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52 Posts
Just got the Samsung LN-R268W. I have Questions about ghosting and the display of 480p.
Equipment and connections
+Comcast standard digital cable box with only RF and composite outputs (s-video hole blocked by metal plate).
+Composite cord going from cable box to TV
+S-video and Component going from Samsung DVD-R120 to tv
+Monster cables, lower end of their line
Problem
Picture looks like ****e on both SD and DVD. Grainy, some clayface, stairstepping, text on solid background surrounded by gnat-cloud of pixellation, just generally bad. Interestingly, when I have my old CRT hooked up to digital SD cable via RF sitting next to the new LCD hooked up to digital SD cable via composite, the LCD does look a bit better. Which is why it's weird that I look at it and think it looks generally bad. You'd think I would perceive it as good given that it's better than what I had. Must be the difference between expectation and delivery. Or moving from a 14 inch CRT to a 26 inch LCD.
Ghosting
I've read about ghosting and I thought I understood what it was: the slow-to-change-back pixels still retaining the image a moment after the image has moved on. I've got something that seems related, but different. Tell me if the two are one. The edges of things seem to have consistent shadows, glows, unnatural outlines, or auras. Something that's sitting still seems to have an outline glow or offset doppelganger, sometimes very obvious and maybe even a couple layers of it, hovering just next to it. "Ghost" would be a very good description. Is this proper ghosting? Is it something else? Is this just the inevitable fate of the LCD owner watching SD? Could something be wrong with the tv? I'd hook up cable-to-tv via S-video if the cable box had it. I'm sure I'll see some improvement when I get a new box and do that, but I have a 5 day period to return this tv to that horrid Brandsmart place before it's mine forever so I can't wait for that. I've tried turning the dynamic contrast on and off, brightness sensor on and off, regular contrast up and down, sharpness up and down, and every other setting on this thing. No luck.
Progressive Scan
I figured the above could be an SD problem since I had heard such awful things. So I played a DVD (on a Samsung DVD-R120), first on regular scan. Looked than SD cable, but not as good as I thought it would, which was a surprise. So I tried turning on progressive scan. Didn't get any better. If anything, it might have gotten a bit worse, the only effect maybe being some pixels appearing to vibrate some. Do you all normally notice a substantial PQ difference between 480i and 480p? I was really expecting an improvement. The DVD player did tell me to "set my tv to progressive input", but I don't think this TV has/requires that functionality - - I think it just accommodates that signal when it comes in. I did have to switch from S-Video to component to be able to display the 480p, but it didn't look any better.
So do I have a bad unit? Are these the same woes all my LCD brethren (and sistren) experience? I've heard all the moaning about PQ but am not sure if mine is worse or different than what you all are talking about. I was looking at the Sharp 26GA5U as the other contender but this one seemed to have a less grainy picture with better blacks. Hope I don't have to abandon both and start over. Guess I'd look at Panasonic, Philips, LG, and maybe JVC if so.
I'd appreciate your insight.
Equipment and connections
+Comcast standard digital cable box with only RF and composite outputs (s-video hole blocked by metal plate).
+Composite cord going from cable box to TV
+S-video and Component going from Samsung DVD-R120 to tv
+Monster cables, lower end of their line
Problem
Picture looks like ****e on both SD and DVD. Grainy, some clayface, stairstepping, text on solid background surrounded by gnat-cloud of pixellation, just generally bad. Interestingly, when I have my old CRT hooked up to digital SD cable via RF sitting next to the new LCD hooked up to digital SD cable via composite, the LCD does look a bit better. Which is why it's weird that I look at it and think it looks generally bad. You'd think I would perceive it as good given that it's better than what I had. Must be the difference between expectation and delivery. Or moving from a 14 inch CRT to a 26 inch LCD.
Ghosting
I've read about ghosting and I thought I understood what it was: the slow-to-change-back pixels still retaining the image a moment after the image has moved on. I've got something that seems related, but different. Tell me if the two are one. The edges of things seem to have consistent shadows, glows, unnatural outlines, or auras. Something that's sitting still seems to have an outline glow or offset doppelganger, sometimes very obvious and maybe even a couple layers of it, hovering just next to it. "Ghost" would be a very good description. Is this proper ghosting? Is it something else? Is this just the inevitable fate of the LCD owner watching SD? Could something be wrong with the tv? I'd hook up cable-to-tv via S-video if the cable box had it. I'm sure I'll see some improvement when I get a new box and do that, but I have a 5 day period to return this tv to that horrid Brandsmart place before it's mine forever so I can't wait for that. I've tried turning the dynamic contrast on and off, brightness sensor on and off, regular contrast up and down, sharpness up and down, and every other setting on this thing. No luck.
Progressive Scan
I figured the above could be an SD problem since I had heard such awful things. So I played a DVD (on a Samsung DVD-R120), first on regular scan. Looked than SD cable, but not as good as I thought it would, which was a surprise. So I tried turning on progressive scan. Didn't get any better. If anything, it might have gotten a bit worse, the only effect maybe being some pixels appearing to vibrate some. Do you all normally notice a substantial PQ difference between 480i and 480p? I was really expecting an improvement. The DVD player did tell me to "set my tv to progressive input", but I don't think this TV has/requires that functionality - - I think it just accommodates that signal when it comes in. I did have to switch from S-Video to component to be able to display the 480p, but it didn't look any better.
So do I have a bad unit? Are these the same woes all my LCD brethren (and sistren) experience? I've heard all the moaning about PQ but am not sure if mine is worse or different than what you all are talking about. I was looking at the Sharp 26GA5U as the other contender but this one seemed to have a less grainy picture with better blacks. Hope I don't have to abandon both and start over. Guess I'd look at Panasonic, Philips, LG, and maybe JVC if so.
I'd appreciate your insight.