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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
jsd52756
433 posts
 
Swampwalker I believe has the answer. But here is a twist;
When I bought my HDTV I had no idea that most channels broadcast two types of signals. For instance there is NBC for std broadcasts, and KNBC for the digital type. The std channels are blury. The other is fine, even if it is not a HD program
I watched supercross for two weeks before I fugured out it was being sent out on two channels. Call me slow, but don't call me stupid...
Good luck, John
reubent
6,996 posts
 
You likely are either watching the Standard Def. broadcast or the TVs are hooked up using a low-resolution analog connection. Verify the the TV is connected using either HDMI or DVI first, then verify that you are watching a high-def channel.

TIC
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dbphd
1,628 posts
 
You need to use good quality HDMI or component (3) cables between the receiver and the monitor/TV. We have two Sony XBR LCDs and a 36 XBR that we use with DirecTV HD/DVRs and an HD TiVo. The picture quality is excellent in each case. I highly recommend DirecTV as an HD source.

db
holden_tex
1 posts
 
which Sony Bravia is it? There are a bunch of different levels. I have an S series in the bedroom and it is only 720p, and looks OK. The W series 1080p one that I just got for the living room (120hrz refresh rate) looks amazing. If you get a simpple Digital Video Basics disc to tweak the color, it makes a huge difference. If you get one of the computer tuning testers, such as the Eye One, for about a hundred bucks you can lock them into great color, pretty much any of the new monitors.

I'm a big believer in quality cables, except for video. I may be wrong, but almost any halfway decent HDMI cable that is 1.2 or above (for the audio and future upgrade capabilities) should be fine. Some of the engineers I work with made a point of testing different cables, and found the info in all of the HDMI cables they tested to be basically exact. Not so with the performance of analog cables, but that's a differnt discussion.

Good luck.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
IMO, there is no way that the PQ problem the OP is talking about could be the result of the diff btwn 720p and 1080p, or the result of improper levels. I'd bet the price of a good steak dinner he is watching an SD signal (either digital or analog) or possibly an upconversion of SD source material to HD.
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