DVD upscaling/upconvert help (1 Viewer)

[BigMike79]

I am completely new to the whole "theater" scene. I am coming from the same tube tv I have had from the mid 90s.

Anyway, I am having problems with DVDs in upconverting DVD players. The picture is very grainy and pixelated, and doesn't seem to be upconverting at all. In fact, it almost seems worse that the old tube tv picture. I have tried 3 different "upconverting" DVD players so far, so I assume it is not the player, but something else. I am completely new to all of this and need some help.


The TV is a 37" LG LCD, 1080P, 60Hz. (model 37CS560)

The HDMI cables I am using are these Daytons; http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=181-772

The receiver is a Denon AVR 1610.



Is the problem the receiver or cables? Maybe the TV? Do I need to adjust some sort of settings? Again, I am completely new to all of this.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Richard V]

Do you have connections going from your cable/satellite box going to your DVD player, then from there to your TV?

 

[schan1269]

What were/are the DVD players?

 

[BigMike79]

Do you have connections going from your cable/satellite box going to your DVD player, then from there to your TV?

There is no cable box involved, just the TV, DVD player and receiver.

I have a HDMI cable going from the DVD player to the DVD HDMI input on the receiver, and another HDMI cable going from the HDMI out on the receiver to the TV.

 

[BigMike79]

What were/are the DVD players?

Denon DVD1940CI
Marantz DV4001
Sony DVP SR500H

 

[schan1269]

Well it isn't a "the DVD player sucked" problem.Did you turn on 24p?If you did...turn it off.

 

[BigMike79]

Well it isn't a "the DVD player sucked" problem.Did you turn on 24p?If you did...turn it off.

How do I know if I have the 24p turned on or off? I assume they are just set to whatever the default is.

 

[schan1269]

You go into the (whichever is currently hooked up) menu where you pick output resolution. The setting choices are...1080P/24 or 1080P/60Or it will give you a choice of 24 or 60 when you've chosen 1080P.

 

[BigMike79]

You go into the (whichever is currently hooked up) menu where you pick output resolution.The setting choices are...1080P/24 or 1080P/60Or it will give you a choice of 24 or 60 when you've chosen 1080P.

I couldn't find that in the setup menus of the current DVD player that is hooked up (the Denon) It is set to NTSC in the tv type section.

 

[schan1269]

Ok, so what resolution did you choose?

 

[BigMike79]

Ok, so what resolution did you choose?

I looked through all the menus in the DVD setup and there was no resolution setting that I found. I have the TV type set to NTSC. (the other 2 options are PAL and multi)



Do you think it might perhaps be a problem with either the TV or the receiver that is passing the HDMI signal through it? (or maybe even the HDMI cables themselves) The picture regardless of which DVD player I had hooked up looked pretty much equally horrible.

 

[Mark-P]

I looked through all the menus in the DVD setup and there was no resolution setting that I found. I have the TV type set to NTSC. (the other 2 options are PAL and multi)

Choice of resolution is usually found under the HDMI settings.

 

[BigMike79]

Choice of resolution is usually found under the HDMI settings.

The only three settings this DVD player seems to have that the setup button is bringing up are language, video and audio.

In the video section there are two things labeled HDMI. One is "HDMI select", wherein the options are YCbCr or RGB. (its set to YCbCr currently)

The other is "HDMI picture" which is set to normal. (the other option is enhanced)

 

[schan1269]

Have you pressed the "HDMI" button on the front of the 1940?

 

[BigMike79]

Have you pressed the "HDMI" button on the front of the 1940?

Yes, I have it on and set to 1080p.

 

[BigMike79]

Does anyone else have any ideas what may be wrong?

This is pretty frustrating for us, as this HD TV was a HUGE purchase for our slim budget, and the pictures on all the DVDs we try to play look very bad with pixellation, tons of graininess, etc.

 

[Jonathan Burk]

As others have noted, you have a decent TV and players, so you should be able to get a pretty clean picture.

To figure out where the problem is, I would start by plugging the DVD player directly into the TV set (don't go through the receiver). Pick a DVD of known high-quality and use that for all the tests. We'll also assume your HDMI cable is good; any HDMI cable ever made can send 480p or 1080p video over a distance of one or two meters, so you don't need to worry about spending a lot of money for a fancy cable. But if it's a bad cable, you'll want to replace it.

Hopefully you have a DVD with proper test patterns (even an old disc with THX "Optimizer" or "Optimode" patterns will work). Start by calibrating your set to these patterns. If you can't do this, look for any preset picture settings your set has like "Sports", "Movie" or "Standard". Choose "Movie" or whatever is similar to that. I would also recommend turning off picture enhancement settings like "Noise Reduction (DNR)", "Edge Enhancement", etc.

Your TV has its own "upscaling", so try setting your DVD player to output 480p. Does the picture on your TV look better than what you had been seeing? If not, then try a different HDMI cable (even a super cheap one will work). If that doesn't help, then your TV is having a problem.

If it looks good, then you have a good baseline to work from. Next, try setting your player to 1080p. Now does the picture look better or worse? If it looks better (or the same), then you can hook it up through your receiver. If it then looks worse, then your receiver is doing something to it. If it still looks good, then problem solved.

If you change your DVD player to 1080p and it looks worse than 480p, and this happens with all three DVD players, then there is something wrong with your TV. It should most certainly be able to accept a 1080p input without degrading it.

If this still doesn't make sense to you, or you need more help, then I would recommend getting out a digital camera and taking pictures of what you are doing and uploading them, so we can see the menu screens on your TV and players, as well as the picture quality you are seeing.

Good luck.

 

[Jonathan Burk]

Not sure why I can't edit my post.

Based on this YouTube video, it looks like your TV has built-in calibration patterns, as well as a preset "Cinema" mode.



Use these to calibrate your TV first, then confirm the settings with DVD test patterns. And set it to "Cinema" mode.