Issues with picture quality with Toshiba 56H80 and Direct TV (1 Viewer)

[Michael De Costa]

I recently had Direct TV installed and let me say, I have mixed reviews. This dilemma is because of the following situation: While on my Toshiba 30" Direct View TV, the picture looks outstanding, but by when viewing my Toshiba 56H80 Rear Project TV, the picture is undesirable having a somewhat fuzzy appearance. While the picture is ok, I didn't spend all this money to receive an ok picture which I could pull from a cable signal.
At first, I tried the obvious, and checked the signal strength which is at 84% which is a pretty decent level. I then went to an S-Video connection but still the picture looks a bit fuzzy. (I would have gone composite but the current RCA receiver does not have a composite output) The differences in picture quality leaves me confused.
The last thought I have is that the Toshiba's Stretch mode is causing the fuzzy picture. What is the optimal viewing mode when watching regular satellite broadcasts? Full View, Theater 1, 2 or 3? Any help in this matter would help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Andrew V]

While I can’t comment on the Signal, I can help you with the different Picture modes on the 56H80. For Regular TV watching you should be using Normal Mode or one of the three Theater Wide Modes. I find Theater wide 1 to be the best for regular TV watching. I don’t think one of the Picture Modes is responsible for the poor Picture Quality but it can’t hurt to switch from Normal Mode and TW to see if you see any difference.
Here’s a Description of each of the Modes:
[*]Normal Mode which is the regular NTSC TV size of 4:3
[*]Full Mode which is widescreen (16x9) used for Anamorphic DVDs
[*]TW1 maintains the central images close to their normal proportions while the left and right edges are stretched.
[*]TW2 zooms the whole image to retains its true aspect, but some of the image on the top and bottom are lost.
[*]TW3 stretches the whole image uniformly but some parts of the tops and bottom are slightly lost. Horizontal stretch is greater than that in TW1.
Below is a Picture of what the three Picture Modes will look like:

Descriptions and Photos taken from Keohi HDTV Tips and Tweaks .
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[Michael De Costa]

Andrew,
Thanks for the info. I too find Theater 1 the best mode to watch pictures on the 56H80. Overall, this is an outstanding set and I have no regrets. I just wish I could get a better picture with Direct TV. It's a bit disappointing, esp. Since I only went out and purchased Direct TV over cable for overall picture quality.