Rypro 525

I think I know what they are, but need conformation. In West Side Story at the way begining when we see an overhead hellicopter shot of new york, accross the top of the buildings, there are little lines jaggering accross the screen. And in Pink Floyd's The Wall, a cigarette that someone smokes has these annoying lines. In the appartment, when we see Lennon's office at the begining, they are every where and nonstop. Are these examples of compression artifacting.

Rehevkor

Sounds possible. Compression artifacts are most often visible in clouds of smoke, fog, or dust. They're also easier to see in dark scenes.

Josh-da-man

They could be artifacts from anamorphic downconversion if you aren't watching on a widescreen set.

Rypro 525

So the only way to get rid of these is to upgrade to a widescreen tv? Also, I know t2 and Matrix are supposingly really bad with compression, what particualr scenes?

renaldow

How is your player connected to the TV? When I had a TV that only accepted a composite connection I had quite a bit of artifacting in smoke, shadows, etc.. I chalked it up to a cheap player. When I got a Wega and started using the same player w/ a component connection, 90% of the artifacting I had seen before went away. I was so surprised I went back to rewatch scenes from movies that I'd especially noticed it in, and it was gone.

Rypro 525

Its into a regular connection.

DavidH

Make sure you use Avia to adjust your settings. If your contrast and brightness are too high, you will see MANY artifacts.

Also, someone mentioned downconversion artifacts. This can be true. But, I have a 61" TV that is ISF'd and I am using a Panasonic RV 80 (which has great downconversion) and I see virtually no downconversion artifacts. Sometimes there is a little hint of them, but they are really unnoticable.

So, the type of player you have and display when downconverting matters too. But, try the Avia before anything else.

Rypro 525

To use "avia" would I have to do the adjusting my self or would it do it automaticly since I have a crap memory and its hard using the thx system. I have a like 1996 or 95 mitsubishi 60 inch tv. It has fron s video but not sure about back. I have one of those samsung dvd/vcr combo drives. Is there a way with my settings, to get a better visual quality.

DavidH

You must use Avia to get it right. All you do is go through each of your settings (brightness, contrast, color, etc.) watching Avia and you adjust each setting. The DVD walks you right through it. It's VERY user friendly -- more so than other calibrators. Trust me, it is totally worth the money.

renaldow

Seeing that you've got a DVD/VCR combo, are you hooking it up to the TV with the coaxial cable (regular cable TV cable, same cable VCRs have used since day 1?) If so, you're not going to get a decent pic out of it. By decent pic I mean DVD quality; you're going to have screen noise and artifacting.

RF Coaxial cable - worst connection
Composite cable - better connection
SVideo cable - good connection
Component cables - best connection

You're only going to see a quality DVD pic through component or Svideo. Composite is do-able, and the coaxial was never meant for DVD, the quality is so poor.

Rypro 525

Now I do agree with that, I am watching Se7en today for the first time, and the jagginess of the lines are very distracting. They come up anywhere to Morgan Freeman's glasses, to the side of a table to a desk. I would guess that all of this crap would not be there with a s video? I have one, but its up front of the tv and I am not sure if it is in the back, plus there are too many cords to go around back to check it out, so is there a way to put s video even with a compossite.

DavidH

Rypro,

What kind of DVD player do you have?

Rypro 525

the samsung dvd-200 aka the dvd/vcr combo

VashTheStampede

Rypro,

I'd definitely start with Avia or Video Essentials....if you can't do that right now, the BIGGEST problem is usually the "Sharpness" on the set is turned up too high. A high Sharpness setting and DVD source material is going to give you artificial edge enhancement like mad. Turn the sharpness all the way down...or at least most of the way down. You will see the image is much softer, more natural and film like.

If you can connect via component video (RGB) go ahead and get some decent gold RCA cables down at Radio Shack and connect it that way. If not...Svideo.

If neither of these things help...I'd consider a new player too. I just upgraded to a Panasonic XP50 and the picture quality is way better than my Toshiba 3109.

The info everyone is giving you is right on.

Good Luck....and really try that Sharpness thing 1st. It's even more a culprit then high contrast and brightness.

VTS

Rypro 525

The big screen tv doesn't have component. (at least I don't think, we got it in 96). I'll have to check if it has s video. If i just have to deal with composite, would the video essentials help me get rid of the jaggity lines against buildings and around glasses and such.

DavidH

The S-Video will make a difference. It could also be your DVD player. Panasonic probably has the best overall downconversion. Toshiba is bad for this - not sure about Samsung. Defintely try Avia and the S-Video and that will help to some degree.

VashTheStampede

Avia or VEmay help you get rid of the jaggy lines, depending on how far off your settings are...but if you are dealing with a composite connection your picture quality will be limited...pretty severely limited IMO. DavidH is right, you may want to try a Panasonic DVD player....just buy it somewhere like Costco so you can take it back if it doesn't make a difference.

BTW...I think Blockbuster rents Avia or Video Essentials....I think I paid like $30 for the stupid thing. :-)

VTS

Dammit

You forgot one.

DVI - BEST, best connection

hehe

Frank S

Be aware that it's not just the hardware that can cause artifacting but the mastering or the disc itslef which will show on any setup no matter how advanced it is! Just look at DVD's like the American President and even on HDTV's, w/Progressive Scan, Component outputs, TV cailbrated you still see massive artifacting!

To the guy who says his big screen doesn't have Component inputs if it's a 1996 model it would at the very least have S-Video inputs which is a MUCH better quality input then the Composite input.