View Full Version : Noob questions about Avia
PaxumBud
07-30-2002, 05:09 PM
new to the hdtv world, so bare with me please. i have been reading everything i can find on hdtv, yet i still have a question or 2. i recently looked at hdtv's at best buy, and the salesman mentioned their 4 year service plan that includes the extended warranty, and yearly visits from a hdtv tech that will fine tune the hdtv. after reading quite a bit, i do fully understand that hdtv sets are far from plug and play, meaning that they do need quite a bit of tweeking from time to time. so my question is, should i buy the avia dvd(heard good things) so i myself can do the fine tuning, and save my money, or should i get the plan and leave the fine tuning to the tech? or should i get both? the plan for 4 years was about $350-400 which i would have no problem paying, but if i can do it myself with a $40-50 avia dvd, i would prefer the cheaper, more educational route. I just wanted some experienced opinions on this matter. Thanks in advance.
Since you asked me to "bare with you" I'm sitting here naked while typing, hope you are similarly attired. Here are my comments.
1. Avia will only do so much. It is very good to set up your TV/home theatre this way and you will also gain an education from using and watching this disk, so I would recommend a purchase of Avia, VE, or Sound & Vision's Home Theater Tuneup.
If you want your set to look its best, you still need to do convergence in the service menu and also some colour tuneup while in there. This is best done by a very serious amateur or a professional. Some of the newer sets have multipoint convergence that can be done relatively easily by the user (at least 40 points say), but most sets require a lot of effort to get this right via the service menu.
2. I'm therefore recommending that you have a professional also do your setup after you've done as much as you can with your "setup disk". Some companies will send out a technicial for free to do convergence once your set is in the home for a few weeks. (I called Hitachi, told them my convergence was off and they sent a technician at no charge to do convergence and some minor colour tuning.)
3. $3-400 for extended warranty and tuneups sounds like a half-decent buy, provided the technician actually does something. You'll have to decide if the "insurance" and the "service" is worth this expense. You could ask the salesperson if this deal is available at a later date and then take advantage of it later if you aren't happy with the setup as discussed earlier...
PaxumBud
07-30-2002, 09:48 PM
bare..is that spelled wrong...wouldnt suprize me if it was. thanks for the prompt reply. i think before i do anything im going to ask a few more questions about the service plan and find out what exactly they do when they come out for the tune up. How long would you say it takes any of you to go through the avia tuning from start to finish?
I'd set aside an entire quiet evening. This isn't just a setup disk. It discusses home theater, speaker setup, connections, etc.
Perhaps you could "watch" the disk one evening for an hour or so and then do the setup the next evening for 1-2 hours.
