Picture Problem with my new HDTV !!!!! (1 Viewer)

[GlenRF]

I just received my new 56 inch HDTV today and I am having a problem with the picture, it is looking grainy in some areas I don't know if it is because I am using coaxial cable running from the dish to the sat. receiver then to my vcr and then to the t.v. I was wondering if i used a s-video cable and run it to the tv if that would take care of the grainy picture, any help would be gratefully appreciated.

thanks Glen

 

[joey mr]

well it will help better the picture

 

[JeffHayes]

Glen,

Wow, your current wiring scheme sounds like a recipe of video disaster. Every connection you make other than from the source to the display device is an opportunity for signal degradation. I assume from you comment that you are using normal composite video cables to connect all this stuff? If so... BAD IDEA. At bare minimum you should be using S-Video. Next in quality would be component video and then if you have then VGA or DVI inputs. Don't spend lots of cash on an HDTV and then use what equates to lamp cord to connect your video stuff.

Next, are you getting analog cable, digital cable or satellite as your video feed? The biggest issues with buying these big HD RPTV's is that (especially if they are of the fixed pixel variety like DLP, DILA, LCOS, etc) they are INCREDIBLY unforgiving with crappy source material. It's called the GIGO effect: Garbage In, Garbage out. IF you have satellite, it's not really surprising that it looks grainy. Satellite (other than C band) is compressed BIG TIME and suffers from some nasty MPEG2 compression artifacts. Some STB's handle them better than others. Some D* stations LOOK better than others. It's really a crapshoot. The same thing happens sometimes with digital cable. In most cases, the digital cable channels are just digitally compressed version of the analog channels. So if the analog signal isn't that great... imagine what compressing THAT is going to look like. Combine all these issues and then factor in most of the current HDTV's sub-par deinterlacer and line doubler chips and BINGO... you get a nasty pixelated, fuzzy image.

Give us some more details on your HDTV and your sources and we can probably provide a little more insight on how to get the best out of your purchase.

Later,
Jeff

 

[GlenRF]

well Jeff thanks for the info you provided, the tv is a zenith 56 inch HDTV, I have direct tv for my programming provider, I have a pioneer progressive dvd player, Pioneer Laser disc Player, and a VCR all running into the back of the TV.

 

[Jack Briggs]

As you're starting to see, Glenn, always (whenever possible) run the highest-quality video connections (with the proper cables) directly to the display. This means S-Video or, better, component-video cables. And remove your VCR from the chain.