Sony DVP-NC85H problems (1 Viewer)

[ChrisMark]

I am not the most technically savy person, so excuse my ignorance on the topics of scaling and such. I just purchased a Sony DVP-NC85H to replace an older Phillips DVD player that crashed. I hooked it up and put in The Incredibles to see how it looks and I was rather disappointed. The picture quality is actually worse than the player it replaced as well as the current Panasonic DVD recorder I have hooked up. The problem is that the edges (and sometimes other parts) of brightly colored objects is not sharp. There is a ragged look to the edge. For instance, on the main menu screen of The Incredibles, the outline of Mr Incredible is ragged. Also, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in scene 13 where they enter the "eatable room" the blue sweatsuit worm by the mother is ragged all the way through. Before I return this to the store I want to know if anyone else has seen this issue? I tried various settings with the player and had no luck in changing this. This is hooked up to a Magnavox DLP HDTV using component cables. (as is the Panny).

 

[ChrisClearman]

component only does 480i/p.

If you want to upconvert use HDMI cable.

Either way, make sure you go into the DVD player settings and change the output mode. Personally, most 480p output is terriblle and I think is meant for CRT non HD sets. I'd rather leave it in 480i and let the TV scale if you have to stick with component.

 

[ChrisMark]

Chris
I do plan on hooking up to HDMI as soon as my cable arrives. Will the upconversion make a big impact. The odd thing is that the Panasonic is 480p.

 

[ChrisClearman]

did you calibrate the new Sony player?

you probably have it on a new input to the TV. the inputs and the players are all independent, so you'll need to tune it.

I had a Panny S52 hooked up over component and had it calibrated. Plugged in the HDMI and it looked TERRIBLE. Had to go change all the picture settings on the TV itself for that new input.

Looks fantastic now.

 

[ChrisMark]

I switched it to 480i andthe jagged edges went away. The TV was already calibrated when the previous dvd player was hooked up. Is it normal for the 480i picture to be "better" than the 480p?

 

[Steve Berger]

I would say yes. Most newer displays (TVs) have better deinterlacers and scalers that inexpensive DVD players. Look for some terms like Faroudja, Pixelworks, (possibly Telesonics) in the specs of the devices. Progressive mode usually turns off all of the advanced signal processing circuits and lets the input device do all of the work. This is fine for HDTV broadcasts but not for a $50 DVD player.

I have an InFocus 4805 (with a Faroudja chipset) and the general concensus (check AVS for extensive discussion) is that only One DVD player will produce as good of a picture in any progressive or DVI mode that just sending 480i will.

 

[ChrisClearman]

yes, 480i is better than 480p for the reasons above.

your comment about already being calibrated for the other DVD player is a mistake. you have to calibrate by INPUT and by SOURCE. sometimes it's pretty close, sometimes it's a huge difference.

 

[ChrisMark]

Has anyone else come across this issue with the SONY 75/85H? It seems odd that a more inexpensive DVD player would have a better 480p picture than the more expensive (and somewhat highly regarded) Sony.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I have the NS75H and several other inexpensive players and find the NS75H to be very good for a budget player. If you didn't calibrate your display specifically for the Sony player, you likely don't have a good basis for comparison to the player it was calibrated for which might be way off requiring adjustments that would make other players look bad.

Chris