LCD HD TV Picture Quality Lacking


My Dad recently purchased a Sony Bravia LCD and my father-in -law just bought a Magnavox LCD. These are the 1st HD tv's I've had a chance to spend time viewing. Compared to standard televisions I find the color on both TV's to be unnatural (even after adjustments) and the pictures often lack clarity, and definition. They are fuzzy (cloudy looking). My Dad's Sony is connected to a digital HD cable box from the cable company. My father-in laws' LCD is still connected to a standard digital cable box. In the stores when I've seen true High Definition demos, like the NFL it is awesome. Are there any LCD televisions out there with natural looking color? (especially skin tones) Is this cloudy affect, lack of clarity and definition present on all these HD TV's or are there exceptions? Are there HD TV's that are clear in Non HD broadcasts? I do realize the source of the signal matters greatly, but why would my old JVC look clearer, more focused, and have more natural colors than these LCD tv's? Frankly before I shell out the cash, I want to see better performance than I saw from their TVs? Is this a question of something I heard about called "calibration."
Adjustments have been made to my Dad's TV by me and it still looks subpar unless it's an HD broadcast and some of those look unnatural too. Thanks for your thoughts.
foster_9
How are you connecting the HD cables boxes to the LCD? If by standard cable from the cable company to the back of the TV, that is a problem right there. You should be using a high quality HDMI cable or at very least a high quality component cable.
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Thanks. I'm not sure what kind of hookup to the cable system it is since the cable company connected my Dad's tv and I was not there at the time. My father-in-law hooked it up himself to his digital cable box. My Dad and father-in-law subscribe to the same local cable system.
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I prefer plasma to LCD, much more CRT like, less artificial looking. I agree with others here that the signal-in is just as important as the type of set you have. They are basically computers in the sense that garbage in equals garbage out. What I have a problem with is Hi-Def Low-Res, there's no winning these days.