Grainy image from dvd

quad_red

I just bought a Panasonic SC-PT450 home cinema package off adverts to hook up to a Samsung LE-R88BDX.

Sound is fantastic but the picture quality is very disappointing from both HDMI and Scart (don't have component cables to test).

The image is very grainy. I have optimised the tv using settings from avforum. The Panny has an upscaling dvd player and I had to get it off 1080p to get the TV to show an image.

But all the resolution settings from the dvd player are grainy, dull and lacklustre.Have tried setting it to 576i, 576p, 720p and 1080i with no improvement

Any suggestions here? Cos the image quality is really really poor. Way way below the 360 through component.

Zonda999

This may sound a bit stupid but are you trying all of this with a specific dvd or something??Some films are designed tio be grainy.It sounds very odd.You would think a panasonic to be a much better upscaler than the 360

quad_red

Zonda999 wrote: »

This may sound a bit stupid but are you trying all of this with a specific dvd or something??Some films are designed tio be grainy.It sounds very odd.You would think a panasonic to be a much better upscaler than the 360

Hey Zonda.

No, have tried a few dvds. Saving Private Ryan, Batman Begins and Episode 3.

I know Saving Private Ryan looks 'washed out' on purpose. But even the title menu is grainy, with embedded images indistinct and text blurry.

All grainy and up close, quite pixelated.

To put it into context - the image is pretty much identical to that from a forty quid cheapo player I picked up in Argos four years ago to play multi region dvds. Imprecise and grainy with dithering and artefacts noticeable.

I read online about 1:1 mapping but whilst it's relatively straightforward to change the output resolution on the dvd player, I don't know how/if you can change it on the tv manually.

ongarite

DVDs are always going to be grainy on a HDTV even with artical smoothing & noise reduction. You can't make something thats 720X576 resolution @ 5MPS/sec, super sharp and clear when scaled to HD resolutions.

quad_red

ongarite wrote: »

DVDs are always going to be grainy on a HDTV even with artical smoothing & noise reduction. You can't make something thats 720X576 resolution @ 5MPS/sec, super sharp and clear when scaled to HD resolutions.

Indeed. But the exact same dvds look way WAY better on the 360. Watching the title screen of Saving Private Ryan on both is like watching an upscaling dvd versus a copied videotape.

Even the 'idle' screen for the dvd player (that says panasonic dvd etc.) is extremely poor. There are noticeable artefacts and blobs of colour around the text.

Can some scaling chips not be compatible with some tvs?

quad_red

Am slightly worried here, hope someone can help. My picture quality has gone from great to appalling on ALL sources now.

Originally, there was no picture from the dvd player. Turns out it defaults to 1080p. Pressed cancel and it defaulted down to 576p. Image appeared but it was very poor. Rough, grainy with artefacts and dithering noticeable. A far worse image than the old crappy dvd player. Tried everything over the next few hours. Have tried setting it to 576i, 576p, 720p and 1080i with no improvement.

And now, to my horror, all sources look equally rubbish. Even the 360 which was pin sharp up to now looks rubbish. I have tried everything, messing with all the settings on the LCD and the dvd player but nothing I do works. All the sources (component, scart and HDMI) look the same now. I have tried changing the resolution of the 360 and nothing improves the image quality.

I have attached a pic of text from Lord of the Rings to explain the rubbish image quality. Before text was pin sharp. Now it looks like below.

I'm hoping it's some settings/scaling/resolution thing or something that I'm overlooking.

Really appreciate any feedback.

Tattoosnob

Have you the Sharpness setting turned on, if so turn off aswell as all other picture enhancements e.g noise reduction.

quad_red

Tattoosnob wrote: »

Have you the Sharpness setting turned on, if so turn off aswell as all other picture enhancements e.g noise reduction.

Hey Tattoosnob.

No, all those features are turned off. Movie plus, edge enhancement etc etc are all turned off.

Why would the text start looking like that?

Tattoosnob

Does your TV have different modes .i.e. Dynamic, Movie/Cinema what are currently using.

quad_red

Everything's set to minimal.

Mode: Standard
Digital NR: Off
DNIe: Off
Movie Plus: Off
Colour: Normal
Game mode: Off

All the sharpness, brightness, colour and tint settings I have tested to see if I could get an improvement. All are set to middle of the road default now.

Tattoosnob

Turn the sharpness off, all the way down, this setting really ****s up the picture esp text.

quad_red

Tattoosnob wrote: »

Turn the sharpness off, all the way down, this setting really ****s up the picture esp text.

Turned it right down and still the same crappy picture and exactly the same blocky text.

Tried putting the 360 through the vga cable there (Sharpness isn't even an option under the VGA port) and the image is exactly the same.

Tattoosnob

Sorry man, it's hard to think of what could be wrong. The XBox should be pretty much spot on, how long have you the TV.

quad_red

Tattoosnob wrote: »

Sorry man, it's hard to think of what could be wrong. The XBox should be pretty much spot on, how long have you the TV.

Since November. Bought it in Currys so I have a receipt. Could the scaler have failed or something?

Tattoosnob

Hard to know, maybe take a few more full screen pictures to show how bad it is.

quad_red

Tattoosnob wrote: »

Hard to know, maybe take a few more full screen pictures to show how bad it is.

Tried taking full screen pics but it was really hard to capture detail, y'know?

The close up on the text is the one thing that I was able to get on a pic that illustrated the problem.

Basically, all the sharpness is gone. A friend of mine bought a Samsung LCD this month on the back of how impressed he was with the image quality on mine. He took a look yesterday and concurred that the image quality is nothing like it was.

Colours are smudged and there's allot of pixellation and artefacts.

The fact that this problem started with connecting up the Panasonic confuses me. Trying to connect an 1080p output to the tv wouldn't have damaged it would it? It just said 'mode not compatible' and showed a blank screen. Ever since that these problems have occurred.

Tattoosnob

quad_red wrote: »

Tried taking full screen pics but it was really hard to capture detail, y'know?

The close up on the text is the one thing that I was able to get on a pic that illustrated the problem.

Basically, all the sharpness is gone. A friend of mine bought a Samsung LCD this month on the back of how impressed he was with the image quality on mine. He took a look yesterday and concurred that the image quality is nothing like it was.

Colours are smudged and there's allot of pixellation and artefacts.

The fact that this problem started with connecting up the Panasonic confuses me. Trying to connect an 1080p output to the tv wouldn't have damaged it would it? It just said 'mode not compatible' and showed a blank screen. Ever since that these problems have occurred.

Is there any way to reset the TV to default factory settings, then go through every setting and turn off everything that can be turned off. If you can go to Movie/Cinema mode do so as these are usually the most accurate regarding greyscale and colour setting. Try your sources again and if it still looks dodgy maybe you have give to Currys a ring!!! Hard to see how the Pansonic would have ****ed it up but I wouldn't rule it out nomatter how unlikly it seems.

quad_red

Tattoosnob wrote: »

Is there any way to reset the TV to default factory settings, then go through every setting and turn off everything that can be turned off. If you can go to Movie/Cinema mode do so as these are usually the most accurate regarding greyscale and colour setting. Try your sources again and if it still looks dodgy maybe you have give to Currys a ring!!! Hard to see how the Pansonic would have ****ed it up but I wouldn't rule it out nomatter how unlikly it seems.

Hey Tattoo.

Have gone through every setting. The problem is with dvds and tv now. The 360 dash looks fine over vga and component. But dvds look poor via the 360 and downright appalling via the Panasonic DVD player.

NTL looks rubbish as well but are definitely worse recently.