video lag on my new Sony LCD

[bone crusher]

Okay I'm still a little new to LCD and what exactly 120hz etc is but help me out with this minor problem. I'm runnning Blu-rays on my PS3 through HDMI to my Sony KDL-40D3000.

To me my tv is presenting to me what is video lag, or at least that's what I'll call it. I notice on the movies that every once in a while I see the picture almost jitter like something is running either few frames behind or few frames ahead. The picture doesn't look completely convincing. My tv has 120hz capabilities. I gave experimented with the tv's feature of "motion enhancement" by turning it from off to standard to full and seem to have this "lag" with any of these settings turned on. What could this be? Is the "motion enhancement" feature on my Sony tv actually the 120hz feature itself that I am adjusting? Or is the 120hz just somethig that is running all the time now matter what?

I am aware that LCDs in general have what has been traditionally been called "motion blur" etc on them but to me this tv with 120hz shouldn't have that anways as I thought 120hz alleviated that problem??

I have watched movies on other peoples LCDs before and never noticed anything that I would cal motion blur or lag and those LCD tvs didn't even have the 120hz technology.

Could this just be a setting within my PS3 that is causing this visual imperfection?

Thanks and any help on this matter will be greatly appreciated.

[nhaase]

http://www.hometheatermag.com/lcds/907sonybrav/

Go to the section titled, "Puttin' on the Hz." It should explain the artifacts you are seeing.

[MPDIEHL]

Originally Posted by bone crusher

I am aware that LCDs in general have what has been traditionally been called "motion blur" etc on them but to me this tv with 120hz shouldn't have that anways as I thought 120hz alleviated that problem??

A 120Hz refresh rate should help reduce motion blur but with even the very best LCD Tv is is not eliminated.
Just to be Correct The TV you list is a UK model.
The electric there runs at 50Hz and the TV can scan that at 100 HZ or 100 frames (refresh) per second.
See if you can compare the TV with another of the same model at a local seller. There may be an issue with your set but I have found as a Retailer that people have different tollerance levels for this sort of distortion.
Some people do not notice it and others are botherd to no end..
What you are seeing may be the best picture the set has to offer and cannot be approved..

[bone crusher]

Originally Posted by MPDIEHL

A 120Hz refresh rate should help reduce motion blur but with even the very best LCD Tv is is not eliminated.
Just to be Correct The TV you list is a UK model.
The electric there runs at 50Hz and the TV can scan that at 100 HZ or 100 frames (refresh) per second.
See if you can compare the TV with another of the same model at a local seller. There may be an issue with your set but I have found as a Retailer that people have different tollerance levels for this sort of distortion.
Some people do not notice it and others are botherd to no end..
What you are seeing may be the best picture the set has to offer and cannot be approved..

I don't know how it could possibly be a UK model. I bought it at Futureshop in Canada!

[MPDIEHL]

I Googled KDL40D3000... I did that because I sell in the US and was not aware of that model... I got the UK info from there.

Upon scrolling down the page past all the UK sites I do see a Sony Style Canada..
Sorry for the confusion

[bone crusher]

Originally Posted by nhaase

http://www.hometheatermag.com/lcds/907sonybrav/

Go to the section titled, "Puttin' on the Hz." It should explain the artifacts you are seeing.

Alright I read that, thanks. So I guess "Motion Enhancement" is the 120hz feature itself, I was never certain of that and thought it was maybe just an additional feature.

I just don't understand why the tv has this small video glitch when I have watched movies on other LCDs without the 120hz technology and have never seen and blur or anything before.

[sean10mm]

Originally Posted by bone crusher

So I guess "Motion Enhancement" is the 120hz feature itself.

No it isn't. The article isn't completely clear but they aren't the same. They're kind of apples and oranges really.

120Hz is the refresh rate. The higher the better, generally. 120 is particular is nice because 24, 30 or 60 frames per second video can be shown without any frames "left over" or lost because 120 is a multiple of all of them (24x5, 30x4, 60x2). Showing 24fps on a 60 Hz TV can create problems with the video quality, but on a 120 Hz TV it should look perfect.

Motion enhancement is a feature on the TV that you can turn on or off. It doesn't affect if the TV is running at 120Hz or not...that doesn't ever change, a 120Hz TV runs at 120Hz. What motion enhancment (and similar gimmicks like "motion flow" etc.) changes is how the video signal is processed to show on the 120Hz screen.

Turn it off and it does nothing and you see the original video signal as it was sent. Turn it on and it does a bunch of interpolating to the signal to try to turn it into something smoother and sort of 3D looking.

Basically 120Hz lets you do motion enhancement, but you can have 120Hz without motion enhancement.

[Rare96ws6]

Did you ever get your issue resolved? I just got a PS3 and 120Hz Sony too. Some, but not all of my DVDs have the "video lag" you mentioned. I have them hooked together with the Sony 1.3HDMI cable. Most of my DVDs look great, but some of them blur or lag so much, that you really would not want to watch them.
If the put the DVDs that do not play well in my PS3 into the standard DVD player beside it, they play fine.
I also noticed about 4 point in the movie Bram Stoker's Dracual, on Bluray, that also had this issue.
Does anyone know what this is? Is there something wrong with my PS3?

[blurayistheway]

does your model have cinemotion? if so i notice when i turn it off on my tv the jitters go away.

