Film grain on HD Ready screens...

[TheWildWhelk]

I use a 60 Gig PS3 for playing Blu Ray titles, and have an LG 37 inch 768x1366 screen that has 1080p input. The PS3 has 1080i switched off, as i only have 1 1080i disc. What puzzles me is how bad older films (Ghostbusters and Highlander leap to mind without prompting) that feature heavy grain look. There is virtually no difference with newer films. So why do heavy grain movies look so bad on a HD Ready screen?

[CMM]

HD has higher resolution so grain is more visible...

You may want to reduce your sharpness if the grain is really heavy.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by CMM

HD has higher resolution so grain is more visible...

You may want to reduce your sharpness if the grain is really heavy.

To elaborate on this point:

The sharpness setting should actually be set to a neutral position. The setting doesn't ACTUALLY make the picture sharper. It adds an optical illusion effect that MAY make it appear sharper, but it does NOT add resolution of definition. In reality, it negatively affects resolution and definition.

But on top of this, sharpness setting, even while appearing invisible on normal content, can make grain overly obtrusive. Because the way it works is it finds edges of colors and accents them so that the edge stands out harder. In the case of grain, it will accentuate the edge of every bit of grain, making it stand out in a way that is hideous. Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_enhancement

But yeah, if it's not already, turn your sharpness setting down until it no longer affects the picture. It was useful in the old days of TVs, but the picture your player puts out is 100% exactly as it should be seen; your TV should NOT be modifying it in any way.

edit: oh, and players can have sharpness settings as well. Make sure your player is set to a neutral setting as well.

[blarneyrubble]

Do you mean HDMI input? 768x1366 is not 1080p, 1920x1080 is 1080p.

[Dotpattern]

Originally Posted by Afrobean

To elaborate on this point:

The sharpness setting should actually be set to a neutral position. The setting doesn't ACTUALLY make the picture sharper. It adds an optical illusion effect that MAY make it appear sharper, but it does NOT add resolution of definition. In reality, it negatively affects resolution and definition.

But on top of this, sharpness setting, even while appearing invisible on normal content, can make grain overly obtrusive. Because the way it works is it finds edges of colors and accents them so that the edge stands out harder. In the case of grain, it will accentuate the edge of every bit of grain, making it stand out in a way that is hideous. Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_enhancement

But yeah, if it's not already, turn your sharpness setting down until it no longer affects the picture. It was useful in the old days of TVs, but the picture your player puts out is 100% exactly as it should be seen; your TV should NOT be modifying it in any way.

edit: oh, and players can have sharpness settings as well. Make sure your player is set to a neutral setting as well.

to everything Afrobean said.

It should also be noted that grain isn't limited to just "older" movies, and even older movies in general have different levels of grain.