Why are reds and oranges 'noisy' on certain DVDs? (1 Viewer)

[David Ely]

I just recently purchased a Toshiba 46HX83 along with a Sony DVP-725 DVD player. DVDs look incredible, but some DVDs seem to produce what looks like video noise in reds and oranges.

One disk that seems to show this a lot is Finding Nemo. Sometimes, Nemo and his father look like they're covered in analog video noise.

I was thinking this might be the chroma bug everyone talks about, but I'm seeing the same behavior on a Harman Kardon DVD22. If I use the 'standard' chroma bug scenes (like the menu in toy Story), the HK DVD22 seems to be free of the bug.

Any idea why I would be experiencing this type of behavior?

P.S. The TV is currently calibrated with digital video essentials. Contrast and brightness are definately not set too high.

 

[Iver]

Red is generally difficult for video recording and playback, which is why you rarely see people who work on TV (on camera) wearing it.

Apparently not all shows tell this to their guests.

This past Sunday afternoon on an international affairs show on Channel 25 (WNYE), the PBS outlet from Brooklyn, they had a guest with red hair (dyed) and a bright red-orange shirt.

The funny thing is, she was a Russian, on the show to talk about what it was like growing up under Communism, the Gorbachev years, and the transition to the current situation in the Russian Federation. Just a coincidence, I guess.

 

[David Ely]

So this is normal? Let's take Finding Nemo as an example. Does everyone on this forum see occational noise in the clown fish?

 

[David Ely]

I just tried Finding Nemo in my PC and see the same artifacts. Seems like these are issues with specific DVDs. At least I know my TV and DVD player are displaying things properly.

 

[Lewis Besze]

That player might suffers from the CUE[chroma bug],which predominantly shows up on red color and transition to other colors.[from red, mostly on the edges of shapes]

 

[Jeff Gatie]

There was a huge thread on Finding Nemo that discussed this (See link below). The general consensus was that the "artifacts" in Finding Nemo were supposed to be there, they were part of the original film. They were there to give an under water feeling, with debris, halos and shimmer due to the watery environment. It is even mentioned in the commentary. Just another case like "The Matrix is green" and "SPR has these weird light flares".

Finding Nemo thread

Edit: Actually. reading through the thread, the consensus was not that clear. Some color banding and a tiny amount of compression artifacts was seen by some, but the rest disagreed and/or chocked it up to intent.

 

[WesleyHester]

In all the years and all the DVD players I have gone through, I have been lucky enough to escape the CUE until recently.

I've purchased several inexpensive Chinese players with karaoke functions and non have had the CUE until I got my latest one: Viewmage AT-2003P. I plugged it directly to my television, bypassing my Inday switcher, to make doublely sure.

My lucky streak of missing the CUE has ended. Finding Nemo on this player looks terrible with the red "channel". Reds, oranges, purples, etc. look especially bad. Of course any colors made up of red are affected too like brown, grays, etc., etc.

By the time I got my Panasonic RP-91 just after its first release, I learned about the CUE from the Secrets site and researched all future DVD player purchases which took out a lot of the "luck" part I guess.

As far as certain DVDs bring out problems with red and colors made from it, I would think films like Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Monster, Inc., etc. that are very, purely saturated computer animation with absolute colors would bring out issues with DVD players and/or TVs more readily.

 

[Rachael B]

Bright red and orange are the hardest colours for cameras and for reproduction equipment to render. I'm with Iver on this.