I have a 26" Vizio VW26L, most of you probably think it's a crappy, small LCD HDTV but it was all I could afford a year ago (sorta regret it now) but alas I'm stuck with it for a while. I've been trying to get the best HD picture I can out of this HDTV so when I get a PS3 on Tuesday and hook it up via HDMI it will look the best it can but I'm not very knowledgeable with some of the settings. Since you don't have my HDTV I know you can't give me the right settings but if you could just give me a place to start, tell me what certain things mean, etc. I'd really appreciate it! Below I'll list all of the picture settings and how the range it.



Backlight (1-100)

Contrast (1-100)

Brightness (1-100)

Sharpness (1-7)

Color (1-100)

Tint (-32-32)

Color Tempature (Cool, Normal, Warm)



ADVANCED SETTINGS:



DNR (Off, Low, Medium, Strong)

Black Level Extender (On, Off)

Peak White Limiter (On, Off)

CTI (Off, Low, Medium, High)

Color Enhancement (On, Off)

Dynamic Contrast (On, Off)

Dynamic Backlight (On, Off)



I really appreciate any help I can get!!!

Anyone, can anyone explain to me in detail exactly what these settings mean so I can better understand what I'm doing!?

bump

The first set of parameters (the ones above "advanced settings") are explained in Tom's guide (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=852536). Read sections "Setting White Level (Contrast)" until "Setting Color/Tint." Also, these terms are explained alphabetically in "Glossary" section of Joe Kane's website (http://www.videoessentials.com/glossary.php).

The parameters under "Advanced Settings" provide additional control often by some artificial means; and most of the time one is better off by having them "OFF."

Hope this helps a bit.

Pick up DVE on Blu-Ray. That should get you headed in the right direction.

Pick up DVE on Blu-Ray. That should get you headed in the right direction.

Can be had for under $15 with a free sampler (http://www.dvdinternational.com/pd-dve-hd-basics-blu-ray.cfm).

I'd turnoff all settings under "advanced" except for dynamic backlight. Assuming they have it setup right for correct image sensing and gamma compensation, then it should improve your full on/off contrast without hurting the other image elements.
As for the others, do DVE, and that should get you in pretty good shape. Usually i'd recommend getting a meter, but i am not sure how well you could do advanced calibration with that set.