Don't panic...

On Saturday, I ordered a new 40 inch Flat Panel LCD TV. A lovely new Samsung.

It arrived yesterday and now I am struggling to get a decent picture out of it.

Sound familiar?

Any advice from TV freaks out there?

Welcome to the World of Digital Deceit.

Your question is somewhat akin to; "So, how do you use these here film cameras?"

It all depends...

What's your source for video? Broadcast? Cable? Conventional DVD? Blueray DVD? Conventional DVD that 'uprezes' the DVD to 'HD', Other?

Are you using component connectors? HDMI? Other?

What's the native resolution on the LCD TV? 1280 x 786? 1366 x 768? 1920 x 1080? Can it support all or some or ?

Does it have both Progressive and Interlaced modes on all available resolutions or only on some and not on others?

Information! I need information!

Frank

I am using basic Comcast Cable at the moment.

I bought a matching Samsung upscaling DVD player with an HDMI cable.

Resolution is 1920x1080

It is a 120 Hz system.

Well, there you go, all your sources are analog-born, uprezed to digital -- not a good combo at all if you want optimum performance on an LCD system.

Standard NTSC 29.95 fps video @ 648 x 486 lines of resolution uprezed to 1920 x 1080 (you didn't state interlaced or progressive) is manufacturing 'filler' pixels at a rate that dwarfs the original signal.

As one prominent movie critic said, "from Sh*t you get Sh*t"; sorry for the French... ;)

Until you get an input source that meets or exceeds your set resolution and is in an aspect ratio that fits within the 16:9 ratio, it won't look optimal.

Cheapest route for you now would be to try over the air broadcasts of HD signals; provided there ARE such in your area.

TVs are sooooo last century...

TVs are sooooo last century...

And photography is sooo century before last?

And photography is sooo century before last?
Photography is creative, active, the television is not, its passive.
Photography is an art, television is just a content delivery system.
And anyway, there are better means on sharing content, than the one-way-street of the television where you are at their mercy with the remote being your only power of interaction and choice.

Take it back, get a refund, and wait until you can get an OLED TV (http://www.oled-display.net/oled-television). I'm still watching a CRT widescreen, got a great picture, but as soon as I can buy 32" OLED I will.

It arrived yesterday and now I am struggling to get a decent picture out of it.

Sound familiar?

OMG, Yes!!!

We have 3 TVs, 2 DVD players and 2 VCRs. I have never had any trouble working any of them in any combination. Last year we bought into cable (AT&T U-verse) and now have the DVR (not to be confused with a DVD). OK, fine. Well, after months of not being about to keep things we recorded, like we were able to do with the VCR, I looked into getting a DVD recorder to copy "content" off of the DVR. I bought a combination DVD player/recorder and VCR. I got the thing home and out of the box, and there - so help me - an orange sticker on the top of the unit that says if I have any trouble setting this device up, to call the 800 number! :confused:

Setting it up, I mean, how hard could it be? Following the instructions in the 100 page (no less) manual for the thing, I was never able to get past step 2 of the set -up procedure. After several hours wasted over 2 days, I boxed the thing up and took it back to the store for a refund. I'll be damned if I am going to call a help desk 800 number to set up a video recorder!

I mean, Good Grief! It's just television. I've done all this internet research in the past couple of weeks, because besides wanting to record off of the DVR, we were thinking about upgrading the "main" (living room) tv to a flat panel "just because". But I still don't know what to even look for. :o

I am not a luddite or a technophobe. I make my living doing security audits of IT systems. But, I cannot understand television all of a sudden. Give me a break! :mad:

then there are the new hd tv, no manual, cd with insturction and you have to program the puppy ugh,

and while talking about tv, anyone here test out the tv on pc program?

Don't panic...

It arrived yesterday and now I am struggling to get a decent picture out of it.

Sound familiar?

Yeah, I struggle to get a decent picture out of mine too. When I upgraded from an ancient 19" to a 32" a few years ago, all I got was the same old drivel, only bigger!

