I received my new Mitsubishi WS65908 on Wednesday. I have been moving in so it basically just sat there. All my components were packed away. Well I finally got around to start hooking stuff up. I even went and bought a set of tributaries Component cables and had my guy make me a custom 2ft Coaxial with Synergistic cable. I am now waiting on a new Monster power center and I will be ready to roll. But tonight i decided to just to quickly hook up the DVD player so i could see the picture. I have a new SD9200 and I used the components cables and used the L and R inputs on the TV. I turned on the unit and put Predator(DTS version) and started it. Well guess what?? The picture stinks!!! The black bars are still there and there seems to be shadowing or imaging or whatever you call it. I tried the other modes and it just made the pic worse!! The best picture was the first setting 480 standard. But it was terrible. Now I realize that this was just a quick hookup to demo it, but i can't see it getting better!!! I am dooing something wrong. I am watching a movie(Hellraiser Inferno) right now on a little Sony 27 and it looks 1000 times better. It is really a poor image!! Granted I did NO setup or tuning of any kind, but it is terrible. Is it possible the guns were messed up when they delivered it?? Do the black lines ever go away??? I made them go away on Gladiator but the image turned to garbage!! Someone please help!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, make sure you set the DVD player's menu to 16 x 9. Then, set the Pic Size of your TV to FULL. Predator DTS should not have black bars; it's 1.85:1 and anamorphic. Gladiator should have bars since it's 2.35:1. As far as picture quality, make sure you're sitting far enough away from the TV. Don't expect it to look like a 27" TV from equal distances, but from further back it should look as good if not better. I have a 65" TV and prefer its image to the 27" TV in my bedroom.

You can find more elaborate explanations of aspect ratios, etc. on this site and others. I just thought I'd throw out a few basic points.

I'm assuming this is a big screen tv...there are a lot of things to consider...If you're model is a 16X9 TV you will likely still see black bars because some films are not "exactly" 16X9...but, the bars will be much, much smaller..

Another thing to consider is that these TV's will be real dependant on room light...

Yet another thing to consider is that many Mitsubishi's and other Big Screens will look 5X's better if you have them professionally tuned...if you don't want to spend the huge chunk of money that this costs ($300 or so)...then you may at least try putting in DVD essentials, or some other sort of tuning program...

And Yet Another thing to consider is that you now have a bigger screen with higher resolution than you've ever had before...and that means that you can see imperfections much more...You are now using a TV that not only suggests high quality (at least S-Video) cables..but almost requires them...

And Finally, the last thing to consider is....Does your TV have a line doubler built in...and if not, would purchasing an external line doubler help...


Of course, if you are not talking about a big screen TV...then ignore everything I just said, and wait for a poster who knows what their talking about... :-)

Robert Jason

Both 1:85 and 2:35 Aspect's Ratio's will have "Black Bars". Sounds like you need to double check your DVD Player and TV menu's to verify 16 x 9 modes are correctly set for the Ghosting Problem.

Did you hook up the Component cables to the Correct connectors on the TV? Read the Manual to make sure.. should be labeled something like Y/Pb/Pr connections ... something like that

I love my Toshiba 65H80 even though I have to sit 8 Feet away and see some scan lines sometimes. I need to upgrade my living space

Well, 2.35:1 will have narrow black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, but you probably won't see bars with 1.85:1. A widescreen TV is 1.78:1 and when you take into account that virtually all TVs exhibit at least some overscan, it's likely to hide the difference. Not to mention most 1.85:1 DVDs are actually being mastered closer to 1.78:1 anyway.

Berk, could you be a little more detailed in what you're seeing and what you're unhappy about? It might help us make a better diagnosis.

The model number the original poster listed is for a Mits. 16:9 TV.

I've yet to see any black bars on a 1.85:1 movie on my widescreen TV (Toshiba 65H81). Even Apocalypse Now, which is 2:1, has barely noticeable letterbox bars. I suppose the overscan could be adjusted, if one was anal enough, to allow the miniscule black bars to be seen on 1.85:1 films.

As far as calibrating the set: even out of the box it should look very good with anamorphic DVDs. A lot of people seem to imply that RPTVs look just godawful out of the box, but that's kind of exaggerated IMO. Sure, they can be made to look better with calibration, but it's not exactly a night and day comparison. If the guy's TV looks so awful it has to be that something's not hooked up right or that he's sitting about 3 feet from the screen and expecting a good picture.

Compared to my 27" TV, non-anamorphic DVDs look as good on the 65" as they do on it. Anamorphic DVDs actually look quite a bit better than they do on the 27" TV. Of course the larger size also makes them much more enjoyable, but I'm just talking about picture quality in this instance.

First, turn the contrast way down. Then give it few days to settle. Then do a convergence and run Video Essentials. Also make sure your DVD player output is set to 16x9.

The guys at www.hometheaterspot.com may be able to help you too.

