Setting up new TV to get the best picture possible

[King Goal]

Hi, first time to the forum so here goes:

With the digtal switchover looming I decided a new tv was in order and after debating for some time which one to purchase I opted for the Samsung 8 Series LED TV. At the minute, my Virgin cable box doesn't have a HDMI slot (Virgin HD Box due in a few weeks) so I have the cable coming in to the set top box and then have a scart from the cable box to a scart adapter which slots in to the back of my TV. Not in to a HDMI slot. I was expecting to see a much improved picture than the one on my old 28" Philips CRT. Unfortunately, the picture is worse if no better!! I'm hoping it has something to do with the way it is connected at the minute. Surely it's not the TV?! If so, I could've bought a regular LCD TV. If anyone can provide any information or reassurance it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[professorhat]

Well, you can follow through WHF's guide to ensure all the settings are best they could be.

However, remember your new TV is designed to play High Def sources. This means that standard definition will always be a bit of a compromise as the TV has to do a process known as upscaling to fit the standard definition signal full screen on its high definition display. As a result, even the best HDTVs will not display standard definition sources as well as one of the best CRT TVs specifically designed to show standard definition sources (though some come pretty close). A regular LCD TV would not improve things - if anything, a cheaper model would likely produce an even worse picture I'm afraid!

The good news is, once you get the Virgin HD box, you'll then be able to receive some HD channels and then you'll really see how good a picture your TV is capable of.

EDIT - also looking at the back of the V+ box, it looks to me like, as well as Scart it has a component connection (the three phono connections coloured red, green and blue and labelled here as HDTV):

If your V+ box has these, it's worth giving this connection a try as this should improve the picture quality.

NB - pic here is a little small as had to resize, it's easier to read the connections by going straight to this link.

 

[bigblue235]

It's as Profhat says, really. HDTV's look best with HD. They rarely, if ever, look better than CRT's with SD.

I can't really add much to his explanation, so I'll just nod and agree

 

[D.J.KRIME]

I think that may well be the back of a HD box there prof as there is also a HDMI conection there as well. AFAIK there were no non-HD boxes with any connections better than RGB Scrat.

 

[professorhat]

Yeah it is, but couldn't find any pics of the standard box - was really posted to show what the component output looked like so the OP could check if his had one.

 

[King Goal]

Assuming that is a pic of a HD box, why does it have a SCART connection for the TV when HDMI is supposedly the better connection? Apologies for my lack of knowledge and questions but I'm actually in the process of packing my 200hz LED TV away, due to the dissappointing picture quality, even with an SD signal. Below are some of the key technologies this TV boasts:

Smart LED
Standard LCD TVs use simple fluorescent backlighting lamps to illuminate the image on your TV screen. These fluorescent lamps are constantly turned on which means that when your TV displays black it can sometimes appear greyish. LED technology overcomes this problem by using multiple LED backlights to illuminate the screen. These lights can be turned off and on individually which means that blacks appear deeper and the contrast between light and dark colours is greatly improved. In addition the much improved picture quality, the removal of bulky fluorescent tube lamps means that Samsung 8 Series TVs are much thinner than standard LCD TVs - measuring in at a super-slim 29.9mm.

200Hz Technology
Conventional TV displays visuals at 50Hz frame rate, which means it shows 50 still images per second. In this case, however, we sometimes can notice image blurring in fast moving scenes. To improve motion on the screen 200Hz Motion Plus technology doesn't simply repeat images to make extra frames, it intelligently estimates the action, then creates and inserts an extra frame between frames, it then carries out this process again to quadruple the standard frame rate. This minimizes blur in fast moving scenes and creates a natural & fluid motion without blurring. *Through the insertion of these bridge frames, images appear seamless and the motion judder and image blurring that can occur when watching movies and sports is eliminated. Even the fastest action scenes are presented with precision and clarity.

*Why is then that Samsung advised me to turn this off or at least lower it while watching sports? Or does all this technology only apply to HD signals? Maybe I've just been conned and fallen for the gimmicks. Thanks

 

[professorhat]

King Goal:Assuming that is a pic of a HD box, why does it have a SCART connection for the TV when HDMI is supposedly the better connection?
So that people who don't have HDTVs with HDMI inputs can still use the V+ box - it's the standard box which is given to all V+ customers, whether or not they want the HD services or not.

