This is my first go-round in researching (mainly through this forum--a Godsend), buying and assembling a surround sound setup, and I like to think I've got it figured out. But when I put the final touches on it, a glitch occurred. I'm hoping somebody can help me out.

I purchased my TV (Samsung plasma 4254) about five months ago, and am still thrilled with its great, crystal clear picture. Two weeks ago I added a receiver (Onkyo TX-SR605) and the Klipsh Quintet 5.1 system, and it was all good. Then I added a DVD player (Denon DVD-1730) which is nothing fancy, just what I consider an upconverting placeholder until the Blu Ray and HD DVD war settles out.

Here's the problem. Actually two problems: when I'm watching DVDs, A, the deep blacks are almost pixellated--there's blue and grey swimming through them and B, when a scene goes to black, I see the previous image "burned in" until something else comes on. I don't think this is a TV issue, because when I use my Comcast HD box, all the blacks are great and there's no burn in or ghosting (not sure what this is, actually) at all. The screen looks great--except when playing a DVD.

DVD is hooked to reciever via HDMI (Monster 600 cables) which is hooked up to TV with HDMI (same). For what it's worth, the cable box is hooked up with component/optical.

So, am I setting some "upconverting" process on the DVD wrong? Is this some display calibration I have to make on the TV when watching DVDs? Is this the result of a relatively inexpensive DVD player, and something I'll have to live with until I upgrade? Any advice would be much appreciated. Like I say, I feel like I have the basics down, but maybe there's some "advanced" settings that are eluding me. Thanks!!

Interesting but you might get a better response in a video forum (DVD players, Plasmas, etc) than in an audio forum.

Oops--my bad. Reposted in Video! (But if anybody here has any ideas....)

The pixellation problem is "macroblocking". A quick search will turn up about 200 threads on this, if not more. Or you could google search the term, especially in conjunction with the Faroujda chipset.

I cannot speak to the image retention problem, although image smearing and ghosting is a problem with older or less expsensive LCDs. Funny you don't also experience it with your cable box though.

This is my first go-round in researching (mainly through this forum--a Godsend), buying and assembling a surround sound setup, and I like to think I've got it figured out. But when I put the final touches on it, a glitch occurred. I'm hoping somebody can help me out.

I purchased my TV (Samsung plasma 4254) about five months ago, and am still thrilled with its great, crystal clear picture. Two weeks ago I added a receiver (Onkyo TX-SR605) and the Klipsh Quintet 5.1 system, and it was all good. Then I added a DVD player (Denon DVD-1730) which is nothing fancy, just what I consider an upconverting placeholder until the Blu Ray and HD DVD war settles out.

Here's the problem. Actually two problems: when I'm watching DVDs, A, the deep blacks are almost pixellated--there's blue and grey swimming through them and B, when a scene goes to black, I see the previous image "burned in" until something else comes on. I don't think this is a TV issue, because when I use my Comcast HD box, all the blacks are great and there's no burn in or ghosting (not sure what this is, actually) at all. The screen looks great--except when playing a DVD.

DVD is hooked to reciever via HDMI (Monster 600 cables) which is hooked up to TV with HDMI (same). For what it's worth, the cable box is hooked up with component/optical.

So, am I setting some "upconverting" process on the DVD wrong? Is this some display calibration I have to make on the TV when watching DVDs? Is this the result of a relatively inexpensive DVD player, and something I'll have to live with until I upgrade? Any advice would be much appreciated. Like I say, I feel like I have the basics down, but maybe there's some "advanced" settings that are eluding me. Thanks!!

I had a buddy with a similar problem with his 5054 sammy. The problem ended up being that his brightness was set too high. We lowered it and it never came back. You have to realized that these are not the same technology as picture tubes and they do weird things when things are cranked alittle too high.