Denon 1940 upscaling issues

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Hi all, would be grateful for some feedback on my new set-up. I plumped in the end for a Panasonic 42" PZ70, Onkyo 505, Denon 1940 DVD and Mordaunt Short Alumnis. So far I'm very happy with it all - cable is excellent, speakers rock, gaming through my xBox is wicked....but the DVD is letting me down. The picture isn't as sharp as I've seen in demos and is quite grainy on some of my DVDs, especially the older ones. I'm running an optical cable (Cambridge Audio £20) through the Onkyo with the HDMI lead (IXOS £40 one from Richer Sounds) going straight into the TV. I've also tried running the HDMI cable trhough the Onkyo as well but picture appears the same. I have left the upscale setting on the DVD player to 1080p for everything (is that wrong?) and have gone through all the settings to ensure the enhanced features, etc.. are on. Basically I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do to get a better picture, or if the player just isn't very good. I have seen a HDMI cable for £150 in Richer Sounds. Can this really make much of a difference than my £40 one? And should the cable go via the Onkyo or straight into the PZ70? At the moment I'm happier with my cable picture than with the DVD picture which is annoying as I bought the set-up for film playback more than anything. Watched 'Hero' with Jet Li on it the other day and was disappointed, despite this being a new film. Please help!

 

[John Duncan]

I suspect the films rather than the player - plenty of films out there which didn't necessarily have 1080p in mind when they were made, even recently.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

If you have played around with the settings, that could be the problem. Go into the menu again and click initialise (I think that's what it's called). You should get a quite fantastic picture with this player - mine does. I've watched downloaded films and the upscaling is great. I would say to use a coaxial lead rather than optical though for sound.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

I've just read your email properly. First of all, don't change your hdmi lead. Connect your plasma/lcd to the Onkyo and then your dvd player to the Onkyo. Sell your optical or take it back and get a coaxial (much better sound). Don't have any enhanced settings on the 1940 - it messes up the picture. As I said before, "linitialise" the 1940 - the factory settings are what you want. If your player had been demo'd in a shop, this may be why the settings are all different. I played with my settings and then when I initialised it the difference was astounding.

 

[Anonymous]

i would have a look at the settings on the tv too! Take all the picture enhancements off. Im not familiar with your tv but with the sonys, it can really muck up a picture if you have "sharpness" turned up, "noise reduction", "gamma" etc etc. Have you tried setting your tv using the thx optimiser?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for your advice on this matter. I'll try reconnecting to the Onkyo tonight rather than straight into the TV. When I tried it with the film 8 Mile I didn't notice much difference, basically to say I wasn't overly impressed with either. I'll try that initialise option, Gerrard, as perhaps as you say I just need to go back to square one. Do I not need to set the HDMI level on the Denon to 1080p though?It doesn't appear to change this for me automatically when I put in different DVDs which is why I changed it in the first place. Is there anything with the Onkyo settings which will help picture wise or, again, is it all automatic when passing something through it? I understand the Onkyo upscales anyway (my TV is 1080p). Mark2, my TV settings ar all pretty much as they were when I bought it so I don't think it's that. I'm very happy with the picture coming through Virgin cable, it's more just the DVD I'm worried about. Sound is great though. Thanks again for your replies. Dan

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Let the Denon do the upscaling. If you press the hdmi button on the front of the machine until it reads 1080p that will then be the setting until you change it. Mark2 is right also. When you buy a plasma or LCD the settings from the factory are normally shocking. I would search on the net for some published settings for your plasma or use the THX guide on some DVDs. This can make a real difference. Strangely the Denon 1940's settings are spot on, hence my advice on initialising it!

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Gerrardasnails (is that Gerrard a snails or Ger Hard as nails?!). Last question i promise, seeing as you also own the player and know what you're talking about..... are you saying then that it is best to leave it on the 1080p button on the front, even if the movie is an old one for example? Or are you saying initialise it first, then don't touch that button at all and just let the player work out what it wants to do? Cheers!

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Gerrard is as hard as nails. Gerrardasnails in short. I hope I know what I'm talking about! Once you have hit initialise, then set the hdmi at 1080p and leave it like that. It will then do it's best to upscale any disc to 1080p. Back to your plasma, do you have Sky HD? The reason I ask is that if you don't and you are happy with the SD picture, this may not be relevant to your dvd picture. Remember you are trying to upscale to HD. I would seriously go through the THX test. Don't worry about not having 3D glasses for one section of the test. There are lots of DVDs out there that have the THX test in the extras on the disc - I used Bambi. Just look out for the THX logo on the back of the DVD box and if it's there you will find it on the menu of the DVD. You should be really impressed with the 1940 picture so good luck.

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="Gerrardasnails"]Gerrard is as hard as nails.[/quote]

Oh I thought it meant Gerrard is a snail. Like Brian in The Magic Roundabout.

But I suppose it must be a soccer reference - perhaps to Professor Bill Gerrard's fine 2006 book The Economics of Association Football, Volume 1.

 

[John Duncan]

Did you just edit this from 'association football' to 'soccer'?

We don't have that many Americans round here, do we?

It's 'fitba', anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool, thank you. I'll try that tonight. I have Virgin+ HD (can't get Sky in my area, annoyingly), and the picture is fine for that. I took your advice though and looked around for some decent settings for my Panny (contrast, overscan, etc..), and will use those tonight also. I have Incredibles on DVD, pretty sure that has THX thingy as I tried the speaker set-up using that so will do the same for the picture (presumably this changes settings of my TV and not my DVD though?). I did think about leaving the Denon settings alone when I first got it, but when I went into the menu there were things like 'HDMI on or off' so I figured surely I need to change that to on?

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="JohnDuncan"]Did you just edit this from 'association football' to 'soccer'?[/quote]

One tries to avoid repeating oneself in the same sentence.

No I deliberately used 'soccer' to distinguish it from the real game - the one apocryphally invented at Rugby school, but in fact dating back to medieval times.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Yes, the changes are to your plasma settings. And yes, when you first set up, you need to tell the machine that you are connected with hdmi but that's about all you need to change.