Need Tips for Decent Picture

[Azerinth]

I have some questions if anyone wants to take a shot....

I have just purchased a Mistubishi 55inch HDTV Capable television (model WS-A55). I held off getting the integrated tuner as the availability of HD signals in my area is pretty poor, and the tuner can be added in the future. That being said, my assumption was that I would still be able to get television resolution from my standard cable box which at least equalled what I was seeing on my old 32inch Sony Trinitron. Additionally, I expected my Direct TV broadcasts (satellite) to be very clear and DVD's to be fantastic.

The reality is that my standard cable box resolution is fuzzy, with a high degree of "grainy" quality. My dish picture is better, but still not fantastic, and while DVD's are the best of the three, I am still not impressed with the focus and grain I am seeing.

My setup includes the TV, a Comcast cable box (no three color component output - video/audio split only), the Direct TV receiver box, a progressive scan DVD player, a cable signal amplifier, the Monster line conditioner/surge unit, and Monster component cables.

I have fooled around with ALL of the video and setup settings including contrast, sharpness, noise reduction, etc.

My questions are:
1. Is the quality I am seeing normal?
2. Why was I seeing better quality on the set in the store with DVD's?
3. Is there a setting/setup scheme I am missing?
4. Is there potentially something wrong with the set?

To test the last question, I am having the cable company bring me their HDTV tuner box this weekend, so that I can see what the HDABC and HDNBC broadcasts look like. I figure this might give me some insight as to whether there is some type of problem with the television itself.

Anyone willing to take a crack at my questions?

[57U]

Welcome to the forum:

1. You say you have "fooled with" all of the settings, but have you turned off all of the automatic settings and done a setup using a setup disk like AVIA. If not, do so.

2. You have probably purchased a larger TV than you had before. This "magnifies" any flaws the same way a magnifying glass magnifies the "flaws" (dots, etc) on a newspaper.

3. I have read a lot of posts from disgruntled DirecTV customers with exactly the problem you have. Part of the problem is due to the compression that the satellite companies need to do to provide the variety that customers want. As soon as they access more satellites for more bandwidth, this should get better

4. Find yourself a good station or a good DVD and if you are happy with that picture, then it's not the TV, obviously

5. Your experiment with HDTV this weekend should put the issue to bed. You should have an excellent picture, especially if they hook you up in time for the CBS football game which has had awesome quality.

6. While the cable guy is there, have him check the signal strength. A good signal should provide excellent pictures, even from a standard def programme (quality in, quality out: garbage in, garbage out)

7. If you haven't done so already, read the FAQ forum.

Good Luck, and please report back.

[Azerinth]

Thanks for the quick response...

I looked through the FAQ section, but missed the "tweaks" area. After reading some of those, I now realize just how much I have to learn.

I will get my hands on one of the AVIA type products and start there. Will post back once I do that and see what impact the HD stations have this weekend.

Thanks again - great site!

[Azerinth]

Well I got my HDTV cable decoder today, and while I was impressed with the resolution up close, broadcasts such as football games were still blurred at far distances. I am getting some level of blurring from all inputs: non-digital cable, "digital" movie channels, direct tv, HDTV, and even some small amount from progressive scan DVD's. Because of this, I have scheduled an appointment (as part of my service plan) to have a technician come out and diagnose whats wrong.

I must say that I was pretty disappointed to see the HDTV picture. Hopefully, there is something that can be done to fix this.

Thanks for the info. Should I see any improvement from the AVIA setup, or from the tech visit, I will post.

[pndunlop]

I leaped into the world of High Def about 18 months ago, and here is some stuff I learned that may help.

In general, the off air HD broadcasts are in the UHF range (there are some exceptions, but few). Just because a channel indicator may say 5 - 1, it could actually be UHF 44. There is a web site link (in the antena section I think), that will give you directions to broadcast tower and channel listings based on your zip code. This really helps. I had to upgrade my UHF antenna and put in a signal amp to get the HDTV stations off the air. I also went through 3 different VHF antennas before I figured this out. Man I wish I'd thought of the internet 18 months ago!

As for broadcasters, in general, NBC and ABC don't do much (although both are adding this year) Last year all NBC had was Jay Leno and the Olympics (24 hour delay). CBS has it all (mostly). So that should be your test channel.

