Could anyone help please, I have recently bought a new HD tv, that is coupled to our sky+ box. We have not got sky hd, do we still need hdmi cable to couple it to our sky box. Just that the picture is not fantastic at the moment, when you get close it is like pixalated. When we play a dvd it is perfect but not through sky though. Thanks
Non HD Sky+ boxes don't have HDMI connections As far as I know anyway, unless recent ones do. I'd guess that your scart cable isn't all that- HD TVs may show up any probs with a scart connection. If you're sticking with a non-HD sky box, go and buy a **** hot scart lead
Our sky picture is less sharp than the freeview picture. However it's more reliable as we have a dodgy outdoor aerial, so I always record things using the sky signal that I want to keep and transfer to dvd.
If you've moved from a CRT to LCD screen, then you will notice all the crap channels (pixellated). LCD displays the true digital signal and shows up the faults in SD TV. Your old CRT TV used to merge pixels so you never noticed it. Some channels will be worth than others, where Sky/ Virgin ain't allocating as much bandwidth. Some events, like football or athletics can be terrible on an lower quality SD feed. The Everton v Liverpool match last night on Setanta was terrible. Your DVD player may be up scaling to something better than SD but not quite HD.
Everton v Liverpool was on ITV - but you are right, the picture quality was awful as it usually is on ITV
Sport - especially football, is the most disappointing aspect of my first HDTV experience. My Samsung doesn't seem to handle movement particularly well. The players are not very distinct, almost blurry at times. Animated films are outstanding though. Sometimes supposedly fixed objects move around as well, like dustbins or noses! I have got aerial issues though, so need to sort this out before dismissing the TV as crap.
Was on Setanta 2 as well then. I recorded it on mi V+ box (Cable). Picture was ***** though compared to if had been on BBC or Sky Sports 1. I was also recording another channel for the missus and watching sumat else as well, so maybe the V+ box doing 3 channels at the same time didn't help.
Guys, I may be able to help here. The picture quality on my Samsung was none too brilliant when it first arrived. However after a quick seach of this here internet thing, I found this site - http://www.avforums.com/ Press the Search buttom and type the model in the box with the word settings and you should find quite a few threads where people have posted the settings they've used to optimise the picture quality. You'll have to try a few mind becasue picture quality if a personal thing and signal strength and quality will dictate the optimum settings. It certainly worked for me and I get a great picture from all input feeds. As a bonus you'll probably learn a whole lot more about your telly and what it can do a whole lot quicker than if you tried to read and sus out the manual too. If you really want to go OTT my advice would be to get it calibrated. There are 2 ways of doing this 1. By a profesional or 2 via a DVD. These TV's are so good, to get the very best out of them you really need to get a pro to calibrate it. Unfortunately it's not cheap and IMO not necessary when it can be done to a satisfactory level with a £20 DVD such as this - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=99131&C=Froogle&U=99131&T=Module and a standard def DVD player. Most of us mere mortals wouldn't/can't notice the difference between a TV calibtated by a pro and one by the CD. Just Googel HDTV Calibration for all the info you'll need. Happy hunting and hope you get it sorted.
I've already used the optimum settings suggested for my tv from one of these forums. I think it was the one you refer to. How are you finding the quality of the picture during football. Do you have any clarity issues when there is movement?
I've managed to cut most of it out now but still occasionally get some blur around the edges of each man particularly when they're legging it. It took some time and playing around to get but I'm finally happy with what I'm watching. My advice would be to find a setting you like, write it down line by line and then start tweaking bits to see if you can improve it. The one thing I don;t suffer with blur is Blue Ray and PS3 gaming. Stunning is the only description I can give it. I now can't wait to tell the kids that daddies cancelled their movie channels so he can watch his footie in HD. 2 more weeks and they get told and I place an order. I don't think we're ever gonna get rid of all motion blur from a std def input but you can certainly minimise it. I also get different levels of blur from different input feeds. Analogue is worst but still acceptable, Sky is much better but IMO freeview provides by far the best picture quality for fast moving objects. I've even gone as far as to have different settings for each input mode. But that's me. You may have a better signal strenght with Sky than I do and find Sky provides the best picture.
ITV must have one of the narrowest band-widths available on Sky cos last night it was like watching a mobile phone video. Had to watch it on freeview as it was a better picture even without an aerial! Having said that, I hooked up to Sky HD a couple of months ago and it's now very difficult to watch footy when it isn't on HD. The cricket is amazing as well. My only problem at the moment is with sound. Which is better, optical or hdmi? I've got optical input into my older amp which gives a great sound but find that I have to keep adjusting the delay settings on the Sky box for different channels. Should I get a new amp with hdmi inputs or would that be a waste?
My three penneth. I bought a Viera Plasma as the refresh rate is much faster than the current crop of LCD (although they are improving rapidly). With anything over 37" you are still better off with Plasma rather than LCD particularly for sports where the camera often 'pans' rapidly (note the grass textures blur and become smeared when watching football). Re Standard transmission: The picture quality varies considerably and I have come to the conclusion a lot of it is down to cameras used. If you watch any programme where they say it can be viewed simultaneously in HD I find the SD picture is often superior to programmes broadcast in SD only, (note I dont have HD TV source). Some recent films often have a very good quality picture as well in SD. Also have you watched Calendar and particularly Look North? The studio picture is often awful but the OB sequences live from 'wherever' are often very sharp with good contrast gaduation and definition. Finally, the freeview box upscaler has a big impact on how good SD picture is. Dont forget to view the existing SD broadcast on a large screen in 16:9 needs to upscale the input. Some systems are better at it than others (effectively -upscaling 'guesses' what the missing pixels should be and infills to give the correct Aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. Working for BT I use the BT Vision box which I got for £1, and inspite of having faults that means I would sometimes like to throw it against the wall, has a half decent upscaler (to 1080i). That said, watching standard DVDs upscaled on a Panasonic DMP BD30 Blu Ray player highlights the difference between SD input and DVD. Blu Ray disks raise the bar even further. Once Freesat plus falls in price (which it surely must eventually do ) AND they start broadcasting more HD content then will be the time to change for me.
RE: My Setanta pic on Virgin Cable was perfect. Get cable nt So was mine. Running from V+ HD to TV via HDMI. Been well impressed with V+
I'm running the surround sound from the V+ to the amp/dvd via optical and its spot on. Optical lead at £4.98 on amazon. TV connected direct to amp/dvd via HDMI and the upscaling to full 1080 is spot on too. Managed to pick up a brand new Sony DZ260 surround on Amazon last month for an amazing £118 delivered, had been reduced to £149 everywhere else and its back to £138 now, dropped lucky with that one ! Not one for spending loads on gadgets but the reviews on this are spot on especially for this kind of money.
