First Experience with LCDs

Mundu · 15 Jun 2006 at 11:14

Well my mate got a 32" Bravia the other day with a all in one surround sound package inc DVD and it was basically my first time watching an LCD properly and not just having a glance and I can say I wasn't very impressed when watching sky although he did have it connected via a scart lead. I then made him put on a DVD LotR: RotK and was suddenyl blown away by the pciture! I really couldn't understand how the picture differed so much as I've never seen such a difference in quality between digital and DVD on my 28" Sony CRT even though I'm using bog standard scart leads and some old Panny DVD player that doesn't work half the time.

Could it be the DVD player was upscalling or is it just the difference between a good DVD player and setup?

Bill101 · 15 Jun 2006 at 11:50

some Sky programmes are very compressed(esp. the news) and an LCD does show up the bad signal much more than a CRT.Plus a lot of LCDs require quite a bit of adjustment to get a really good picture as straighgt out of the box most of the settings are not good for any signal

pinkaardvark · 15 Jun 2006 at 12:33

Yep Sky Digital is very poor, in that it is heavily compressed on some channels. Seems to be getting worse as well, maybe to try and convince people to buy SKY HD, but even that I hear is badly compressed.

Without the heavy compression Sky should theoretically look as good as the DVD. Even a non scaling DVD player will provide a far better picture than SKY so you mate may not necessarily have had one.

fish99 · 15 Jun 2006 at 13:09

Maybe your mate was using RGB scart for the DVD picture and just standard scart for Sky. Most Sky Digital boxes do RGB through one of the scart sockets and it's a million times better than without it. You have to change a setting in the options too and use a RGB scart socket on your tv (and have a fully wired scart lead).

Or maybe your DVD isn't using RGB, or even s-video?

Mundu · 15 Jun 2006 at 13:32

Interesting. I don't have Sky Digital anyway I have Telewest which could be a reashon why it looks better. I'll go and have a quick lookaround the TV and DVD player and see what I find.

MichaelHo · 15 Jun 2006 at 23:04

HDTV's showing SD picture doesnt really do it any justice, its all blocky and blurry. If he can get a pc attached to it get him to download some HD trailers and you will be even more impressed watching them.

or alternatively get him to order sky HD

Tesla · 16 Jun 2006 at 08:24

Bill101 said:
Plus a lot of LCDs require quite a bit of adjustment to get a really good picture as straighgt out of the box most of the settings are not good for any signal

Almost all TV's are like that. And there is a little-known reason for it, I am feeling generous so I will share it.

Imagine you're an average person for 2 mins...

Imagine your strolling around your local TV shop.

There are 5 TV's in a row.

Which one catches your attention? The brightest one. It may not have the best picture but out of the 5 it's the one which catches your eye as it's brighter.

Also, due to the type of lighting used in these stores the TV's all need to over-bright to compensate too.

Recently I have found that I have to make little colour adjustment, infact, on Panasonic Plasma I have found I need to make no adjustment, they come colour perfect (contrast is a different story!).