Just got a fourth generation 42" Samsung plasma, ED-TV, which i have connected to a surround sound Kenwood receiver. Sources are xbox using s-video, dvd player using composite cables, and sat/cable system using 75 ohm coax. The signal from the sat/cable system are horrible. The sat/cable system signal is from coax coming from wires dropped in by the cable company supplemented with a spliced signal from a dish for digital signals. The signals from the dvd and xbox are only fair. Nothing like what i saw in the store. I believe that i need to get component cables for the xbox and dvd player outputs. Even with dvd player, images on the panel are not good. Faces seem to have a contour effect between shadow and light areas. Faces also remind me of wet wax. I have contrast and color controls set at 50 % or less. Weird looking pixels (usually red) form in shadows and there is no real definition. Anybody have any ideas to help me with this

I'm not saying this will fix your issues... but you should really properly calibrate your set. Sounds like you've just set things randomly.

Get yourself Avia or Digital Video Essentials and set the contrast, brightness, color, tint, and sharpness properly. You'll probably notice a huge difference.


(In my opinion, most of these plasma panels look like crap... I really find these paper thin sets to be pretty gimmicky at this stage. I'd rather pay 50% less and get a decent RPTV.)

A composite signal from a DVD player on a set that big will look like crap.

Definitely calibrate your plasma with Digital Video Essentials or Avia as suggested above. You should also check AVSForum in the plasma section to see what issues (if any) and tweaks other people with your set have found. I vaguely seem to recall that people with Samsungs were much happier with the PQ when using the DVI input vs the other inputs.

Btw, my set is a Samsung SP-P4251. Since i am new to this, what is and where do i find the Avia or Digital Video Essentials that you mentioned. Is one inherently better than the other?

You can get those at deepdiscountdvd.com.

I use DVE on my projector with great results.

However, using composite or coax looks crappy no matter what you do. SVideo for my DVD player is pretty darn good, but component is better, assuming your player is progressive scan.

You should try the XBox High Def kit. You'll get component in and digital audio (using digital optical-not sure if you have that on your rexeiver so you may need an optical-digital coax converter).

It makes a huge difference for me.

you should NOT use composite or s-video...they're going to look like crap no matter what the source is.

use component both from your x-box and your dvd player. i agree with the recommendation about buying the hi def pack for the xbox if you don't already have it. and if your dvd player is not progressive scan, consider upgrading right away (they're pretty cheap nowadays anyway).

doesn't your cable or sat system have any other option for output? (the coax is also gonna suck no matter the source)

Yes, you should get component cables and get a progressive scan DVD player. Yeah, cable will suck if it's just coax, I have component running from my cable box.

yesterday when i got home, i installed component cables (from my hi def pack for the xbox) to the plasma, and the picture while viewing dvd's (after some tweaking on the contrast, color, brightness, sharpness) is now great. This morning the cable boys came in and replaced my set top box with their most current box and my wife calls me at work and says that the plasma would only show in black and white so is not connected. What the hell is up with this?????? The current set top box apparently doesnt have component outs or s-video outs. Will post back when i get home and see what they have done.

well, the good ole cable boys came out and put in a new (?) cable box and still all i have are composite and rf outs. They did change the signal source by removing the satellite dish saying that revisions to the cable system negated the need for it now. Any way I still have the same problem that i had before the cable company tried to help. I hooked up the new box with composite cables to the plasma and the picture is not viewable when you compare it to the dvd output. How is it possible that their newest boxes only have these old outputs? Any body have an answer for this problem?

You're now discovering why I ditched cable for satellite, although to be fair a lot of it has to do with what cable company you're with. My area is serviced by Mediacom, which sucks. What cable company are you dealing with?

Switch to sat. tv. The input is the key for you, just like you found out with the Xbox.

It really does depend on your cable company. I have Charter and their regular boxes all had at leas S-Vid. Now I have HD, so of course there's component.

Our cable provider is Communicomm. It looks fine on my 27" crt with composite cables, but sucks on the plasma.

Every single connection choice you made for the Plasma - using rediculously lousy and substandard antiquated connections such as coax (the absolute worst!), composite (the lowest possible quality "crunched" low def video signal you could possibly wish for - horrible!), and S-video (antiquated) - will guarentee that crap picture you now complain about - well done! You were actually surprised the Plasma looks..."crap"?!?
Never heard of hi def / progressive capable connections like component, DVI or HDMI? Educate yourself dear sir....quickly!!!

Educate yourself, bud, judging by your poor spelling you could use it. For your information, i was doing the best with what i had, given the junk communicomm provided me with. Anyway, thanks to all the other folk on this forum who provided good advice as to how to deal with my problem.

One advice, not all progressive scan DVD players are created equal. Research more on www.avsforum.com (search for the shootout thread) to find out which one provides better quality via component. If your set has a DVI or HDMI connection, use it as the digital connections will provide you the best PQ.

Welcome and I hope you will find DVD-talk a great place to discuss this hobby. But you may want to tone it down a bit because first impressions tend to stick in the internet world.