LCD TV picture quality from digital satellite source

mike65

I recently had to buy a new telly, it was a rush job for little money so I realise I could have got a better quality screen (I have a 22" Samsung HD ready Series 4 as its got MPEG 4 standard DTT) but I regardless of that I can't help but notice how unforgiving the set is of poor transmission streams esp stuff thats live like news and "babechannels" which I checked for the budget end of tv broadcasting (they look worse than a 10th gen copy of a VHS movie) are all LCDs running on SD like this? The RTE 2 DTT picture is probably the best of what I have (other RTE DTT test channels are in lower def than "correct" SD at the moment).

Maybe I'm seeing things but certain films look a lot better, is this due to a high quality copy which has more information within its image? Or am I fooling myself?

I also notice that the screen seems to be at its best (regardless of source) when viewed in the dark, which is fine as thats how I like to watch tv anyway.

Anyway that what I see, whens the first budget Lidl HD box coming?

Zonda999

Is it a 32C450 or a 32B450 you have Mike? I'm surprised you find SD so poor on either of those sets tbh, i would have though Samsung are top of the game at the moment when it came to SD reproduction

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/samsung-le32b450-le32b450c-20090625155.htm

Heres a review of the 32B450 from the UK's most well respected tv review site

HDTVTest wrote:

Standard Definition
Herein lies the greatest strength of the Samsung LE32B450: it dealt with standard-def content better than any other 32-inch LCD televisions we’ve tested thus far

You could try fiddling with the settings a bit i suppose, but if this is the best 32" tv out there for SD, to answer your question, i would say yes, every other tv would be as "bad" as this!

And i forget to mention that DTT has the best SD PQ of any other platfrom at the moment so what you're seeing is the best available in SD! :eek:

andy1249

Ive yet to see a flatscreen that was set up properly out of the box.

They are almost universally set up to look good in the shop with all the bright lights and consequently look terrible at home.

The first thing to do is make sure its set up right.
For example make sure the TV and sources are set to the correct aspect ratio.
Also check the resolution setting on the source and make sure its set to the optimum for your TV.

Check for RGB settings if using scart.

Then type in the model number of your TV into google and add "best settings".
You should be able to get a list of TV picture settings ( contrast , mode , sharpness , etc. ) that work well for most people.

mike65

Oh don't worry about the setting up! I've hardly see a set that looks like "real life" in my entire life. So many people have no idea about colour/contrast etc (and these days ratios). A bit of me wonders if the Skybox is a bit rubbish, the actual signal strenght is fine at 90% +. Or maybe the scart.

Zonda999 its a 22 not 32