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Originally Posted by DarkFudge /forum/post/12875389
Thanks for the input...aside from the the better image quality on the 700U, are the Black Levels on the 700U as good as the Black Levels on the 77U or are they worse?
The PZ77U has a higher contrast ratio than the PZ700U, but in bright and somewhat subduded store environments where i scrutinized the PZ77U it's higher CR wasn't very apparent, possibly due to it having to punch through the matte screen.
A few posts back in this thread bigevan23 said he saw both TVs side by side in a dark room, properly calibrated, and that the blacks looked deeper on the PZ77U. Aside from this one report, i can't remember seeing anyone else here notice the higher CR but it does sound plausible. I've seen a PZ77U in a dark room and the matte screen does seem to soften the image and i couldn't get it to look as crisp and clear as my PZ700U does at home and i blame the AG screen for that. The two TVs use the same plasma panel.
But i can tell you that the black levels on my PZ700U are plenty black enough, and noticeably better than my older PX50U when i tested them side by side in my pitch black living room.
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Also I want to share my thoughts on the 720P 77U that I got from COstco, my observation of this TV with HD channels with HD content is that the image isnt completely HD. It looks somewhat soft almost as it looks on other HD TVs when you ZOOM the aspect ratio. In fact, all the HD content I view, fools me into toggling thru the ASPECT button just to make sure I'm not watching it in ZOOMED mode. Its very disheartening. Would the 1080P version of either of these models (77U or 700U) improve upon this somewhat soft HD image?
The PC77U which has the matte AG screen which might explain the softness you're seeing, but still it should be plenty crisp and there may be something wrong with it since you say it's definitely not the source. My co-worker has a 42PX77U (exact same panel and screen as the Costco PC77U) and HD definitely looks like HD.
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And I know its not my feed or any other outside sources causing this because I have 2 other HD tvs ( a 6 year old rear projection 50" Hitachi V500A and an Olevia LCD 32" 720P tv ) and both of those TVs seems to display a more crisp and detailed HD signal ( aside from their other faults that I wont get into)
When you're seeing these soft HD images, what resolution is the TV getting, 720p or 1080i? Because with my older PX50U and even on my new-ish PZ700U, setting my cable STBs to output all channels at 1080i gives a substantially crisper and more detailed picture than setting em to output everything at 720p.
If you can set your STB to output all the SD and 720p channels at 1080i, try that. Also if you're not using HDMI, try that too cause lots of people including myself see a teensy bit more sharpness compared to Component.
Do you have satellite or cable? What is your source when seeing the poor HD?