BassDude

I hope I am doing something wrong, but the Discovery Channel looks better than my DVDs. I popped in Finding Nemo expecting to be blown away, but it was a bit grainy. I use a cable channel to demo my new set right now, and that seems odd. Any help is appreciated.

Toshiba 57inch HDTV Built In 57H93
Toshiba SD-3960 connected to HDTV Componet input 1 with 2m Monster cables
Scientific Atlanta box connected to HDTV Component Input 2 with provided cables.

DVD player is on a shelf by itself. DVD coax to receiver, cable fiber optic to receiver. (Don't think any of this matters, but....)

DVD Josh

Well I know that the SD-3960 doesn't have as good of a picture as the 3900 or 4900 models. I found it to be pretty average compared to those two. That may be a factor.

X

I would hope Discovery HD looks better. Now you know your HDTV is working ok.

HD is much higher resolution than DVD so even the best player won't make DVD as good as decent HD.

drmoze

Personally, I think the Monster cables are confusing the oxygen-deprived spin-reverse-polarized electrons and the evacuated core conductor effects combined with the inductance-induced hysteresis is causing some graininess in your picture. $^)

Seriously, Discovery HD is the sharpest-looking HD channel on our cable system (no ESPN HD,alas), and it *is* much clearer than DVDs.

And the DVD player may be contributing slightly to a lower pq, as noted above. Why not get a Panny unit? (Or at least perhaps borrow a different player to compare...)

ATX

it's supposed to... that channel is the best hd channel

hd is higher resolution than dvd i think dischd broadcast a 720p signal

btw, why do you have both the coax and optical outputs from your dvd player running to your receiver?

Brian Shannon

As others have said it is supposed to. And really not fair to compare the two since they are different formats at different resolutions.

BMAG

Like everybody else said, HD will look better than DVD. However, Finding Nemo should NOT look grainy. Try turning the sharpness WAY down. Have you calibrated the set with Avia yet?

nekobus

Josh Z

35mm photographs look better than my Xerox copies. What am I doing wrong?! Help!!

BassDude

Well..except for Josh, thanks all! (Guess ya couldn't resist.)

I've heard for months how good progressive scan players are on these boards and quietly envied y'all...so my expectations may have been off. And yeah..seeing how great Discovery HD looks, I know it's not the TV.

I was hoping it was the "fetzer valve on my DVD whidget output set to mHz instead of kHz" or something. The DVD player was only $69, so...

Oh..and ATX, I meant DVD has coax, Cable Box has fiber optic. Watched The Sopranos in 5.1 for the first time!!

Thanks again. I might see if a friend will tear their prog player out of their system rack to take a look at it on mine.

And I will go halfs with my lil bro on Avia or another calibrator.

gotapex

Discovery HD is sending it at 1920x1080i. DVD's have a native 720x480 resolution in a 16:9 format. There's nothing you can do to make DVD's match Discovery HD, even if you use an ultra high end Scaler (ie. Teranex, which costs $50k).

warcp

Yeah it is depressing ain't it? I recently got HD and watched some of Harry Potter on ABC. Then I popped in my DVD copy. The diff was shocking. The ABC feed was so much cleaner I pooped my pants.

Brian Shannon

HD if done right is awesome. If done wrong it is awful.

In my theater Discovery HD is great for demo material but my DVD's also look very good. DVD's contrary to some beliefs are not HD. I even got into an argument with someone who insisted that their DVD has HD because the box "said so".

Good quality DVD players and good discs can look great too.

shelland

As stated, HD blows away the quality of DVD, Progressive Scan or not:

Format - Lines - Pixel Count - Total Pixels
480i - 480 - 480 X 640 - 307,200
480p - 480 - 480 X 704 - 337,920
720p - 720 - 720 X 1280 - 921,600
1080i - 1080 - 1080 X 1920 - 2,073,600
(I copied this from a website, so not my fault if there are typos )

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see what kind of cable you have used to hook up the DVD player to the TV. To take advantage of the Progressive Scan, you need to use component cables. If you're just using "basic" RCA cables, or even s-video, the pic isn't going to be nearly as good. Also, routing the video signal through your receiver prior to the TV could degrade the image quality, depending on your setup. Nemo is a stunning looking DVD, so the fact that you say it is "fuzzy" still leads me to believe something isn't hooked up quite right. Also, make sure the DVD player is set to output the image 16x9, and that you aren't stretching the image on your TV. Those are a number of things to check...

Progressive Scan is indeed better than non-Progressive, but the different between HD and Progressive Scan is much greater than Progressive Scan vs. non-Progressive DVD (as shown with the above numbers).

BassDude

Yeah...the DVD has the Monster cable, component out and directly into the TV.

BIG thanks to BMAG. Lowered my sharpness and it looks much better. Also, my contrast came form the factory set to 100!

Can't get a calibration disc fast enough. I was told these HD sets come "out the box" ready ta go, but obviously, they do not.

Thanks again to all.

gotapex

Avia is the easiest to navigate, though costly. Digital Video Essentials is good, but more difficult to navigate (and is $15 or so shipped).

hoyalawya

At this point I would suggest that you read materials about "burn-in." I think they have it in an FAQ at www.avsforum.com.

BassDude

Thanks for your concern. I found this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=406182

Fortunately, I knew much of this information already. That's why I was shocked to see my contrast set to 100 from the factory. But you can never have too much info.

A new thing struck me as odd.. I popped in a full screen DVD, and it filled my screen completely. I expected to have bars at either side of the TV. The DVD player is set to 16:9 widescreen (as opposed to 4:3 options and 16:9 Shrink) Is seeing the full screen image across my entire widescreen correct?

(Thanks again for the "rookie" questions.)

Chew

It could very well depend on the settings for your TV. With mine, I have: Normal, Theater Wide 1, 2, 3, and Full. To watch 4:3 with sidebars, I have to set to Normal. To watch 16:9, I switch to Full. If I want to stretch 4:3 to fill the screen: I go with one of the Theater Wide settings. Might want to check the owner's manual to find out what settings your TV has.

Edit: I see you have the same brand as I do, Toshiba. The terms I used should apply exactly.

nekobus

The factory will often set the settings so the picture will "pop out" when on display at the store. They want the set to stand out and scream "buy me".

I would highly recommend Avia as a calibration disc, it's very much worth the investment.