Tone down the Sharpness
The Sharpness control in your
TV probably doesn't do what you think it does. Rather than giving you
more detail, the Sharpness control actually gives you LESS detail and a
harder look, by increasing the contrast around the boundaries where
different tones meet, thereby sharpening edges in the picture. This is
bad enough on its own, but remember also that when the sharpening
commands in the TV's processor apply this crude process to the video,
it'll also be emphasising the flaws in the picture as well - not just
the good bits. So, if you're watching Digital TV, those ugly
compression blocks will be being made more pronounced by this process.
Often,
the video that you're watching might already have had it's own
Sharpening applied. Sadly, this process is very common, and once video
has been Sharpened, there's almost nothing you can do about it. But, if
you have your TV set up properly, you can make sure that it isn't
making it any worse!
Knowing where to set the Sharpness
control depends on your TV. What you're ideally aiming for is a picture
that has no additional Sharpening applied whatsoever, as well as one
that isn't being blurred, either - in other words, we want the TV to
reproduce exactly what it's being fed as closely as possible. For some
TVs, the "0" Sharpness level is the correct choice, because it means "0
extra Sharpness". But on other TVs, "0" Sharpness actually instructs
the TV's processor to blur the picture.
A good way of
making sure you're getting the right results is to bring up a screen
with text on it - for example, your DVD player's System Menus. (You can
use a satellite or cable set-top box for the same effect, as well). Why
is this a good on-the-cheap example? Because the System Menus are
usually very basic looking, and typically have text against a solid
background, with no additional fancy graphics. That means that if any
Sharpening is going on, it'll be pretty obvious.
If you have an Upscaling DVD player,
then it's a good idea to turn off the Upscaling mode when you're
setting the Sharpness. The simplest way to do this is to connect the
player using a SCART or Component cable (since most players can't
upscale using these outputs). The reason for this is that most
upscaling players put the On Screen Graphics through the upscaling
process as well (so that they don't look tiny at high resolutions),
which can skew the results and make setting the control harder.
Once
you have a menu on the screen, the chances are, it won't look
completely natural. Look closely at the letters - they'll probably have
big outlines around them that shouldn't be there. These are called
"halos" and are a result of the Sharpening process. Start lowering the
Sharpness and keep going until the halos are gone. Some TVs are set up
so that these halos won't ever go away, which is a pain, but not the
end of the world - in this case, just make them go away as much as
possible.
On most TVs, the minimum Sharpness setting will
be the best one. As I said before, on other TVs, this will actually be
softening the picture. Set the Sharpness control so that the letters
are clear and distinct - almost like text on a computer screen is - but
without being blurred or sharpened.
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