As to why Samsung advised switching off the 200Hz processing, some people don't like these extra processing features which TV companies build into TVs, whereas some do. So you if don't like the picture with it on, the best advice is to turn off the feature and see if you prefer the picture that way - there's no right or wrong answer.

The key thing with any purchase of course is demoing it before you buy to ensure you are happy with the performance it will give you. If the quality of the SD performance is going to be your main priority, I'd have a read of a few reviews of the TVs on this site, looking out for mention on the SD performance and also advise visiting a few proper AV dealers and indicating this is your main priority so they can advise you along the right lines.

 

[King Goal]

I now have my V+ box and I must say, the picture quality through HD is fantastic, apart from sports (in particular football). Close ups are fine but when the camera pans away there is still some blurring etc on the ball, grass and players. And it doesn't matter whether I have 200Hz Motion plus on or off! Oh well......

 

[sonycentre]

Hi king goal.also find that turning most prossesing thing off will improve your picture.turn led/backlight down contrast down,also keep a good distence from your tv,the amount of people that come into the store i work at.the first thing that they do is go right up to the screen and say the pictures rubbish lol bless the public.also your virgin v+ box make sure it is set up for hi-def 1080 wide.that can make a diffrence.i used to have a v+ box but upgraded to sky+ hd as you get more hungry for hd content.Your v+ box should also upscale your sd pic to match your panel well to 1080i.upscaling does not make your hd tv hd just fits the panel of your screen.also i find that lcd/led backlight tvs get better with age as well.hope this helps you.

 

[Anonymous]

I recently had my Tv professionally calibrated and the HD picture now looks even better than it did before (and it was good before (although the mrs can't see any difference)). Although SD improved, it just seemed to make the difference in SD and HD even greater.

As the number of SD channels greatly outnumber the number of HD channels its a pain that SD doesnt look that great (on an expensive professionally calibrated TV).

Then this afternoon as I was messing around with settings I changed the HD output setting on my Amstrad sky box from 1080i to Automatic. So it now outputs HD SKY at 1080i and SD SKY at 576P. And SD looks much much better. There is a slight delay and slight flicker when you move from SD to HD and vice-versa but nothing significant.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

barnsleydave:

Then this afternoon as I was messing around with settings I changed the HD output setting on my Amstrad sky box from 1080i to Automatic. So it now outputs HD SKY at 1080i and SD SKY at 576P. And SD looks much much better.

So many people set the Sky+HD box output to 1080i to avoid the flicker you experiance when the TV changes its resolution between HD and SD but the truth be told the scalers internally fitted to the Sky box are not very good and IMHO 90% of our TVs will do a better job upscaling over the Sky box.

 

[Anonymous]

D.J.KRIME:

90% of our TVs will do a better job upscaling over the Sky box.

Yup, or indeed an AV amp/receiver.

Just to re-iterate to the original poster, most TV's look pants out of the box and need most of thier controls reduced somewhat. I'd recommend turning ALL processing off that you can turn off. Reduce the backlight to a sensible level (probably no more than 6 on your Samsung- I've had a few of thier sets), turn the colour down until things look a bit more natural. Usually the Samsungs' need to have the 'picture'(i think they call it that, or white balance) setting to 'Warm' to help get closer to the 6500k level. This is just the standard colour temperature most people use. But, basically it just means that your whites are white with little bias towards red, blue or green. Meaning that the rest of the colours should be more accurate.

You can, of course, have your tv expertly calibrated, but I think this is a little pricey, though some would say worth it.

Next best thing is find someone with a 'Spyder' or similar, which will allow you to calibrate the colours more accurately. This is like a light meter and colourimiter which connects to your computer and the software tells you what to adjust.

Other than that, you can buy a set-up DVD like Digital Video Essentials, which will not only guide you through the set-up but give you some tips and background knowlege of what you are doing and why- knowlege is power!

The very least you can do is pop in a DVD or Blu-Ray containing the THX setup guide.

When properly adjusted, your TV is a pretty sweet one. Some say it can look a little over processed though so if you find this yourself after correctly setting it up, then by all means see if you can change it.