Why on earth spend all that money and effort on a TV?? There's nothing on worth watching anyway!

Some of the HD material (such as PBS, Discovery, National Geographic) is very worthwhile.

If you are a fan of sports, HD broadcasts are great.

The PVR is very useful, particularly when it comes to time shifting. When combined with the much enhanced program listings that our cable company provide along with the HD material and other digital channels, we find it possible to review what is coming up in scheduled programs, decide what we would like to view, set the PVR to record that material and then view it at our leisure.

It makes it possible to be much more selective, and to watch at times that meet our needs, rather than the scheduling needs of networks.

I like it.

Matt

I use mac computers as TV's, DVD players and recordings, realtime replay etc... Hope never to have to buy a TV again.

I almost bought the 24" iMac for a TV but decided against it.

I ordered digital cable today and since I have an "in" at the cable company, I got a decent deal.

This is a forum for photography. Since when, prey tell, was television an art form?
Just a few quick words: turn it off, unplug it and get some photography done.

This is the lounge area of APUG.

Every lounge I've been to has a TV.

Whatcha wanna watch?

:D

Photography is creative, active, the television is not, its passive.
Photography is an art, television is just a content delivery system.
And anyway, there are better means on sharing content, than the one-way-street of the television where you are at their mercy with the remote being your only power of interaction and choice.

Yeah, I can see this will be a real barn-burner if we engage in debate here: how about I dredge up the dead horse of "is photography really art?"; not that I believe it...

Don't be simple; any mechanism is not the art; the art is made with the mechanism. There as many sh*t photographers (I should know, I am one) as there are sh*t television shows, but to simplistically sweep the entire medium under the rug with an idiotic statement as the one above suggest to me you are either truly bored and wanting to pick a fight or don't grasp the irony of the stance you take.

Are you implying that a photograph is somehow more interactive than a crt or an LCD?

This is idiotic. I have better things to do with my time.

This is a forum for photography. Since when, prey tell, was television an art form?
Just a few quick words: turn it off, unplug it and get some photography done.

Try Ernie Kovacks or Monty Python or Second City Television or even Craft Theater -- please, your statement is absurd and simplistic.

Last time I checked the lens WAS required to make television.

Just a few quick words in return; don't make absolute statements in territory in which you have no knowledge; it looks bad.

Since this is the lounge, I feel comfortable following up with this;

Modern flat-screen TVs often look bad because you are watching material optimized for display on a CRT. The Gamma/gamut of a CRT can be radically different than that of a LCD, not to mention also that the color space the LCD uses is different.

So, in addition to the set having to manufacture pixel information to fill-in-the-blanks, it can also have to do color conversions via look-up tables to change color space.

Added to all this is the flavor-of-the-month digital compression scheme that may involve heavy inter frame compression, frame systems that only change the pixels that have changed from an earlier frame, and you have one hell of a mess.

Sad fact is, it won't look 'right' until you tune into a supported pixel, aspect ration, refresh rate/version the set requires.

Believe me, I've worked in Television and film for over 30 years and the last 5 years have been on giant step backward. You won't see improvement for years and years...

LCD and Plasma screen TVs are obsolete (http://www.oled-display.net/oled-television).

OLED lifespan is 3-4 years and a 19 inch costs $2500

OLED lifespan is 3-4 years and a 19 inch costs $2500


Now. Technology moves fast.

Your thread has got me really worried David!
We have just finished a redec on the lounge and a new wall unit arrived last week which will only take a flat screen (it has a sliding door) so I started shopping for one this week.
I know nothing about TVs and the pics in all stores looked amazing on these big sets, but I read here that in my lounge the pics will be rubbish whatever I buy.
I never turn on the TV before about 9 pm so watch a limited amount anyway and one of the reasons for changing my current quite old, quite large TV with a great picture was to get a flat one which 'goes away' out of sight when not in use and doesn't dominate the room at all times.
Now I am worried. Presumably all these problems apply in the UK as well as the US?
Tim