As for cable, well...... I'd consider at least a small dish, I have a C Band and I love it. Not much on HDTV yet though just HBO, Showtime, Discovery. You can't get local channels in HDTV from a dish (at least around texas), and I'd be amazed if your cable vendor carried them or is passing them through. Great deals on various small dishes out there, and, since you don't have the HD tuner you are going to need to buy an STB, and thats included (at least with direct TV). In fact I use an RCA direct TV box (DTC-100) for my STB.

And, you need to use the HD input on the tv (this is pretty obvious but I guess it could be overlooked) if you want to see an HD picture. This pretty much means a component input, not just a 75 ohm cable.

Finally, it sounds like your set could be out of focus, mechanically, but the service tech should be able to confirm / deny that.

All of the above being said, the picture I now get out of my WS55807 is absolutely eye watering in HDTV, but the regular stuff is just the regular stuff, and it all depends on the signal coming in.

Sorry for the long post, and welcome to the club
cheers

[slc1t]

Read your post and it caught my attention. I recently exchanged a 65905 for a 65711. 65905 had a blinking problem. The 65905 had a great picture. Especially with DVDs. DVDs were so crystal I thought I was right there in the action. I couldn't format the 480p signal -- which i didn't care about anyway.

Got the 65711 and almost barfed when I saw the picture. Everything looks worse. My 65905 was never calibrated - I used avia disk once and saw minor improvements. Cable signal looks very grainy on the new model. Amazingly, DVD 480p is the worst signal on the 65711. Very grainy, ghosting, pixelization like crazy. You can format the 480p image which makes me wonder if mits is messing with the native 480p signal coming from the dvd player. I can't see how a professional calibration will fix the problems I am seeing. I am of the opinion that mits has gone downhill with their image quality. I work in imaging so I see all artifacts. Mits has taken a huge dive in my opinion. I feel bad for them. The best picture I get from the tv is with a single video component input. Yikes. I will be most likely returning this and asking for a hitachi or something different.

Another problem with my set happens when views are switched. For example, tonight I was watching Seinfeld. Alot of view switches. For only an instant before the new view is displayed, there is the new picture with very bad horizontal lines. Took me 2 days to figure out what was bugging my eyes. Now I see it all the time.

Anyone else seen image problems with the new 2002-2003 models? Is there a special service code someone needs to enter in order to enable true 480p??? Shouldn't products be easy to use and shouldn't they get better with time. Sure mits has more features, net command, firewire inputs, but bottom line is they are selling an image and the image is worses than the old 65905. Please help before I switch to a new brand.

Chet in Boise.

[joehdtv]

any resolution on your issues?

[slc1t]

Joehdtv,

No resolution yet. I have now looked at 4 2003 diamonds around the valley and all of them have big time pq problems with 480p. 2 of them have really bad ghosting or haloing issues. 2 of them seem to be allright in that area. However, the 2 that don't have those problems are still very pixelized and very grainy and chuncky. Jagged lines prevail -- in fact, component 480i reduces the artifacts considerably on these models.

If you want to know what I am talking about, hook up a 480p dvd player to the 2003 diamond and open up a menu from the dvd player. Look at the letters. If there is a ghosting or halo issue, the letters will not be crisp. They will look like they came straight out of an internet mpeg movie. There is all sorts of pixelization and lines around every letter.

My old tv had no such problem so I just talked with the dealer and requested my old tv back. I told them that I still wanted the blinking problem fixed. I don't trust the service people they have sent out so far so I am not sure if the blinking problem will ever get fixed. Get this, they sent a service person out to look at the haloing issue. I was talking to him about hdtv pictures and he said "I don't even like hdtv images". Wow. An hdtv serviceman that doesn't like hdtv images. How helpful is that. I wrapped the visit up pretty quickly after hearing that comment.

I have also called mits tech support up 5 times now asking to understand the difference between 480p on the 2000 model and 480p on the 2003 model. They never call me back and everyone states the 2003 should be better. But I know for a fact that it is not. In fact, if you ask enough questions you'll soon find out that probably none of the tech support people have ever looked at one of the tvs they are supporting. Amazing. They are fed canned lines. They get paid to answer questions whose answers can all be found in the user's manual.

Sorry for the long post. I should be getting either my money back or my old tv back any day now so I will let everyone know when that happens.

Take care everyone,
Chet