) to get the best quality experience from their home theater systems. It will be available November 2, in single-disc and double-disc versions.

Viewers will learn the basics of HD and home theater alongside Disney's classic character Goofy, then follow basic instructions to maximize home theater performance through an easy to follow on-screen menu. The disc packaging also includes an in-depth illustrated handbook. The Disney WOW disc is comprehensive and applicable to everything from flat panel displays and OLED screens to projection equipment and CRT based TV sets, as well as multiple sound formats ranging from Stereo to 7.1 Channel Surround.

The disc contains 35 easy-to-use A/V calibration and evaluation tools, for beginners, advanced and expert home theater enthusiasts. It has been produced and directed by Richard J. Casey, of R&B Films, Ltd.

A/V Tools in the Beginner section are designed for ease of use in the proper alignment of home theater equipment. The Advanced section contains A/V Tools that address professional evaluation and calibration tasks for specific monitors, displays, and projectors. Illustrations in the included 56 page booklet and the on-screen guide provide clear examples of properly and improperly calibrated A/V test patterns.

Disney's WOW World of Wonder disc will be presented in single-disc (SRP $34.99) and two-disc (SRP $39.99) versions. The latter will include an exclusive extra disc called Visions: Inspired by Nature, featuring "breathtaking natural and digitally created landscapes with original music scores and ambient sounds."

It will also be available in a Home Theater Value Pack (with an HDMI cable), and a Home Theater Starter Pack (with a Disney movie Blu-ray and an HDMI cable)

Full contents include:

Discover
Beginner
Home Theater Basics With Goofy
Easy As 1-2-3
Lost University
Split Screen Showdown
Advanced
What makes up a picture?
What is sound?
What is compression?
What are interlaced/progressive images?
What is 24-frame playback?
Disney Blu-ray
Creating New Memories
Digital Copy
Disney Movie Rewards
Disney BD-Live
Optimize
Beginner video tools
Brightness
Aspect ratio
Contrast
Color
Sharpness
Viewing angle diagnostic
Audio tools
Speaker ID
Polarity test
Noise floor
Buzz & rattle test
Advanced video tools - professional video calibration and monitor evaluation specifically designed for optimizing and testing all displays including LCD, plasma, DLP, OLED, CRT and projector
Advanced video calibration tools
Advanced brightness & contrast
Aspect ratio
Convergence
Chroma & hue
Sharpness/focus
Overscan test
A/V Sync
Display 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 chart
Advanced audio tools
Speaker ID
Polarity Test
Noise Floor
Buzz & Rattle Test
A/V Sync
Speaker Level Adjustment
Subwoofer Level Adjustment
Expert professional tools
HD Shootout - standard DVD vs. HD/Blu-ray
Experience - Includes breathtaking scenes from your favorite Disney films and more
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Up
Wall-E
G-Force Bolt
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
Monsters, Inc.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Prestige
Surrogates
Nature's Journey
Visions: Inspired by Nature bonus disc
Flower Fields
Cumulous Day
Forest Waterfalls
Big Sur Fireplace
Ocean Sunset Spring
Desert Vistas
Summer
Mountain Skies
Sunrays
Ripples

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=5186

[Mickeyfan1990]

Well, that sounds cool, I guess.

[slave2moonlight]

Hmm, this seems weird to me. I'm going to have to get a kickass Home Theater after I find a job and get a bigger apartment, but I figured Best Buy's Geek Squad does all this for me, right? Oh well. Seems like an odd thing to pay 40 bucks for. Should be included with your home theater purchase. Jeez, is it THIS complicated to hook up your home theater? Well, if I decide this is worth getting, I will be looking at the packs that come with the HDMI cable, and hopefully those will be the 2 disc edition. I wonder to what extent Goofy will be involved. I mean, are we talking the costumed character from the parks, new animation, recycled animation, or stills? Ha.

[buffalobill]

Do you get Disney Movie Rewards points with them?

