Sharpness

[Dermondo]

Hi all, I recently calabrated my Samsung LCD using the spears disc, one thing I noticed after the calabration the SD picture appeared softer than before, some possibilities.

1. Sharpness needed to be turned way down according to the test, from 50-13.
2. Maybe my eyes haven't had time to become adjusted to the new settings.
3. The calabration was performed on blu-ray HD, so not making allowences for SD.

I have been advised to stick with these for at least a week, any opinions folks.

 

[chudleighpaul]

If you don't like it, sharpen it up, everyone has their own preferences. There is no one for all setting.

 

[Anonymous]

I Agree with the previous poster, for HD material it should be set to 0, but on broadcast material it can be anwhere that suits you. Remember the sharpness control was originally introduced into CRT sets to overcome inconsitenancy with NTSC signals.

 

[chebby]

The problem with digital sharpness is all the 'artifacts' you get.

I leave mine on the 1st click (on a 10 click scale).

A lot of it is down to production and the type of cameras/lenses used.

Compare something like a restored early 1960s Bond film, or 'Battle of Britain' (interior scenes like the ambassador's residence for instance) or any 'Sopranos' episode shot by Alik Sakharov, to a typical SD, digitally shot, studio picture like BBC news (dire).

Some of these 'old school' films shot on 35mm (or even 70mm) film - with Cooke or Carl Zeiss lenses - had small teams of people responsible for nothing but pulling focus. The director would inspect the results with a loupe and were merciless about ensuring there was sharpness exactly where required. You are never going to get that degree of care taken with most TV programmes (except the big budget stuff that is destined to go out on DVD/Blu-ray).

Sometimes I will turn sharpness from one click to none because the source quality is so good and digital sharpening is such a crude technique.

 

[Dermondo]

If you don't like it, sharpen it up, everyone has their own preferences. There is no one for all setting.

I have raised it up from 13 to 23 and I think I prefer this, it was previously at 50, so it still is quite a reduction, I also used a sd calabration disc I had knocking about and it had similar results but the only that changed was the sharpness.

To be honest I think it can be a negative thing to become to self reliant on settings etc.. as they may only indicate a reference level but I think an individual's preference level is the one that counts.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Sharpness should be turned all the way down for calibration. If you watch the bits and bobs on the Digital Video Essentials disc, it explains why. The zero point is pretty much the sharpness turned up full, and anything beyond that point is just adding distortions. There shouldn't be any need to turn the sharpness up above the zero point. If there is a need, a better TV (or source component) is required.

 

[Dermondo]

Sharpness should be turned all the way down for calibration. If you watch the bits and bobs on the Digital Video Essentials disc, it explains why. The zero point is pretty much the sharpness turned up full, and anything beyond that point is just adding distortions. There shouldn't be any need to turn the sharpness up above the zero point. If there is a need, a better TV (or source component) is required.

If that's the case why do we need the sharpness option at all.