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.

Once you’ve found your optimized picture settings for the Vizio GV47LF, it’s important to note that those settings are not replicated for all inputs. For instance, if you adjust the color temperature while watching broadcast TV, the settings are not replicated for the component input (DVD player, etc). So, you must go to each input using your remote and adjust the settings manually. It does appear, however, that the “Advanced Picture Settings” stay consistent across all inputs.

I just found this out after having the Vizio for 7 months. The menu system gives no indication the settings are different between input and does not label the input settings when you access them. The television’s instruction booklet is kind of vague about this fact as well.

Check out my previous on calibrated picture settings for the Vizio GV47LF.

Review site Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity just posted an excellent review of the GV47LF. The reviewer used Datacolor Colorfacts professional calibrating equipment to calibrate the television. So any owners of the GV47LF should head on over there and check out the entire the review for tips on getting the best picture from the television. I can say their suggesting settings improved my viewing experience.

Their suggested calibrated settings for the Vizio GV47LF:

• Red: 133
• Green: 126
• Blue: 106

Their suggested advanced picture adjust settings for the GV47LF:

• DNR: Off
• Black Level Extender: On
• White Peak Limiter: On
• CTI: Off
• Flesh Tone: On
• Dynamic Backlight: AI
• Adaptive Luma: On

I’ve been messing around with the backlighting settings on the television, and I’ve come to the conclusion that leaving the dynamic backlight setting on AI is the best way to go, whether you’re in a well-lit room or in a dark room. I’ve found that turning off dynamic backlighting in the advanced settings and adjusting the manual backlight to a low setting (less than 40) tends to make dark scenes murky, and can turn a bright sunny scene into an overcast day. If you use the above settings and dynamic backlight on AI, you’ll get the best compromise of black levels and vivid colors that this TV has to offer. You’ll also have more peace of mind by not having to fiddle with the television anymore, knowing the settings are from a professional calibration.

*Update* I’ve been using these settings for months now, and I am still totally happy with the picture in all lighting settings. I have not touched the settings nor plan on touching them any time in the future. Again, I recommend viewing your Vizio GV47LF in dimly lit rooms–avoid total darkness.

*Update II* Please note that picture settings for each input (broadcast TV, component, HDMI, etc) must be changed while in that mode–they do not replicate across all inputs. See my post on the subject.

*Update III* My GV47LF developerd a buzz sound (out of warranty, of course) that was produced from having the dynamic backlight set to AI. I have now changed it to On (this solves the buzzing problem while maintaining the bright, vivid picture the dynamic backlight provides). I have also messed around with the other picture settings and find that reducing the brightness to 47-50 and having contrast cranked up to 90-100 helps increase the black levels.