Sony 51" 16:9 cable reception & view mode (1 Viewer)

[Tony Cicirello]

I just hooked up the 51", and the cable reception is lousy!

Not that it was great before, but I mean it is very grainy.

How to correct? Also, what mode do most people use:

FULL, WIDE, ZOOM, WIDE-ZOOM ??

Thanks,

Tony

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Tony,
If your cable was mediocre before, it's gonna look a lot worse on a big-screen line doubled set like your Sony. The screen size amplifies any imperfections, and the line doubler (DRC in Sony speak) will artifact badly on a mediocre signal. Call your cable company and see if they can get you a better signal.
If they can't get you a better signal, switch to DirecTV for cable channels like A&E or such. If you are within 50 miles or so of your local station's transmitters, you can get a great over-the-air picture from a good roof antenna.
In the meantime, use Movie or Pro mode rather than vivid or standard, turning sharpness down to about 10% or so will help with the graininess.
I use Widezoom on my HW40 for most casual regular tv--better resolution than zoom and less distracting than full, no chance of burn in as with the gray bar mode.
If you have a dvd player, get a copy of AVIA or Video Essentials and calibrate the tv, it will help smooth out the picture.
The new Sonys do as well as anything short of a Pioneer Elite as far as handling ntsc sources, but ya gotta get a decent signal into it.

 

[Dave F]

How is the streching of 4:3 images, compared to a Toshiba set? I really like the TW1 setting on the Toshibas, but for various reasons I am looking at exchanging for a Sony, and the display of 4:3 images is an important factor for me.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Dave,
Sony has 4 modes for 4/3-Normal=gray bars, Full=uniform horizontal stretch=fat faces, Zoom=no fat faces, but chops off the top and bottom, and you lose a little resolution. Zoom mode is scrollable, just like on a Tosh. WideZoom is the variable stretch mode.
Widezoom does do a little horizontal stretch in the middle, but not nearly as much as Full. The upside is that the sides have minimal funhouse mirror effect. There's also a bit of vertical zoom going on, which is probably how they minimize the horizontal stretch in the center. They do compress the top and bottom a bit so not as much is cropped off due to the zoom. This mode is also scrollable. I know my description of widezoom makes it sound pretty horrible, but in practice it is about the best method of filling a 16/9 screen with a 4/3 picture that I've ever seen--I got used to it very quickly and find it minimally distracting, especially compared to the Hitachi or Mits variable stretch modes.