Overscan - the theory and practice of....

[admin_exported]

I think I understand the principle behind the 'Overscan' option on my TH42PX80, the notion of it expanding the pic to fill any black edges and so on. But to do that it seems to me that it must to some etent degrade the picture in the same way as one of the 'zoom' options. I fiddled with it last night watching the one show but while the picture 'moved' I could not hand on heart say there was much difference. SO...my question is, should I have it on or have it off (so to speak) -which option will give me the notionally better picture. With SD and with HD. Thank you JJ

 

[Anonymous]

Well, was just wondering thats all..... JJ

 

[Anonymous]

Its all in the eye of the beholder that one...

For me - I turned it off on day 1 opting for the slight pic sharpening, yes you see the odd artefacts now and then but for me they're neither here nor there and short lived. Overscan has been off ever since.

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="JoJoW"]Well, was just wondering thats all..... JJ[/quote]

Yes, we know you were. Hence the answer, less than two hours after the original question was posted. Sorry for the endless delay.

The answer? Overscan off.

The reason? See here.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you I was not being impatient just didn't want it slipping over the page never to be seen again!! I did think as much but always like The Word from on High! JJ

 

[tvmog]

[quote user="Arbk"]Its all in the eye of the beholder that one... For me - I turned it off on day 1 opting for the slight pic sharpening, yes you see the odd artefacts now and then but for me they're neither here nor there and short lived. Overscan has been off ever since.[/quote]

Just turned off the overscanning on my 37 inch PX80. I'm amazed at how much picture was being hidden. I always felt that the picture seemed a little bit cramped and this would explain it. As you say there is the occasional artefact at the edge but oddly this seems to occur more on HD broadcasts than SD. I've also noticed a tiny bit of "dogearing" at the very top of the vertical edges where they meet the screen surround. Interestingly the Sky broadcast of each channel reveals slightly more black at the sides than the freeview version.

 

[Anonymous]

Does this apply to both SD and HD?

It's just that one review I read said to turn Overscan On for SD and Off for HD?

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
[quote user="JoJoW"]Well, was just wondering thats all..... JJ[/quote]

Yes, we know you were. Hence the answer, less than two hours after the original question was posted. Sorry for the endless delay.

The answer? Overscan off.

The reason? See here.
[/quote]

I sometimes don't know what Andrew does with his time! I mean two hours! JJ

Have overscan switched off now and am happy with it, but I still can't decide between 1080i or 720p for football, and thats even before I start on noise reduction! JJ

 

[Andrew Everard]

Noise reduction off.

720p or 1080i a matter of personal preference.

Decisions, decisions...

(Oh and this one was 7.20am, not 720p)

 

[Anonymous]

LOL. Thank you Andrew, you are your gang have been stars guiding me through all this. Coulour management? OFF? JJ

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="JoJoW"]Coulour management? OFF? [/quote]

Yup - everything possible off. As little processing as possible.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you Andrew, much appreciated as always JJ

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have left everything off when i got my px70 and i must say its easily better with it all off. But does this apply to the hd-dvd toshiba players because they have a lot of noise reducing tools like block noise reduction etc so should they all be off too and do they do more harm than good?

Thanks

Paul

 

[Andrew Everard]

Usually, yes.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks Andrew. I will try some quality movie material out with it all off see If i can see the difference.