I heard that it is a good idea to "calibrate" my new HDTV. What is the best way to do this?

You heard right. Calibrating your new HDTV is a good way to make sure you are getting the best performance from your TV. The last thing you want is to be unhappy with your purchase. Especially considering how much these things cost. There are several DVDs on the Market that can accomplish this. The most popular are the "AVIA Guide to Home Theater" DVD, and "Digital Video Essentials". These are both excellent, but there is a cheaper way. If you have a copy of Finding Nemo or The Incredibles, or pretty much any Disney movie with a THX logo, you can access the 'THX Optimizer' from the DVD menu and perform a basic "front-panel" calibration of your system. By adjusting brightness, contrast, color, tint, and sharpness correctly you will get your system pretty close to top notch performance without spending a dime. Select VIDEO TESTS from the optimizer menu, and it will walk you through it. You might have to refer to your TV manual for the setup menu options to adjust the settings. For instance, on some TVs contrast is referred to at "White Level" or White Balance".