Adjusting Sharpness on your TV with "digital" movies (1 Viewer)

[DanN]

Whenever I watch most movies, I always turn the sharpness down on my TV to give a more film-like picture (especially since I have a Tau which already has a sharp display)
I was wondering if this rule also applies to digitally transferred movies like Shrek, Toy Story or Bug's Life? I mean, aren't these movies supposed to have that razor-sharp look to them? Should I turn the sharpness back up?

 

[Blu]

I generally prefer the sharpness turned down as well and I have a 36' wega. I just like the picture quality more with the softer look. I suppose it is all personal preference though.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Sure, once your monitor is properly calibrated, it should apply to every dvd you watch on it, that's the whole point of calibration.
If a dvd looks sharper or softer than another, than that's the way the dvd's are themselves, your monitor is displaying ALL dvd's correctly.
DanN, is your VVega calibrated with either Avia or Video Essentials? If it is, you shouldn't have to touch it. I have a VVega also, and EVERYTHING I play on it is perfect.
------------------
To the men and women of the N.Y. police and fire department
God bless you.
To the victims and their families
God keep you.
To the dirtbags who caused all this
God help you!!!
[Edited last by John Williamson on November 06, 2001 at 09:56 PM]

 

[DanN]

actually John, I have a Panasonic Tau
i haven't had the chance to property calibrate it with either Avia or Video Essentials yet - the best i've done so far is use the THX Optimode on the SW Episode 1 dvd (however, i've heard that Optimode settings are movie-specific)
basically, i turn the sharpness down all the way when i watch movies, to avoid that digital effect - however, i've noticed that movies like Toy Story and Shrek look very defined and clear with the sharpness control up a bit
my main concern is viewing the movies as the director intended - accuracy of the format is the most important thing for me. So if I'm supposed to watch digital movies with the sharpness down, I guess that's the way it goes
anybody know for sure?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

DanN, my mistake, I was thinking of the guy after you.
Trust me, pick up either one of those discs I mentioned. Once you've set up your monitor to those specifications, you'll be seeing all of your discs as close as possible to their original intent, and as I said, once you've done that, your monitor will be set to correctly display ALL of your dvd's without you having to change it everytime.
------------------
To the men and women of the N.Y. police and fire department
God bless you.
To the victims and their families
God keep you.
To the dirtbags who caused all this
God help you!!!
[Edited last by John Williamson on November 06, 2001 at 10:18 PM]

 

[Clinton McClure]

My sharpness stays on zero all the time. Nothing but pure picture here.

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My DVD Collection Casa del Clint

 

[Dave H]

My sharpness is at zero too.
When friends come over and I tell them that, they are so surprised because they don't understand what sharpness really is until I educate them.

 

[Jamie Cole]

After using Video Essentials on my 55" widescreen Mits and doing some geometry and convergence adjustments, I noticed a slight difference in the picture's "sharpness" ... it did look softer to me. However, prior to having a big-screen I had been watching a 30" Mits direct-view. What I came to realize is that the picture on my new set, properly calibrated, looked like film in a theater, which is the point to home theater.
Same with digital films. Sharpness is always at zero. On "Toy Story 1" especially, if you start to turn up the sharpness, you can actually see aliasing from the digital transfer.
~Jamie

 

[DaViD Boulet]

it really all depends on the display.
On some sets, The "0" setting of the sharpness means "flat" as far as image processing goes...it's simply not adding any sharpness to what's already in the picture.
On other sets, this "flat" setting might actually be half-way, and turning the sharpness down to 0 might blur the picture (my TV).
Bottom line is use your eyes to judge. Get a reference disc like Shrek or 5th element and adjust the dial so the picture looks clear and defined but without any added "ringing" or noise.

my main concern is viewing the movies as the director intended - accuracy of the format is the most important thing for me. So if I'm supposed to watch digital movies with the sharpness down, I guess that's the way it goes

Then go for a front-projection system!

-dave

 

[Carlo_M]

Be sure to use something like AVIA to test where your sharpness should be. In some cases it should be zero. But some sets have artificial "dullers" (for lack of a better word) so that if you set sharpness to zero it actually does something else (anti-sharpness? is that even a word?). So if you put the sharpness pattern on, reduce sharpness until you no longer see halos around the edges of the lines and stop there. If you go too far you may be softening your picture. It varies from set to set.

 

[DanN]

thanks for all the help guys
I have no idea what the sharpness setting is on my Panasonic Tau - whether 0 represents "flat" or not. If anybody does know, please let me know
in the meantime, i will turn down the sharpness and play around with the settings