LCD TV GHOSTING ISSUE

[feaito]

I wasn't sure where to post this...

My wonderful wife gave me as an in-advance birthday gift a beautiful 40" HD-LCD SAMSUNG TV some months ago.

Well, now when I watch my Classic DVDs, some contemporary DVDs and DVD-Rs recorded in my DVR, in different degrees, the images, especially when there's movement have a kind of ghosting effect-issue that is driving me nuts. I feel that in B&W films the flaw is especially distracting.

In my Old 32" Sony WEGA and Panasonic TV sets, I did not have any trouble watching films, but it's kind of ridiculous that now that I have a better TV, all the DVD's/transfers flaws are very apparent and noticeable. There's any way I can set my LCD TV to make these flaws less noticeable? This ghosting issue is becoming unnerving....

Any help is welcome.

[MissGoddess]

Feo, do you notice it mostly with the "blacks" or darker areas of the image? Because that's where I see it on my brand new Sony HDTV. I've tried changing my picture settings but nothing seems to get rid of it.

[vallo]

Feaito, The TV may have to be set to auto so it will play 480.720 and 1080I.
I found this on-line :
If the player can play HD-DVD or Blue Ray DVD get those kinds of discs and if not get a new player. You are only showing the flaws in non-HD content. Upscaling makes assumptions about what is in between the pixels that are in the DVD and what should have been there if the DVD was a HD-DVD or Blue Ray DVD. Also many DVD video discs were produced from analog masters. This was not a problem when the discs were shown on analog TVs but becomes a problem with HDTV sets.
They do sell up-converter DVD players that inhance your regular dvd's They should only cost around $40. dollars.
I could be wrong but it's worth the try.


Bill

[feaito]

Feo, do you notice it mostly with the "blacks" or darker areas of the image? Because that's where I see it on my brand new Sony HDTV. I've tried changing my picture settings but nothing seems to get rid of it.

April, I'm not quite sure but I think that also happens with my TV. With the Cable TV programming I really don't have much trouble, the issue is with DVDs and DVD-Rs in general, even with contemporary films. For example, some films on officially released DVDs that looked extremely well in my old WEGA _only Angesl Have Wings for instance-, with very sharp, defined images and with a beautiful contrast of the B&W images, have a lot of that ghosting effect, that I thought was -initially- a case of edge enhancement -I'm not savvy with these terms. But the thing is that it is totally annoying. I read somewhere that one had to dicrease the contrast, but it did not work very well in my case.

[feaito]

Feaito, The TV may have to be set to auto so it will play 480.720 and 1080I.
I found this on-line :
If the player can play HD-DVD or Blue Ray DVD get those kinds of discs and if not get a new player. You are only showing the flaws in non-HD content. Upscaling makes assumptions about what is in between the pixels that are in the DVD and what should have been there if the DVD was a HD-DVD or Blue Ray DVD. Also many DVD video discs were produced from analog masters. This was not a problem when the discs were shown on analog TVs but becomes a problem with HDTV sets.
They do sell up-converter DVD players that inhance your regular dvd's They should only cost around $40. dollars.
I could be wrong but it's worth the try.


Bill

Thanks for the feedback Bill. I'll check it.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've asked hubby about this because we are looking at getting a new LCD TV when we move. We've never had one before and I know Chris has spent ages researching this. He asks what is the refresh rate ie how often the picture refreshes itself because it is not a moving image but a succession of static images. Have you got an upscaling DVD, is it connected with a HDMI cable?

[feaito]

I've asked hubby about this because we are looking at getting a new LCD TV when we move. We've never had one before and I know Chris has spent ages researching this. He asks what is the refresh rate ie how often the picture refreshes itself because it is not a moving image but a succession of static images. Have you got an upscaling DVD, is it connected with a HDMI cable?

I don't know if it's an upscaling DVD, but it is connected with a HDMI cable.

[charliechaplinfan]

Chris still asks about the refresh rate, he thinks it might be important. I of course have not a clue what he is going on about but then I'm not the technically aware one in this marriage. I have other talents

[MichiganJ]

feaito,

I would first try turning off all noise reduction in your TV settings.

If that doesn't work, then:
What kind of DVD player are you using? (Make? Model?)
Does the ghosting happen in both 16 X 9 and 4: 3?

