Raw_and_Vital

My parents bought an HDTV a couple months back. It's a Sony Bravia 720p. Not quite sure of the exact model number... All I can say is, the last time I went home to visit, I saw her picture quality and wow!!! I felt so bad for them. The quality is horrid. I mean, absolutely horrid. I have an LG 32" 1080i CRT television from 4 years ago that looks ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and theirs which is a LCD 720p looks like junk!!! They have Atlantic Broadband because that's the only service available and they got the upgrade that only gives them like 15 HD channels. But still. The HD channels seriously look like JUNK. Like aboslutely terrible. I know HD when I see it. What they have is not HD quality.

Does anyone have any advice? I tried to tinker with the settings like Vivid/etc... No luck. What can I do to help them.

Sdallnct

Turn down the brightness.
Get their model number and go over to AVS (or other sites) and get the calibration settings.
Check thru the menu to make sure they don't have it in stretch mode or something
Check the connection to be sure they are using the highest quality possible (HDMI or component)
Make sure the cable box is set to HD and I'd try both 720p and 1080i
Make sure there isn't anything weird in the cable box settings
Call the cable company and have them come out and check
Do they have a DVD player? Check that out. Is it as bad?
Take over your DVD player that you know works well and try that.

Mr. Salty

Sounds to me like you jumped the gun with your thread title. If it was more accurate, you might get more advice from people who have Atlantic Broadband who could help you.

I don't have any advice, because you haven't written a single word describing what problems you're seeing. If you fill in some details, I'm sure someone can help.

Raw_and_Vital

I thought I was pretty clear on stating the problem in the Original Post but I suppose people think differently. I'll try and be OTN (on the nose).

1. Their picture quality is horrid.
2. They got an HD upgrade on their Atlantic Broadband cable box. Still the HD Channels still look like junk.

Above is exactly what I wrote in the OP.

I'm seeing horrid picture quality. I'm also seeing horrid picture quality on the HD channels. I don't know what else to say...

iamiam

What is exactly "horrid"? Is it the color, sharpness, contrast? Did you try adjusting it? How is it connected, HDMI or component cables? Do you want help or just to vent?

Raw_and_Vital

It's connected to the cable box via HDMI cable. Also, their uprezzy player is connected to the TV HDMI as well.

I didn't really notice anything about the color/contrast. It's more or less sharpness. It just looks so, I dunno. Jagged and just horrid. Nothing is crisp, nothing is clear and nothing pops! I tried adjusting the sharpness and it didn't really do anything.

Maybe I can take come digital snap shots of what I'm talking about when I visit this weekend. I'm sure it would be easy to spot what I am talking about.

I shouldn't be able to tell a difference between 720p and my 1080 correct?

Pointyskull

OP, how do DVDs look?

Better/worse/the same as the broadcast image?

Raw_and_Vital

DVDs look slightly better. But not clear, crisp and punchy... I may take my HD DVD player home and hook that up to the TV and see how that looks. I'm curious...

This it could be the tv settings?

Pointyskull

As has been posted already, my next step would be to check out the calibration settings.

Maybe mom & dad played with the settings at one time and forgot to mention it to you....

RockyMtnBri

Look for edge enhancement, DNR (digital noise reduction), and some other features and turn them OFF. I just did that for our Samsung TV now that I bought a new Blu-ray player for it - makes a world of difference. All those things were ever "good" for was analog signals. It may also help to put the TV in "Movie" or "Cinema" mode.

Sdallnct

I listed a laundry list of items to try. Which of them have you tried? Did you see any difference?

See like the others when you "horrid" I think like unwatchable. Unable to see an image at all. Like defective. But if your just saying it is unsharp or no pop to me likely means some settings are not correct.

If you have a HD or BD player that you know works well, then that can be your base and help you trouble shoot. If you can good a good pic with that, then you know it is a setting somewhere.

I will say this; when I got our Samsung LCD and I turned it on, I was disappointed in the image. But I wouldn't describe it as "horrid". Just disappointing. I found calibration settings at AVS and now have a very nice picture.

Are you 100% sure that box is HD, the channels your watching are HD and the box is set to HD? That would be my first guess.

mrhan

I'm thinking the cable box is not set to output an HD signal. Otherwise, try the setting they recommend on this site or AVS as was already suggested.

http://www.tweaktv.com/

Kory

Horrid. Someone should buy you a thesaurus.

jarofclay73

Isn't a 1080i CRT SUPPOSED to look better than a 720p LCD? Isn't LCD inferior to plasma and CRT as far as picture quality?

Spiky

Well, it seems that many people think LCD is better.....but YES, CRT ought to look better than LCD. But the OP does seem to have some issues.

Mr. Salty

"Horrid" and "looks like junk" are about as vague as you can get. There are countless ways a picture can be bad.

Is the problem the color fidelity? Too bright? Too dim? Sharpness? Is there grain or digital noise? Is the image distorted?

Try, in some way or another, to describe what you are seeing that is bothering you so much.

deadlax

If you have any experience watching hdtv you should be able to tell within 5 seconds whether or not the picture you're seeing is actually being displayed in hd or not. that's probably the most likely culprit in your "horrid" picture quality.

2nd would be the settings, but my guess is that the Sony is having a hard time accepting the hdmi signal and displaying it in the correct resolution.

Raw_and_Vital

Kory, why should I buy a thesaurus???

I think it's the sharpness, grain and digital noise. Not so much the grain though... It's more of hmm like a digital disturbance which doesn't make much sense.

Sorry for being so vague but tomorrow I will be heading to my parents house and I will take some snap shots and get back to everyone. I didn't pay attention in detail, I just knew it looked really bad. But I'll get the details tomorrow if the color looks bad, etc.

Thanks everybody for helping out. Till tomorrow...

SonOfAStu

This thread is horrid. And just screams "user error". Hope you guys get it fixed!

Brian Shannon

I don't know what type of service Atlantic broadband is.

There are too many variables in this scenario to identify a specific problem.

You state that they have hdmi from the cable box and from a standard dvd player.

What type of output is the cable box set to? What type of output is the dvd player set to? Are the cables seated properly? Are you actually watching HD content, not just an HD channel? What DVD's are you using for reference? What are the input settings for each of the hdmi inputs set to?

Once these issues are sorted out, then you can move onto settings.

Unless the tv is defective this is a setup issue or a source issue. The best monitor in the world cannot make a poor source look good.

Mopower

Stuff like this is the reason why The Geek Squad stays in business.

Raw_and_Vital

Mopower, you're a pervert!

Yes. They have an HDMI cable running from the DVD Player into the TV and an HDMI running from the cable box to the TV.

The output is set to 720p I believe. I was present when the Cable tech messed with the settings, etc.

Yes, cables are fine. I was watching HD content at the time, yes.

Breakfast with Girls

Their TV must really look bad because the LG 1080i CRT sure doesn't look absolutely amazing.

Raw_and_Vital

Yeah, their TV does indeed look pretty bad. I mean, for an HDTV... it looks bad. Definitely not like it should look.

And my LG CRT is has great picture quality. Better than a lot of LCDs, Plasmas that I've seen. My only issue is the screens edge on my LG... But, I knew about it when making the purchase.

Mopower

I'm not sure you know what pervert means.