[Rare96ws6]

It looks like I have the exact TV you do, the Sony KDL40W4100.
I will have to look for the Cinemotion icon when I get home. One thing
that is stange though, is that I can put the DVD that looks bad in my PS3,
into the normal DVD player beside it, and it looks fine.

[TimmothyMcPiddles]

Well from what I have read, the 120 Hz refresh rate simply helps nearly eliminate all but a very small portion of the judder that is created during panning shots in movies. I have the KDL-40v3000 and have calibrated it to what I think is a very good setting for movies and I don't very much blur at all (there will always be some with lcd's but it's minimal with this tv). Note that I also have 1080p/24 turned on on my PS3 and it does help smooth the panning shots. I would check that on your PS3 and that might help alleviate some juddering.

Secondly, when it comes to blur, the 120 Hz might help a little, but the attribute of tv's that really helps to eliminate this problem is the response time. The blurring actually results from the pixels not being able to switch from one color to another in a fast enough time, so if you want to reduce blurring then response time is what you need to look for.

I have also heard from many other members on the forums that 120 Hz technology is amazing for sports, which I can definitely understand, but they say that it makes movies look very odd and takes away from the theater/fantasy feeling that movies are meant to give to the audience. I would try that and see what happens.

I am actually curious to see if that helps so post back here if you find a solution, and I hope you do. I know that when I got my tv initially I noticed so much blur it bothered me when I wasn't watching tv! I fixed some settings and it's sooo much better.

All in all good luck and I hope I have helped at least a little bit man.

[Rare96ws6]

Actually, it was the Cinemotion control. The DVD plays perfect now with this option off.
I wonder why some of my DVDs play fine with it on, but a few played horribly with it on? They all seem to play fine now. I checked the Bram Stoker's...bluray and some regular DVDs and they all work with the Cinemotion control off. Since this TV is so new to me, I really do not know why this caused the picture to jitter so badly.
Anyone?

[TimmothyMcPiddles]

I have no idea. I know that I have cinemotion on on my tv and movies don't jutter very badly at all. But I'm glad that you got it fixed.

On a side note, my tv doesn't have a 120 Hz refresh rate, so I went to Circuit City yesterday to see it in action and I don't know if I'm really alone in this, but I think it makes movies appear extremely unnatural and the people on screen move oddly fast. Almost as if they are being individually fast forwarded. Anyone else agree?

[davidxiphoid]

Originally Posted by TimmothyMcPiddles

I have no idea. I know that I have cinemotion on on my tv and movies don't jutter very badly at all. But I'm glad that you got it fixed.

On a side note, my tv doesn't have a 120 Hz refresh rate, so I went to Circuit City yesterday to see it in action and I don't know if I'm really alone in this, but I think it makes movies appear extremely unnatural and the people on screen move oddly fast. Almost as if they are being individually fast forwarded. Anyone else agree?

I don't know if i would use the term unnatural, it makes things seem more real actually IMO. Meaning it makes some movies look like your watching it right there while it's being shot. OR perhaps that it was shot using a highdef cancorder?

I thought it was really cool when I first got my XBR4. Watched Casino Royale and it was quite shock (in a good way) but after the initial newness of it i keep my motion enhancer set to 'standard' for all blu's and most HD tv. The only time I really use it on HIGH is when I watch sports. Sports look amazing with it set to high =]

[Rare96ws6]

When I first got the Sony 120Hz TV 2 weeks ago, I out in Bram Stoker's Dracual, and like the post above stated, it looked as though I were in the room the shooting was taking place in! It was awesome. My wife noticed the same thing. The motion enhancer is set to standard.
It was weird though how some of my DVDs would not play well with the Cunemotion on. Maybe the PS3 and the TV were trying too hard on not so good quality DVDs. The one I had the biggest problem with was The Count of Monticristo, which is a 7hr French production spread over two discs.

[TimmothyMcPiddles]

Originally Posted by davidxiphoid

I don't know if i would use the term unnatural, it makes things seem more real actually IMO. Meaning it makes some movies look like your watching it right there while it's being shot. OR perhaps that it was shot using a highdef cancorder?

I thought it was really cool when I first got my XBR4. Watched Casino Royale and it was quite shock (in a good way) but after the initial newness of it i keep my motion enhancer set to 'standard' for all blu's and most HD tv. The only time I really use it on HIGH is when I watch sports. Sports look amazing with it set to high =]

When I say unnatural, I mean it seems as though the people on screen are moving at an accelerated rate. I will agree that it makes seem as though you are watching it as if you are there, but I don't know if this is how the movie was intended to be viewed.

Now I know how people move in reality and the way they moved on that sony I was watching at CC was not indicative of real movement.

[PSA1]

Turn of any noise reduction you have on the TV, that also cause lag.

[Woody]

Originally Posted by MPDIEHL

A 120Hz refresh rate should help reduce motion blur but with even the very best LCD Tv is is not eliminated.
Just to be Correct The TV you list is a UK model.
The electric there runs at 50Hz and the TV can scan that at 100 HZ or 100 frames (refresh) per second.
See if you can compare the TV with another of the same model at a local seller. There may be an issue with your set but I have found as a Retailer that people have different tollerance levels for this sort of distortion.
Some people do not notice it and others are botherd to no end..
What you are seeing may be the best picture the set has to offer and cannot be approved..

+1

This post is dead on.