[moira finnie]

I don't know if this is relevant to this ghosting issue but, on the brand new Sony LCD HDTV in my household we have specific instructions in the manual warning against leaving our picture size in the 4:3 dimension setting for extended periods of time due to the fact that, as described in the manual, "If you are watching a still image or the 4:3 mode for a long time (over 2 hours) an image may be burned onto the screen. View the TV in 16:9 mode as much as possible."

We just avoid the 4:3 mode generally in part because we are really leery of this eventuality and because it doesn't seem to be a very good p-size for most video anyway.

Regarding

the "blacks" or darker areas of the image

mentioned by Miss G. on her Sony TV, have you tried to adjust the Backlight setting or the Dynamic Contrast on your set? I found that those adjustments made a big difference in the quality of the images.

Btw, since we recently got this set, the color and imagery and size of the picture makes viewing black and white movies in particular as well as color an extraordinary experience. I would imagine that the creams, blacks, whites and greys we are now able to see in 16:9 proportions are as close to the vividness that these films may have had in their original theatrical form as we are likely to get. I've never been fussy about technical stuff, but this makes viewing these movies sort of wonderful.

[movieman1957]

Since I am looking to get a new TV sometime how is the formatting on a 16:9 when watching a 4:3 movie? Are the dimensions thrown off?

It wouldn't do for April to watch "Gone With The Wind" on a 16:9 with the sides having a "Burn-in."

[MichiganJ]

Like moirafinnie, I watch nearly everything 16:9. You get used to the 4:3 image stretched, and you almost don't notice it. Except for doors. To me they seem unusually wide.

When watching HD-DVDs in my HD player, I cannot alter the image playback so Casablanca and Adventures of Robin Hood stay 4:3, but they are the only two I have in 4:3. Haven't gone Blu (yet), so I don't know if this is the same with Blu-Ray.

[MissGoddess]

Hi Moira! Is your TV a Bravia?

I noticed only recently that I had everything on 4:3, because I thought that was better since most everything I watch is pre-widescreen. However, I changed it to 16:9 and frankly notice no difference at all.

For the record, I do find some of the distortion annoying. People look fatter and shorter, which is okay especially on the actresses so I don't get jealous ( ) but I notice I lose part of the top and bottom on a lot of films. I don't understand ANY of this---if we get a better TV arent' we supposed to get a PERFECT picture and a complete one, ESPECIALLY on older movies? I would think so. Is it simply that these TVs are designed purely for newer content? That's what I am assuming, but then, what about the "ghosting", does that effect newer DVDs?


I do have an "upconverting" DVD recorder, by the way, which typically gives me a great picture, except for those weird, holographic effects in the blacks. And yes, I have fiddled with the contrast and backlight settings. However, I will try MichiganJ's suggestion about turning off the "noise reduction" (which sounds counterproductive---why do they have that feature at all? I never understood its purpose.)

[moira finnie]

According to the manual, we have is a Sony KDL-32XBR9 32 inch LCD TV. We only got it because someone in the electronics biz was desperate to get rid of last year's models and our old tv made everyone's face orange with a purple streak wavering on the right. All the b & w movies had a greenish tint!

What puzzles me is that watching films on this tv via a cheesy $39 discount house dvd player and on cable in 16:9 we get a gorgeous picture, without the distortion you mentioned. No one looks too thin or too chunky in the movies I've noticed, but then, I've been known to be fairly clueless about such things before.

Why would you guys get these odd sounding effects while using fancy equipment? I've seen newer DVDs as well as DVD-rs on this tv and they seem okay to me. The only odd effect I've noticed is that if one is to the side of the picture or up close, the color fades and you can see the pixalated effects a bit. Otherwise, it does seem much clearer and crisper in b & w and color.

Even watching very old films that haven't been transferred to DVDs with care seem to be a bit better. Did we luck out in our connections? I honestly am not technically astute enough to answer.

[MissGoddess]

I probably made it sound worse than it is---I'm actually quite happy with the picture except for the niggles I mentioned. I'm pretty sure that most people wouldn't notice what I've picked on, except maybe the occasional "ghosting" in the blacks. I guess I am picky because I paid so much and expected a MUCH better picture than my old 19 inch analog TV (before it started the purple and green effects you described on yours, Moira!)