Of course this is a 16x9 TV. It was suppose to be the Best 65 that Mitsubishi makes, short of the integrated HD tuner models. It is the Diamond line. I am watching Predator right now on my 27 and it is much better. The picture on the big dog, lacks any good definition. It is like an old style projection picture. big but not very clear. I did not tune the convergence, but will it really make that much of a difference?? I Used the component jacks. Red, green, and blue. I plugged L and R just to get sound from the TV. I was under the assumption that to get a Progressive pic you had to use those cables. Should I go back to S-Cable??? And yes I do use all good cables on my systems. The cheapest cables are on my VCR and they are AudioQuest Turqouise. The Tributaries Component Cables were highly suggested from my Home Theater guy. He said they are 100 time better then Monster Cable crap. I am sure cable quality is not the problem here. Would using video essentials or Avia really makes that much of a difference?? I mean the pic really stinks. I am sorry i ever bought it. I should have waited for the 40 inch Sony Wega!!!! But I jumped at this deal and now I am stuck with garbage!!!!!

Try the s-video connection. I've heard of some people having problems with component with this TV.

Bt wouldn't using S-video defeat the purpose of having progressive Scan????

I mean try it to see if it looks better, not as a permanent solution. If it does look better, something might be wrong with your component hookup.

I have this TV, and the picture totally ROCKS!!!! I have done some calibrations with Avia, but it looked good out of the box.
Berkowitz, check out www.hometheaterspot.com 's Mitsubishi forum. They have alot of knowledge over there and can really help you.
But in the meantime - like other people have posted, make sure your DVD player is outputing in progressive mode. Yes, you have to use component cables to have progressive, but your player isn't necessarily automatically using progressive.
Second, turn the contrast on the TV down to about 25-30% or so. That helps avoid burn in.
Third, make sure the TV format is "normal" (using the format button on the remote). Use this mode for anamorphic dvd's.
Fourth, play with your dvd player's film/video mode. Most players have several choices, i.e. auto, film, video, etc. Either auto or film settings will be best from what I've read elsewhere.
Fifth, disable SVM on the tv, or change the setting to something that looks better. This causes an effect similar to EE. I think that it could manifest itself as halos around objects. For instructions on how to do this, check out the home theater spot. Or if you'd like, I can tell you how.

That's all I can think of offhand that you could do immediately.
Good luck

You may have a bad TV...it is possible. I have the Mitsubishi 55907 and the picture is awesome right out of the box. My levels are pretty much flat. Contrast is in the middle and Brightness is just above the middle. Make sure your TV is in Film mode and that your DVD player is in 16x9 mode and on some models of DVD players you have to turn progressive scanning on. Also with a 65" TV you need to be sitting about 12 - 14 feet from the picture. I doubt very much that the TV is screwed up because Mits has a pretty good track record for quality out of the box.

Also as others have said on a 1.85:1 movie you wont see much or at all black bars. On a 2.35:1 movie or a letterboxed(non-anamorphic) movie you will see black bars.

I would definitely suggest having a certified calibrater come in and calibrate it for you. It costs anywhere from $250 - $400 but they go much deeper into the setup than your local HT store repair guy will do.

Keep working with it and you will definitely be happy

It sounds to me like you've already given up without trying to actually solve the problem.

Yes, Avia will help, at least to the extent that it will help yoiu isolate the problem. There are test patterns that will reveal if you have a convergence or geometry problem. It's also possible that your problem is as simple as the TV needing to be focused.

And yes, going to S-video will prevent you from using the progressive scan. But again, by trying it you may be able to isolate the problem. If everything looks fine with S-video, then there's a problem with the component inputs.

If I were you, I'd be on the phone with the people I bought the set from. For what you paid for this TV, certainly they have service technicians who will come out and make sure it's set up right.

It might be that you'd like a smaller set much better, possibly the 55" Mitsubishi. I know with my 65", it didn't look right until I rearranged my room so that I could sit further away from the screen, but once I did sit an appropriate distance away it looked awesome. If you bought it locally, I don't see why you couldn't just exchange it for a different model. Then again, you may get used to the size of the set and start enjoying it. I don't regret getting the largest TV I could find. At first I did, but eventually I got used to it and would hate to go any smaller. I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up coming to the same conclusion if you can figure out what's wrong with the picture on your set--whether it's unrealistic expectations, sitting too close, or an actual physical problem with the equipment.

Adjusting set

OK, I set the DVD player to 16x9 and the black bars went away on 1.85 movies. Thanks on that one!!! Infact the picture was pretty decent. I watched both Jurassic Parks. But Predator was still lousy. It was grainy and had shadows. I went through a few set ups. I did a convergence and it was fine. There was nothing else. I then put in the first season of Sex and the City. and it was horrible. But i tried it on my small TV and it was grainy also. Thank GOD! I am going to check out the Mitsu section in that forum. Thanks! What setting should it be on?? 480 or 960. It looks the same!!?? But like I said the jurassic Parks were pretty decent.