After having many RPTV's from Pioneer Elites to the Sony A3000, and after calibrating them many times using Avia, DVE and having them ISF'd, I have the following observation regarding the use of the sharpness control and calibrating that control using test patterns.

Most of us, including myself, followed the instructions of these calibration disks and adjusted the sharpness control so that we wouldn't see any ghosting or added images (white lines, halo's) in the static test patterns that they use.

Allow me to post up this argument for NOT doing that and the argument is this. While turning down the sharpness on test patterns can make a dramatic improvement in the pattern, we do not watch static patterns on our TV's. We watch moving images, and in watching those moving images, the anomolies introduced by using a bit too much sharpness control is not visable, and in fact, may actually degrade the picture by too much softening.

Now granted, if you crank up the sharpness control wayyyy too much, you can then begin to see the added grain and other stuff that we do not want to see, but for me, I do the following and find it a very good balance.

I put up those test patterns and crank up the sharpness to max. I then slowly crank it down till the ghosting begins to disappear. I then go all the way down and slowly crank it up until the ghosting begins to appear. I set it around the middle of those two extremes.

On my A3000, that setting is at 30 with Detail Enhancer set to low.

Bottom line. Yeah, you can set it up sharpness to be ideal for a static image, but if you do, is it ALSO ideal for the "overall" appearance for a moving image?

I dunno.. The first thing I do on mine or anybody's modern digital display is set it to zero.

I dunno.. The first thing I do on mine or anybody's modern digital display is set it to zero.

That would be wayyyyy tooooo soft for me. For me, that would negate the whole reason for buying an HDTV in the first place.

All I am really suggesting here is that we don't become so dogmatic in our desire to get a perfect static test pattern at the expense of the overall enjoyment of the final moving images.

I'm not sure I get your point. I get 27 using a static image and you get 30 with your method. 3 clicks difference on sharpness with different TVs (same model) and different sources doesn't seem like much to really discuss. Anyway, I miss how this is really a statement against using a static image like I guess it must have been intended.

I'm not sure I get your point. I get 27 using a static image and you get 30 with your method. 3 clicks difference on sharpness with different TVs (same model) and different sources doesn't seem like much to really discuss. Anyway, I miss how this is really a statement against using a static image like I guess it must have been intended.

I'm using 30 WITH Detail Enchancer at Low. The Detail Enchancer on low is almost equal to another 6 clicks on the Sharpness control.

I'm not against using a static image for setting this control. I just don't believe that setting up the static image so that there is absolutly NO ghosting at all is the right way to go about it.

I haven't seen detail enhancer alter the sharpness setting on SXRD. They seem to work in different ways from what I've seen.

Agree with the OP.

This used to be a good practice with some HDTV's, but after playing around with different rp's (DLP's, LCD's, and LCOS) I can say that setting sharpness too low is not conducive to a good looking picture.

I think the sharpness at 0 might apply to plasmas and lcd's, but not so much to rp's....

I haven't seen detail enhancer alter the sharpness setting on SXRD. They seem to work in different ways from what I've seen.

I played with the detail enchancer on the static test pattern for setting sharpness control, and it seems to react very much the same way as far as introducing white ghosting on either side of the black patterns.

I haven't seen detail enhancer alter the sharpness setting on SXRD. They seem to work in different ways from what I've seen.

DE definitely affects sharpness patterns. If you want a good pattern to see the effect, use the hidden BD test patterns. They show it quite well.

What I did was set sharpness normally using the BD test pattern. Then turn on DE on low or medium (high creates too much noise, iMO). After it is on, then set sharpness to your liking.

Worked for me:)

Ok... I do this alot. Sharpness at zero if I help you with your display.

Modern sources should not need any. And SD often can use the softening. :)

Feed HDNet's resolution-wedge pattern into my 9"-gun 64" RPTV (Philips 64PH9905) and set sharpness for best rez without ringing. Might aid motion crispness to boost beyond that, but haven't tried. 1080i CRT RPTVs, of course, needn't deinterlace 1080i, so processing glitches such as resolution pumping (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11843791#post11843791) or 540p bobbing aren't a factor. Standard problems with interlace viewing are, though. -- John

HDNet's resolution-wedge pattern ? How do you get that?

Sharpness at 0 does not necessarily mean that the TV is not applying any filtering to the image. On the A3000, for example, setting sharpness to 0 will actually make the image softer than the reference. Every TV model is going to be different here, and you need to use a test pattern to find out where the TV isn't applying any softness or sharpness filters. It may be 0, or it may be some other value.

HDNet's resolution-wedge pattern ? How do you get that?
Assuming you're not on Comcast and can get HDNet, they've been running the 10-min series of patterns Saturdays at 6:30 am ET, with the wedges (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6664456&&#post6664456) on the last 4 mins. D*'s HDLite would limit max resolution to ~1280 lines horizontally, and many cable systems/STBs seem to limit maximum effective horizontal rez to <1300 lines anyway. -- John

DE definitely affects sharpness patterns. If you want a good pattern to see the effect, use the hidden BD test patterns. They show it quite well.

I was wrong on this point. The Detail Enhancer seting on the A3000 does introduce halos on static images in addition to the other ways it changes the picture.