New to Home Theater with some questions.. (1 Viewer)

[JeremyShep]

Here is my setup right now:

Philips 30PW850H TV (30" HDTV-ready, 16:9)
Pioneer DV-563A progressive scan DVD player
X-Box

That is all that I have hooked up. I'm using Monster cables from the X-Box to the TV, and Phoenix Gold cables from the DVD player to the TV (all component hookups).

My questions:

How clear should this combo be in DVDs? It is not as clear as HDTV signals I have seen before. They both run in 480 mode, and I can't seem to get them to go above that. Also, the picture seems slightly green no matter how I adjust the color settings.

Any tips on how to get the sharpest image and the green situation?

I'm sorry that I am so illiterate in the home theater area, I know very little about any of this. Thanks for any help!

 

[John S]

480p is NOT hdtv, 720p and/or 1080i is HDTV...

Most Philips have one component video input that is for 480p (EDTV) and above (HDTV), the other one is for 480i.

Hard to say why your DVD's don't look great though. Or do you mean that 4:3 non-widescreen stuff doesn't look good.

I'd be curious as to how widescreen movies look to you.

 

[Ted Lee]

like john said, the best you can get out of a dvd is 480p (unless your dvd player upconverts).

as far as the green thing goes, it sounds like you are playing with your colors, so not sure what's up. you may want to consider a calibration dvd. check the beginner's faq for more info on that. one of our members wrote a great article recently, but i can't find it.

it's good gear and cabling, so if the color thing doesn't go away after calibrating, it may be the tv itself

 

[JeremyShep]

I have the DVD player hooked up for 1080i, but if 480p is the best that a DVD will play, then I guess that answers that question. The DVDs look nice, but are not quite as sharp up close as I was hoping for.

On the color issue, I will look into a calibration DVD. On cable TV, it looks great, same with the X-box, just on movie DVDs.

So, the only way to view anything at the quality of HDTV, is to actually get a HDTV tuner and just watch channels, right? It won't display DVDs unless I get a better DVD player, and most games only display in 480 I believe.

 

[Ted Lee]

no, you can get a dvd player like my samsung 931 - that will actually *upconvert* the signal to true 10801 or 720p. it's about 300 bucks at best-buy.

or, there is also another popular dvd player called the Bravo D-1. i think it's around 150 bucks and also outputs true hi-def.

but, a dvd (by itself) will never be more then 480p.

[edit] if only the dvd movies look green, then it's either your player (or the cables)....

 

[JeremyShep]

Okay, I don't think my TV can support DVI. So, I guess I'm stuck with the 480. Thanks for the answers though!

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Not to nitpick, but it does not output true hi-def. It puts out an upconverted signal which is not HD. Anyone can see the difference between upconverted HD and true HD. It is better, yes, but not true HD.

 

[Kevin G.]

Jeremy,
Do you have the player hooked up on AV 4 w/ component cables? And make sure you have the bitstream set on your player.
I have the same tv and am amazed by the quality of dvd playback, I would think any p-scan player would be damn close in quality.
Mine is the Onkyo dvcp701 and it plays great crisp sharp and almost 3-d

 

[David Hoffman]

Also for the XBox you should have the hi def adaptor pack, that contains component cable jacks and optical digital audio jack.

 

[Ted Lee]

jeff - i think i get what you're saying...but not sure.

can you clarify?

isn't 1080i/720p the definition of hi-def?

 

[JeremyShep]

Yeah, I have the HD pack on the X-Box hooked up to AV 1, and the DVD hooked up to AV 4. I have the player set up to progressive scan. What do you mean by bitstream?

 

[Lew Crippen]

I think that Jeff is saying that in order for something to be HD, the source has to be HD. Really the same thing as some of the HD channels, where you may be getting a TV show in HD, but as soon as the news comes on it’s in SD—even though the signal being broadcast is still 1080i.

 

[David Hoffman]

Ted,

I guess y'all are talking about two different things:
* a hi-def signal, maybe upconverted
* hi def source material transmitted as hi-def all the way

The Samsung takes the 480p dvd data and upconverts it...likened to one opening an image 480 pixels tall and resizing it in image software to 720 pixels tall.

Similarly, many televisions will upconvert all 480i and 480p signals to 720p, or usually 1080i for display on the screen.

Neither of those is as good as starting with a 720p or 1080i source, right?

The Samsung may a do a better job than the display device at upconverting, since it's a complicated algorithm. But in any case upconverted dvds won't be true hi-def material.

 

[Ted Lee]

ahh...i get what you're saying now. can't do better then the original source, etc.

hmmm, that's a good way to think about it.

thx!

 

[Jeff Gatie]

As has been said, I meant the signal is not "true HD" unless the source is HD. Upconversion does not count. Take a look at the SD TV shows/commercials converted to HD, they are very noticeably not HD quality, even though they are broadcast at HD "resolution" (720p/1080i).

 

[Kevin G.]

This unit is an HD monitor, no receiver/tuner is included. that would be separate, to get HD programming talk to the cable/dish provider or buy a tuner

 

[JeremyShep]

Kevin G., I can't seem to find anything baout a bitsream in my DVD player setup or on the player itself. Also, would you mind telling me what Picture settings you use when watching movies on this model TV? I know everyone has their own preference, but I am still trying to figure out the color situation. Thanks!

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Kevin G.

PCM vs. Bitstream is a digital audio setting. It has nothing to do with picture quality. Since it does not look like Jeremy has a surround receiver, so he should not be worried about this setting because changing it will have no effect.

 

[Kevin G.]

the movie setting works for now (till I can get a callibration disc
do you have component cabling on the AV 4 hookup?

 

[JeremyShep]

Yeah, I'm running component cabling to AV 4. It is not set up as interlaced, it is the other (I forget the name), that the manual said was superior.