Ok, this post probably belongs best here.
I'd been surviving with an old Digital Video Essentials DVD for calibrating my TV and had been mulling over whether to buy the Blu Ray version. It struck me that these things are essentially just a collection of calibration pictures which can be found freely available on the internet.
Wouldn't it be great if some kind souls had compiled some sort of disc that everyone could use, costing them no more than a blank DVD?
Fear not!
The guys on the AVS forums have such a thing - A selection of downloads for not only those lucky/rich enough to have a BD burner on their PC but AVCHD (which PS3s and loads of Blu Ray players can handle) and HD DVD forms too. They've got accompanying PDF files as instructions but you'll need to register to download them - if you know what you're doing, the disc images can be downloaded without registering.
Link
They've even got a selection of MP4 files if you've not got any spare discs and the finished products are very professional looking.
I only had to adjust my TV a couple of clicks in a few sections (and the standard settings were remarkably good on my Samsung to begin with) from what I'd come up with on the old calibration DVD but it's nice to have for future reference. My little 19" TV in the bedroom was way off.
Where people might fall down is the colour calibration. My TV has a built-in blue filter so it was ok but even if yours doesn't (or you can't get your hands on an external one) it's great for brightness, contrast, sharpness etc.
This is for HD DVD and Blu Ray players only, by the way. Even though they can be burned to DVD (I use Imgburn, which is freeware and the best around) they won't work in a standard DVD player, even if it can upscale.