Just got my new Samsung 27" HDTV (1 Viewer)

[Cory R. B.]

I just got a Dynaflat 27" Samsung HDTV Monitor. Yet I'm not impressed by the picture. Using component cables, my video games look the same as on my old TV using AV cables, and my digital cable looks worse than on my old TV even though I turned on Digital Noise Reduction (and the HDTV has a built in line doubler). The picture isn't horrible, but it just seems more gritty. Is Samsung a bad name?

 

[MikeyWeitz]

I wouldnt judge the pciture until I turned off SVM and used avia or VE to set it up properly. None of them look any good out of the box, you need to set them up properly.

 

[Cory R. B.]

I have no idea how to do any of what you said. Could you give me a quick breakdown of what I should do?

 

[Bill Will]

Try www.hometheaterspot.com & look under Samsung for info on your set & how to get into the service menu to turn off the "VM" & etc.

 

[Cory R. B.]

In the forum? That is the only thing I see on that site.

 

[Bill Will]

Click on "FORUM" & then scroll down to Samsung & click that. If you don't see the info you are looking for try doing a search by clicking on "Search" on thre top right when your on the Samsung board. You can also try a search on this forum & see what comes up.

 

[Cory R. B.]

I searched, but I don't see anything that can help me. What can I do to make my picture not so grainy? It is really obvious when the picture is dark (like a black screen).

 

[Brad_V]

Plenty of people turn off the line-doublers (if they can) when watching regular TV. Not sure if that Samsung has that option. I know some people whose cable/satellite feed looked so bad on their line-doubled HD set that they brought the set back for a non-HD one. Other than calibration, a lot depends on the strength of the signal, too.

 

[Cory R. B.]

It is digital cable, so it should be as best as can be besides getting actual HD broadcast. How can I turn off the line doubler? I'd like to see what that looks like.

 

[Ted Ross]

Here is a link on how to turn off SVM-I got it at hometheaterspot. Make sure you read all the replys to the above post. Oh yeah, dont expect a huge difference in pic quality from going to a analog tv to a digital one. Especially with cable/digital cable. I went from a JVC 32inch to a 32inch Samsung Dynaflat & then finally a Toshiba 36hfx71 & didnt notice any huge differences other than the elimination of scan lines.

 

[Mike I]

Plenty of people turn off the line-doublers (if they can) when watching regular TV.

There are no HD or HD ready sets with the ability to turn off the line doubler..

WIth a good clean signal such as that from DBS or Digital cable, the picture quality of non HD programming will look very good on an hd ready set..Where some people have a problem is with a poor quality analog cable signal which is fast becoming obsolete in most areas of the country..The promblem is there is so much noise and artifacts in analog cable, an HD sets internal line doubler tends to magnify a poor vidio feed...

 

[Cory R. B.]

I turned VML to 0, but it didn't really help. From about 7 feet away, the TV usually looks great (except when the picture is dark, like in a night scene). When you get closer, like 3 feet, you can see all the grain lines. The lines criss-cross the whole screen. They are really really small, obviously, but still very visible.

 

[Jim_C]

>>From about 7 feet away, the TV usually looks great (except when the picture is dark, like in a night scene). When you get closer, like 3 feet, you can see all the grain lines.

 

[MikeyWeitz]

Not to be a bad guy, but you really need to do your homework and learn A LOT more about HDTV's, YOUR Tv and signals in general. Most liklely the problem is your cable signal. Digital cable is probably a step below a Sat trasmition and that is marginal at best (some shows are GREAT tho). Pop in a good DVD (do you have a progressive scan player?) and then tell me what the pic looks like (after you calibrate the set of course)

 

[Brad_V]

Last I checked, the Panasonics can turn off the line-doubler.

Lots of people say how poorly HD sets do with analog feeds. And it makes sense that analog feed is best viewed on an analog screen. Plenty of people have returned their HD sets for analogs because the DirecTV and other non-HD sources made the picture look so bad.

 

[Brad_V]

And, Cory, just because it is digital cable doesn't mean it is better than analog cable. Digital allows them to cram more channels into the same bandwidth. It's common for digital cable to look worse than analog cable. Digital doesn't mean High-Definition.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Cory: What kind of DVD player do you have? And, as others have asked, is the set at least somewhat calibrated via the user controls yet? With cable, your picture will only be as good as the signal source--cable transmissions, poor as they are, make for a terrible test of a sophisticated display's capabilities. And are you thinking of getting a digital STB? You have a genuinely good television. JB

 

[Cory R. B.]

What is a digital STB?

I have my XBox hooked up, and the picture looks amazing, so it must be the cable. I'm trying to calibrate it for the cable to look good right now, but I don't know if that is possible.

I did calibrate some things, like set the VML to 0, changed the picture brightness and sharpness the settings that looked the best, and changed the cable type to the best looking one. But that is all I know. I know I don't know anything about TVs yet.

 

[Jack Briggs]

STB = set-top box, for receiving HD signals.

Again, don't use cable to judge a picture's quality. That TV of yours is too good for that.

 

[Cory R. B.]

I love the TV, my games with component and s-video look amazing. Don't worry, I'm not judging it by the cable anymore . I am trying to make the cable look better though.
I just might buy the HD receiver, but I have to see what services there are in my area. Can a normal VCR still record from that?