[funloops]

Disappointed that it doesn't come with a HD copy of the "How to hook up your home theater" Goofy short.

[Barbossa]

Here's what I don't get...
The Blu Ray explains how to set-up a home theater. Well, the viewers of the dics probably already have one setup if they are watching it on a Blu-Ray player.

[Scamander]

It's about the configuration of TV and home cinema, right colour, right contrast, speaker configuration etc. At least 95% of ppl don't have a clue how to do this right.

[milojthatch]

Something about this just seems too much like a Disneyland vacation DVD for home theaters and Blu Ray for my tastes.

[Elladorine]

This feels like it should be promotional freebie.

[SpringHeelJack]

Here's what I don't get...
The Blu Ray explains how to set-up a home theater. Well, the viewers of the dics probably already have one seup if they are watching it on a Blu-Ray player.

I thought the EXACT same thing. I'm just imaging some old guy watching it on his HDTV as he's hooking up cables.

"MILDRED! I can see what Goofy's doing but there's no audio!"

[Duckburger]

Here's information on how to hook up your entertainment system with a few shots of Goofy moving and saying funny stuff, which you can probably find for free on the internet anyway. Now please give us 30 dollars for this - and you'll get a FREE SLIPCOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so shiny.

~Disney marketing team.

[Mr. Yagoobian]

Here's information on how to hook up your entertainment system with a few shots of Goofy moving and saying funny stuff, which you can probably find for free on the internet anyway. Now please give us 30 dollars for this - and you'll get a FREE SLIPCOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so shiny.

~Disney marketing team.

Most of the information can be found on the internet, yes; whether or not one is capable of making head or tail of it, however...that's where Goofy the original How-To guy comes in.

The tools? Nope, not for the video at least, not unless you're talking about an illegally ripped torrent of one or another of the commercially available calibration discs for consumers (DVE, Spears & Munsil), as those tools are built from the ground up by the disc author/producers. Audio calibration tools are built into some AV receivers; a properly rendered soundstage can make a smaller screen viewing experience feel a lot bigger.

It's a great idea. Hope the execution is good.

Some discussion and solicitiation about the product involving the producer, Richard J. Casey of R&B Films, on a thread at AVS <a href="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre ... 3">here</a>.

You can get your system hooked up and functioning without calibrating video and audio, but an informed and orchestrated effort at proper set-up will greatly enhance the home theatre experience.

[littlefuzzy]

Disappointed that it doesn't come with a HD copy of the "How to hook up your home theater" Goofy short.

I would have thought that would be an automatic include....

[Kyle]

^I know, It doesn't get any more obvious than that. it's a real shame.

Maybe they don't want grandpa thinking it's a good idea to take a chainsaw to the extra cables. Or maybe their afraid it'll just scare them into not trying at all.

[ajmrowland]

Hmm, this seems weird to me. I'm going to have to get a kickass Home Theater after I find a job and get a bigger apartment, but I figured Best Buy's Geek Squad does all this for me, right? Oh well. Seems like an odd thing to pay 40 bucks for. Should be included with your home theater purchase. Jeez, is it THIS complicated to hook up your home theater? Well, if I decide this is worth getting, I will be looking at the packs that come with the HDMI cable, and hopefully those will be the 2 disc edition. I wonder to what extent Goofy will be involved. I mean, are we talking the costumed character from the parks, new animation, recycled animation, or stills? Ha.

professionals will do it for you, but it's a couple hundred dollars. Just 30$ for a disc can get you almost professional quality.

and I think the "Basics with Goofy" is actually the HTHUYHT short, just renamed. maybe it's the abbreviated version on Disney Channel.

[TacoBravo]

It seems to be a Disney version of DVE.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... eimprovemz

I look forward to the reviews.

[ajmrowland]

^yeah, I think that was the whole idea.

[ajmrowland]

a review is up.
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Disneys-W ... 16/#Review

seems like its really worth it even if you have another calibration disc.