Sony Full LCD vs. DSTV Standard Def

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zeusthespartan

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Good Day guys,

I'm a complete newbie and i'm in need of urgent assistance.
This past weekend i bought me a Sony KLV-40V400 full HD (1080p)
LCD from Cats Digital. I also have a Sony Blue Ray player and the
picture quality for Blue Ray movies is phenomenal.

However, I am running a Standard DSTV decoder (model 1110) and
the picture quality that i'm getting there is really poor.
I stay in a complex where we have a communal dish.

Is there anything that i can do to improve the picture quality on my
DSTV channels ? If i get an HD PVR will this drastically improve the
picture quality across all DSTV chanels or will this only improve the
Mnet HD channel. I wouldn't mind having the same quality that i had on
my old CRT.

Also, are there any TV settings that you guys can recommend for that
particular TV model, that can improve the picture quality ?

Are there any other devices / cables that i can purchase to enhance the pic
quality or should i just return the darn thing and get a Plasma Screen TV ?

Your assitance would be highly appreciated folks
 
Got the same LCD as you...except its the S series (only diff is they use a slightly better panel). Have extraview setup with a 1110 decoder. Dude...nothing can be dne except upgrade to HD PVR. But only then will you get 1 channel HD...and in my opinion....the SD channels look worse on the HD PVR than the 1110 decoder. So its up to you really...get the HD PVR and have 1 HD channel, with others not looking so great.....or keep your current setup. Thats my 2 cents...
 
zeusthespartan said:
Good Day guys,

I'm a complete newbie and i'm in need of urgent assistance.
This past weekend i bought me a Sony KLV-40V400 full HD (1080p)
LCD from Cats Digital. I also have a Sony Blue Ray player and the
picture quality for Blue Ray movies is phenomenal.

However, I am running a Standard DSTV decoder (model 1110) and
the picture quality that i'm getting there is really poor.
I stay in a complex where we have a communal dish.

Is there anything that i can do to improve the picture quality on my
DSTV channels ? If i get an HD PVR will this drastically improve the
picture quality across all DSTV chanels or will this only improve the
Mnet HD channel. I wouldn't mind having the same quality that i had on
my old CRT.

Also, are there any TV settings that you guys can recommend for that
particular TV model, that can improve the picture quality ?

Are there any other devices / cables that i can purchase to enhance the pic
quality or should i just return the darn thing and get a Plasma Screen TV ?

Your assitance would be highly appreciated folks
Click to expand...

Sup the S series is lower spec than the V series...

Regarding your issue, I think I know what you mean, leave the TV on for about 3 or 4 hours, I think it needs to get warmed up or something, coz straight out the box the pic quality will make you cry, I almost did:o

Standard signal is excellent once your TV had about 30 hours of play. Theres no need for HD unless you want it.

Regarding settings, mines is on standard, dynamic/vivid was too bright. I think the backlight is on 70 and all the other settings are on 90.

Watched Hulk last night, stupid movie lol but was checking out the pic quality, it was perfect!!! Even the shades of black came through perfect....
 
Also be aware that many SD programs are being broadcast in a letterbox format - meaning that you can use the Wide Zoom function on this tv, without any of the picture being cut off. The picture will fill the widescreen area fully. Won't be HD, but at least will be big! ;-)

Also look at the picture color setting - there are presets - Cool, Neutral, Warm 1 and Warm 2 I think. Standard setting is on Cool, which for me washes the colors out - dvds look much better using the Warm color setting!

Lastly - play around with the intelligent light detection setting - makes a big difference between setting on or off.

I bought the 37" a few weeks ago, and am loving it! Especially on Xbox!
 
It is a great unit, like a previous poster stated, the quality of SD DSTV does get better as the unit "beds in" mine took about a week before it started to look good.
 
From my point of view, the picture quality will be a little different because you're trying to enlarge a regular tv broadcast image to the resolution of your tv screen, If the image is not native to the hd tv then it will look poorer. But I assure you that you'll get used to it. It also does not help watching 4:3 picture sizes in 16:9 widescreen format - everyone looks fat.

Regular TV has upto 576 lines, where as 720p (DStv Hd) is 1,280x720 and 1080p is 1,920x1,080. So on, for example, on a 720p screen the image from regular tv has to be enlarged, and when you enlarge you notice the image does not look so crisp.

Obviously, SD TV pictures will be inferior to watching blueray, playing xbox/ps3, HD and even watching regular DVDs. The trick is to make sure the screen size is proportionate to the distance your sat away from it. For a 40 inch screen you should be 7-8 feet away. That way you won't notice the poor picture quality that comes from normal SD Tv.

As JK8 says, fiddle around with your tv settings you'll be able to find a good setting so that the image looks good. For example, you should turn the sharpness right down, and I personally like having edge enhancements on.
 
None of the shows i like to watch are offered on the HD channel,
So an HD PVR will be pretty useless for my other channels then ?

Do any of you know if Multichoice is planning on offering introducing a single view HD decoder (without PVR) ?
 
Relax dude....Just watch TV for the next week, I assure by next Monday you wont really want the HD.... it only makes a very good picture better, but not compulsory!;)
 
Is it possible to display 4:3 aspect ratio picture on a 16:9 aspect ratio LCD without the picture stretching?
 
SD quality on the HD decoder via HDMI is farbetter than the composite video output from the 1100 decoder. Anyone that tells you different is talking *****. The scaler in the HDPVR does quite a good job.

Remember that SD is ALWAYS going to look crap compared to HD.

Make sure you set up your decoder correctly for the type of screen you have *(4:3 vs 16:9)
 
greg_SA said:
I assume you mean DSTV SD vs DSTV HD... not DVDs
Click to expand...

a 4:3 DVD at 576p looks crap compared to 16:9 HD at 720p/1080p... but not as bad as most of the DSTV channels.

Channel 103 that actually broadcasts 16:9 material looks far better on a panel TV than any of the 4:3 DSTV channels.
 
I have found this forum to be one of the best on the net : http://forum.blu-ray.com/

If you look under the 'Displays' forum, there is a 'Share your Custom Display Settings' topic for all the major LCDs/Plasmas.

I'm too lazy to go and look for your model now. :)
 
I hv a sony 40" lcd 40CX520 FHD tv,will I also need 2 change my 1110 decoder 2 improve da picture quality?Guys I'm nt really clued up wit da lingo,pls make it as simple as possible
 
Unfortunately, you are beyond help...

There is this language, its called English. Could you possibly repost in English and we might be able to assist you to some degree.
 
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