hi guys i am a little frustrated i just got a brand new 42 inch plasma tv widescreen. i am however not sure if it is HD. it probably is. anyway my question is the regular tv shows and movies in standard definition look terrible in this new tv. is there no way for me to improve quality of standard tv on HDTV. thanks
You are having the exact same problem as me. The picture(sd) has to be resized to fit onto a 42" screen(mine is also a 42" plasma) that's why the quality is bad... the only solutions are:Get better cables,(the video input into your tv) get better brand cables,lie Monster cables and try to run them through component.Secondly sit far back from the tv as possible.That's the best you can do for sd.if you want a dramatic increase in quality the only way to go is HD,you need to get sattelite or cable tv in HD and run that through either component or HDMI cables,once again,ingnore the ones they give you and go buy monster brand ones,that should sort your problems out.Other than those two options,there's not much else you could try..Goodluck...
uh.... make and model number? the tv will say "hd" on the front if it is. even if it says that it might not actualy be hd, lame i know. you need to look in the owners manual to see what resolution it displays. if it says 1080i or 1080p it is hd. if it says 720p its not actually hd, its halfway between hd and normal tv, which is 480p. as for normal tv looking crappy, it will always seem that way after watching a dvd or upgrading to a bigger tv and getting all close to it to see how crisp your new tv is, or especially if you upgraded to a bigger tv and you still have a non-hd digital cable box. having a hd digital cable box will improve normal def channels also. people dont realy get pissed at non-hd digital cable boxes showing a crappy picture, but they flip shits if their hd cable boxes show the slightest bit of pixelization because they are paying extra specifically for it, so hd cable boxes are generally a lot higher quality than non-hd boxes. as for what skater said: yes you might need better cables but dont go overboard. DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT spend more than 20 bucks on component cables, do not buy 50 dollar monster cables from best buy its the biggest rip-off ever. 20 dollar cables are fine, get em on ebay if you have to. as for hdmi cables, the signal is digital so it doesnt matter how nice the cable is, as long as it transfers the signal properly it will look the same no matter if you have a 3 dollar hdmi cable from china you got on ebay or a 80 dollar one from best buy (you should spit in anyone’s face who tries to sell you an 80 dollar hdmi cable, 99% of those dudes at best buy and circuit city DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT TVS THEY ARE DUMBASSES! they will tell you hd comes from magic elves in tree stumps with a straight face if it means they can sell you some overpriced crap to get some nice comish. you also need to go through all the coax cable in your house from the outside connection in, and make sure they are static free and all connected and sealed properly to slow the accumulation of future static (this will also speed up your cable modem, if you have one). the way you do this is by unplugging every coax cable and splitter in your house from everything else. then, connect everything back together from the outside connection in, make sure you are making the connection snug and using silicone gel in every connection to reduce future buildup of static. static accumulates gradually over time and you cant avoid it, it especially happens after lightning storms. you periodically need to unplug everything and do this all over again but the gel helps a lot. if you have old and possibly damaged coax lines replace them all, its easy. use a high quality splitter. and this is really important: DO NOT USE THOSE INDUSTRIAL WIRE STAPLES TO FASTEN COAX LINES!!!! they pinch the lines and any type of pinching or undue stress like bending them tightly around corners will cause damage to the outside wire layer inside the cable and cause a reduction in quality. if you find that your house was wired like this (good chance it was) you need to replace all that line and fasten the new line with the special "u" shaped fasteners that are specifically designed for coax lines and make sure you dont pinch, crimp, bend, or kink the coax at any point! if you dont feel like doing this you can call your cable company and have them come out and make sure everything is tip top and they will do it for free. make sure you follow them around like ugly on a toad when they are going through your house cause some of them have sticky fingers. for this reason and the fact that they will probably make you wait a week or two i would just do it myself. if you live in an apartment complex you might have to nag the shit out of your super to make sure all the cables and connections in line before your connection are static free and not damaged. hell really hate you for this cause its a huge pain in his ass but it must be done and its his job. also, if you aren’t ready to pay the extra money for hd channels you at least need to use the best wire option to connect your non-hd cable or satellite box to your tv. it is usually ether s-video (dont spend more than 10 for a s-video cable, again ebay is your friend) or component. using a coax line from digital box to tv is going to hurt your quality big time. same goes for your dvd player, use the best option.
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT spend more than 20 bucks on component cables, do not buy 50 dollar monster cables from best buy its the biggest rip-off ever. 20 dollar cables are fine, get em on ebay if you have to. as for hdmi cables, the signal is digital so it doesnt matter how nice the cable is, as long as it transfers the signal properly it will look the same Exactly and well put.All this Monster cables and other expensive cables are a bunch of bull.I have tried $10 HDMI cables and components and haven't noticed a difference between the expensive Monster cables and the inexpensive cables. As far as Plasma goes on SD signal, well that's how all Plasmas will look like because they are mainly made for HD not SD.I always stay away from Plasma because of a bad experience with them.I had a Samsung 50" plasma and it looked terrible on both HD and SD.It was not at all like the way it looked like in the store and yes I did use expensive and inexpensive cables and yes I did tweak the settings to make it look better but to no availe.I tend to go the LCD route.
short answer is NO and with cable or satellite you can't get your local channels in HI-DEF . all you get is a small package of like 6 HD channels so its a rip off!! however you can get your local programing in HI-DEF with a rooftop antenna and its a free uncompressed signal. as far as your movies get an upconverting DVD player this makes a HUGE difference .i have the Oppo DV-981HD great DVD player,heres a link http://www.oppodigital.com/products.asp
480p is certainly considered EDTV (enhanced definition), 720p is actually part of the broadcast signals classified as HD. My HD cable package was only a $5 upgrade, so it might not be that expensive in all areas. I got roughly 10-12 extra channels, including local network stations in HD (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX) so they may be available in some areas. Of course, I had to get the whole package, not just the individual channels. You could also get an HD antenna to get free local broadcast HD channels if there are any in your area.
what about games i tried playing my PS2 games and i liked the big screen effect but quality was really crappy. it was much crappier than my old 21 inch tv. is there nothing i can do? P.S some of my games had progressive scan mode. when i turned it on the T.V couldnt play it. i thought all HDTVs could do progressive scan
What shows up on the screen depends a great deal upon what quality signal you send the set. If you have a signal that looks O.K. at 21" then take the same signal and blow it up to 2x the size, you will just amplify all of the flaws. Just because the set is HD capable doesn't mean that everything that comes into it is going to look like HD. Generally speaking, if you start with crap, then magnify it, you still have crap. I'm not entirely sure about this, but you may need component or other such cables rather than composite cables (if that is what you're using) for the ps2 to output a prgressive signal.
@georgeluv What you say about the cable splitters is absolutely true. When I got my cable modem, I couldn't get a signal all the time. They sent a guy out to replace all my splitters and check the signal. When he finished I had a high-strength signal at my modem. TV pix was also better. If your cable signal is not good to your HD TV, nothing you do can improve it!
You could spend 3/4 million pounds on cables but (as a connection) they only affect the picture on your peripherals They wont improve your picture quality from built-in devices (the tuner) - this is obviously the source of your real gripe and you need to fix/address this first - forget about any peripherals (dont compound your 'REAL' problem) Just thought I'd point out the obvious before you traded in your car for a packet of wires
This is what I was refering to when I suggested the component cables. Progressive scan is not available through the composite cables from the ps2
