HD Nation is available as an HD download in iTunes and from Revision3’s site.

Blooming occurs on an HDTV when light from a bright area of the screen bleeds into a darker area, creating a glow, halo, or bloom effect around the bright object. It usually occurs in areas of high contrast such as white letters on a black background.

Below is another example. Note the grayish halo around the letters:

Because the problem is inherent to how each HDTV handles dynamic backlighting and contrast, there is no way to fix the problem short of purchasing another television.

The only way to know how good of a television you have is to push it to its limits. Here are four DVDs to add to your library that will challenge your HDTV while also entertaining you:

The Fifth Element

This DVD has become the classic demo disc for home theater. The movie features the whole enchilada when it comes to movie sensory perception. The detailed and saturated visuals run the gamut of colors, and the soundtrack makes brilliant use of 5.1 audio, featuring a dynamic range of both highs and lows along with hundreds of individual sound effects. The disc is also good for experimentation if you want to mess around with your TV’s picture settings. Check out the Ultimate Edition for the best version.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

An early scene in this disc features the ship HMS Surprise sailing through a heavy fog at dawn as it’s being hunted by another ship. This challenging scene, with its range of grays, will test your TV’s  ability to show grayscale, white balance, and subtle shadings. Lesser TV sets may display banding in these scenes. The movie is also a classic, well worth having in your library.

U-571

This disc will push your subwoofer to its limits, particularly in the scenes featuring depth charges. The picture has a pure film look and is filled with low-saturation colors. Plasma owners, in particular, can test their black levels on the dimly-lit scenes on the sub.

Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl

With its gorgeously detailed costume and set design, this DVD is perfect for testing your TV’s ability to show detail. It’s also good for testing the deinterlacing quality of your DVD player vs the one in your HDTV. Compare and contrast tiny details like the hairs in Captain Jack Sparrow’s dreads. If you own a Blu-ray player and you’re feeling especially nerdy, rent both the Blu-ray and DVD versions to see how much more detail you’re getting for your $1,000 Blu-ray player.

Calibrating your TV sounds very technical and expensive. It doesn’t have to be. If fact, you may already have free calibration tools in your DVD collection. The THX Optimizer is a set of tests to optimize your television and is found on DVDs which are THX certified.

The THX Optimizer gives step-by-step instructions to test and fine tune your HDTV’s audio and video. The audio testing features a signal sent to each surround sound speaker to confirm proper hook-up. The video testing fine tunes your HDTV’s color, tint, brightness, and contrast settings. CNET Australia has a closer look at using the tools. The color and tint tests require THX Optimizer glasses. They are available from the THX.com store for $1.99 plus shipping ($2.50-$6.00 for the US).

So, how do you find out which DVDs are THX certified? THX.com let’s you search for a particular title or shows you a list of of all the DVDs. Currently, there are 322 THX-certified DVDs listed, but there may be more. For instance, the DVD for Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2006) features the tools, but the DVD does not appear on THX.com’s list. Here’s a select few that might be worth picking up from Amazon or eBay:

• The Abyss (2002)
• Castaway (2001)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Hidalgo (2004)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
• The Incredibles (2005)
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (2003 re-release)
• The Lion King (2003)
• Nightmare Before Christmas (2003)
• Pirates of the Caribbean (2005)
• Sin City (2005)
• Star Wars Trilogies (2004, 2005, 2006)