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Question about Pros and Cons of Sharpness

post #1 of 7
10/16/10 at 12:59pm
Thread Starter 
I've read numerous times that sharpness should always be set to zero, however, when I watch movies that reviewers say have lots of film grain (like Saving Private Ryan and The Seventh Seal) I can't see the grain when the sharpness is set to zero (and, with the exception of a few daytime close-up shots, everything looks noticably blurry). Once I set the sharpness to 100 I can finally see the film grain and everything looks a LOT clearer. The thing is, I LOVE film grain and I find it odd that I can't see it when my sharpness is set to the apparently universally accepted setting of zero - what are your thoughts on this? Shouldn't I be able to see film grain with sharpness set to zero (as per every calibration article I've ever read)? FYI, my TV's default settings has sharpness set to 75/100.
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post #2 of 7
10/16/10 at 1:10pm
The correct setting for Sharpness is not always 0 (although on some sets it might be), it should be set to neutral.

Sharpenss is a sort of filter that can ad edge enhancement when it's turned all the way up or start to blur the picture when it's turned all the way down.

The proper way to set sharpness is to put up a pattern with a grid of white lines on a black background and turn sharpness up till you start to see halo's around the lines, then turn sharpness back down till the lines disappear. IF that is zero, 50, 42 or 65 it doesn't matter, that is the right setting.

To me it sounds like zero actually blurs the picture on your set, and 100 is propably over sharp.

The other component to sharpness is making sure your TV is in a pixel perfect mode. Scalers inherently blur the image slightly and you have to add enhancement back in which throws away more image data.
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post #3 of 7
10/16/10 at 1:38pm
Thread Starter 
Pixel perfect mode? I don't believe I've seen anything that looks even remotely like that in my menu options lol. Also, do I have to buy one of those calibration discs to get that grid pattern you were talking about?
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post #4 of 7
10/16/10 at 1:48pm
You'll need a disc, if you have a blu-ray there is a good free one on these forums, you can burn it to DVD and it plays back as a BD disc.

As far as pixel perfect each manufacturer calls it something different, some names are just-scan, native, dot by dot, others it'll be something like full or wide 2. It all depends, but it's the setting that shows the most screen realestate. On standard TV it may even show a pixel strip of garbage at the top.
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post #5 of 7
10/16/10 at 2:28pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks, sotti!
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post #6 of 7
10/16/10 at 5:14pm
As stated, it's a mistaken thing to say that sharpness should be at 0. Sharpness should be at neutral, or ever so slightly above it (to taste). Often, the neutral setting is zero. Sometimes it is not, and a zero setting will soften the picture as sotti mentioned. The best way to set it is on a test pattern, and find where it starts to add ringing (too high) or softens the image (too low) and find the happy medium which should be relatively neutral with nothing added or taken away. Sometimes this might be turned all the way down at zero where there is no softening still. All depends.
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post #7 of 7
10/19/10 at 9:26am
The Spears & Munsil Blu-ray Edition calibrating disk has an excellent pattern for setting sharpness..my best setting is at 3 on my pj.
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